Chapter 8
Terms
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- Ratification
- Formal Approval
- Three-fifths Compromise
- Agreement worked out at the constitutional convention stating that three-fifths of the slaves in each state should be counted as part of the state's population for determining represntation in the lower house of congress.
- Constitution
- A set of basic principles that determines the powers and duties of a government.
- Republic
- Type of government in which the people hold political power.
- Suffrage
- Voting Rights
- Virginia Plan
- Plan for government proposed at the constitutional convention in which the national government would have would have three branches- executive, judicial, and legislative; representation in the legislature would be determined by the state population.
- Federalists
- People who supported ratification of the constitution.
- New Jersey Plan
- Proposal to create a unicameral govenrnment; rejected at the constitutional convention.
- Great Compromise
- Agreement worked out at the constitutional conevntion establishing that a states's population would determine representation in the lower house of the legislature, while each state would have equal represenation in the upper house of legislature.
- Creditors
- One to whom a debt is owed.
- Shay's Rebellion
- Uprising of Massachusetts's farmers, led by Daniel Shays, to protest high taxes, heavy debt, and farm foreclosers.
- Checks and Balances
- A system established by the consititution that prevents any branch of government from becoming to pwerful.
- Natural Rights
- Fundamental rights, such as religious liberty and equality before the law.
- Amendments
- Official changes, corrections, or additions to a constition.
- Antifederalists
- People who were opposed to ratifcation of the constition.
- Federalist Papers
- Series of essays that defended the constitution and tried to reassure Americans that the states would not be overpowered by the federal government.
- Northwest Ordinance of 1787
- Legislation passed by congress to establish a political structure for the lands in the Northwest Territory.
- Tariffs
- Taxes on imports or exports
- Bill of Rights
- First 10 amendments to the Constition; ratified in 1791.
- Articles of Confederation
- Document that created the first central government for the United States; was replaced by the Constitution in 1789.
- Northwest Territory
- Lands including present-day Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and part if Minnesota; established by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
- Judicial Branch
- Division of the federal government that is made up of the national courts; interprets laws, punishes criminals, and settles disputes between states.
- Depression
- A steep drop in economic activity.
- Interstate Commerce
- Trade that is conducted between states.
- Constitutional Convention
- Meeting in Philadelphia at which the delagtes from the states wrote the constitution.
- Land Ordinance of 1785
- Legislation passed by Congress authorizing surveys and the division of public lands in the western region of the country.
- Federalism
- U.S. system of government in which power is distibuted between a central authority and individual states.
- Legislative Branch
- Division of the federal government that proposes bills and passes them into laws.
- Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom
- Legislation that gave people in Virginia freedom of worship and freedom to speak their opinions about religion.
- Debtors
- People who owe money.
- Executive Branch
- Division of the federal governemnt that includes the president and the administrative departments;enforces the nation's laws.