Key Terms
This is an organization in which states or members work together towards common goals but retain most of their own power; the parts have more power than the whole.
What is a confederation?
This protest by farmers in Massachusetts scared the nation's leaders and eventually led to the call for a Constitutional Convention to revise the Articles of Confederation and make a stronger national government.
What is Shays's Rebellion?
This branch of government is set up by Article I of the Constitution; it is the lawmaking branch of our government.
What is the Legislative Branch?
This article of the Constitution sets up the Legislative Branch of our national government.
What is Article I?
This amendment protects our essential freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, and freedom to petition the government.
What is the First Amendment?
This is an organization in which states are strongly united and act together for a common purpose; the whole has more power than the parts.
What is a union?
This compromise was reached regarding how slaves would be counted in determining a state's population and how many representatives they would get.
What is the Three Fifths Compromise?
Article II of the Constitution sets up this branch of government headed by the President.
What is the Executive Branch?
This article of the Constitution sets up the Executive Branch of our national government.
What is Article II (2)?
This amendment ensures the "right to bear arms".
What is the Second Amendment?
This principle involves separating a government's power among different branches of government in order to limit that power; our government's division into the legislative, executive, and judicial branches is an example of this.
What is the separation of powers?
This plan presented at the Constitutional Convention called for a bicameral government with proportional representation in both the lower and upper houses. It was favored by states with larger populations.
What is the Virginia Plan?
In Article III of the Constitution sets up this branch which includes the nation's Supreme Court and the court system.
What is the Judicial Branch?
This article of the Constitution sets up the Judicial Branch of government.
What is Article III?
This amendment requires law enforcement to have warrants before they can search or seize your property.
What is the Fourth Amendment?
This is a system in which each branch of government has powers that limit the powers of other branches of government; the president's veto of a law passed by Congress is an example of this.
What is the system of checks and balances?
This plan presented at the Constitutional Convention was favored by states with smaller populations; it called for a unicameral government with equal representation.
What is the New Jersey Plan?
This is the name for our nation's legislative branch.
What is U.S. Congress?
This article of the Constitution describes the amendment process.
What is Article V (5)?
This amendment emphasizes "due process" and the rights of citizens to fair treatment; no citizen can be deprived of "life, liberty, or property" without appropriate legal procedures being followed.
What is the Fifth Amendment?
This describes a system of government in which the federal government and state governments share certain powers but also each have powers that are expressly theirs.
What is federalism?
The was the final compromise between states with smaller populations and states with larger populations. The government would have two houses, but one house would have proportional representation (the House of Representatives) and the other would have equal representation (the Senate); this is the government we have today.
What is the Great Compromise?
These two houses make up our legislative branch.
What are the Senate and the House of Representatives?
This article of the Constitution declares that national law is the supreme law of the land.
What is Article VI (6)?
This amendment explains the rights of the accused: the right to a fair and speedy trial, a lawyer, and witnesses.
What is the Sixth Amendment?