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a union of semi‐independent or independent states
What is a federation or confederation?
the central government of a federation or confederation.
What is a federal government?
The branch of government responsible for writing law. The U.S. government’s legislative branch is a Congress made up of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives, both of which meet at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C.
What is the Legislative Branch?
a state in which the people govern themselves through their elected representatives
What is a republic?
An economic difficulty in which the price of goods rises, and therefore the value of money falls.
What is inflation?
To approve and accept a document
What is to ratify?
An earlier plan of union proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754. The main purpose was to unite the colonies against their Native American enemies during the French and Indian War.
What was the Albany Plan?
A complicated system for voting for the president in which each state would choose a group of electors to cast its votes instead of voting for president directly
What is the electoral college?
a set of 10 amendments added to the Constitution to protect citizens’ and states’ rights.
What is the Bill of Rights?
the compromise that decided on proportional representation for the House of Representatives, but equal representation for the Senate.
What is The Great Compromise?
the branch of government responsible for adjudging and interpreting law. the U.S. government consists of a Supreme Court— housed at the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington D.C.— and a system of inferior federal district courts.
What is the judicial branch?
meant that no state that joined the Union was free to leave
What is "Perpetual Union"?
a system of Constitutional laws that keep the three branches of government separate, independent and accountable to one another
What are checks and balances?
Author of the Virginia Plan; "Father of the Constitution" He wound up writing the Bill of Rights, which was something Anti‐ Federalists proposed: because he feared that if the United States didn’t adopt a Bill of Rights, then Anti‐ Federalists might call a new convention and rewrite the entire Constitution.
Who was James Madison?
the branch of government responsible for enforcing law and commanding the armed forces. The U.S. government’s branch consists of the President, his cabinet (secretaries) and a host of executive agencies. The Oval Office of the President of the United States lies in the West Wing of the White House in Washington D.C.
What is the executive branch?
the compromise that allowed each state to count three‐fifths of its slaves toward its population total for the purpose of allotting representatives.
What is the Three Fifths Compromise?
a temporary plan of union that arose from the Intolerable Acts designed to enforce a Colonies‐wide boycott of British goods in 1774, just before the Revolutionary war
What is The Articles of Association?
the idea that the number of representatives each state sent to Congress should be proportional to that state’s population: the more people, the more representatives.
What is proportional representation?
Those who pushed their states to ratify the Constitution, believing that it would bring a strong defense, a strong economy and a strong national government
Who were the Federalists?
those who resisted ratifying the Constitution, believing that it would take away individual states’ rights.
who were the Anti-Federalists?
a set of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay urging New York to ratify the Constitution.
what was the Federalist Papers?
a constitution that established a weak federal government with very limited powers over the original thirteen states.
What was the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union?
established guidelines for governing the Northwest Territory.
established guidelines on allowances for public education; fair dealings with the natives; and a ban on slavery.
Its set the pattern for how new territories would join the US as equals provided they abide by republican principles
What was The Northwest Ordinance?
the plan of government prepared by James Madison before the Convention, which became the starting point for negotiations over the new Constitution.
What was The Virginia Plan?
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
What is the Preamble?