Our Political Beginnings
Basic principle of American government which states that government is restricted in what it may do, and each individual has rights that government cannot take away ...
Answer: limited government.
A joining of several groups for a common purpose ...
Answer: confederation.
Plan of government adopted by the Continental Congress after the American Revolution; established “a firm league of friendship” among the states, but allowed few important powers to the central government ...
Answer: Articles of Confederation.
Group of delegates who drafted the United States Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention ...
Answer: Framers.
Those persons who supported the ratification of the Constitution in 1787-1788 ...
Answer: Federalists.
Great Charter forced upon King John of England by his barons in 1215; established that the power of the monarchy was not absolute and guaranteed trial by jury and due process of law to the nobility ...
Answer: Magna Carta.
Plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 that aimed to unite the 13 colonies for trade, military, and other purposes; the plan was turned down by the colonies and the Crown ...
Answer: Albany Plan of Union.
Formal approval, final consent to the effectiveness of a constitution, constitutional amendment, or treaty ...
Answer: ratification.
Plan presented by delegates from Virginia at the Constitutional Convention: called for a three-branch government with a bicameral legislature in which each state’s membership would be determined by its population or its financial support for the central government ...
Answer: Virginia Plan.
Those persons who opposed the ratification of the Constitution in 1787-1788 ...
Answer: Anti-Federalists.
The government must act fairly and in accord with established rules in all that it does ...
Answer: due process.
Representatives; members of Congress who cast votes based on the wishes of their constituents ...
Answer: delegates.
The home and tomb of George Washington in NE Virginia, on the Potomac, 15 mi. below Washington, D.C. ...
Answer: Mount Vernon.
Plan presented as an alternative to the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention; called for a unicameral legislature in which each state would be equally represented ...
Answer: New Jersey Plan.
Which Federalist wrote the following in 1787?
"The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world."
Answer: Alexander Hamilton.
Document written by Parliament and agreed on by William and Mary of England in 1689, designed to prevent abuse of power by English monarchs; forms the basis for much in American government and politics today ...
Answer: English Bill of Rights.
The basic principle of the American system of government which asserts that the people are the source of any and all governmental power, and government can exist only with the consent of the governed ...
Answer: popular sovereignty.
Which of the Founding Fathers made the following statement in 1785?
"We are one nation today and 13 tomorrow. Who will treat with us on such terms?"
Answer: George Washington.
Agreement during the Constitutional Convention that Congress should be composed of a Senate, in which states would be represented equally, and a House, in which representation would be based on a state’s population ...
Answer: Connecticut Compromise.
Which Anti-Federalist made the following statement in 1788?
"The fate of this question and America may depend on this: Have they said we the States? Have they made a proposal of a compact between States? If they had this would be a confederation."
Answer: Patrick Henry.
An adjective describing a legislative body composed of two chambers ...
Answer: bicameral.
Which of the Founding Fathers made the following statement in 1776?
"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
Answer: Benjamin Franklin.
An uprising of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers protesting increased state taxes in 1787 ...
Answer: Shays' Rebellion.
An agreement at the Constitutional Convention to count a slave as three-fifths of person when determining the population of a state ...
Answer: Three-Fifths Compromise.
Which Anti-Federalist made the following statement?
"These lawyers, and men of learning, and monied men, that talk so finely and gloss over matters so smoothly, to make us poor illiterate people, swallow down the pill, expect to get into Congress themselves; they expect to ... get all the power and all the money into their own hands, and then they will swallow up all us little folks ... just as the whale swallowed up Jonah."
Answer: Amos Singletary.