Enlightenment
English philosopher who argued that all people are born with natural rights to life, liberty, and property, and that the mind begins as a tabula rasa (blank slate)
John Locke
The December 1773 protest where the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves and dumped British East India Company tea into the harbor
Boston Tea Party
The only branch of national government created under the Articles of Confederation
Legislative Branch
The agreement proposed by Roger Sherman that created a two-house legislature balancing equal state representation with population-based representation
The Great Compromise or the Connecticut Compromise
The main addition to the Constitution demanded by Anti-Federalists as an essential condition for ratification to protect individual liberties
Bill of Rights
French thinker who advocated dividing government authority into executive, legislative, and judicial branches to prevent tyranny
Baron de Montesquieu
The end of this major conflict between Britain and France lead Parliament to abandon its policy of salutary neglect and directly tax the colonies to pay off war debts.
The French and Indian War (7 Years' War)
The 1786–1787 armed uprising of indebted Massachusetts farmers that exposed the weak central government's inability to maintain military order
Shay's Rebellion
Under the 1787 compromise between Northern and Southern states, each enslaved person was calculated as this fraction of a free citizen.
3/5ths
Unlike enumerated powers given to the national government, these powers are kept specifically by state governments to regulate areas like local schools and elections
Reserved Powers
Philosopher who argued in The Social Contract that government must be guided by the "general will" or majority rule of society
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
This March 1770 confrontation began with thrown snowballs and ended with British soldiers firing into an angry crowd, killing five colonists including Crispus Attucks.
Boston Massacre
Major financial flaw of the Articles where the national government could request funds from states but lacked the authority to do this directly
Collect taxes
Framers created this indirect presidential election system partly out of fear that voters would be susceptible to demagogues or lack national candidate information
Electoral College
According to Article II of the U.S. Constitution, name two enumerated powers explicitly granted to the President.
serving as Commander in Chief, negotiating treaties, appointing ambassadors/judges, granting pardons, delivering the State of the Union, veto laws, and enforcing federal laws
Radical thinker who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), asserting that women's perceived inferiority resulted from a lack of equal education
Mary Wollstonecraft
Passed in 1766 alongside the repeal of the Stamp Act, this law asserted Parliament's absolute authority to pass binding legislation on the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."
Declaratory Act
The required state vote count needed to amend or modify the Articles of Confederation
13
The general term for powers specifically granted and listed for the federal government in the U.S. Constitution
Enumerated powers
Signed by King John in 1215, this historical document established that the monarch's power was not absolute and protected basic rights to life, liberty, and property
Magna Charta
This French Enlightenment thinker advocated for religious tolerance and famously argued that Church and State must be strictly separated to prevent fanaticism
Voltaire
Passed in 1774 to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, these harsh laws closed Boston Harbor, restricted town meetings, and imposed military rule
Intolerable (Coercive) Acts
The national legislature under the Articles consisted of only one single house, making it this type of governing body.
Unicameral Legislature
The shared pen name (pseudonym) used by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to publish the 85 Federalist essays
Publius
Name two specific constitutional clauses that Anti-Federalists feared were "loopholes" allowing Congress to expand federal power beyond listed limits
Necessary and Proper Clause and the Supremacy Clause