Creating The Constitution

Question 1

How did Ancient Rome influence the Constitution?

Answer 1

They created the first republic.

Question 2

How did Ancient Greece influence the Constitution?

Answer 2

Created a democracy (governed by the people).

Question 3

How did the Magna Carta influence the Constitution?

Answer 3

They limited the Kings power.

Question 4

How did John Locke influence the Constitution?

Answer 4

He believed in natural rights (life, liberty, and property).(Contract Theory)

Question 5

How did Jean Jacques Rousseau influence the Constitution?

Answer 5

He believed that people should be willing to give up some freedoms for the needs of the greater good.(Social Contract)

Question 6

How did Baron de Montesquieu influence the Constitution?

Answer 6

He believed that government powers should be limited.(A system of Checks and Balances)

Question 7

Who was president of the Constitutional Convention?

Answer 7

George Washington.

Question 8

Who were important leaders who did not attend the Constitutional Convention? Why?

Answer 8

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were representing the US from Great Britain and France. John Hancock, Patrick Henry, and Sam Adams were absent because they feared a strong national government would endanger the rights if states.

Question 9

Who was known as the “father of the Constitution?”

Answer 9

James Madison.

Question 10

What was the original purpose of the Constitutional Convention?

Answer 10

To revise the Articles of Confederation.

Question 11

How many branches of government did the Virginia plan have?

Answer 11

3

Question 12

How was the Virginia Plan legislature organized?

Answer 12

They had 2 houses, a senate and a House of Representatives.

Question 13

What was the Virginia Plan?

Answer 13

A strong national government. The number of representatives they could send to congress, depended on their population which means the bigger states had the advantage.

Question 14

Who proposed the Virginia Plan?

Answer 14

James Madison.

Question 15

How many branches of government did the New Jersey plan have?

Answer 15

3

Question 16

Which states did the New Jersey plan favor?

Answer 16

Small states including New Jersey.

Question 17

Who proposed the New Jersey plan?

Answer 17

William Paterson.

Question 18

How was the New Jersey plan legislature organized?

Answer 18

With just one house.

Question 19

What is the New Jersey plan?

Answer 19

Each state would have an equal vote in congress, not matter how big or small.

Question 20

What was the great compromise?

Answer 20

A compromise between the Virginia plan and the New Jersey plan.

Question 21

How many branches of government the great compromise have?

Answer 21

3

Question 22

How was the great compromise legislature organized?

Answer 22

With 2 houses, the senate (for the states) and the House of Representatives (for the people).

Question 23

Who proposed the great compromise?

Answer 23

Roger Sherman.

Question 24

What was the three-fifths compromise? What did it say about slavery?

Answer 24

The three fifths compromise was a compromise saying that a slave would count as three fifths of a person.

Question 25

What was the process of ratifying the Constitution?

Answer 25

9 states had to agree.

Question 26

How would the Constitution be ratified by the states?

Answer 26

It would be ratified by the delegates who were elected by the people of each state.

Question 27

What was Shay’s Rebellion? What did it prove about the articles of confederation?

Answer 27

Shay’s Rebellion was a rebellion by the farmers against congress for giving up livestock and land to pay debts. Shay’s Rebellion showed that under the articles of confederation, the government was too weak to keep order.

Question 28

What are the 8 weaknesses of the articles of confederation?

Answer 28

1. No single leader for government.2. Laws needed to be approved by 9 states (hard to pass).3. Congress did not have power to tax.4. Congress did not have the power to draft an army.5. There was no national court system.6. All amendments/changes must be approved by all 13 states.7. Congress didn’t have power to collect debts.8. Congress didn’t have the power to settle disputes among states.

Question 29

What was the Land Ordinance of 1785?

Answer 29

Western lands were divided into townships and then into sections. One section of each township was set aside to support school, the others were to be sold to settlers.

Question 30

What did the Anti-Federalists believe?

Answer 30

They were opponents of the Constitution and believed it listed powers of the government, but not the rights of people.

Question 31

What did the Federalists believe?

Answer 31

They were supporters of the Constitution. They believed in it.

Question 32

What were the Federalist Papers?

Answer 32

They were essays written in support of the ratification of the Constitution by the states. It was written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.

Question 33

What did Alexander Hamilton believe?

Answer 33

He was a federalist, so he believed the constitution would create a stronger, more effective union of the states.