| A | B |
|---|
| John Locke | Enlightenment thinker who inspired America's Founding Fathers. |
| Thomas Jefferson | Father of the Declaration of Independence |
| Inalienable rights | Rights that can not be taken away |
| Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Tea Tax | All represenations of "taxation without representation" that angered the American colonists. |
| Boston Massacre | British troops open fire on American colonists after being provoked. |
| Common Sense | Written by Thomas Paine, this pamphlet encouraged colonists to rebel against England. |
| First Continental Congress | First attempt by the colonists to govern themselves. |
| Mayflower Compact | First attempt by American settlers to govern themselves. Signed on the ship but only by free men. |
| Articles of Confederation | First attempt by the new nation to govern themselves but it failed because there was no authority to control the states or tax. |
| Battle of Yorktwon | Last Battle of the American Revolution. The French came to the aid of the patriots and helped them win independence. |
| Egalitarianism | Belief in equal political, economic, social, and civil rights for all people. |
| Shay's Rebellion | Articles of Confederation big test. Would the central government be able to stand against rebelling citizens. No, it was too weak. Strong motivation to trash the articles and create the US Constitution. |
| James Madison | Father of the US constitution |
| checks and balances | Enlightenment ideal that stated that government power should not be in the hands of a few but rather in many hands that watched each other. |
| Federalism | Idea that a sucessful government would have a strong central governing body. |
| Ratificiation | Each state has a vote and if there is a majority of states who vote yes on a bill then it passes or is ratified. |
| Anti-federalist | hated the idea of a strong central government and wanted more state's power. |
| Bill of Rights | Added to the Constitution to protect individual liberties and to appease anti-federalists who feared the new nation was getting too power hungry. |
| Marbury v. Madison | Very important case that states that it is the courts that have the final say on whether something is constitutional or unconstitutional. |
| Judicial Review | From the case MArbury v. Madison. The power to determine if something is constitutuional or unconstitional is given to the courts. |
