Colonial Foundations
What early Virginia assembly was the first example of representative government in America?
House of Burgesses
What organization helped colonial leaders share news and coordinate resistance to Britain?
Committees of Correspondence
Who was appointed commander of the Continental Army?
George Washington
What system divides power between national and state governments?
Federalism
What Enlightenment thinker advocated separating government into three branches?
Montesquieu
What 1620 agreement created self-government among the Pilgrims?
Mayflower Compact
What 1770 event in Boston was used by Patriots as propaganda against Britain?
The Boston Massacre
What document declared the colonies’ independence in 1776?
Declaration of Independence
What principle allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the others?
Checks and Balances
What principle says that government gets its power from the consent of the governed?
Social Contract
What was the transatlantic trade route that brought enslaved Africans to the Americas?
The Middle Passage
What protest destroyed an entire shipment of tea to oppose unfair taxes?
The Boston Tea Party
What plan of government created a weak Congress without power to tax?
Articles of Confederation
What clause makes the Constitution the “supreme law of the land”?
Supremacy Clause
What concept means that no one, including government officials, is above the law?
Rule of Law
What 1763 law forbade colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains?
Proclamation of 1763
What harsh British laws punished Massachusetts after the Tea Party?
Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts)
What uprising showed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation?
Shays’s Rebellion
What are the first ten amendments that protect individual freedoms called?
Bill of Rights
What group refused to ratify the Constitution until a Bill of Rights was added?
Anti-Federalists
What exchange introduced new plants, animals, and diseases between Europe and the Americas?
The Columbian Exchange
What pamphlet by Thomas Paine urged colonists to seek independence from Britain?
Common Sense
What 1787 compromise created a bicameral (two-house) legislature?
The Great Compromise
What philosopher inspired the Declaration of Independence with the idea of natural rights?
John Locke
What series of essays supported ratification of the Constitution?
The Federalist Papers (by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay)