OpenStax US History Ch. 7 Review Questions & Terms

What were the primary causes of Shays' Rebellion?

-Farmers w/ Daniel Shay in west MA rebelled against unresponsive gov. -Veterans of Revolutionary War faced high taxes and debts -Didn't feel as if they had a voice in gov. -Wanted their debts to be forgiven -Wanted MA constitution to be rewritten

How would you characterize Thomas Jefferson's ideas on race and slavery?

-In Short: Contradictory -Although he owned hundreds of slaves throughout his life, and even had children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, he opposed slavery. -Thought that Africans should be returned to Africa, as they couldn't live with whites without a race war

Monarchy

A form of government with a monarch at its head

Majority Rule

A fundamental principle of democracy, providing that the majority should have the power to make decisions binding upon the whole

Democracy

A system of government in which the majority rules

Connecticut Compromise

Also known as the Great Compromise, Roger Sherman's proposal at the Constitutional Convention for a bicameral legislature, with the upper house having equal representation for all states and the lower house having proportional representation

How was the U.S. Constitution ratified?

By each state at special ratifying conventions

What defined republicanism as a social philosophy?

Citizenship in a republic meant accepting certain rights and responsibilities, and cultivating virtuous behavior. It was based on the notion that success or failure of the republic depended on virtue or corruption of citizens.

Which plan resolved the issue of representation for the U.S. Constitution?

Connecticut Compromise

Unicameral

Having a single house (of legislative government)

Bicameral

Having two legislative houses, an upper and a lower house

Which state had the most democratic constitution in the 1780s?

Pennsylvania

Proportional Representation

Representation that gives more populous states greater political power by allowing them more representatives

Radical Whigs

Revolutionaries who favored broadening participation in the political process

Explain the argument that led to the three-fifths rule and the consequences of that rule.

South slaveholders wanted slaves to count towards representation, but North thought that it would give South too much power. So they decided on 3/5ths of the slave population as counted, but it still gave the South the balance of political power.

Three-Fifths Compromise

The agreement at the Constitutional Convention that each slave would count as three-fifths of a person for purposes of representation

Manumission

The freeing of a slave by his or her owner

Coverture

The legal status of married women in the United States, which included complete legal and economic dependence on husbands

Electoral College

The mechanism by which electors, based on the number of representatives from each state, choose the president

Conservative Whigs

The politically and economically elite revolutionary class that wanted to limit political participation to a few powerful families

Checks and Balances

The system that ensures a balance of power among the branches of government

Anti-Federalists

Those who opposed the 1787 Constitution and favored stronger individual states

Federalists

Those who supported the 1787 Constitution and a strong central government; these advocates of the new national government formed the ruling political party in the 1790s

Which state had the clearest separation of church and state?

Virginia

To what form of government did the American revolutionaries turn after the war for independence? a. republicanism b. monarchy c. democracy d. oligarchy

a

Which of the following figures did not actively challenge the status of women in the early American republic? a. Abigail Adams b. Phillis Wheatley c. Mercy Otis Warren d. Judith Sargent Murray

b

Which of the following was not one of Franklin's thirteen virtues? a. sincerity b. temperance c. mercy d. tranquility

c

Under the Articles of Confederation, what power did the national Confederation Congress have? a. the power to tax b. the power to enforce foreign treaties c. the power to enforce commercial trade agreements d. the power to create land ordinances

d