click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
creating constitutio
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Constitutional Convention | meeting held in Philadelphia to create a new constitution |
James Madison | a leading convention delegate from Virginia |
Virginia Plan | a plan giving supreme power to the central government and creating a bicameral legislature made of two groups, or houses, of representatives |
New Jersey Plan | a plan creating a unicameral, or one-house, legislature |
Great Compromise | an agreement that gave each state one vote in the upper house of the legislature and a number of representatives based on its population in the lower house |
Three-Fifths Compromise | only three-fifths of a state’s slaves were counted when deciding representation in Congress |
popular sovereignty | the idea that political power belongs to the people |
federalism | the sharing of power between a central government and the states |
legislative branch | a Congress of two houses that proposes and passes laws |
executive branch | the president and the departments that help run the government |
judicial branch | a system of all the national courts |
checks and balances | a system that keeps any branch of government from becoming too powerful |