Unit 1.5 Ratification of the U.S. Constitution

Article 5 of the Constitution

Outlines the process for amending or changing the Constitution

Bicameral

A legislature consisting of two parts, or houses

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the Constitution

Constitutional Convention

Meeting in 1787 of the elected representatives of the thirteen original states to write the Constitution of the United States.

Electoral College

A group of people named by each state legislature to select the president and vice president

Great (Connecticut) Compromise

Plan to have a popularly elected House based on state population and a state-selected Senate, with two members for each state

New Jersey Plan

The proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called for equal representation of each state in Congress regardless of the state's population.

Ratification

Formal approval or consent

Three-Fifths Compromise

the agreement by which the number of each state's representatives in Congress would be based on a count of all the free people plus a fraction of the slaves

Virginia Plan

plan in which states got a number of representatives in Congress based on their population