Rights
This amendment protects freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition.
What is the First Amendment?
This president warned against political parties and permanent foreign alliances in his Farewell Address.
Who is George Washington?
This 1787 meeting was called to revise the Articles of Confederation but ended up producing an entirely new blueprint for the government.
What is the Constitutional Convention?
This 1763 British law attempted to prevent colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains.
What is the Proclamation of 1763?
This principle divides government authority among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
What is separation of powers?
This amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures.
What is the Fourth Amendment?
This political party did not support Hamilton’s financial plan, a strong national government, and closer ties with Britain.
What is the Democratic-Republican Party?
This collection of essays defended the Constitution and argued that the large republic it created could control factions better than smaller republics.
What are The Federalist Papers?
This 1770 event became a powerful symbol of British oppression after soldiers fired on colonists in Boston.
What is the Boston Massacre?
This principle allows each branch of government to limit the power of the others.
What are checks and balances?
This amendment says powers not given to the federal government are reserved to the states or the people.
What is the Tenth Amendment?
These controversial laws made it harder for immigrants to become citizens and punished criticism of the federal government.
What are the Alien and Sedition Acts?
This compromise counted enslaved people as part of a state’s population for representation and taxation, increasing slaveholding states’ political power without recognizing enslaved people as citizens.
What is the Three-Fifths Compromise?
This 1767 British policy of taxing imported goods, including glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea, led to renewed colonial boycotts.
What are the Townshend Acts?
As commander in chief, the president has authority over this, though Congress retains the power to declare war and fund it.
What are the armed forces / the military?
This amendment protects people accused of crimes from being forced to testify against themselves.
What is the Fifth Amendment?
This 1794 event tested the federal government’s power to enforce its laws after farmers resisted an excise tax.
What is the Whiskey Rebellion?
This Virginian was the principal force behind the meeting in Philadelphia, taking detailed notes and writing essays in support of the Constitution. He would later draft the first ten amendments.
Who is James Madison?
This 1776 pamphlet argued that independence was common sense and helped persuade ordinary colonists to support separation from Britain.
What is Common Sense?
This presidential power allows the president to reject a bill passed by Congress, though Congress can override it with enough votes.
What is the veto?
This amendment protects rights not specifically listed in the Constitution.
What is the Ninth Amendment?
This election demonstrated that power could transfer peacefully from one political party to another.
What is the Election of 1800?
This compromise created a bicameral Congress, balancing representation by population in one house with equal representation for each state in the other.
What is the Great Compromise (or Connecticut Compromise)?
This 1775 battle showed that colonial militia could stand up to British troops, even though the British technically won.
What is the Battle of Bunker Hill?
This principle divides power between the national government and state governments.
What is federalism?