Our Political Beginnings
System of government in which public policies are made by officials selected by the voters and held accountable in periodic elections ...
Answer: representative government.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An uprising of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers protesting increased state taxes in 1787 ...
Answer: Shays' Rebellion.
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.
4th President of the U.S., 1809-17. Who am I?
Answer: James Madison.
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.
Representatives; members of Congress who cast votes based on the wishes of their constituents ...
Answer: delegates.
A law that established a plan for surveying and selling the federally owned lands west of the Appalachian Mountains ...
Answer: Land Ordinance of 1785.
An agreement during the Constitutional Convention protecting slave holders; denied Congress the power to tax the export of goods from any state, and, for 20 years, the power to act on the slave trade ...
Answer: Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise.
American patriot, orator, and statesman. Who am I?
Answer: Patrick Henry.
Document prepared by Parliament and signed by King Charles I of England in 1628; challenged the idea of the divine right of kings and declared that even the monarch was subject to the laws of the land ...
Answer: Petition of Right.
A refusal to buy or sell certain goods ...
Answer: boycott.
A law that established a procedure for the admission of new states to the Union ...
Answer: Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
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.
American statesman and writer on government. Who am I?
Answer: Alexander Hamilton.