| A | B |
|---|
| Constitution | This is a written part of government. |
| legislative branch | This branch of government makes the laws. |
| Congress | This group is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. |
| executive branch | This branch of government enforces the laws. |
| President | The person who is in charge of the executive branch has this title. |
| judicial branch | This branch of government interprets the laws and punishes lawbreakers. |
| Supreme Court and other federal courts | These groups make up the judicial branch. |
| Confederation | This is the name given to the union of states. |
| Articles of Confederation | This is the first American constitution. It was the written plan for the union of the states. |
| convention | This is a formal meeting of people who share a common interest or purpose. |
| population | This term refers to the total number of people in an area. |
| compromise | This is a settlement of differences reached when each side gives way a little in its demands. |
| House of Representatives | This is the group of Congress that has representation from each state according to the state's population. |
| Senate | This is the group of Congress that is made up of two members from each state. |
| elector | This is a person chosen by a state to cast one vote in a presidential election. |
| federal system | This is a system of government in which separate states are united under a strong central government. |
| ratify | This term means to make legal by officially approving. |
| legislature | This is a body of representatives elected to make the laws. |
| economic depression | This is a period when business activity slows, prices and wages fall, and unemployment rises. |
| Great Compromise | The compromise that settled the disagreement between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. |
| Great Compromise | This compromise settled the debate over the numbers of representatives for each state. |
| Three-Fifths Compromise | This compromise settled how slaves would be counted in the population count to determine the numbers of representatives for each state. |
| Federalists | These people were supporters of the Constitution. |
| Antifederalists | These people were opposed to the Constitution. |
| Bill of Rights | These are the first ten amendments to the Constitution. |
| amendment | This term means change. |
| separation of powers | This term refers to the government being divided into three branches. |
| Albany Plan of Union | This council was elected to make treaties with Indian tribes, build forts, and raise armies to protect the colonies. |
| "The Federalist" | This was composed of 85 articles written by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton, which gave a clear explanation of the Constitution and presented strong arguments for ratifying it. |
| George Washington | He was the chairmen or president of the Constitutional Convention and a Federalist. |
| James Madison | He cowrote "The Federalist." His careful notes about the Constitutional Convention, and his ideas were responsible for many of the Constitution's principles earning him the title "Father of the Constitution." |
| Benjamin Franklin | His humor was important to the success of the Constitutional Convention because it helped the people to control their tempers. He was a Federalist. |
| Patrick Henry | He refused to attend the Constitutional Convention. He was an Antifederalist who fought against ratification of the Constitution in his state of Virginia. |
| federal government | This is the central government under which states with power to control their local affairs are united in a federal system of government. |
| Shays' Rebellion | This was a series of confrontations between farmers who were in debt to the state because theyv couldn't pay their taxes, and the MAssachusetts state government authorities. |
| Virginia Plan | This plan said that the number of representatives for each state would be decided by the state's population. |
| Virginia Plan | This plan would benefit the large states for power in the legislature. |
| New Jersey Plan | This plan said that every state would have the same number of representatives. |
| New Jersey Plan | This plan would benefit the small states for power in the legislature. |
| Founding Fathers | This term refers to the delegates of the Constitutional Convention. |
| checks and balances | This system was developed to prevent any branch from misusing its powers. |
| separation of powers | This system was developed to prevent any branch of government from becoming too powerful. |
| impeach | In order to keep the executive branch from becoming too stron, Congress has the power to __________________ the President, or bring him to trial for misconduct in office. |
| Virginia and New York | The Constitution was approved, but these two important states had not ratified it. This caused problems because one state was the largest and the other would divide the nation. |
| Electoral College | The president is not elected directly by the people. Each state chooses qualified voters who form the __________________. |
| Bill of Rights | The Antifederalists feared the loss of individual freedoms. The result was that the ____________was added to the Constitution. |
| strong central government | The Antifederalists didn't want the states to lose too much power. They feared a ___________________. |
| strong central government | The Federalists wanted the central government to be a ________________. |
| not working | Shays' Rebellion proved that the ASrticles of Confederation were __________________. |
| feared the large states would outvote them in Congress and get what they wanted | The small states objected to the Virginia plan because they ____________________. |
