quiz oct 20th

what happened to the loyalists after the revolution war?

tens of thousands of them fled the United States

how did voting rights (suffrage) expand after the revolution?

states started lowering property-ownership requirements to vote

what was the geographic split regarding anti-slavery laws after the war?

North: passed immediate or gradual emancipation (freedom) law (phased it out)

Old northwest: slavery was completely banned by national ordinance

why didn’t the founders immediately ban slavery nationwide?

they assumed it would die out gradually & feared that forcing the issue would fracture the fragile new nation

what did Benjamin Franklin call slavery in his 1789 public address?

an “atrocious debasement of human nature”

what type of government did the Articles of confederation create?

a loose alliance of independent states where the national government had no real coercive power

name three massive weakness of articles of confederation government

1)no president/executive branch 2) No national court system 3) No power to tax or regulate trade

what was the greatest policy achievement under the articles of confederation?

the northwest ordinance of 1787 (set rules for admitting new states and explicitly banned slavery there)

what was shay’s rebellion and what did it prove ?

poor Massachusetts farmers shut down courts to stop foreclosures. It proved the government was sliding into anarchy and triggered calls for a new constitution

how did the great compromise settle the debate between large and small states?

it created a bicameral (two-house) legislature:

-house of representatives: votes based on population (Virginia plan)

-senate: equal votes for every state (New Jersey plan)

what was the Three-Fifths (3/5) compromise ?

an agreement to count 3/5 of slave population for a state’s representation and taxation

define federalism under the U.S. Constitution

national & state government share power, but the federal constitution is the “supreme law of the land”

why did the founders design protections against “absolute democracy”?

they feared a tyranny of the majority over the minority. Only the house of representatives was directly elected by the voters

who were the federalist and what was their key book of essays?

supporters of the constitution who wanted a strong national government. Key text: The federalist papers

who were the Anti-Federalists and what was their primary text?

opponents of the constitution who favored local/state power. Key text: Brutus No.1

what was the anti-federalist primary complaint about the constitution, and how was It fixed ?

it had no bill of rights. fixed when federalist promised to add one immediately after ratification to protect liberties

define “loose construction” vs “strict construction” of the constitution

• loose (Hamilton): government powers can be interpreted broadly using the “necessary and proper” clause

• strict (Jefferson): government only has the exact powers explicitly written in the constitution

what were the main parts of the Hamiltonian economic program ?

creating the bank of the United States (BUS), a national debt, and tariffs/subsidies to favor industrial manufacturing

what was Thomas Jefferson’s vision for the american republic ?

an agricultural Republic of small farms with minimal government; he fiercely opposed national banks and manufacturing centers

what did the federal response to the whisky rebellion (1794) prove?

Washington used a massive show of federal military force to show that armed rebellion was no longer acceptable under the new constitution