Chapter 3 Reading Checks

According to the Preamble, what was the first goal of the U.S. Constitution?

"to form a more perfect Union"

How many senators are in the U.S. Senate?

100

How many states had to approve a change to the Articles of Confederation?

13

What article discusses Additions to the Constitution

Amendments

What article Discusses how states should interact with each other.

Article 4

What article discusses How to amend the Constitution

Article 5

What article discusses the Supreme Law of the Land?

Article 6

What article discusses How to Ratify the Constitution

Article 7

Which Article of the U.S. Constitution spells out the powers of Congress?

Article I

What article Creates the three branches of the U.S. government?

Articles 1-3

What was the document that created the first national government for the United States

Articles of Confederation

Why is the first national government of the United States called a confederation?

Because the states were relatively independent.

Amendments: What changes have been made to the _______________________?

Constitution

What is the statement of the ideals of liberty and natural rights, in response to the colonists' complaints against the British government, that inspired writers of new state constitutions

Declaration of Independence

What is the lists of rights in state constitutions can be traced back to this original historical document

English Bill of Rights

Who makes sure the laws are carried out and enforced.

Executive

(True or False?) According to the Preamble, it is the states that join together to establish the Constitution.

False

(True or False?) The Constitution gives Congress the power to coin and borrow money, which it had not had under the Articles of Confederation.

False

Who hears cases about the laws and decide what the laws mean.

Judicial

Who writes the bills that become laws.

Legislative

What was the law that set up government in the Northwest Territory in the Great Lakes region

Northwest Ordinance

What was the law that made plan for surveying the Northwest Territory in the Great Lakes region

Ordinance of 1785

Which of the following elected delegates refused to attend the Constitutional Convention?

Patrick Henry

Preamble: What does the Constitution do? What is the ______________ of the government?

Purpose

In addition to compromising on slavery, delegates from Northern and Southern states also compromised on the power of the government to

control trade.

Carry out a law

execute

Article II: How does the _________________ branch execute laws?

executive

Article VI: How does ________________ work? Which law is supreme?

federalism

System where the national government shares power with state governments

federalism

Rhode Island did not take part in the Constitutional Convention because ___________.

it was too difficult to travel to Philadelphia

Article III: How does the ________________ branch interpret the laws?

judicial

Article I: How does the _______________ branch create laws? What powers do the states have?

legislative

Introduce a new amendment

propose

The Federalists believed that a strong government would ___________.

protect property rights

Approve or pass an amendment

ratify

A representative form of government

republican

Which of these features is a major difference between the government created by the U.S. Constitution and the government created by the Articles of Confederation?

separate executive branch

Article IV: How should the ______________ get along with each other?

states

Article VII: What ___________ have to be taken to make the Constitution the law of the land?

steps

The Northwest Territory was bounded by....?

the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

The influence of Magna Carta on the leaders who wrote state constitutions is shown in

the inclusion of a list of rights

The smaller states were against the Virginia Plan because ___________.

they felt the federal government would ignore them

The Virginia Plan contained the main features of the federal government today, including

three separate branches.

To gain acceptance for the Constitution, the Federalists promised __________.

to enact a bill of rights

A major objection to the Constitution by the Anti-Federalists was

The lack of a bill of rights.

(True or False?) Article V of the Constitution spells out the two methods of formally amending the document.

True

(True or False?) The Framers made it easier to amend the Constitution than it had been to change the Articles of Confederation.

True

(True or False?)The government body that has the last word on the meaning of the U.S. Constitution is the U.S. Supreme Court.

True

What does the Constitution say is the 'supreme law of the land'?

U.S. or federal laws

Why did each state have to write a new constitution early in the American Revolution?

With independence, the old colonial charters would no longer apply.

An amendment proposed by Congress becomes part of the Constitution when it is ratified by

a supermajority of three-fourths of the state legislatures.

The Great Compromise proposed by the committee headed by Roger Sherman called for

a two-house Congress.

Article V: How can the Constitution be _________________, or changed?

amended

When President William Henry Harrison died, Vice President John Tyler took the oath of office to become president. This is an example of

an informal amendment.

Why did the Founders decide not to change the Articles of Confederation but to create a new form of government?

The Articles had created a weak government.

What was added to the Constitution that listed rights not already in the Constitution?

The Bill of Rights