| A | B |
|---|
| suffrage | voting rights |
| republic | type of government in which the head of state is elected and the people hold the political power |
| ratification | formal approval |
| Confederation Congress | national legislature under the Articles of Confederation |
| Articles of Confederation | document that created a central government with limited powers |
| tariffs | taxes on imports and exports |
| Constitutional Convention | convention in which delegates discussed revising the Articles of Confederation |
| Land Ordinance of 1785 | document that divided the land ceded by Virginia |
| Northwest Ordinance of 1787 | established a political structure for the Northwest region |
| creditors | people who lend money |
| debtors | people who owe money |
| constitution | set of basic principles and laws that determine the powers and duties of the government |
| Virginia Plan | proposal that favored the larger states by basing all representation on population |
| 9 | number os states that had to ratify the Constitution for it to go into effect |
| US Constitution | oldest functioning written constitution in the world |
| amendments | official changes, corrections or additions |
| Three - Fifths Compromise | compromise that 3 out of 5 slaves would be counted towards representation in the lower house |
| federalism | distribution of governmental power between a central authority and the states or provinces that make up the nation |
| checks and balances | a system to prevent any branch of government from becoming too powerful |
| Antifederalists | people who opposed the Constitution |
| Federalists | believed that the Constitution provided a good balance of power |
| Federalist Papers | essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay defending the Constitution |
| Bill of Rights | 1st ten amendments to the Constitution |
| Antifederalists | wanted a bill of rights added to the Constitution |
| Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights | documents that limited the powers of monarchs |
| interstate commerce | trade conducted between two or more states |
| James Madison | asked the Congress to put together a bill of rights |
| all 13 | number of states that had to ratify the Articles of Confederatin before the new government could take effect |
| 60,000 | number of free inhabitants needed in a region of the Northwest Territory in order to become a state |
| Federalists | group of people that were comprised mainly of wealthy planters, farmers, merchants and lawyers |
| Antifederalists | group of people that were comprised mainly of small farmers and debtors |
| Constitution did not adequately protect individual rights | reason for adding the Bill of Rights |
| 3/5, Great Compromise, slavery would not be banned for 20 years | 3 compromises that were agreed upon at the Constitutional Convention |
| inflation | result of individual states issuing too much paper money |
| slavery, slave | words left out of constitution by the delegates |
| natural rights | fundamental rights such as religious liberty and equality |
| Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. | legislation that gave people in Virginia freedom of worship and freedom to speak their opinions about religion |
| Northwest Territory | a vast region that included present-day Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin |
| depression | steep drop in economic activity |
| Shay's Rebellion | uprising of Massachusett's farmers lead by Daniel Shays to protest high taxes, heavy debt, and farm foreclosures |
| New Jersey Plan | proposal to create a unicameral or one-house government |
| Great Compromise | 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 |
| exeutive branch | branch that carries out the laws |
| judicial | branch of the federal government that is made up of the national courts; interprets laws, punishes criminals and settles disputes between states |
| legislative | branch of government that proposes bills and passes them into laws |
| Spain | country whose officials closed the Mississippi River to US shipping in 1784 |
| George Washington | President of the Constitutional Convention |
| United States imported more than 5 times the amount of goods from Britain as it exported to Britain | reason the US have a trade imbalance with Great Britain |
| They believed that the Constitution provided a good balance of power and reflected a compromise between different political opinions. | reason Federalists thought the Constitution didn't need a Bill of Rights |
| Representation was based on population | reason the smaller states objected to the Virginia Plan |
| secession | What the South threatened if slave trade was immediately ended |
| After they had at least 60,000 free inhabitants, they could draft their own constitution and petition Congress to be admitted as a state | procedures the territories in the Northwest Territory had to go through to become states |
