Question | Answer |
Treaty of Paris 1783 | a peace agreement that officially ended the Revolutionary War and established British recognition of the independence of the United States. |
Magna Carta | a charter of liberties agreed to by King John of England, it made the king obey the same laws as citizens. |
English Bill of Rights | a shift of political power from the British monarchy to Parliament. |
Articles of Confederation | the document that created the first central government for the United States: was replaced by the Constitution. |
Ratification | an official approval. |
Northwest Ordinance | legislation passed by Congress to establish a political structure for the Northwest Territory and create a system for the admission of new states. |
Shay's Rebellion | an uprising of Massachusetts's farmers, led by Daniel Shays, to protest high taxes, heavy debt, and farm foreclosures. |
Virginia Plan | the plan for government proposed at the Constitutional Convention in which the national government would have supreme power and a legislative branch would have two houses with representation determined by state population. |
New Jersey Plan | a proposal to create a unicameral legislature with equal representation of states rather than representation by population; rejected at the Constitutional Convention. |
Great Compromise | an agreement worked out at the Constitutional Convention establishing that a state's population would determine it's representation in the lower house of legislature, while each state would have equal representation in the upper house of legislature. |
equal representation | all states would have the same number of representatives in Congress, irregardless of their size or population. |
3/5ths Compromise | an agreement that worked out at the Constitutional Convention stating that only three-fifths of the slaves in a state would count when determining a state's population for representation in the lower house of Congress. |
popular sovereignty | the idea that political authority belongs to the people. |
federalism | U.S. system of government in which power is distributed between a central government and individual states. |
checks and balances | a system established by the Constitution that prevents any branch of government from becoming too powerful. |
Antifederalists | people who opposed ratification of the Constitution. |
Federalists | people who supported ratification of the Constitution. |
Federalist Papers | a series of essays that defended and explained the Constitution and tried to reassure Americans that the states would not be over powered by the proposed national government. |
Bill of Rights | the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. |
proportional representation | a state's representation in Congress would be based on their population favoring large states. |
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