Chapter 2: The Founding & The Constitution

In the debates over ratification, which label was given to those who thought the powers of the federal government should be "confined to certain defined national objects" so that it did not "swallow up all the power of the state governments"?

Antifederalists

The United States' first written constitution was called the

Articles of Confederation

What is the significance of the Bill of Rights?

It ensured certain rights and liberties to the people.

What did the New Jersey Plan propose for Congress?

Representation would be equal for each state.

A ________ is a system of government in which member states retain almost all of their sovereign authority and delegate limited powers to a weak central body.

confederation

Which of the following laws passed by the Congress of the Confederation compelled states to surrender their western land claims?

the Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Bicameralism is a constitutional principle that represents the division of

the legislature into two chambers

Colonial protesters of the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act rallied around which slogan?

"No taxation without representation"

________ defended the British soldiers who were involved in the Boston Massacre.

John Adams

Why did the delegates at the Philadelphia Convention turn down the idea of including a list of citizens' rights in the Constitution?

They believed that such a list would be unnecessary because the federal government was already limited to its expressed powers.

Procedures for amending the Constitution are found in Article

V

Daniel Shays was

a former army captain who led a rebellion against the Massachusetts government.

Compared with the Articles of Confederation, federalism under the Constitution meant

a greater centralization of power.

The Boston Massacre occurred when

a small number of colonists were killed by British soldiers outside the Town House in Boston.

New England merchants hoped to accomplish which of the following by supporting the radicals who staged the Boston Tea Party?

revocation of the Tea Act

Beginning in 1760, British tax and trade policies

undermined support for British rule among the colonial elite by threatening the economic interests of New England merchants and Southern planters.