Term | Definition |
Federalist | Wholly supported the Constitution |
Anti-Federalist | Wanted to change part of the Constitution |
bicameral | Legislature made up of two houses |
Articles of Confederation | the document that prescribed the first government of the United States. |
Constitution | the document that laid out the structure of the U.S. government; has endured for over two hundred years; supreme law of the land |
Executive Branch | The branch of government that carries out the laws |
Judicial Branch | The branch of government that decides if laws are carried out fairly |
Legislative Branch | The branch of government that makes laws |
representative | a person that speaks on behalf of a person or a group of people |
compromise | a settlement where each side gives up some of its demands |
Commander-in-Chief | supreme leader; head of the executive branch |
Federalism | The type of government where power is divided between the national and state governments |
veto | reject |
confederation | A type of government where individual states have more power than the national government; the first form of U.S. government |
tariffs | taxes or duties paid on a specific import or export |
James Madison | a delegate of Virginia and was responsible for getting other state delegates to attend the Constitutional Convention |
Annapolis Convention | was a meeting called to discuss rules governing international and domestic trade; nothing was accomplished aside from agreeing to have another convention in Philadelphia |
Senate | to run, you must be 30 years old and a citizen for 9 years |
Vice President | the leader of Congress |
Alexander Hamilton | proposed the Constitutional Convention; eventually served as Secretary of the Treasury |
Bill of Rights | the document that affords the U.S. citizens their basic rights |
George Washington | was the "president" of the Constitutional Convention |
impeach | to bring formal charges against a government official like the President |
Shays' Rebellion | an uprising of farmers in western Massachusetts protesting high tariffs |
The Virginia Plan | proposed a bicameral legislature; wanted the number of representatives based on population, wanted strong national government with three different branches |
The New Jersey Plan | proposed a unicameral legislature; equal amount of representatives; also called for three branches of government |
Northwest Ordinance | provided that 3 to 5 new states would be created out of the area of land west of the original colonies but east of the Mississippi River; also abolished slavery before the states were ever created. |
vested | secured interest; an interest of great importance to a person or group of people |