Chapter 2 Vocab

Question 1

Anti-Federalists

Answer 1

People who oppose the U.S. Constitution and the federal government.

Question 2

Articles of Confederation

Answer 2

The original constitution of the U.S., ratified in 1781, which was replaced by the U.S. Constitution in 1789.

Question 3

Bill of Rights

Answer 3

The first then amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 and guaranteeing such rights as the freedoms of speech, assembly, and worship.

Question 4

Checks and Balances

Answer 4

Counterbalancing influences by which an organization or system is regulated, typically those ensuring that political power is not concentrated in the hands of individuals or groups.

Question 5

Committees of Correspondence

Answer 5

A collection of American political organizations that sought to coordinate opposition to British Parliament prior to the American Revolution.

Question 6

Confederation

Answer 6

An organization which consists of a number of parties or groups united in an alliance or league.

Question 7

Constitution

Answer 7

A body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed.

Question 8

Declaration of Independence

Answer 8

The pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4th, 1776.

Question 9

Enumerated Powers

Answer 9

The powers granted to the federal government of the United States Constitution

Question 10

Federal System

Answer 10

A system in which the different states or provinces of the country have important powers to make their own laws and decisions.

Question 11

Federalists

Answer 11

People who advocate or support a system of government in which several states unite under a central authority.

Question 12

First Continental Congress

Answer 12

A meeting that occurred between September and October 1774 between delegates from twelve of Britain’s thirteen American colonies, where they discussed America’s future under growing British aggression.

Question 13

Full Faith and Credit Clause

Answer 13

Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, which addresses the duty that states within the United States have to respect the “public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.”

Question 14

The Great Compromise

Answer 14

An agreement reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation each state would have under the United States Constitution.

Question 15

Implied Powers

Answer 15

Political powers granted to the United States that aren’t explicitly stated in the Constitution.

Question 16

Mercantilism

Answer 16

The economic theory that trade generates wealth and is stimulated by the accumulation of profitable balances, which a government should encourage by means of protectionism.

Question 17

Necessary and Proper Clause

Answer 17

Article I, Section 8 in the US Constitution, which enables Congress to pass special laws to require other departments of the government to prosecute or adjudicate particular claims.

Question 18

New Jersey Plan

Answer 18

A plan designed to protect the security and power of the small states by limiting each state to one vote in Congress, as under the Articles of Confederation.

Question 19

Second Continental Congress

Answer 19

A meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that occurred in 1776 and took the momentous step of declaring America’s independence from Britain.

Question 20

Separation of Powers

Answer 20

An act of vesting the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of government in separate bodies.

Question 21

Shay’s Rebellion

Answer 21

A series of violent attacks on courthouses and other government properties in Massachusetts that began in 1786 and led to a full-blown military confrontation in 1787.

Question 22

Stamp Act Congress

Answer 22

A meeting held in New York throughout October of 1765, where representatives from several American colonies devised a unified protest against British taxation.

Question 23

Elastic Clause

Answer 23

A statement in the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8) granting Congress the power to pass all laws necessary and proper for carrying out the enumerated list of powers.

Question 24

The Federalist Papers

Answer 24

A collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym “Publius” to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States.

Question 25

Three-Fifths Compromise

Answer 25

An agreement reached during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention over the counting of slaves in determining a state’s total population.

Question 26

Virginia Plan

Answer 26

A plan proposed at the Constitutional Convention providing for a legislature of two houses with proportional representation in each house and executive and judicial branches to be chosen by the legislature.