The Articles of Confederation
What were the Articles of Confederation?
The Articles of Confederation set out the grounds as the first government of America. It didn't really work, but it was a needed learning experience to get to the working democracy we have today. They also were onto something, talking about limited powers, the dispute over the western lands, and more.
What is habeas corpus?
The idea that no person could be held in prison without first being charged with a specific crime.
What was the Constitutional Convention?
This convention opened on May 25, 1787, and its goal was to revise the Articles of Confederation. Every state except for Rhode Island sent representatives. This convention would decide the fate of our country.
What was the Bill of Rights?
The Bill of Rights was a set of ten amendments made to the Constitution on request from multiple states. It sets the basic rights of the American people.
What is democracy, and give one real world example other than America.
Democracy is a form of government that allows the people to choose leadership. The primary goal is to govern through fair representation and prevent abuses of power. One modern day example is Iceland.
Two important things that the Articles of Confederation accomplished.
These two things were the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance.
Name two documents, places, and/or people that the Founding Fathers pulled ideas from to form the Constitution.
Some answers could have been the English Bill of Rights, the Magna Carta, ideas from John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu, the Roman republic, and the Athenian democracy.
What were the three branches of government that were established by the Constitutional Convention?
The Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch.
What are some of the rights that the Bill of Rights guarantees?
Freedom of speech, religion, equal protection, and due process.
What kind of government was the government in South Africa from 1948 to 1991?
It was a racially constructed oligarchy.
What was the Northwest Ordinance.
The Northwest Ordinance set up a government for the Northwestern Territories. It guaranteed basic rights for settlers and outlawed slavery. It provided a new way to admit states into the nation. The finest achievement of the Articles.
What ideas did the Americans adopt from John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu?
They adopted Locke's idea of unalienable rights (life, liberty, and property was changed to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness). They adopted Baron de Montesquieu's idea that the powers of government should be defined and divided, in other words, separation of powers.
What was the New Jersey plan and why did larger states oppose it?
This was the opposing plan to the Virginia Plan and was brought to the table by William Paterson. Similarly to the Virginia Plan, this would divide the government into three parts, but the legislature would have only one branch. Each state, nevermind their size or population, would get only ONE vote. This plan appealed to the smaller states and gave them more representation in Congress.
What are the fourth and fifth amendments and what rights do they protect.
The fourth amendment addresses the issue where police officers would illegally search houses without a warrant. They make sure that authorities don't intrude on you and your private property. The fifth amendment addresses the issue of double jeopardy and allows the convicted person a fair trial.
What language does the word aristocracy come from, and what does it mean?
The word aristocracy is derived from the Ancient Greek word aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best."
How was Shay's Rebellion important?
Shay's Rebellion was composed of thousands of farmers that were revolting against the weak government. The rebellion brought to light the faults in the government and had the founding fathers scrambling to revise and fix it.
What are the six goals of the Constitution (stated in the Preamble)?
To form a more perfect union, to establish justice, to insure domestic tranquility, to provide for the common defense, to promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty.
What was the Three-Fifths Compromise?
Just like there were disputes between the large and small states, there were disputes between the Northern and Southern states. This one was over whether people should count slaves in the state population. Southern states wanted to, and Northern states didn't. Eventually, an agreement was reached to count ⅗ of the slaves (Eg. 3000/5000 of the slaves). This would become known as the "Three-Fifths Compromise."
Why did the federal government find it so important to make amendments to the Constitution?
Many states had voted to ratify the Constitution but with a condition, that a Bill of Rights be added. The Founding Fathers were scrambling to pull one together as quickly as possible so no states backed out.
How is a military dictatorship different from totalitarianism?
A military dictatorship is a nation ruled by a single authority with absolute power and no democratic process. They usually lead the nation's armed forces, where as a totalitarian government recognizes no limitations whatsoever on its power, including in its citizens' lives or rights.
Name two weaknesses of the Articles.
There were multiple weaknesses: there was no power to create a national army; no chief executive to lead the nation; the amendments required all 13 states to agree on things; new laws needed the approval of 9/13 states; the federal government couldn't force states to pay off debts; there was no national court system; the federal government couldn't settle disputes between states; and lastly the federal government had no power to tax the states, only ask for money.
What are the seven basic principles behind the Constitution?
The goals and ideas of the Constitution are sacred, and have insured our country's success for over two centuries, and will stay around for many more to come.
Who was Roger Sherman and what state was he representing?
Roger Sherman was a delegate from Connecticut who would work out the Great Compromise.
How many amendments have there been made to the Constitution?
27 times, the first ten are known as the Bill of Rights.
List the ten main types of government and give a real world example for each of them.
Democracy (Iceland); Communism (the Soviet Union); Socialism (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden); Oligarchy (the government in South Africa from 1948 to 1991); Aristocracy (dominant government across medieval Europe); Monarchy (United Kingdom, Morocco, Oman, or Saudi Arabia); Theocracy (Iran); Colonialism (13 colonies of North America); Totalitarianism (North Korea); Military Dictatorship (Thailand)