US Gov: Topic 2
Which of the basic concepts expressed below is an underlying principle of the Federal Government created by the U.S. Constitution?
"The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom." —John Locke
Samuel Adams
A Founding Father; leader in Boston politics through his writing; delegate to the First and Second Continental congresses and helped draft the Declaration of Rights.
Baron (Charles) de Montesquieu
A French political philosopher of the Enlightenment whose major work, The Spirit of Laws, was a major contribution to political theory--separation of powers.
Charter
A city's basic law, its constitution; a written grant of authority from the king.
Popular sovereignty
A government that exists only with the consent of the governed.
George Calvert, Lord Baltimore
A member of Parliament who founded Maryland as a haven for Catholics, Calvert (1578 or 1579-1632) came to North America in 1628 but was not accepted due to his religion. He returned to England and requested a royal charter to establish a colony where he could practice his religion. The charter was granted in 1632, shortly after his death to his son Cecil.
Albany Plan of Union
A plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 for cooperation among the thirteen colonies but was never adopted.
Later used for the creation and approval of the U.S. Constitution, what process for constitution-making did Massachusetts establish?
A popularly elected convention wrote a constitution and then submitted it to voters for approval.
What is the charter to which Paine refers?
A set of laws that would govern the independent colonies.
Import Duty
A tax on imports.
Benjamin Franklin
An American author, inventor, diplomat, and legislator; proposed the Albany Plan of Union that foresaw the benefits of colonial unity; signed the Declaration of Independence and helped frame the Constitution.
William Penn
An English Quaker leader who advocated for religious freedom, Penn (1644-1718) came to North America in 1682 and established the colony of Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers and other religious minorities.
Bicameral
An adjective describing a legislative body composed of two chambers.
Three-Fifths Compromise
An agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention that three-fifths of the slave population would be added into the population of a State for representation in Congress.
Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise
An agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention to protect slaveholders; it denied Congress the power to tax the export of goods from any State and, for twenty years, denied Congress the power to act on the slave trade.
Connecticut Compromise
An agreement reached during the Constitutional Convention that Congress should be composed of a Senate, in which each State would be represented equally, and a House, in which each State would be represented based on the State's population.
Veto
Chief executive's power to reject a bill passed by a legislature; literally (Latin) "I forbid."
Full Faith and Credit
Clause requiring that each State accept the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State.
The Glorious Revolution
Events that led to Parliament in 1688 inviting William and Mary of Orange to peacefully replace King James II on condition that they recognize the authority of Parliament and the rights of individuals; with the signing of the Bill of Rights, the Glorious Revolution helped calm the centuries-long struggle for supremacy between the monarchy and Parliament in England.
How did the voting procedure for the Constitutional Convention reflect the democratic ideal of majority rule and minority rights?
Every State had one vote and if the majority favored a motion, it would pass.
Quorum
Fewest number of members who must be present for a legislative body to conduct business; majority.
Ratification
Formal approval or final consent to the effectiveness of a constitution, constitutional amendment, or treaty.
George Mason
Framed Virginia's Declaration of Rights, which served as a model for Jefferson in writing the Declaration of Independence and was the basis for the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights; influential speaker at the Constitutional Convention; worked to have the Bill of Rights and the 11th Amendment incorporated into the Constitution.
George 11
George II (1683-1760) was king of Great Britain from 1727 to 1760. The colony of Georgia was named in his honor after he signed a charter granting the colony to its twenty trustees in 1732. King George thought the colony would be an important buffer between the Spanish-controlled lands to the south and the other English colonies to the north.
In the above passage Paine explains why Britain cannot continue to
Govern the American colonies.
Limited Government
Government is restricted in what it may do and every individual has certain rights government cannot take away.
The concept of limited government holds that
Government power should be restricted.
Representative Government
Government should serve the will of the people and people should have a voice in deciding what government should and should not do.
Framers
Group of delegates who drafted the United States Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787.
Magna Carta
Guarantees of such fundamental rights as trial by jury and due process of law (protection against the arbitrary taking of life, liberty, or property).
Unicameral
Having one house
Petition of Rights
In 1628, when Charles I asked Parliament for more money in taxes, Parliament refused until he agreed to sign the Petition of Right.
The Glorious Revolution
In 1689, after years of revolt and turmoil, Parliament offered the crown to William and Mary of Orange. The events surrounding their ascent to the throne are known as the Glorious Revolution.
What role did the Second Continental Congress fulfill?
It acted as the governing body of the thirteen colonies.
What was the significance of the Petition of Right?
It limited the King's power.
Which of the following was NOT a right guaranteed by the English Bill of Rights?
It provided protection against heavy-handed and arbitrary acts by the king.
What was significant about the Stamp Act Congress?
It was the first time that several colonies met to oppose British policies.
Which of these political leaders contributed MOST significantly to the framing of the U.S. Constitution?
James Madison
John Adams
Lawyer in Massachusetts, legislator, diplomat, and second U.S. President; defended British military officers in the Boston Massacre out of a sense of fairness; became a leading advocate of American independence at the First and Second Continental Congresses; principal author of the Massachusetts State constitution; helped negotiate a peace treaty with Great Britain after the Revolutionary War, attained diplomatic recognition of the new United States, and structured free trade with all nations.
John Jay
New York lawyer; president of the Second Continental Congress, diplomat; first Chief Justice of the United States, and governor of New York; helped negotiate and enforce liberal terms for peace with Great Britain and served as first Secretary for Foreign Affairs before George Washington appointed him first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Proprietary
Organized by a proprietor (a person to whom the king had made a grant of land).
Which event from English history between 1628 and 1690 most directly influenced later American political ideas and traditions?
Parliament acted to limit the power of the monarch and guarantee certain rights to the people.
Which of the following led to the meeting of the First Continental Congress?
Parliament had passed the Intolerable Acts.
Which event led MOST DIRECTLY to the calling of the First Continental Congress?
Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts.
Which statement BEST describes the reason for growing tensions between Great Britain and the colonies in the years after King George III took the throne?
Parliament raised taxes and restricted trade without consulting colonial legislatures.
Delegate
People with authority to represent others at a conference or convention.
James Wilson
Pivotal position of influence in the Constitutional Convention. His essay, Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament, circulated among the other delegates; proposed the idea that the British government had no authority to govern the colonies.
Articles of Confederation
Plan of government adopted by the Continental Congress after the American Revolution; established "a firm league of friendship" among the States but allowed few important powers to the Federal Government.
Virginia Plan
Plan presented at the Constitutional Convention that called for a three-branch government with a bicameral legislature in which each State's membership would be determined by its population or its financial support for the Federal Government.
New Jersey Plan
Plan that was presented as an alternative to the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention; called for a unicameral legislature in which each State would be equally represented.
Jean Jacques Rousseau
The Social Contract, expresses his idea that humans are essentially free, but the progress of civilization has substituted subservience and dependence to others for that freedom.
Which of these statements BEST describes the viewpoint of Anti-Federalists regarding the ratification of the proposed Constitution?
The document should not be ratified, because it fails to secure basic rights for the individual, which were the essential principles of the Declaration of Independence.
How did the government of the charter colonies differ from those of the royal and proprietary colonies?
The governors were elected by male property owners, and laws made by their bicameral legislatures were not subject to the governor's veto.
Which of the following is one factor that led to the signing of the Magna Carta?
The heavy taxes imposed by King John.
Confederation
The joining of several groups for a common purpose.
On which of the following points did the Virginia and New Jersey plans AGREE?
The new government should have three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.
Which of the following features in the Constitution BEST illustrates the concept of limited government?
The prohibition against the Federal Government taxing the exports of any State.
Why was Congress forbidden to act on the slave trade for at least twenty years?
The southern States demanded this concession in exchange for their agreement to the commerce power.
The Anti-Federalists focused their arguments against ratification of the Constitution on what main point?
There was no constitutional provision for a bill of rights.
Certain colonies, such as Virginia and Massachusetts, had their original charter revoked. What was the result of the king revoking the charters?
They became royal colonies and were under direct control of the Crown.
Anti-Federalists
Those persons who opposed the ratification of the Constitution in 1787-1788.
Federalists
Those persons who supported the ratification of the Constitution in 1787-1788.
Why does Jefferson list all of the grievances which he does in the Declaration of Independence?
To show that they (the colonies) are justified in declaring independence.
Roger Sherman
Connecticut lawyer and judge; early supporter of American independence; attended the First and Second Continental congresses and also helped draft the Articles of Confederation; at the Constitutional Convention, he proposed what became known as the Connecticut Compromise, which created a House of Representatives chosen by population and a Senate with the same number of representatives from each State.
Why did the First Continental Congress call for a Second Continental Congress before adjourning?
Delegates wanted time to see if the Declaration of Rights and the boycott of British goods would change British policy.
Due Process
Doctrine that holds that the government must act fairly and in accord with established rules in all that it does.
Petition of Rights
Document prepared by Parliament and signed by King Charles I of England in 1628; challenged the idea of the divine right of kings and declared that even the monarch was subject to the laws of the land.
The English Bill of Rights
Document written by Parliament and agreed to by William and Mary of England in 1689, designed to prevent abuse of power by English monarchs; forms the basis for much in American government and politics today. It prohibited a standing army in peacetime, except with the consent of Parliament, and required that all parliamentary elections be free that the pretended power of suspending the laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, without consent of Parliament is illegal . . . that levying money for or to the use of the Crown . . . without grant of Parliament . . . is illegal . . . that it is the right of the subjects to petition the king . . . and that prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal . . . —English Bill of Rights The English Bill of Rights also included such guarantees as the right to a fair trial, as well as freedom from excessive bail and from cruel and unusual punishment.
Thomas Jefferson
Draftsman of the Declaration of Independence.
How were the members of the lower house of the legislature in the royal colonies chosen?
Elected by property owners qualified to vote.
Which of the following helped lead to growing self-government in the colonies?
England was far away and travel and communication were slow.
William Blackstone
English judge who wrote the Commentaries on the Laws of England, a series of four books that had a profound influence on the writers of America's Declaration of Independence and Constitution; an important Enlightenment figure who believed in protecting the rights of the innocent, and in basing judgements on common law—that is, on previous decisions about similar issues.
John Locke
English philosopher whose theories about the natural rights of man, the social contract, the separation of church and state, religious freedom, and liberty influenced the American and French revolutions.
Which of the following correctly describes the differences between royal and proprietary colonies?
Royal: governor and his council named by the king; proprietary: governor appointed by the proprietor.
Shays Rebellion
Series of confrontations between debtor farmers and State government authorities in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787.
Once the delegates had agreed to declare independence from Great Britain, which of the following issues did they vigorously debate?
Should the Declaration condemn the slave trade?
King John
Signed the Magna Carta.
Jamestown
Significance of America lay in the possibility that a man could choose, pursue, and realize his own destiny-it lay in a new ideal of individual liberty.
Daniel Shays
Struggled with debts in the severe post-war recession and emerged as a local leader in the movement protesting high taxes and a lack of debt relief.
George Washington
Surveyor, farmer, colonel in the French and Indian War, commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, and the first U.S. President; also one of the first leading Virginians to support independence; elected at the Second Continental Congress to lead the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War.
Many of the colonists believed that people have the right to resist an unfair, or illegitimate, government. Which of the following actions BEST reflects this belief?
The Boston Tea Party protest against British policies.
Which of these compromises directly impacted the establishment of a two-house legislature in the U.S. Constitution?
The Connecticut Compromise.
