Creating a Constitution study guide Flashcards
(19 cards)
What are the powers of the Articles of Confederation (5)
Make war, make peace, make Army + Navy, peace treaties, borrow money.
What are the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation (4)
TCCT
No taxation, no standard currency, no court system, difficulty with trading between states.
What are the 3 main things that the Articles of Confederation helps with
land, money, and voting.
How did shay’s rebellion highlight the weaknesses of the AOC and what actions were planned to adress this?
The government gave soldiers worthless paper money after the war, so angry farmers rebelled (shay’s rebellion). At the same time, Britain kept occupying forts and Spain took control of the Mississippi River. Leaders realized they needed to fix the weak Articles of Confederation.
Where does the convention take place? Do all of the colonies send representatives to attend the convention?
Philadelphia, every state but Rhode Island.
The original attempt was in Annapolis Maryland, only 5 colonies came when needed 9.
What were the fears that people had about a strong central government?
Antifederalists though that their personal rights would be takes and their government would turn into englands again. government was too strong.
How were the disputes over land settled?
Ordinance
The Land Ordinance and Northwest Ordinance.
Who is known as the Father of the Constitution and why?
James Madison because he drafted the Virginia Plan, guided debates, and helped write the Bill of Rights.
all the preparation and notetaking he did during the convention
What is a Republic?
ER
A republic is a government run by elected representatives.
Elected officials make decisions.
What was the most difficult argument for the delegates of the convention to resolve? and how was it resolved?
RiC
how states would be represented in Congress. Big states wanted more votes, small states wanted equal votes. The Great Compromise by Roger Sherman solved this by creating two parts: the House (based on population) and the Senate (2 senators per state).
What was the terms of the Virginia plan?
The Virginia plan said bigger states should have more power because they have more people. It wanted a government with 3 branches and two house legislatures.
What was the terms of the New Jersey plan?
The New Jersey plan favored small states and said that each state should have the same power, no matter how big or small. It wanted a single house legislature where each state gets one vote.
What is a Federal government?
A government where a system is divided into a central government and state governments. State government and national government working together.
What is the system that is used to elect the President?
The president is elected by the electoral college. Representatives elected by states vote for the president by the electoral college. Winner takes all election except Maine and Nebraska
Who are the Federalist and Anti-Federalist? And what are their positions?
Federalists were people who supported the constitution
rich merchants and lawyers
Anti-Federalists did not support the constitution
fought hardest during the war, believed the constitution gave too much power to the government.
George Mason, Thomas jefferson was an anti federalists
What are the compromises that needed to be resolved in order to ratify the Constitution? And how did those compromises affect the country?
GComP
OPEN ENDED QUESTION ON THIS
Great Compromise
⅗ Compromise
Commerce Compromise (slave trade being pushed off until 1808)
Presidential Compromise
Electoral College(270 to win [magic number])
3 branches of government compromise (legislative, executive, and judicial IN THAT ORDER)
Checks and balances compromise(laws go through every branch)
How is the Constitution ratified? What was added to the constitution to speed the process of ratification?
BoR
9 total ratified. The Bill of rights was added in the first 10 amendments
What is the Land Ordinance of 1785
The land Ordinance: How to divide land. (townships)
What is the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?
The Northwest Ordinance: A set of laws on how the northwest territory would be governed and how to add states into the territory.
60,000 people
constitution
no slavery in state
ask for permission.
These were what you had to have to make a state.
