| A | B |
|---|
| Constituitions | Written descriptions of the system of government the people wanted and of the powers that each part of the government was to have. |
| legislature | where proposed laws were to be debated and either passed or rejected |
| executive | was to carry out the laws and manage the day to day operations of the government |
| system of courts | where the laws would be enforced |
| Bills of Rights | lists of what the state governments could and could not do and liberties that the people could not be deprived of, also known as the first ten amendments of the Constitution |
| conservative | how some of the state constitutions were; less likely to encourage change |
| public servants | what the constitutions made government officials |
| Articles of Confederation | Put in writing the powers that the Continental Congress was already exercising, stressed the independence of separate states, proved that each state should have but one vote in Congress |
| ratify | to approve |
| Peace of Paris | Also known as the Treaty of Paris, said that the British would remove all their armies from America, and that the colonists would stop seizing land from British Loyalists. |
| Land Ordinance of 1785 | established a method of selling land. Unsettled regions were to be surveyed into 6 mile squares. |
| Township | a six mile square, would be subdivided into 36 sections |
| Land Ordinance of 1787 | also known as the Northwest Ordinance, was a plan to govern the lands bounded by the Ohio and Mississpi Rivers and the great lakes while they were growing from territories to statehood. |
| territories | ruled by a governor, a secretary, and three judges. When 5,000 men of voting age had settled in it, it could elect a local legislature and a nonvoting delegate to represent their interessts in congress |
| republican | the power of the government must lie in representatives elected by the people |
| depression | a brief economic downturn |
| tariffs | taxes on imports |
| Continental dollars | paper money printed to pay off debts owed by Congress |
| hard money | gold and silver coins |
| inflation | happens when prices rise because the amount of dollars in people's pockets is increased without an increase in the amount of goods available for sale |
| unconstitutional | when a law violates the Constitution |
| Shays' Rebellion | caused by Massachusettes raising taxes to pay off the large state debt |
| Constitutional Convention | The meeting to revise the Articles of Confederation |
| national government | a "complete and compusive" authority, able to enofrce its laws directly on the people |
| Preamble | the first sentence of the constitution |
| nationalism | a feeling a national pride |
| federalism | a system of shared powers |
| Virginia Plan | provided for a government of three separate branches and for representation by population |
| New Jersey Plan | left all power in Congress and continued the one state, one vote system |
| president | headed the executive branch |
| Congress | the legislative branch, with two chambers |
| Senate, House of Representatives | the two chambers of the legislative branch |
| national judiciary | a system of courts |
| Supreme Court | included in the national judiciary |
| Great Compromise | Members of the House of Representatives would be elected on the basis of population, but each state would have two seats in the Senate |
| 3/5th's Compromise | determined how slaves were counted in the population of a state |
| electors | would meet to vote for the president |
| advice and consent | what the Senate must give to major appointments of the president |
| district and appellate courts | the two kinds of lower federal courts |
| checks and balances | system that tried to prevent misuse by dividing the power among many people and instituitons |
| veto | to reject a law |
| override | what Congress can do to a veto |
| impeachment | what happens to the president if he commits a serious crime |
| ratifying conventions | where the decicion the approve or reject something |
| Federalists | supporters of the Constitution |
| Anti-Federalists | people who opposed the constitution |
| Federalists Papers | also known as the Connecticut Compromise. Written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, explained the Constitution |
