Download Terms to know: 3rd 6 weeks

Terms to know: 3rd 6 weeks
1. Articles of Confederation: First American constitution, passed in 1777, which created a loose
alliance of 13 independent states.
2. Northwest Ordinance of 1787: Act which introduced a method for admitting areas within the
Northwest Territory into the Union as new states. Along with the Land Ordinance of 1785, these
acts prohibited slavery, encouraged free public education, and guaranteed both religious
freedom and trial by jury.
3. Critical Period: The time period between 1781 and 1787 where the new United States of
America was tested due to the weaknesses of the newly established Articles of Confederation.
4. Shay’s Rebellion: An uprising of poor farmers from Massachusetts, led by Daniel Shays, who
were angered by high state taxes, growing debt, and falling farm prices. Many of the protestors
were former soldiers from the Continental Army who were facing foreclosure and debtor’s
prison. Without a national army, the uprising spread to other states and drew attention to the
need for a stronger national government.
5. Constitutional Convention: Gathering of state representatives on May 25, 1787, to revise the
Articles of Confederation.
6. “Great Compromise”: Plan at the Constitutional Convention that solved the differences
between large and small states over representation. An agreement was reached that created a
legislature with two houses. The lower house, the House of Representatives, was elected by
popular vote with seats awarded based on population, whereas the upper house, the Senate,
would be chosen by state legislatures with each state having two seats regardless of population.
7. “Three-Fifths Compromise”: Agreement at the Constitutional Convention that three fifths of
slaves in any state be counted in its population. This agreement affected both representation
and taxation for each state.
8. Commerce Compromise: To settle the dispute of taxing trade goods, delegates agreed to
prohibit all taxes on exports and only tax imports. Also, delegates agreed to refrain from
regulating or limiting the slave trade for at least 20 years, or until 1808.
9. Republicanism: A democratic government chosen by the people. A republic describes a
government in which decisions are made by elected representatives rather than handed down
by a king.
10. Federalism: A principle of the United States Constitution that establishes the division of power
between the federal government and the states. This was developed to ensure that the federal
government would not become too strong.
11. Checks and Balances: A mechanism within the separation of powers that provides each of the
three branches ways to stop the other branches. With these protections in place, major action
cannot be taken by the federal government without a general agreement among the different
branches.
12. Popular Sovereignty: Principal in which the people hold supreme power and that powers of the
government come from the consent of the governed. The people exercise this power by
electing representatives to Congress and by indirectly electing the President.
13. Limited Government: A principal of the United States Constitution that states that government
has only the powers that the Constitution gives it.
14. Amendment: A change or addition to the text of the United States Constitution. To prevent
changes for unimportant reasons, the amendment process was made more difficult than passing
an ordinary law.
15. Ratification: Process in which the Constitutional Convention sent the Constitution to a special
convention within each state so that they could decide whether or not to approve it into law.
16. Federalists: Proponents of a stronger central government and in favor of adopting the
Constitution, also believing that the separation of powers would protect individual liberties.
17. Anti-Federalists: People who opposed the Constitution and a strong central government. They
believed that the Constitution gave too many rights to the central government over the states
and that without safeguards for the states, the federal government might undermine their rights
in the areas of slavery and taxation.
18. Federalist Papers: A series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James
Madison seeking to convince Americans that the new nation would not last if the proposed
constitution was not adopted.