Unit #3 Review Cards

Question 1

Articles of Confederation

Answer 1

Strengths:
passage did detail how public lands in the west were to be handled; bills needed 9/13 states to approve them; established a tax quote for each state (but couldn’t force them to pay it); a model of what a confederation could be; landmark in gov’t; important stepping stone towards a Constitution

Weaknesses:
needed to be ratified/voted on by all 13 states in order to amend them (making the process almost unusable); provided for a loose confederation; no executive branch; judicial branch was left to the states; each state had a single vote; Congress was purposely designed to be weak - no ability to regulate commerce or tax-collection

Question 2

large-state plan (Virginia Plan)

Answer 2

bicameral plan put forward by VA; each house in legislature will be based on population

Question 3

small-state plan (New Jersey Plan)

Answer 3

unicameral plan put forward by NJ; only one house in legislature, with equal representation

Question 4

Great Compromise

Answer 4

Constitutional Convention compromise where there are two houses in the legislature, one based on population and one with equal representation

Question 5

3/5 Compromise

Answer 5

Constitutional Convention compromise between the north and south in regards to how slaves would be counted towards population and for tax purposes

Question 6

Shays’ Rebellion

Answer 6

back country rebellion by indebted farmers; demanded that the Mass gov’t issue more paper money, halt property takeovers and lighten the tax burden and tried to use force the state gov’t to do these things - put down by state raised militia; events convinced many that a stronger central gov’t was needed

Question 7

Jay’s Treaty

Answer 7

treaty between Britain and US - disagreements in regards to British seizure of US ships in the West Indies and impressment of US sailors; British promise to evacuate forts in the NW (agreed to during the Treaty of Paris of 1783), Britain would pay damages for seizure of ships; US is still supposed to pay British merchants for damages before/during Revolution.

Question 8

Pinckney’s Treaty

Answer 8

treaty between US and Spain - Spain was concerned about a US/British alliance; gives US everything it wants, including right of deposit in New Orleans and free navigation along the Mississippi River, along with territory in western Florida

Question 9

Federalists

Answer 9

supported a strong central gov’t and the newly created Constitution; were mostly education, wealthier east coast citizens

Question 10

Anti-federalists

Answer 10

feared a strong central gov’t b/c the original Constitution did not include a Bill of Rights; were mostly frontier settlers with less education and $$ than Federalists

Question 11

Hamilton’s Economic Plan

Answer 11

central gov’t would assume state debts; believed that a small national debt would encourage the wealthy to support the new country and give us a good credit standing internationally; proposed to pay debt through tax revenue and tariffs and western land sales; included a plan for a National Bank and justified it through the necessary and proper clause of the Constitution; loose-interpretation of the Constitution

Question 12

Alien and Sedition Acts

Answer 12

designed to muffle anti-federalists; Alien Laws were aimed at newly arrived immigrants, it lengthened the amount of time you had to live in the country in order to gain citizenship; allowed the president to deport people in times of peace
Sedition Acts were aimed at anti-federalist newspaper owners (violating freedom of speech and freedom of the press) who criticized elected officials, including President Adams

Question 13

Marbury v. Madison

Answer 13

important court case involving “midnight judges”; established the precedent of judicial review, making the Supreme Court the final say on legality of the Constitution

Question 14

Louisiana Purchase

Answer 14

US was originally trying to purchase New Orleans from France; ended up buying Louisiana Territory for $15 million; Napoleon needed $$ to fight his wars in Europe and he was hoping to thwart the British from gaining control of it from Spain. He also wanted to prevent the US from creating stronger ties to the British

Question 15

Election of 1824

Answer 15

Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams and William Crawford are all candidates; Jackson wins the popular election, but not enough of the electoral vote; decision goes to the H of R (Clay is the Speaker of the House); Clay is out, Crawford has a stroke, decision comes down between Jackson and Adams; Clay encourages support of Adams, who is given the election and then makes Clay his Sec. of State (corrupt bargain)

Question 16

Missouri Compromise

Answer 16

MO was admitted as a slave state; ME was admitted as a free state (balance was kept); slavery would be prohibited in the Louisiana Territory above the 36 30’ line for all new states

Question 17

Tariff of 1816

Answer 17

First protective tariff; put in place to protect American industry from being overrun by European products

Question 18

spoils system

Answer 18

used as part of the political setup; jobs would be given to party supporters by the newly elected administration; allowed many corrupt and incompetent officials to gain important positions, especially in Jackson’s administration

Question 19

Nullification Crisis

Answer 19

over Tariff of 1828; incredible high protective tariff gets passed, negatively impacting the economy in the South; SC legislature votes to nullify the tariff; Force Bill of 1833 is issued, which states that the President can use the military against individual states to force the collection of tariffs; crisis lasted until the Tariff of 1833 was passed as a compromise.

Question 20

Trail of Tears

Answer 20

Forced removal of the Cherokee Indians off their land in GA; they attempted to assimilate themselves into US society by having a constitution, owning slaves, becoming plantation owners and having private property - around 100,000 were forced off their ancestral land and were forced to abandon sacred sites; many died in route to Indian Territory in OK.

Question 21

Bank Bill of 1832

Answer 21

Jackson’s veto of the bank recharter was a vast expansion of presidential power; Jackson felt the bank was unconstitutional and tyrannical, controlled by the wealthy and because he thought the bank president, Nicholas Biddle, had too much power and would try to manipulate the situation to force the Bank’s recharter.