Chapter 9: Confederation and Constitution: 1776-1790

Question 1

Society of Cincinnati

Answer 1

• Continental Army officers who formed an exclusive hereditary order
• ridiculed by Americans

Question 2

Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

Answer 2

*religious freedoms given to Virginia in 1786 by freethinkers Thomas Jefferson and some Baptists

Question 3

Abigail Adams

Answer 3

• wife of John Adams

* teased that ladies were determined to format a rebellion if they were not given political rights

Question 4

Republican Motherhood

Answer 4

• a sentiment that revered women as homemakers and mothers

* mothers are the cultivators of good republican values in young citizens

Question 5

John Singleton Copley

Answer 5

*painted portrait of his own family, which revealed the mothers significance in the family and their republican motherhood

Question 6

State Constitutions

Answer 6

• documents written by the state intended to represent fundamental law
• some were written from already formed charters (Rhode Island and Connecticut)
• Massachusetts drafted theirs from special convention and had the final copy ratified by the people

Question 7

Fundamental Law

Answer 7

• law that is superior to the transient whims of ordinary legislation
• ex. Bill of Rights

Question 8

Bill of Rights

Answer 8

• a fundamental law
• specifically guaranteed liberties against legislative encroachment
• created weak executive and judicial branch

Question 9

Navigation Laws

Answer 9

*still existed and hated even more after independence

Question 10

Speculation

Answer 10

• caused inflation over 300%

* forced the average citizen to be worse off than before the war

Question 11

Natural Rights

Answer 11

*rights granted by a God not a government

Question 12

Sovereignty

Answer 12

*the 13 colonies became states and were sovern because: they all coined their own money, raised their own armies/navies and created tariff barriers

Question 13

Articles of Confederation

Answer 13

• a draft of the written constitution for the new nation
• formed by a committee appointed by congress
• translated into French to prove to France that America had a genuine government
• ratified by all 13 states in 1781

Question 14

Old Northwest

Answer 14

• land Northwest of the Ohio river, East of the Mississippi river and South of the Great Lakes
• surveyed and split up into 36 square mile blocks up due to Land Ordinance of 1785

Question 15

Land Ordinance of 1785

Answer 15

• provided the Old Northwest land to be sold in order to pay off debts
• blocked out Old Northwest into 36 square mile blocks (1 square mile kept for schools)

Question 16

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Answer 16

*allowed for territories to submit for statehood to congress once they had 60,000 inhabitants

Question 17

Natchez

Answer 17

*held an important fort for Spain that was used to attempt to cut off American trade on the river

Question 18

Shay’s Rebellion

Answer 18

• an uprising of backwoods farmers (most were veterans)
• rebelled against losing their farms to taxes and forecloses
• led by Captain Daniel Shay
• demanded cheap paper money, lighter taxes, and a suspension of property takeovers

Question 19

Mobocracy

Answer 19

• created by the revolution

* the allusion that the new government was run by a mob

Question 20

George Washington

Answer 20

• unanimously elected chairman

* enormous prestige as “the sword of the revolution” served to quiet overheated tempers

Question 21

Benjamin Franklin

Answer 21

• added the urbanity of an elder statesman

* had chaperons to make sure he held his tongue to the secrecy of their deliborations

Question 22

James Madison

Answer 22

• a profound student of government

* dubbed “the Father of the Constitution”

Question 23

Alexander Hamilton

Answer 23

• an advocate of a super powerful central government
• even with his 5 hour speech, he had only convinced himself of this central government plan
• joined John Jay and James Madison in penning a series of articles for the New York newspaper

Question 24

Patrick Henry

Answer 24

• ardent champion of states rights

* chosen as delegate from Virginia but declined the position declaring that he had “smelled a rat”

Question 25

Virginia Plan

Answer 25

* large state * pushed forward as framework of the constitution * representation in both houses should be based on population * would have given larger states an advantage

Question 26

Bicameral Legislature

Answer 26

* a 2 part legislature * in house of rep. larger states were satisfied by representation of population * in senate smaller states were satisfied by equal representation (each state had two senators)

Question 27

New Jersey Plan

Answer 27

* small state * provided for equal representation in a unicameral Congress by states, regardless of size & population * smaller states feared bigger states would band together and lord over the rest

Question 28

Great Compromise

Answer 28

* compromise between small and large states * in the bicameral legislature * house of rep.: larger states were satisfied by representation of population * senate: smaller states were satisfied by equal representation (each state had two senators) * broke the logjam and success seemed reachable

Question 29

Electoral College

Answer 29

* a way to elect the president indirectly * votes taken from popular and electoral voting * if no major victory, the election was thrown to house of representatives to decide

Question 30

Three-fifths Compromise

Answer 30

*showed that a slave counted as 3/5th of a person in voting

Question 31

Checks and Balances

Answer 31

*the fact that each branch of the government can cancel one another out so no one branch has all the power

Question 32

Separation of Powers

Answer 32

*the government split between 3 branches that allows no one branch to have all the power (all branches have different ways of election and term limits)

Question 33

Antifederalists

Answer 33

* leaders include revolutionaries like Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee * include poorer men and small scale farmers * feared a central government would make them pay debts and take their powers

Question 34

Federalists

Answer 34

* leaders include George Washington and Benjamin Franklin * include richer, better educated, and more organized folk that lived along the coastlines * were predominantly in charge of the press

Question 35

John Jay

Answer 35

*joined by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison in penning a series of articles for the New York Newspaper

Question 36

James Madison

Answer 36

*joined by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay in penning a series of articles for the New York Newspaper

Question 37

The Federalist

Answer 37

*a book still sold containing a series of articles originally published in the New York newspaper *written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison

Question 38

Nationalist School of Historians

Answer 38

* wrote in the late nineteenth century * viewed constitution as the logical culmination of the revolution and a God given step in the progress of Anglo-Saxon people

Question 39

Charles Beard

Answer 39

*historian that believed the constitution was an attempt of the elite to gain more wealth at the risk of other americans

Question 40

Gordon Wood

Answer 40

*historian that believed the constitution was a new bold move to try and unite America in the need of a strong central government