Chap.5 History
Terms
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- judicial branch
- the division of the federal government that is made up of the national courts; interprets laws, punishes criminals, and settles disputes between states
- Northwest Territory
- included areas that are now in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin.
- 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.
- Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
- document declared that no person could be forced to attend a particular church or be required to pay for a church with tax money.
- Suffrage
- the right to vote.
- Northwest Ordinance of 1787
- legislation passed by congress to establish a political structure for the Northwest Territory and create a system for the admission of new states.
- legislative branch
- the division of the government that proposes bills and passes them into laws
- federalism
- U.S. system of government in which power is distributed between a central government and individual states
- George Mason
- American patriot who became an Antifederalist and refused to sign 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 overpowered by the proposed national government
- executive branch
- the division of the federal government that includes the president and the administrative departments; enforces the nation's laws
- amendment
- official change, correction, or addition to a law or constitution
- Interstate Commerce
- trade between two or more states
- James Madison
- American statesman, he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, the fourth president of the United States, the author of some of the Federalist Papers, and is called the father of the Constitution for his proposals at the Constitutional Convention. He led the United States through the War of 1812.
- Antifederalists
- people who opposed ratification of the Constitution
- Ratification
- official approval
- Daniel Shays
- Revolutionary War officer who led Shays's Rebellion, an uprising of farmers in western Massachusetts that shut down the courts so that farmers would not lose their farms for tax debts. He was defeated and condemned to death, but pardoned.
- English Bill of Rights
- passed in 1689 declared the supremacy of Parliment.
- Shay's Rebellion
- the uprising of farmers to protest high taxes and heavy debt.
- Tariffs
- taxes on imports or exports
- Constitutional Convention
- a meeting held in Philadelphia at which delegates from the states wrote the Constitution.
- Bill of Rights
- the first 10 amendments to the Constitution; ratified in 1791
- Magna Carta
- a document signed by King John in 1252 made the king subject to law.
- 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
- Inflation
- occurs when there are increased prices for goods and services combined with the reduced value of money.
- Articles of Confederation
- document that created the first central governement for the United States was replaced by the Constitution in 1789.
- constitution
- a set of basic principles and laws that states the powers and duties of the government.
- checks and balances
- a system established by the Constitution that prevents any branch of government from becoming too powerful
- Federalists
- people who supported ratification of the Constitution
- Land Ordinance of 1785
- system for surveying and dividing western lands.
- Three-Fifths Compromise
- an agreement worked out at the Constitutional Convention stating that enslaved people would be counted as three-fifths of a person when determining a state's population for representation in the lower house of Congress
- Great Compromise
- an agreement worked out at the Constitutional Convention establishing that a state's population would determine representation in the lower house of the legislature, while each state would have equal representation in the upper house of the legislature
- Depression
- a period of low economic activity combined with a rise in unemployment.
- popular sovereignty
- the idea that political authority belongs to the people