| A | B |
|---|
| republic | a government in which the citizens rule through elected representatives |
| Articles of Confederation | a document outlinging the government of the new United States, adopted by the Second Continental Congress of 1777 and appproved by the states in 1781 |
| Shay's Rebellion | an uprising of debt-ridden farmers in Massachusettes protesting state taxes in 1787 |
| checks and balances | provisions in the US constution that prevent any branch of the US governemnt from dominating the other 2 branches |
| electoral college | a group selected by the states to elect the president and vice-president, in which each state's numbers of electors is equal to the number of its senators and representatives in Congress |
| federalist | supporter of the Constitution and a strong national government |
| anti-federalist | an opponent of a strong central government |
| Great Compromise | the constitutional conventions agreement to establish a two-house national legislature with all states having equal representation in one house and each state having representation based on its population in the other house |
| Three-Fifths Compromise | constitutional conventions agreement to count 3/5 of a state's slave population for purposes of representation and taxation |
| Slave Trade Compromise | Constitutional convention gave Congress the power to regulate trade but prevented it from interfering with slave trade for at lest 20 years |
| Bill of Rights | The first ten amendments to the US Constitution, added in 1791 and consisting of a formal list of citizen's rights and freedoms |
| James Madison | Leader of Virginia, wrote the Virginia Plan; known as "Father of the Constitution" because of his notetaking |
| Roger Serman | New England polititian, helped draft the Declaration of Independence and introduced a plan called the Great Compromise |
