Unit 2- The Beginnings of American Government Flashcards
Define English Common Law
Unwritten, judge-made law developed over centuries.
Define English Constitutionalism
The notion that government leaders are subject to the limitations of the law.
The concept of the rule of law that influenced English political ideas, for example, has roots in early civilizations of _____ and _____.
Africa and Asia
What three basic notions of government did the English bring?
Ordered Government- Limited Government- Representative Government OLR
Define Ordered Government
The English colonists saw the need for an orderly regulation of their relationships with one another- that is, a need for government.
Define Limited Government
The idea that government is restricted in what it may do.
When did the notions of Limited Government originally exist?
400 years before Jamestown was settled in 1607.
Define Representative Government
The notion that government should serve the will of the people and that the people should have a voice in deciding what government should do and should not do.
What were the Influential Documents and Ideas from the colonists?
The Magna Carta- The Petition of Right- The English Bill of Rights MPB (Magna-Petition-Bill)
A group of barons forced _____ to sign the _____.
King John- Magna Carta
What were the fundamental rights in the Magna Carta?
Trial by jury and due process of law (protection against the arbitrary taking of life, liberty, or property). TD
The Magna Carta established the critical idea that the monarchy’s power was not _____.
Absolute
In 1628, when _____ asked Parliament for money in taxes, Parliament refused until he agreed to sign the _____.
Charles I- Petition of Right
What influence did the Petition of Right have?
It limited the king’s power in several ways. Most importantly, it demanded that the king no longer imprison or otherwise punish any person but by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land. The document also insisted that the king may not impose martial law, or military rule, in times of peace, or require homeowners to shelter the king’s troops without their consent.
The Petition challenged the idea of the _____, declaring that even a monarch must obey the law of the land.
Divine Rights of Kings
In 1689, after years of revolt and turmoil, Parliament offered crown to _____. The events surrounding their ascent to the throne are know as the _____.
William and Mary of Orange- Glorious Revolution
What influence did the English Bill of Rights have?
Prohibited a standing army in peacetime, except with the consent of Parliament, and required that all parliamentary elections be free. The English Bill of Rights also included such guarantees as the right to a fair trial, as well as freedom from excessive bail and from cruel and unusual punishment.
What were the three types of Colonies?
Royal Colonies- The Proprietary Colonies- The Charter Colonies RPC
What were the first and last colonies?
Virginia-Georgia VG
Virginia was originally organized as a _____.
Commercial Venture
_____ granted Georgia to 21 trustees, who governed the colony.
King George II
Each colony was established on the basis of a _____.
Charter.
Define Charter
A written grant of authority from the king.
What influences did Charters have?
They gave colonists or companies a grant of land and some governing rights, while the Crown retained a certain amount of power over a colony.
The royal colonies were subject to the direct control of the _____.
Crown
How many royal colonies were there?
8
What pattern of government gradually emerged for each of the royal colonies?
The King named a governor to serve as the colony’s chief executive. A council, also named by the King, served as the advisory body to the royal governor. Later, the governor’s council became both the upper house of the colonial legislature and the colony’s highest court.
What does bicameral mean?
Two-House
The lower house of a bicameral legislature was elected by _____.
Property owners qualified to vote.
Define the power of purse.
The power to tax and spend
How many proprietary colonies were there?
3
Proprietary colonies were organized by a _____.
Proprietor
Define Proprietor
A person to whom the king had made a grant of land.
Who did the King grant Maryland to?
George Calvert, Lord Baltimore MG
Who did the King grant Pennsylvania to?
William Penn PW
How were the proprietary and royal colonies different?
The governor was appointed by the proprietor. In Maryland and Delaware, the legislatures were bicameral. In Pennsylvania, the legislature was a unicameral body.
What was the first charter colony?
The Massachusetts Bay Colony
_____ and _____ were charter colonies founded by religious dissidents from Massachusetts.
Connecticut and Rhode Island CR
How did the process of government work in Charter colonies?
The governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island were elected each year by the white, male property owners in each colony. Although the king’s approval was required before the governor could take office, it was not often asked. Laws made by their bicameral legislatures were not subject to the governor’s veto, nor was the Crown’s approval needed. Judges in the charter colonies were appointed by the legislature, but appeals could be taken from the colonial courts to the king.
How did the conflict between the Parliament and Monarch end in Great Britain?
It was settled by England’s Glorious Revolution
How did colonies develop a sense of self-government?
In theory, they were governed from London; however. since London was more than 3000 miles away and it took sailors 2 months to go that distance, the colonies became used to a large degree self-government.
Why did the colonies eventually decide to revolt?
After the French and Indian War, the King and Parliament imposed heavy taxes on the colonies; the colonies refused to accept the impositions. Regardless, the king’s ministers pushed their agenda and over the course of a couple of years, the colonies came to the decision to revolt.
Define Confederation
A league of friendship for defense against Native American tribes.
Why did the Confederation in 1643 end?
As the danger passed and frictions amongst settlements grew, the confederation lost importance and finally dissolved in 1684.
What were the British Colonial Policies?
Writs of Assistance- Proclamation of 1763- Sugar Act- Stamp Act-Townshend Acts- Tea Act- Intolerable Acts WPSSTTI
Define Writs of Assistance
Allowed British officials to search homes and businesses for smuggled goods.
Define Proclamation of 1763
Restricted white settlers from land west of Appalachian mountains and required a license for trade with Native Americans.
Define Sugar Act
Required and heavily enforced taxes on sugar and other goods imported into America
Define Stamp Act
Taxed printed paper, including legal documents, newspapers, and playing cards.
Define Townshend Acts
Taxed glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.
Define Tea Act
Manipulated the tax on tea to flavor the East India Company, giving them a monopoly and undercutting local merchants.
Define Intolerable Acts
So named by the colonists, included closing the port of Boston until colonists paid for the tea dumped during the Boston Tea Party, restricting town meetings in Massachusetts, and allowed for British soldiers to be housed in private homes.
What were some events demonstrating growing colonial Unity?
Early Attempts-The Albany Plan-The Stamp Act Congress EAS
Define the Albay Plan of Union
A plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 for cooperation among the 13 colonies that was never adopted.
What was the main function of the Albany Plan?
The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the problems of colonial trade and dangers of attacks by the French and their Native American allies. In the plan that Benjamin Franklin proposed at the meeting, he called for the creation of an annual congress of delegates from each of the 13 colonies. That body would have the power to raise military and naval forces, make war and peace with the Native Americans, regulate trade with them, tax, and collect customs duties.
Define Delegates
People with authority to represent others at a conference or convention.
Define Duty
A tax on imports.
Define the Stamp Act Congress
The new taxes were widely denounced, in part because the rates were perceived as severe, but largely because they amounted to taxation without representation. In October of 1765, nine colonies- all except Georgia, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Virginia- sent delegates to a meeting in New York, the Stamp Act Congress. There, they prepared a strong protest, called the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, against the new British policies and sent it to the king. The Stamp Act congress marked the first time a significant number of the colonies had joined to oppose the British government.
What happened at the Boston Tea Party?
A group of men, disguised as Native Americans, boarded three ships in Boston Harbor. They broke open the chests and dumped the ship’s cargo into the sea to protest British control of the tea trade.
What sparked the making of the First Continental Congress?
In the spring of 1774, Parliament passed yet another set of laws, this time to punish the colonists for the troubles in Boston and elsewhere. These new laws, denounced in America as the Intolerable Acts, prompted widespread calls for a meeting of the colonies. Intolerable ACTS
What did the First Continental Congress lead to?
The delegates urged the colonies to refuse all trade with England until the hated taxes and trade regulations were repealed. Finally, the delegates called for the creation of local committees to enforce that boycott.
What sparked the making of the Second Continental Congress?
During the fall and winter of 1774-65, the British government continued to refuse to compromise, let alone reverse, its colonial policies. It reacted to the Declaration of Rights as it had to other expressions of colonial discontent- with even stricter and more repressive measures.
_____ was chosen as president of the Congress.
Hancock
_____ became, by force of circumstance, the nation’s fist national government.
The Second Continental Congress
What role did the Second Continental Congress play?
It fought a war, raised armies and a navy, borrowed funds, bought supplies, created a money system, made treaties with foreign powers, and did other things that any government would have to do in those circumstances.
The document Jefferson created drew from the political philosophies of Enlightenment thinker _____, in particular the ideas of natural rights and the social contract theory.
John Locke
What are the three unalienable rights?
Life, Liberty, and pursuit of Happiness. LLH
Define Popular Sovereignty
A government that exists only with the consent of the governed.
Define Written Constitutions
Bodies of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and processes of their governments.
What were the common features of the first State constitutions?
Principles of popular sovereignty, limited government, civil rights and liberties, separation of powers, and checks and balances. SLRSC
How did Congress approach the problem of how much each state should pay into a common treasury?
They decided to base contributions not on population, but instead on the value of land within each state.
Define Articles of Confederation
Plan of government adopted by the Continental Congress after the American Revolution; established “a firm league of friendship” among the States but allowed few important powers to the Federal Government.
Define Ratification
Formal approval or final consent to the effectiveness of a constitution, constitutional amendment, or treaty.
How was the structure of the government under the Articles of Confederation?
Unicameral Congress- States had one vote in the Congress- No executive or judicial branch. UON
Define Full Faith and Credit
Clause requiring that each state accept the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. PRJ
What were some of the problems of the Articles of Confederation?
Congress didn’t have the power to tax, to regulate trade among States, and lacked the power to make the States obey the Articles of Confederation or the laws it made. TTO
Define Shays’ Rebellion
A series of confrontations between debtor farmers and State government authorities in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787.
Which States took the first steps in the movement for change of the Articles of Confederation?
Maryland-Virginia MV
Define Framers
Group of delegates who drafted the United States Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787.
Where did the Framers meet?
Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall)
Define Quorum
Fewest number of members who must be present for a legislative body to conduct business; majority.
Who did the delegates elect as president of the convention on the 25th of May?
George Washington
What were the two major plans offered for the new government?
The Virginia Plan- The New Jersey Plan VNJ
Define Virginia Plan
Plan presented by the delegates from Virginia at the Constitutional Convention; called for a three-branch government with a bicameral legislature in which each State’s membership would be determined by its population or its financial support for the Federal Government.
Define Veto
Chief executive’s power to reject a bill passed by a legislature; literally (Latin) “I forbid”
What are some other important aspects of the Virginia Plan?
Members of the lower house would be elected by popular vote-Members of the senate would be chosen by the house from a list suggested by state legislatures- A national executive and national judiciary would be chosen by congress and would have the power to veto congressional acts.
Define New Jersey Plan
Plan that was presented as an alternative to the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention; called for a unicameral legislature in which each State would be equally represented.
What are some other important aspects of the New Jersey Plan?
Congress would gain the power to tax and regulate trade between the states- Federal executive of more than one person chosen by congress who could be removed at the request of a majority of the states’ governors- Federal Judiciary would be appointed by the federal executive.
What was the major point of disagreement between the 2 plans?
How should the States be represented in Congress?
Define Connecticut Compromise
An agreement reached during the Constitutional that Congress should be composed of a Senate, in which each state would be represented equally, and a House, in which each state would be represented on the State’s population.
Define Three-Fifths Compromise
An agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention that a slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person when counting the population of a State.
Define Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise
An agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention to protect slaveholders; it denied Congress the power to tax the export of goods from any State, and, for twenty years, denied Congress the power to act on the slave trade.
Which committee put the Constitution in its final form?
The Committee of Stile and Arrangement
Define Federalists
Those persons who supported the ratification of the Constitution in 1787-1788.
Define Anti-Federalists
Those persons who opposed the ratification of the Constitution in 1787-1788.
What did the Federalists believe?
The Articles of Confederation are too weak- Only a stronger national government can overcome the difficulties the Republic faces- Liberties that could be included in a bill of rights are covered in the State constitutions.
What did the Anti-Federalists believe?
The States would no longer have the power to print money- The national government would be given too much power- There should be a bill of rights.
Who were some of the Federalists?
Madison-John Marshall-Edmund Randolph MMR
How many of the 13 states needed to ratify the new Constitution in order for it to go into effect?
9 out of 13
How does a proposed amendment get approved?
The House & Senate can propose an amendment, ⅔ of each chamber must approve it and then ¾ of state legislatures must approve it or
