The Constitution
This document, ratified in 1789, was designed to correct the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and divide power both vertically and horizontally.
What is the Constitution?
This amendment prevents soldiers from being quartered in private homes during peacetime without the owner’s consent.
What is the Third Amendment?
He was unanimously chosen as the first president of the United States in 1789.
Who is George Washington?
This 1795 treaty with Spain granted the U.S. navigation rights on the Mississippi River and access to New Orleans.
What is Pinckney’s Treaty?
This principle adopted by most states after the Revolution refused government financial support for religious groups.
What is separation of church and state?
The division of power between the federal government and state governments is known as this.
What is federalism?
This amendment guarantees protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.
What is the Fourth Amendment?
Washington’s first four executive department heads included Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Knox, and this attorney general.
Who is Edmund Randolph?
This 1794 rebellion against a federal excise tax challenged Washington’s government but collapsed after he sent 15,000 troops to suppress it.
What is the Whiskey Rebellion?
This painter opened the first art gallery in Philadelphia in the 1790s, helping shape early American culture.
Who is Charles Wilson Peale?
The Framers divided the government into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. This principle is called ____.
What is separation of powers?
This amendment ensures the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury, and the right to an attorney.
What is the Sixth Amendment?
His financial program included paying off state debts, protecting infant industries with tariffs, and creating a national bank.
Who is Alexander Hamilton?
Washington warned against these three dangers in his Farewell Address: political parties, foreign entanglements, and ____.
What is sectionalism?
This French-born architect developed the design for Washington, D.C., during the 1790s.
Who is Pierre-Charles L’Enfant?
This amendment guarantees freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition.
What is the First Amendment?
This amendment prohibits excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments.
What is the Eighth Amendment?
Jefferson and Madison wrote these resolutions in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, claiming states could nullify unconstitutional laws.
What are the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions?
This 1797 scandal involved French officials (labeled X, Y, and Z) demanding bribes before negotiating with U.S. diplomats.
What is the XYZ Affair?
The term “southerner” gained common usage in the 1780s, highlighting this key regional difference that persisted in American identity.
What is slavery?
This amendment protects the right to bear arms and maintain a well-regulated militia.
What is the Second Amendment?
This amendment declares that powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved for the states or the people.
What is the Tenth Amendment?
This 1794 treaty with Great Britain settled disputes about trade and British forts in the Northwest Territory but angered Jeffersonians.
What is Jay’s Treaty?
This 1798 law made it a crime to criticize the president or Congress and was viewed by Jeffersonians as a violation of the First Amendment.
What is the Sedition Act?
This Philadelphia writer explored the meaning of American identity through novels in the late 1700s.
Who is Charles Brockden Brown?