Vocabulary
Two house legislature or two chambers.
Which two states adopted their Constitutions in 1777
New York and Georgia
Why did the Americans limit the power of the governors (colonial officials who represented the British Crown and later became the chief executives of individual states)?
After British rule, they did not want to place too much power in the hands of one ruler or body.
What year was the Articles adopted?
1777
What year was the Declaration of Independence signed
1776
Define republic
Government in which citizens rule through elected representatives.
What is a constitution?
A plan for government.
Which state replaced the governor's office with a 12-person council?
Pennsylvania
executive (enforces and implements the laws of the United States) or judiciary (interprets laws, applies them to individual cases, and decides if laws are constitutional).
How many states had to approve a law before it was passed?
Nine
Define abandon(ed)
give up or let go.
How many states wrote their constitutions by the end of 1776?
8
How did states divide power (between which two bodies)?
Governor and legislature (bicameral - two house chamber)
What date did the Confederation (a union of independent states that retain their sovereignty but unite for common purposes, such as defense, foreign affairs, or economic policy, under a weak central government) formally become the United States of America?
March 1, 1781
How many states had to approve changing the Articles?
13, making it hard to pass laws when there was a disagreement.
Define clause
Condition added to a formal document
What year did Massachusetts write its constitution?
1780
Who could vote in most states?
White males who were at least 21 and owned a certain amount of property or paid a certain amount of taxes.
Under the Articles, how many votes did each state get?
What made the Articles weak?
Congress could not raise money by collecting taxes, no control over foreign trade, states did not have to enforce government laws, and all 13 states had to approve amendments,
Define depreciate(d)
fallen in value
Which two states used their colonial charters (legal documents issued by the English crown that granted permission to establish colonies and defined the rules for their governance)?
Connecticut and Rhode Island
In the states, which body of government became the most powerful?
Legislatures - the colonists' negative experiences with powerful, often tyrannical, British royal governors. The new state constitutions deliberately limited executive power while strengthening the authority of the legislative branch.
What could the national government do?
Conduct foreign affairs (foreign powers, Native American tribes, and other states), maintain an army, borrow money (foreign governments France and the Netherlands and private Dutch bankers) and issue currency.
What was a win for the Articles?
negotiated a peace treaty with Britain and expanded foreign trade.