Roots of Liberty
This 1215 document established that the King was not above the law and influenced the U.S. Constitution's "Due Process" clause.
What is the Magna Carta?
This 1620 agreement represented the Pilgrims' hope for "just and equal laws" and the first step toward self-government in North America.
What is the Mayflower Compact?
Under the Articles of Confederation, the central government lacked this power, making it nearly impossible to pay off war debts.
What is the power to tax
The Great Compromise resolved a fight between large and small states by creating this type of "two-house" legislature.
What is a bicameral legislature
This group of people opposed the Constitution because they feared a strong central government would trample on individual liberties.
Who were the Anti-Federalists?
Name one of the two major ways the English Bill of Rights influenced U.S. founding documents (e.g., specific freedoms or limits on power).
What is the right to bear arms, freedom of speech in Parliament (legislature), or the ban on cruel and unusual punishment?
This religious movement emphasized individual spiritual decision-making, which later translated into ideas of individual political liberty.
What was the Great Awakening?
This was the major challenge regarding the "Head of State" under the Articles of Confederation.
What is the lack of an Executive Branch (or no President)?
In the Great Compromise, the House of Representatives is based on population, while this body gives every state exactly two votes.
What is the Senate
Before the Bill of Rights was added, the original Constitution protected this right, which prevents people from being held in jail without a trial.
What is Writ of Habeas Corpus?
This 1689 document shifted power from the monarchy to Parliament, a move mirrored by the U.S. giving legislative power to Congress.
What is the English Bill of Rights?
This 1773 protest involved colonists disguising themselves as Mohawk Indians and dumping 342 chests of British property into the harbor.
The Boston Tea Party
Because there was no national court system under the Articles, this branch of government was missing entirely.
What is the Judicial Branch?
This plan solved the debate between large and small states regarding representation.
The Great Compromise
Anti-Federalists refused to ratify the Constitution unless this was promised to be added immediately.
What is a Bill of Rights?
System where local governments have more independent authority than in a Unitary system.
Federalism
Rousseau’s concept that the community’s collective interest outweighs individual desires.
The General Will
The U.S. economic system that combines free markets with government regulation.
Mixed Economy
The 1786 uprising of farmers that proved the Articles of Confederation were too weak to keep order.
Shays' Rebellion
This legal protection, found in the original Constitution, prevents the government from passing a law that punishes a person for an act that wasn't illegal when they did it.
Ex Post Facto laws
The system where the executive leader is chosen directly by the legislature.
Parliamentary system
The Enlightenment concept that people give up some freedom in exchange for protection.
Social Contract
The main goal of government involvement in a Socialist economy.
Economic Equality
In this system, voters don't choose the President directly; instead, they vote for these people who then cast the official ballots.
Who are Electors (The Electoral College)?
The collective name (pseudonym) used by Anti-Federalist writers like Robert Yates to hide their identities while attacking the Constitution in newspapers.
Brutus