Enlightenment
This Enlightenment thinker, famous for Natural Rights and the Social Contract, was Thomas Jefferson's main source of inspiration as he wrote his draft of the Declaration of Independence
Who is John Locke?
This 1781 document created the first government of the United States, but was soon replaced because it gave too much power to the states and not enough to the federal government.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
In 1787, delegates met in this city to draft a new Constitution, replacing the Articles of Confederation.
What is Philadelphia?
This document, signed in 1776, declared the American colonies independent from Britain.
What is the Declaration of Independence?
This Enlightenment thinker wrote about a “tripartite system” of government in which the powers of government are separated and assigned to different bodies.
Who is Montesquieu?
In 1773, a group of colonial protesters disguised as Native Americans threw 342 chests of a popular product into Boston Harbor to protest a British tax during this protest.
What is the Boston Tea Party?
Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government lacked this key power, making it unable to raise revenue and forcing it to rely on states for funding.
What is the power to levy taxes?
This plan favored large states by basing congressional representation on population.
What is the Virginia Plan?
This agreement between Pilgrims in 1620 established self-government in the New World and influenced American democratic principles.
What is the Mayflower Compact?
The Enlightenment was also referred to as the age of this.
What is reason?
This 1765 law required American colonists to house and supply British soldiers stationed in North America, leading to increased tension between the colonies and Great Britain.
What is the Quartering Act?
Under the Articles of Confederation, the national government lacked this power, making it unable to settle disputes across state lines.
What is the power to enforce laws?
To settle the dispute between large and small states, this compromise created a bicameral legislature with a Senate and a House of Representatives.
What is the Great Compromise?
This concept, meaning "rule by the people," is the foundation of American democracy and is reflected in the phrase "We the People" in the Constitution.
What is popular sovereignty?
Thomas Paine wrote this pamphlet that "...there is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island."
What is Common Sense?
In 1770, this event resulted in the deaths of five colonists, escalating tensions between Britain and its American colonies and fueling anti-British sentiment.
What is the Boston Massacre?
This 1786-1787 uprising of Massachusetts farmers protesting high taxes and debt revealed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and led to calls for a stronger federal government.
What is Shays' Rebellion?
To address the issue of slavery in representation, this compromise counted a portion of enslaved people toward a state's population.
What is the three-fifths compromise?
This 1215 English document limited the power of the king and influenced the U.S. Constitution’s ideas about government.
What is the Magna Carta?
Natural Rights, such as these proposed by John Locke, refer to those rights that belong to human beings due to their nature. Such rights do not depend on the laws or customs of any particular culture or government. They are meant to be universal, fundamental, and inalienable.
What are life, liberty, and property.
These laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for the Boston Tea Party and include closing Boston's port and limiting colonial self-government.
What are the Intolerable Acts?
Shays' Rebellion exposed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, leading to this, where leaders sought to create a stronger national government.
What is the Constitutional Convention/Philadelphia Convention?
This series of essays, written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, defended the new Constitution and argued for its ratification.
What are the Federalist Papers?
In Federalist No. 51, James Madison argued for this system, which ensures that no one branch of government becomes too powerful.
What are checks and balances?