Ch05 Flashcards
Magna Carta
a charter of liberties agreed to by King John of England, it made the king obey the same laws as citizens
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
a document that gave people in Virginina freedom of worship and prohibited tax money from being used to fund churches
constitution
a set of basic principles that determines the powers and duties of a government
suffrage
voting rights
ratification
an official approval
Articles of Confederation
the 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, and Wisconsin; organized by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Land Ordinance of 1785
legislation passed by Congress authorizing surveys and the division of public lands in the western region of the country
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
tariff
a tax on imports or exports
interstate commerce
trade between two or more states
depression
a steep drop in economic activity combined with rising unemployment
Shays’s Rebellion
an uprising of Massachusetts’s farmers, led by Daniel Shays, to protest high taxes, heavy debt, and farm foreclosures.
inflation
increased prices for goods and services combined with the reduced value of money
Constitutional Convention
a meeting held in Philadelphia at which delegates from the states wrote the Constitution
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
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
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
Three-Fifths Compromise
an agreement worked out at the Constitutional Convention stating that only three-fifths of the slaves in a state would count when determining a state’s population for representation in the lower house of Congress
checks and balances
a system established by the Constitution that prevents any branch of government from becoming too powerful
executive branch
the division of the federal government that includes the president and the administrative departments; enforces the nation’s laws
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
legislative branch
the division of the government that proposes bills and passes them into laws
popular sovereignty
the idea that political authority belongs to the people
