Lesson 1: The Country's First Governments
True or False
Since Shays’s Rebellion was over local issues in Massachusetts, it had no effect on the decision to call the Constitutional Convention.
False
True or False
Anti-Federalists feared that the new Constitution would create a government that could be as tyrannical as the British had been
True
True or False
When the Preamble states that a goal of the Constitution is to “establish Justice,” it means to hire national police and build prisons
False
True or False
The Constitution continued the judicial system begun under the Articles of Confederation.
False
the opening section of the Constitution
Preamble
a detailed, written plan for the government
The constitution
Rhode Island did not take part in the Constitutional Convention because
Its leaders opposed a strong central government
True or False
One weakness of the Articles of Confederation government was that Congress could not regulate trade with other nations.
True
What power is granted only to the national government?
A. collect taxes
C. enforce laws
B. declare war
D. regulate trade within a state
B. declare war
a group of individuals or state governments
confederation
Bills of rights attached to the first state constitutions included ideas that could be traced to what document?
A. Articles of Confederation
B. New Jersey Plan
C. Magna Carta
D. U.S. Constitution
C. Magna Carta
The smaller states were against the Virginia Plan because ___________.
They felt the federal government would ignore them
In its original form, the Electoral College system for choosing the president specified that the electors would be selected in what way?
A. by each state legislature
B. by the voters of each state
C. through national nominations
D. through municipal elections
A. by each state legislature
Which element of the Constitution reflects the influence of the French philosopher Baron de Montesquieu?
A. the amendment process
B. the Electoral College
C. the “necessary and proper” clause
D. the separation of powers
D. the separation of powers
a legislature consisting of two parts, or houses
bicameral
If a state did not follow a law passed by the Confederation Congress
nothing would happen to the state
True or False
The Three-Fifths Compromise was reached because the Southern states did not want to count slaves as people.
False
What was the original purpose of the Constitutional Convention?
A. draft a national bill of rights
B. fix the Articles of Confederation
C. prepare an agreement to limit excessive taxing by the states
D. review and ratify the constitutions of individual states
B. fix the Articles of Confederation
Which provision of the Constitution resolves conflicts between the laws of a state and laws passed by the U.S. Congress?
A. Bill of Rights
B. concurrent powers clause
C. “necessary and proper” clause
D. supremacy clause
D. supremacy clause
An agreement providing that enslaved persons would count as three-fifths of other persons in determining representation in Congress
Three-Fifths Compromise
The Northwest Ordinance
outlawed slavery
To gain acceptance for the Constitution, the Federalists promised __________.
to enact a bill of rights
Once an amendment to the Constitution has been proposed, who must approve it?
three-fourths of the states
The Constitution limits the power of __________.
both the federal government and state governments
powers granted directly to the national government by the Constitution; another name for expressed powers
enumerated powers