LEC WEEK 2 Flashcards
Confederation
A political system in which states, or regional governments retain ultimate authority except for those powers they expressly delegate to a central government
State
A group of people occupying a specific area and organized under one government. It may be either a nation or a subunit of a nation
Important weaknesses of the Articles
Congress lacked the power to:
1) compel states to meet military quotas. It could not draft soldiers.
2) Collect taxes directly from the people. It had to rely on states to collect and forward taxes.
3) Compel states to pay their share of government costs.
Virginia (Large State) Plan
1) Bicameral Legislature
2) Number of representatives based on population
3) Creation of an unspecified national executive, elected by the legislature
4) Creation of a national judiciary appointed by the legislature
Overall, legislature would be supreme over the other branches of government.
New Jersey (Small State) Plan
1) Unicameral Legislature
2) One state, one vote
3) All acts of Congress would be supreme law of the land
4) Creation of an executive office elected by Congress
5) Executive office would appoint a Supreme Court
Overall, legislature is supreme over states, but not necessarily other branches of government.
The Great (Connecticut) Compromise
1) Bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives and the Senate
2) Number of representatives based on population, and two seats in the Senate for every state
3) Did not settle issues of Executive and Judicial branches yet
Three-Fifths Compromise
Slaves are to count as 3/5 of a person for the census, and therefore, for congressional representation