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House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the first elected legislative assembly in the New World
established in the Colony of Virginia in 1619. Over time, the name came to represent the
entire official legislative body of the Colony of Virginia, and later, after the American
Revolution, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact is a written agreement composed by a consensus of the new
Settlers arriving at New Plymouth in November of 1620. They had traveled across the
ocean on the ship Mayflower which was anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor
near Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The Mayflower Compact was drawn up with fair and
equal laws, for the general good of the settlement and with the will of the majority. The
Mayflower’s passengers knew that the New World’s earlier settlers failed due to a lack of
government. They hashed out the content and eventually composed the Compact for the
sake of their own survival.
All 41 of the adult male members on the Mayflower signed the Compact. Being the first
written laws for the new land, the Compact determined authority within the settlement
and was the observed as such until 1691. This established that the colony (mostly
persecuted Separatists), was to be free of English law. It was devised to set up a
government from within themselves and was written by those to be governed
Pilgrims
Pilgrims is a name commonly applied to the early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in
present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts. Their leadership came from a religious
congregation who had fled a volatile political environment in the East Midlands of
England for the relative calm of the Netherlands to preserve their religion. This religion
was also based of Separatist beliefs. Concerned with losing their cultural identity, the
group later arranged with English investors to establish a new colony in North America.
The colonists faced a lengthy series of challenges, from bureaucracy, impatient investors
and internal conflicts to sabotage, storms, disease, and uncertain relations with the
indigenous people. The colony, established in 1620, became the second successful
English settlement in what was to become the United States of America, the first being
Jamestown, Virginia, which was founded in 1607. Their story has become a central
theme of the history and culture of the United States
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Puritans
A Puritan of 16th and 17th century England was any person seeking "purity" of worship
and doctrine, especially the parties that rejected the Reformation of the Church of
England, and those who justified separation from the Church of England following the
Elizabethan Religious Settlement are commonly called "Puritans" by historians and
critics. However only some Puritans were in favor of separating from the English Church,
which was currently under King James I. The Puritans that came to North America built
their first colony at Massachusetts Bay in order to build a community based on the Bible.
The French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the North American chapter of the Seven
Years' War. The name refers to the two main enemies of the British: the royal French
forces and the various American Indian forces.
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an act of direct action by the American colonists against Great
Britain in which they destroyed many crates of tea bricks on ships in Boston Harbor in
order to show protest against taxes. The incident, which took place on Thursday,
December 16, 1773, has been seen as helping to spark the American Revolution.
The First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a body of representatives appointed by the
legislatures of twelve North American colonies of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1774.
It met briefly then set up its successor, the Second Continental Congress, which
organized the Americans into war against Britain. The two bodies together comprise the
Continental Congress. The First Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia in 1774,
with 55 members representing all American colonies except Georgia.
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The Declaration of Independence
The United States Declaration of Independence was an act of the Second Continental
Congress, adopted on July 4, 1776, which declared that the Thirteen Colonies in North
America were "Free and Independent States" and that "all political connection between
them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved." The document,
formally entitled The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,[1]
explained the justifications for separation from the British crown, and was an expansion
of Richard Henry Lee's Resolution (passed by Congress on July 2), which first
proclaimed independence. An engrossed copy of the Declaration was signed by most of
the delegates on August 2 and is now on display in the National Archives and Records
Administration in Washington, D.C.
The Constitutional Convention
The Philadelphia Convention (now also known as the Constitutional Convention, the
Federal Convention, or the "Grand Convention at Philadelphia") took place from May 25
to September 17, 1787, to address problems in the United States of America following
independence from Great Britain. Although it was purportedly intended only to revise the
Articles of Confederation, the intention of many of the Convention's proponents, chief
among them James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, were from the outset to create a
new government rather than "fix" the existing one. The delegates elected George
Washington to preside over the convention. The result of the Convention was the United
States Constitution. The Convention is one of the central events in the history of the
United States.
Before the Constitution was drafted, the thirteen colonies operated under the Articles of
Confederation, created by the Second Continental Congress which eventually caused
deep divides between the states that the national government could not resolve.[1] On 21
January, 1786, the Virginia Legislature, following James Madison's recommendation,
invited all the states to discuss ways to reduce interstate conflicts in Annapolis,
Maryland.[1] At what came to be known as the Annapolis Convention, the few state
delegates in attendance endorsed a motion that called for all states to meet in Philadelphia
in May, 1787 to discuss ways to improve the Articles of Confederation in a "Grand
Convention."
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National Government Branches
The state is divided into branches or estates, and each estate of the state has separate and
independent powers and areas of responsibility. The normal division of estates is into the
Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial.
To prevent one branch from becoming supreme, and to induce the branches to cooperate,
governance systems employing a separation of powers typically are created with a system
of "checks and balances", a term which, like separation of powers itself, is specifically
credited to Montesquieu. Checks and balances refers to the various procedural rules that
allow one branch to limit another, such as the authority of the president to veto legislation
passed by Congress, or the power of Congress to alter the composition and jurisdiction of
the federal courts.
The Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of 828,000 square miles
(2,140,000 km²) of French territory in 1803. The cost was 60 million francs
($11,250,000) plus cancellation of debts worth 20 million francs ($3,750,000). Including
interest, the U.S. finally paid $23,213,568 for the Louisiana territory.[1] The land
purchased contained all of present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas,
Nebraska, parts of Minnesota that were south of the Mississippi River, most of North
Dakota, nearly all of South Dakota, northeastern New Mexico, northern Texas, the
portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide, and
Louisiana on both sides of the Mississippi River, including the city of New Orleans. (The
Oklahoma Panhandle, and southwestern portions of Kansas and Louisiana were still
claimed by Spain at the time of the Purchase.) In addition, the Purchase contained small
portions of land that would eventually become part of the Canadian provinces of Alberta
and Saskatchewan. The land included in the purchase comprises around 23% of the
territory of the United States today.[1] The purchase was an important moment in the
presidency of Thomas Jefferson. At the time, it faced domestic opposition as being
possibly unconstitutional. Although he felt that the US Constitution did not contain any
provisions for acquiring territory, Jefferson decided to purchase Louisiana because he felt
uneasy about France and Spain having the power to block American traders' access to the
port of New Orleans.
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Civil War
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a civil war between the United States of
America (the "Union") and the Southern slave states of the newly formed Confederate
States of America under Jefferson Davis. The Union included all of the free states and the
five slaveholding border states and was led by Abraham Lincoln and the Republican
Party. Republicans opposed the expansion of slavery into territories owned by the United
States, and their victory in the presidential election of 1860 resulted in seven Southern
states declaring their secession from the Union even before Lincoln took office.[1] The
Union rejected secession, regarding it as rebellion.
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two executive orders issued by United States
President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. The first one, issued on
September 22, 1862, declared the freedom of all slaves in any state of the Confederate
States of America as did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863, and the second
one, issued on January 1, 1863, enumerated the specific states where it applied.
President
Article Two of the Constitution sets the qualifications required to become president.
Presidents must be:



natural-born citizens
at least thirty-five years old
must have been resident in the United States for at least fourteen years
Citizens at the time of adoption of the Constitution were also eligible to become
president, provided they met the age and residency requirements. While not an official
requirement, the vast majority of presidents had prior experience as vice presidents,
members of Congress, governors, or generals; in addition, thirty-one of forty-two
presidents served in the military, all but one of them, James Buchanan, as an officer.
During the electoral process, experience or lack thereof is often given as a point in a
presidential candidate's campaign.
A President can hold office for up to 2 terms of 4 years each.
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Governor
A In the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state, not
directly subordinate to the federal authorities, but the political and ceremonial head of the
state. The governor thus heads a powerful executive branch in each state and, depending
on the state, may have considerable control over government budgeting, the power of
appointment of many officials (including many judges) and a considerable role in
legislation. The governor may also have additional roles, such as that of Commander-inChief of the state's National Guard (when not federalized), and in many states the
governor has partial or absolute power to commute or pardon a criminal sentence. U.S.
Governors serve four-year terms except those in New Hampshire and Vermont, who
serve two-year terms.
Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the
lower house being the House of Representatives. In the Senate, each state is represented
by two members. Membership is therefore based on the equal representation of each
state, regardless of population, for a total membership of 100. Senators serve six-year
terms that are staggered so elections are held for a third of the seats (a "class") every
second year.
US House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United
States Congress; the other is the Senate. Each state receives representation in the House
proportional to its population but is entitled to at least one representative; the most
populous state, California, currently has 53 representatives. The total number of
representatives is currently fixed at 435.[1] Each representative serves for a two-year term.
The presiding officer of the House is the Speaker, and is elected by the members.
Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United
States. It is bicameral, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of
Representatives. The legislators in both are members of Congress, though usually only a
representative is called a congressman, congresswoman, or congressperson. Both senators
and representatives are chosen through direct election.
Indiana
The State of Indiana is the 19th U.S. state and is located in the Midwestern region of the
United States of America. With about 6.3 million residents, it is ranked 14th in population
and 17th in population density.[2] Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and has 92 counties.
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