Chapter 2 Flashcards
Q: What three influential ideas did the colonists bring with them to America?
A: Ordered Government, Limited Government, Representative Government.
Q: Where is the Supreme Court located?
A: Washington, D.C.
Q: What are the basic concepts of ordered government?
A: Orderly regulation of society.
Q: What does limited government mean?
A: Government is restricted in its power, and people have rights that cannot be taken away.
Q: What does representative government mean?
A: Government should serve the will of the people.
Q: What are Judeo-Christian traditions’ influence on government?
A: Justice stressed that society should be based on respect for the law, and there are moral principles (Natural Law) that apply universally.
Q: What are the classical roots of democracy that influenced American government?
A: Direct democracy from Athens and representative government from the Roman Republic.
Q: What are the English roots that influenced American democracy?
A: The Magna Carta, Petition of Right, and the English Bill of Rights.
Q: What is the Magna Carta, and why is it important?
A: The Magna Carta is a “great charter” signed in 1215 that limited the power of the king and established the rule of law.
Q: What was the Petition of Right, and what did it emphasize?
A: It limited King Charles I’s power in 1628 and emphasized the principle of limited government.
Q: What was the English Bill of Rights, and why was it significant?
A: Signed in 1689, it further restricted the monarchy’s powers and asserted the rule of law.
Q: What is the social contract theory?
A: The idea that people agree to give up some freedoms to an absolute ruler in exchange for peace and order.
Q: What is popular sovereignty?
A: The principle that government derives its power from the general will of the people.
Q: Who wrote about separation of powers, and what does it mean?
A: Montesquieu wrote about it, and it means dividing government powers among executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
Q: Who developed the idea of natural rights, and what are they?
A: John Locke, who believed in the natural rights of life, liberty, and property, and argued that government should protect these rights.
Q: What are the three main English documents that influenced American democracy?
A: Magna Carta, Petition of Right, English Bill of Rights.
Q: What was the significance of the Mayflower Compact of 1620?
A: It was the first written framework for self-government in the American colonies.
Q: What was the Virginia House of Burgesses?
A: Established in 1619, it was the first elected assembly in the American colonies.
Q: What were the Articles of Confederation?
A: The first governing document of the U.S., it created a weak national government with most powers reserved to the states.
Q: What were some weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?
A: Congress had no power to regulate trade, collect taxes, or enforce laws; each state had its own money and military forces.
Q: What event exposed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?
A: Shays’ Rebellion in 1786.
Q: What were the key compromises made during the Constitutional Convention?
A: The Connecticut Compromise (Great Compromise) and the Three-Fifths Compromise.
Q: What was the Connecticut Compromise?
A: It established a bicameral legislature with equal representation in the Senate and proportional representation in the House of Representatives.
Q: What were the Federalist Papers?
A: A series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to promote the ratification of the Constitution.
Q: Who was elected as the first President of the United States under the Constitution?
A: George Washington, unanimously elected in 1789.
Q: When was the U.S. Constitution ratified?
A: June 21, 1788, when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.
Q: Who were the Federalists and Anti-Federalists?
A: Federalists supported the Constitution and a strong central government; Anti-Federalists opposed the Constitution, fearing it gave too much power to the federal government.
Q: What was the Three-Fifths Compromise?
A: It counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation purposes.
Q: What were the key features of colonial governments in America?
A: Most colonial governments included a governor (often appointed by the King), a bicameral legislature (partly elected), and a court system. Some autonomy was present, but colonies ultimately answered to the King.
Q: What role did the French and Indian War play in the lead-up to the American Revolution?
A: The war drained the British treasury, leading Britain to impose taxes on the colonies to pay for the war, which sparked colonial discontent and cries of “no taxation without representation.”
Q: What were some key British taxes and acts that angered the American colonists?
A: The Sugar Act of 1764, the Stamp Act of 1765, and the Declaratory Act of 1766, among others, including the Boston Massacre and the Intolerable Acts.
Q: What were the Intolerable Acts, and why were they significant?
A: They were punitive measures taken by Britain after the Boston Tea Party, stripping Massachusetts of self-government, which helped unify the colonies against British rule.
Q: What were the Albany Plan and the Stamp Act Congress, and why were they significant?
A: The Albany Plan was an early attempt at colonial unity in 1754, while the Stamp Act Congress in 1765 marked one of the first formal protests against British policies.
Q: What is the significance of the Second Continental Congress in 1775?
A: It marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War, appointed George Washington as the commander of the Continental Army, and acted as the first national government
Q: What are the key principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence?
A: The protection of unalienable rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) and the principle of popular sovereignty, that government derives its power from the consent of the governed.
Q: What were some of the key achievements of the Articles of Confederation?
A: The Treaty of Paris (1783), the Land Ordinance of 1785, and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which organized western lands and outlined the process for admitting new states.
Q: What was the purpose of the Constitutional Convention in 1787?
A: To address the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and create a stronger federal government, leading to the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.
Q: What were the main differences between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan?
A: The Virginia Plan favored large states with representation based on population, while the New Jersey Plan favored small states with equal representation for all states.
Q: What were the influences on the framers of the U.S. Constitution?
A: Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau, as well as English legal traditions, the Second Continental Congress, and the Articles of Confederation.
Q: What was Shays’ Rebellion, and why was it significant?
A: It was an uprising of farmers in Massachusetts in 1786 due to economic hardship and increased taxes, exposing the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and leading to calls for a stronger central government.
