US History
Ch. 5 Sect. 1 A Confederation of States
- Republics: form of government in which officials are elected by the people
- unicameral legislature: a single house that was elected by the people
- bicameral legislature: two houses – A Senate and a House of Representatives
- Articles of Confederation: 1777, the Continental Congress wrote the new constitution for the union of states
- John Dickinson: led Congress during this time
- Federal: national
- Northwest Territory: north of the Ohio river and west of Pennsylvania as far as the Mississippi River
- Land Ordinance of 1785: Congress designed a system for distributing the public lands
- Northwest Ordinance of 1787: provided a government for the western territory
- Shays’ Rebellion: Massachusetts in 1786, farmers took up arms to block foreclosure hearings however the state army suppressed this
Ch. 5 Sect. 2 Drafting the Constitution
- Alexander Hamilton and James Madison: leading thinkers at a colonial convention to discuss the matter of Congress having the power to regulate interstate and international commerce and tax the people
- Virginia plan: by James Madison; proposed dividing power among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches; would establish a bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives and a Senate; strong President and Congress with power to veto any state law
- New Jersey Plan: small changes only; gave Congress the powers to regulate commerce and to tax; proposed a unicameral legislature that represented states as equals ; executive committee instead of President
- Great Compromise: Senate would equally represent every state, House of Reps would represent states based on population
- Federalism: divided government power between the national and state governments
- Three-fifths compromise: counted each slave as three-fifths of a person to be added to a state’s free population
Ch. 5 Sect. 3 Ratifying the Constitution
- Ratify: to officially approve
- Federalists: supported ratification; thought strong central government could overcome difficulties facing the new nation
- Antifederalists: opposed ratifying Constitution; wanted a bill of rights; strong central government would threaten their liberty
- The Federalist: series of 85 essays written by Madison, Hamilton and John Jay
- John Jay: helped write essays for The Federalist
- Bill of Rights: term for the first ten amendments to the Constitution that provide basic rights
- Electoral college: group of persons chosen from each state
- Popular sovereignty: principle in which the people are the only source of government power; political policy that permitted the residents of federal territories to decide on whether to enter the union as free or slave states
- Limited government: principle stating that the government has only as much authority as the people give it and, therefore, its power is limited
- Separation of powers: principle that divides power among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government
- Checks and balances: system in which each branch of the government has the power to monitor and limit the actions of the other two