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| A nation's basic law. It creates political institutions, assigns or divides powers in government, and often provides certain guarantees to citizens. Constitutions can be either written or unwritten |
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| Declaration of Independence |
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| The document approved by representatives of the American colonies in 1776 that stated their grievances against the British monarch and declared their independence. |
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| Rights inherent in human beings, not dependent on governments, which include life, liberty, and property. The concept of natural rights was central to English philosopher John Locke's theories about government, and was widely accepted among America's Founding Fathers. |
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| The idea that government derives its authority by sanction of the people. |
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| The idea that certain restrictions should be placed on government to protect the natural rights of citizens. |
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| Articles of Confederation |
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| The first constitution of the United States, adopted by congress in 1777 and enacted in 1781. The Articles established a national legislature, the Continental Congress, but most authority rested with the state legislatures. |
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| A series of attacks on courthouses by a small band of farmers led by Revolutionary War Captain Daniel Shays to block foreclosure proceedings. |
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| The document written in 1787 and ratified in 1788 that sets forth the institutional structure of US government and the tasks these institutions perform. It replaced the Articles of Confederation. |
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| Interest groups arising from the unequal distribution of property or wealth that James Madison attacked in Federalist Paper No. 10. Today's parties or interest groups are what Madison had in mind when he warned of the instability in government caused by factions. |
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| The proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called for equal representation of each state in Congress regardless of the state's population. |
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| The proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called for representation of each state in Congress in proportion to that state's share of the US population |
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| The compromise reached at the Constitutional Convention that establish two houses of Congress: the House of Representatives, in which representation is based on a state's share of the US population, and the Senate, in which each state has two representatives. |
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| A court order requiring jailers to explain to a judge why they are holding a prisoner in custody. |
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| A feature of the Constituion that requires each of the three branches of government - executive, legislative, and judicial - to be relatively independent of the others so that one cannot control the others. Power is shared among theses three institutions. |
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| Features of the Constitution that limit government's power by requiring that power be balanced among the different governmental instituions. These institutions continually constrain on another's activities. |
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| A form of government in which the people select representatives to govern them and make laws |
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| Supporters of the US Constitution at the time the states were contemplating adoption. |
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| Opponents of the American Constitution at the time when the states were contemplating its adoption. |
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| A collection of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison under the name "Publius" to defend the Constitution in detail. |
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| The first ten amendments to the US Constitution, drafted in response to some of the Anti-Federalist concerns. These amendments define such basic liberties as freedom of religion, speech, and press and guarantee defendants' rights. |
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| A constitutional amendment passed by Congres in 1972 stating that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." The amendment failed to acquire the necessary support from three-fourths of the state legislatures. |
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| The 1803 case in which Chief Justice John Marshall and his associates first asserted the right of the Supreme Court to determine the meaning of the US Constitution. The decision established the Court's power of judicial review over acts of Congress, in this case the Judiciary Act of 1789. |
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| The power of the courts to determine whether acts of Congress, and by implication the executive, are in accord with the US Constitution. Judicial review was established by John Marshall and his associated in Marbury V. Madison. |
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| What fundamental ideas of the Constitution come from John Locke? |
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Definition
| Consent of governed (People agree who their rulers are.), Limited Government (Restrictions on what rulers do.), and Natural Rights. |
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| What did the Articles of Confederation establish? |
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| A strong state government and congress. |
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| How did Congress under the Articles of Confederation get money to maintain an army and navy? |
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| By request, it could not enforce taxation of the states. |
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| What changes were taking place in the state under the Articles of Confederation? |
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| States were adopting bills of rights, as well as the abolishment of religion as a a requirement to hold office. |
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| After the American Revolution, Madison observed that the most common and durable sources of faction was what? |
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| The unequal division of property. |
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| Describe the purpose and result of the Annapolis Meeting. |
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| To amend the articles of confederation, but what actually happened was a date was set to meet again one year later in philadelphia. |
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| Describe the purpose and result of the Philadelphia convention. |
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| This was also called the Constitutional Convention. The convention was originally planned to amend the articles of confederation, but decided to throw the articles out and to start over with the constitution. |
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| Why was Shays Rebellion important? |
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| Shays Rebellion exposed how weak the Articles of Confederation were. It was almost impossible to put the rebellion down, due to the lack of a central army, because of not being able to enforce taxation. |
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| What are factions and which writer of the Constitution was concerned about them? |
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| Governor Morris of Pennsylvania said that the principal object of government is what? |
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| Preservation of private property. |
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| Barron de Montesquieu argued what political philosophy? |
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| What conflicts were discussed at the Constitutional convention regarding slavery? |
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| How it affected population. The north believed that the slaves should not be counted as a person. The south believed that slaves should be counted as people in order to boost their population count. This eventually lead to the three fifths compromise. |
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| Charles Beard argued what? |
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| That the constitution was designed to reverse the radical democratic tendencies unleashed by the revolution among common people |
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| The delegates made sure the Constitution did what? |
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| They made sure that they spelled out the economic powers of the legislature. |
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| What does the Constitution say about personal freedoms? |
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| Most groups could not vote, but white landowning males have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. |
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| Describe the ratification progress. |
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Definition
| 3/4ths of state legislature have to vote on it or a special state convention needs to occur. |
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| Identify four ways a formal amendment can be added to the constitution. |
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| It starts in congress or in a national convention. Then it can proceed to 3/4ths of states ratifying the amendment in either a state convention or in the state legislature. |
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| An act of legislature declaring people guilty of a crime and punishing them without a judicial trial. |
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| A law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of actions committed or relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law. |
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| Believed in keeping private property, as well as preventing a mobocracy by creating a stronger federal government. |
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| How did Madison place a check on tyranny of the majority? |
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| Separate powers, checks and balances, government beyond control of the majority. |
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| Changes that can become part of the constitution. The difference between a formal and informal amendment is that formal amendments are physical additions to the constitutions like the current 27 amendments. |
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| Changes to the constitution that are never physically amended to the constitution. |
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| What is inferred and adapted from the constitution that is not physically written. |
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