Chapter 7 - The First Republic 1776-1789

Question 1

Suffrage

Answer 1

• The right to vote in a political election.

Question 2

Natural rights

Answer 2

• Political philosophy that maintains that individuals have an inherent right, found in nature and preceding any gov’t or written law, to life and liberty.

Question 3

Bill of rights

Answer 3

• A written summary of inalienable rights and liberties.

Question 4

Articles of Confederation

Answer 4

• Written document setting up the loose confederation of states that comprised the first national gov’t of the US from 1781 to 1788.

Question 5

Nationalists

Answer 5

• Group of leaders in 1780s who spearheaded the drive to replace the Articles of Confederation with a stronger central gov’t.

Question 6

Shays’ Rebellion

Answer 6

• Armed movement.
• Winter of 1786-87.
• In western Mass.
• Of debt-ridden farmers.
• Shut down courts and created a crisis atmosphere, strengthening the case of nationalists that a stronger central gov’t was needed to maintain civil order in the states.

Question 7

Land Ordinance of 1785

Answer 7

• Act passed by Congress under the Articles of Confederation that created the grid system of surveys by which all subsequent public land was made available for sale.

Question 8

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Answer 8

• Legislation passed by Congress under the Articles of Confederation that prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territories and provided the model for the incorporation of future territories into the Union as coequal states.

Question 9

Southwest Ordinance of 1790

Answer 9

• Legislation passed by Congress that set up a gov’t with no prohibition on slavery in US territory south of the Ohio River.

Question 10

Annapolis Convention

Answer 10

• Conferences of state delegates at Annapolis, Maryland, that issued a call in September 1786 for a convention to meet at Philadelphia in May 1787 to consider fundamental changes to the Articles of Confederation.

Question 11

Constitutional Convention

Answer 11

• Convention that met in Philadelphia in 1787 and drafted the Constitution of the US.

Question 12

Constitution of the United States

Answer 12

• The written document providing a new central gov’t of the US, drawn up at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and ratified by the states in 1788.

Question 13

Virginia Plan

Answer 13

• Proposal of the Virginia delegation at the 1787 Constitutional Convention calling for a national legislature in which the states would be represented according to population. The national legislature would have explicit power to veto or overrule laws passed by state legislatures.

Question 14

New Jersey Plan

Answer 14

• Proposal of the New Jersey delegation at the 1787 Constitutional Convention for a strengthened national gov’t in which all states would have equal representation in a unicameral legislature.

Question 15

Great Compromise

Answer 15

• Plan proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut at the 1787 Constitutional Convention for creating a national bicameral legislature in which all states would be equally represented in the Senate and proportionally represented in the House.

Question 16

Judicial review

Answer 16

• A power implied in the Constitution that gives federal courts the right to review and determine the constitutionality of acts passed by Congress and state legislatures.

Question 17

Federalism (idea in political philosophy)

Answer 17

• The sharing of powers between the national gov’t and the states.

Question 18

Federalist (individual categorized by US politics)

Answer 18

• A supporter of the Constitution who favored its ratification.

Question 19

Antifederalist (individual categorized by US politics)

Answer 19

• An opponent of the Constitution in the debate over its ratification.