| A | B |
|---|
| Magna Carta | King was subject to law. |
| English Bill of Rights | Kept the king or queen from passing new taxes without Parliaments consent. |
| constitution | a set of basic principles and laws that states the powers and duties of the government. |
| Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom | Document declared that no person could be forced to attend a particular church or be requied to pay for a church with tax money. |
| suffrage | the right to vote |
| Articles of Confederation | the document that created the first central government for the United States; was replace by the Constitution in 1789. |
| Ratification | official approval |
| Land Ordinance of 1785 | Set up a system for surveying and dividing western lands. |
| Northwest Ordinance of 1787 | Legislation passed by Congress to establish a political structure for the Northwest Territory and create a system for the admission of new states. |
| Northwest Territory | Included areas that are now Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. |
| tariffs | taxes paid on imports |
| interstate commerce | trade between two or more states |
| inflation | occurs when there are increased prices for goods and services combined with the reduced value of money. |
| depression | A period of low economic activity combined with a rise in unemployment. |
| Daniel Shays | Poor farmer and Revolutionary War veteran who led 100s of men in a forced shutdown of the Supreme Court in Springfield, Massachusetts. |
| Shay's Rebellion | The uprising of farmers to protest high taxes and heavy debt |
| Constitutional Convention | held in May of 1787 in Philadelphia's Independence Hall to improve the Articles of Confederation. |
| James Madison | Delegate at the Consitiutional Convention. |
| Virginia Plan | the plan for government proposed at the Constitutional Convention in which the natioanl government would have supreme power and a legislative branch would have two houses with representation determined by state population. |
| New Jersey Plan | Called for a unicameral, or one house, legislative. The plan gave each state an equal voice, the federal goverment. |
| Great Compromise | an agreement worked out at the Constitutional Convention establishing that a state's population would determine representation in the lower house of the legislature, while each state would have equal representation in the upper house of the legislature. |
| Three-Fifths Compromise | Only three-fifths fo a state's slave population would count when determinig representation. |
| popular sovereignty | The idea that political authority belogs to the people. |
| Federalism | the sharing of power between a central government and the states that make up a country. |
| Legislative Branch | Responsible for proposing and passing laws. |
| Executive Branch | includes the president and the departments that help run the government and makes sure laws are carried out. |
| Judicial Branch | Made up of all the national courts and is responsible for interpreting laws, punishing criminals, and settling disputes between states. |
| check and balances | keeps any branch of government from becoming to powerful. |
| Antifederalists | people who opposed the Constitution |
| Federalists | Supported the Constitution |
| Federalist Papers | Essays supporting the Constitution were written anonymously under the name Publius. |
| amendments | official changes |
| Bill of Rights | 10 of the proposed amendments intended to protect citizens' rights. |
| controversial | subject to debate |
| ordinance | official rule or law |
| creditors | people who lend money |
| debtors | people who owe money |
| bicameral | made up of two houses |
| federal | national |
| advocate | a plea in favor of. |
