Constitution Deck Flashcards
What was their goal and what was their inspirations?
GOAL= To form a new government
Inspirations
1) Magna Carta
2) Bill of Rights
Magna Carta
A document signed by King John of England and 1215 that made the king subject to law
Bill of rights
1689- kept the monarchs from passing or changing laws without parliamentary consent
Virginia statue for religious freedom
Declared that no person could be forced to attend a particular church would be required to pay for a church with tax money
What is suffrage?
The right to vote
What are the articles of Confederation
1) Laid the base for the first national government
2) became the new national Constitution
3) Congress became a single branch of the national government but it had limited powers
4) The government did not have a president or national court system
What was the Enlightenment
1) John Locke-social contract
2) Baron de Montesquieu- separation of powers
What is a constitution
A set of basic principles and laws that states the powers and duties of the government
• State constitutions were written to keep individual leaders from getting too much power
What would the constitution do?
- each state had one vote in Congress
- Congress could settle conflicts issue coins borrow money and make treaties with other countries and with Native Americans
- Congress could also ask the states for money and soldiers
What is ratification?
An official approval from states
What should we do with the Western lands?
The land was split into townships
What is the land ordinance of 1785?
It’s set up a system for surveying and dividing Western lands
Northwest ordinance of 1787
- The ordinance establish the Northwest territory ( Illinois Indiana Michigan Ohio Minnesota and Wisconsin)
- The ordinance created a system for bringing new states into the union
- this law protecting civil liberties required public education and banned slavery in the territory
Relations with other countries
- The new nation needed an army
- British troops slow to withdraw
- Britain closed tradeports with the US
- Britain forced American merchants to pay high tariffs
Trade with Spain
- Spanish officials close the lower Mississippi river to US shipping
- this heart pharmacies river as transportation
- Congress tried to work out agreement but Plan failed
- State leaders believed the national government needed to be stronger