Studied by 24 people
Athens
The birthplace of democracy
Cleisthenes
The person who introduced democracy in ancient Athens
Direct democracy
A form of democracy where people vote directly for laws. (Ancient Athens)
Representative democracy
A form of democracy where people vote for representatives who vote for laws. (US, Roman Republic)
Roman Republic
Birthplace of representative democracy. Had the 3 branches of govt, with 2 consuls making up the executive branch.
Democracy
People vote on issues directly, majority can directly overrule minority with no protections for the minority
Republic
Representatives are selected by voters to vote on issues. The constitution protects the minority.
Virginia Company charters
charters given to the VA Company of London by King James in 1606. Gave Jamestown settlers the same rights as Englishmen
Mayflower Compact
A document for self rule agreed upon by puritan settlers trying to establish self-governance in the New World.
Thomas Hobbes
An enlightenment thinker who thought that people were inherently bad and that a social contract was needed to keep them in line. Believed in absolute monarchy.
John Locke
An enlightenment thinker who believed in God-given rights. Thought that the govt’s job is to protect those rights, and if they aren’t doing that then it justified revolution.
Montesquieu
An enlightenment thinker who believed in separation of power, proposing a system of checks and balances.
Voltaire
An enlightenment thinker who wrote about many first amendment rights, such as freedom of speech, religious tolerance, and separation of church and state.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
An enlightenment thinker who thought that entering a social contract meant that people have to forfeit some natural rights. Believed in direct democracy, “we the people”
Magna Carta
An agreement between King John and his barons to limit his power. Established the rule of law, and ended absolute power.
English Petition of Right
An agreement between King Charles I and Parliament. It established many rights like trial by jury, no troops in homes, no false imprisonment, protection of private property. It also limited the King’s power by mandating that he consult parliament before creating taxes,
English Bill of Rights
An agreement between Parliament and William & Mary that guaranteed the rights to a fair trial, no cruel/unusual punishment, and created a constitutional monarchy in England.
Boycotts
Colonists responded to unfair taxation, a lack of representation and being denied fair trials through _________.
Declaration of Independence
The document that renounced England and said that the U.S. was an independent nation.
Thomas Jefferson
The author of the Declaration of Independence
27
The Declaration of Independence contained how many gradiences against the British?
Articles of Confederation
The first form of government in the U.S., which created a loose confederation of states. States had the vast majority of power, and they remained sovereign and independent.
No chief executive
A problem with the Articles of Confederation. There was no symbol for the country, and there was no one person to make decisions in crisis situations.
Laws needed 9/13 colonies votes to be approved
A problem with the Articles of Confederation. It resulted in nothing really being able to get national laws passed.
National govt couldn’t tax people
A problem with the Articles of Confederation. It resulted in the national government being underfunded. This power was exclusively given to states.
National govt couldn’t raise an army
A problem with the Articles of Confederation. The states didn’t want to send in men for a national army, so the country in whole was left mostly defenseless.
No federal court system
A problem with the Articles of Confederation. Resulted in any interstate cases not having a clear way to be handled. It also led to bias being created in cases between states.
Amendments had to be approved by all states
A problem with the Articles of Confederation. Resulted in amendments to the articles effectively not being able to be passed because it would take forever for every state to agree.
National govt couldn’t collect state debts
A problem with the Articles of Confederation. Resulted in the states being able to take money from the national govt and never having to repay it. It led to the national government being even more poor.
National govt couldn’t settle state disputes
A problem with the Articles of Confederation. Resulted in the states being able to do whatever they want, and many state conflicts going on for an extended period of time.
Legislative
Under the Articles of Confederation, there was only one branch. This branch was the ______ branch.
Shay’s Rebellion
A rebellion caused by Massachusetts farmers who were angry when high taxes caused them to loose their farms. They stormed a federal arsenal and were stopped by George Washington’s private militia. It caused people to realize that the national govt was too weak, and that the articles of confederation were flawed because the national govt was unable to raise a militia to fight it.
Constitutional convention
A meeting to consider amendments to the articles of confederation. Eventually, the framers decide to create an entirely knew constitution.
55
How many delegates were there at the constitutional convention?
George Washington
A VA delegate who was named the president of the constitutional convention. He wanted a strong government with authority.
James Madison
A VA delegate at the constitutional convention. He authored the Virginia plan and took a lot of notes.
George Mason
A VA delegate at the constitutional convention. He didn’t sign the constitution because of the lack of the bill of rights. He eventually influenced the creation of the bill of rights.
Roger Sherman
A Connecticut delegate at the constitutional convention. Proposed the Connecticut compromise, which helped to settle the issue of representation in congress.
William Patterson
A New Jersey delegate at the constitutional convention. Helped make the New Jersey Plan.
James Wilson
A Pennsylvania delegate at the constitutional convention. Argued for a single chief executive.
VA Plan
A plan for how representation in the legislature should be determined. It proposed having 2 houses of the legislature, with representation in both being based on a state’s population.
NJ Plan
A plan for how representation in the legislature should be determined. It proposed a unicameral legislature with equal representation for all states.
Connecticut compromise
The final solution for how representation would be determined in the legislature. There would be two houses of legislature, with the representation in one being based on population and the representation in the other being equal between the states.
Southern states
Wanted slaves to be counted as people when determining representation for congress as they had a large slave population.
Northern states
Did not want slaves to be counted as people when determining population as they had less slaves.
The 3/5ths compromise
A compromise between the north and the south on whether slaves should be counted when determining representation in the House of Representatives.
Electoral college
The compromise reached at the constitutional convention for how the president would be elected. One side wanted the common folk to vote, but the other side thought that they were too uneducated. This solution created electors, who would vote on behalf of the state for whatever the population had chosen.
Virginia Declaration of Rights
A Virginia document written by George Mason that said that the govt shouldn’t violate people’s natural rights. It inspired parts of the DOI and Bill of Rights.
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedoms
A precursor to the first amendment’s section on religious freedom. Written by Thomas Jefferson.
Federalists
One of the early political groups.
Wanted a big government.
Didn’t support a bill of rights
Favored division of power among different branches
Anti-Federalists
One of the early political groups.
Wanted more power for the states. Supported states’ rights.
Wanted the legislative to have more power than the executive branch
Feared a strong executive because they were scared of a tyrant
Wanted a bill of rights
The Federalist Papers
85 essays written by Hamilton, Madison nd Jay. Their purpose was to defend the constitution and gain support for it from the states to get it ratified.
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