In a Flash

  • An Example of the Unwritten Constitution

-President’s Cabinet

-Political Parties

-Judicial Review

-Congressional Committees

  • Strict Constructionists

-Strict interpretation of the Constitution

-Congress should only use the elastic clause when absolutely “necessary and proper”

  • The First Amendment

-Freedom of religion

-Freedom of speech

-Freedom of press

-Right to assembly

-Right to petition

  • What Small States Wanted at the Constitutional Convention Regarding Representation

-Equal representation

-Compromise – Two Senators for every state but House of Representatives based on states’ population

  • Geography of New England

-Rocky soil and Ports and Harbors

-Forests

  • Benefits of Louisiana Purchase

-Full control of Mississippi River – Trade

-Great Plains – Farming and Herding

-Port of New Orleans – Good for Trade

  • The Great Plains

-Good for farming and herding

-“Breadbasket of the nation”

  • Proclamation Line of 1763

-Established by British

-Colonists must stay east of Appalachians

-To prevent conflict with Indians

  • The Importance of the Port of New Orleans

-Trade

-Mississippi River connected to Gulf of Mexico

  • The Appalachian Mountains

-Mountain Range in Eastern USA

-Proclamation Line of 1763

  • British Government’s Use of Writs of Assistance

-Allow British to search a man’s house

-At any time and for any reasons

-A General Search Warrant

  • Federalism

-Power is shared between federal and state governments

  • The Great Compromise

- Also known as Connecticut Compromise

- Between “big” states and “small” states

- Over representation

- House of Representatives based on population

- Senate: two senators for every state

  • The Federalist Papers

-Essays to encourage ratification of Constitution

-Alexander Hamilton: one of the authors

-Do not fear a strong central government

-Separation of powers will prevent abuse

  • Electoral College

-The American system for electing President

-Citizens choose State’s Electors by casting vote for President

-Electors select president

-Candidate can win popular vote and still lose the election

  • A Weakness of the Articles of Confederation

-Weak Federal Government

-Congress could not levy taxes

-No national army

-No President and No Supreme Court

  • An Example of Lobbying

-The Sierra Club spends money to educate politicians on environmental issues and vote for legislation that protects the environment

  • Alexander Hamilton and the National Bank

-A Federalist

-Supported a strong central government

-Advocated for the creation of National Bank

-To issue money, store revenue, and pay off debts

-“Necessary and Proper” for Congress to do its duties

  • An Accomplishment of the National Government under the Articles of Confederation

-The Northwest Ordinance

-A method for a territory to become a state

  • Separation of Powers

-Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches

-To divide power and prevent tyranny

-Checks and balances

  • President Washington’s Farewell Address

-A letter written before leaving office

-Warned Americans against alliances

-“Steer Clear of Alliances”

-Warned Americans against sectionalism

  • Marbury v. Madison

-Supreme Court case

-Established concept of Judicial Review

-The Supreme Court has the power to declare a law unconstitutional

  • Tariffs

-Taxes on imports

-Raise the price of foreign goods

-Encourage the consumption of American goods

-Northerners favored

-Southerners hated

  • President Andrew Jackson and the Spoils System

-Gave supporters government jobs

-To bring more of the people into the government

  • The Erie Canal

-Canal in New York

-Connects Hudson River to Great Lakes

-Connects Lake Erie to New York City

-Trade

  • Virginia House of Burgesses

-Colonial Virginia

-Colonial Landowners elected representatives

-Example of Self-Government

  • Declaration of Independence

-Justified rebellion when natural rights violated

-Natural rights – Life, Liberty, Happiness

-Consent of the Governed

-Grievances of Colonists

-Role of Government

  • The Stamp Act

-After French and Indian War

-British abandoned salutary neglect

-Acted like a mother country

-Taxed to raise revenue

  • The Mayflower Compact

-Pilgrims signed on ship [Mayflower]

-Adult males agreed to make rules by voting

-Example of self-government

  • Mercantilism

-Idea

-Colonies benefit the mother country

-Colonies only trade with the mother country

-Colonies only export raw materials

-Colonies import finished goods

-Colonies provide gold and silver

  • Thomas Paine’s Common Sense

-Pamphlet encouraging colonists to rebel

-Fight for independence

  • John Locke

-Enlightenment philosopher

-Natural Rights

-Life, liberty, and property

-Consent of the governed

-Government must protect natural rights

  • The Census

-Recording population of each state

-Every ten years

-To determine each state’s # of representatives in the House of Representatives

-And to determine each state’s # of electors in the electoral college

  • The Northwest Ordinance of 1787

-Accomplishment of the Articles of Confederation Government

-Method for admitting new states into the Union

  • Antifederalists and Opposition to a National Bank

-Feared a strong central government

-Feared a national bank

-Would favor the rich and powerful

  • The Preamble to the Constitution

-“We the People…”

-The People are the Government

  • The Protection against Unreasonable Searches and Seizures

-Fourth Amendment

-Requires a warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause

  • The Mississippi River

-Gained in the Louisiana Purchase

-Connects to the Gulf of Mexico

-Benefitted farmers in the Ohio River Valley

  • Checks and Balances

-Separation of Powers to check tyranny

-Legislative, Executive, and Judicial

-Each branch checks the power of the other branches – Limits the power of the others

  • The Necessary and Proper Clause

-Elastic Clause

-Implied Powers

-Congress may do more than is written in the Constitution to carry out its duties

  • Geographic Features of the South

-Fertile Soil

-Long growing season

-Good for farming

  • The Purpose of the Census Regarding Representation

-To determine each state’s # of representatives in the House of Representatives

  • Implied Powers

-Elastic Clause

-“Necessary and Proper”

-Congress can do more than is written in the Constitution to carry out its duties

-Implied powers are not explicitly named in the Constitution

-But assumed to exist whennecessary and proper

  • Physical Map

-Shows the geographic features of countries and regions

-Like mountains and deserts and rain forests

  • Plantations in the American South

-Long growing season and fertile soil

-Large farms or plantations developed

-Depended on slavery

-Depended on coerced labor systems

  • How Many Electors Each State Gets for the Electoral College

-Based on # of representatives in the House plus its two senators

  • Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase

-Posed a problem

-Wanted the land

-But strict constructionist

-Not stated in the Constitution that President could buy land

-Encouraged to view it as a treaty – that is in the Constitution – the President may make a treaty

  • New England Town Meetings in the Colonial Era

-Colonists gathered in town meetings

-Shared their views

-Voted on local issues

-Example of self-government

  • “No Taxation without Representation”

-A problem for the colonists

-How can the British tax the colonists when the colonists do not elect representatives to Parliament?

-A cause of the American Revolution

-Not consent of the governed