Chapter 2 - The Constitution

Covers Chapter 2 of American Government 16th Edition by James Wilson, John DeIulio, Meena Bose, and Matthew Levendusky.

What was the 3/5th Compromise?

A compromise made during the Constitutional Convention where slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person for districting in the House of Representatives

Amending the Constitution Process

Way #1: 2/3 vote by the House and Senate, followed by 3/4 vote of State Legislatures (38 states). Way #2: Constitutional Convention called by 2/3 state legislature, followed by 3/4 vote of State Legislatures

What is an amendment?

A new provision in the Constitution that has been ratified by states

Anti-Federalists

Those who favor a weaker national government

What were the Articles of Confederation?

A weak constitution that governed America during the Revolutionary War.

What does it mean for something to be bicameral?

Two house legislative body

Bill of Attainder

A law that declares a person without a trial, to be guilty of a crime

Bill of Rights

Created by James Madison, it included the first ten amendments of the Constitution that guarenteed basic human rights.

Checks and Balances

Authority shared by three branches of government

Coalition

An alliance of faction

What are Concurrent Powers?

Powers that are shared between the national and state governments.

EX: Collecting taxes, building roads, borrowing money.

Constitution

A nation's basic law

Constitutional Convention

Meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 by delegates from each state that produced a new constitution instead of the Articles of Confederation.

Declaration of Independence

The document approved by representatives of the American colonies in 1776 that stated their grievances against the British monarch and declared their independence

What are Enumerated Powers?

Powers given to only the national government.

EX: Power to declare war, make treaties, conduct foreign affairs.

Ex Post Facto Law

A law that makes an act criminal although the act was legal when it was committed

What is a faction

A group with a distinct political interests

What is federaism?

It is government authority shared by national and state governments.

What are the federalist papers?

A series of essays written to urge New York to ratify the Constitution

Federalists

Those who favor a stronger national government

What was the Great Compromise?

It was a combination of the Virginia and New Jersey plan that would have a popularly elected House based on state population and a state-selected Senate with two members for each state.

What is Habeas Corpus?

An order to produce an arrested person before a judge.

Judicial Review

The power of the courts to declare laws, act and actions unconstitutional

Limited Government

A government that has a written plan that constrains the misuse and abuse of power

Line Item-Veto

An executive's power to reject a specific part of a bill approved by the legislature.

What is mercantilism?

An economic idea to ncrease a nation's wealth via commerical industries and trade.

What are Natural Rights?

Rights inherited in human beings, not dependent on governments which include life, liberty, and property. The concept of natural rights was central to English philosopher, John Locke's theories about government, and was widely accepted among America's Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson echoed Locke's language in drafter the Declaration of Independence

What was the New Jersey Plan?

Created by New Jersey, it was a proposal to create a weak national government that was proposed to amend, not replace, the Articles. Similar to the Articles, the states would still have one vote.

What does it mean for something to receive ratification?

It means that it had formal approval.

What is a Republic?

A government in which elected representatives make the decisions

What are Reserved Powers?

Powers given to only to the state governments.

EX: Issue licenses, regulate commercy within a state.

What is Separation of Power?

Constitutional authority is share by three different branches of government

What was Shay's Rebellion?

A rebellion in 1787 where ex-Revolutionary War soldiers tried to keep their farms open despite having it foreclosed because of high taxes in Massachusetts.

What does unalienable mean?

A human right based on nature or God

What does unicameral mean?

A legislative body with one house or chamber

What is the Virginia Plan? List bullet points of what it had…

• Proposal to create a strong national government instead of fixing the Articles of Confederation.

• It set up three branches of government (leg, jud, exe),

• Two houses (one elected by the people, other chosen by the first house).

• National legislature would have supreme powers on all matters (besides what the states would have)

• At least one house of the legislature would be elected directly by the people.
  

What is Marbury vs Madison 1803?

Chief Justice Marshall established "judicial review" as a power of the SC. After the defeat of the 1800 election, president Adams appoints many federalists to the federalist courts, but the commissions were not delivered because new Secretary of State, James Madison refused to deliver them and Marbury sued SC. The Court declared the Court's power to find acts of Congress unconstitutional.

What liberties did the colonists want?

Right to bring legal cases before independent judges, no quartering of British troops, eneage in trade without extensive tariffs, and to pay no taxes levied by the British.

After the first paragraph talking about unalienable rights, what did Jefferson include in the other 27 paragrahs?

He talked about how King George III violated all of the colonists rights and was responsible for continuing the slave trade and making those slaves rebel against their masters.

What were some issues with the Articles of Confederation?

It needed 9 out of 13 states to enact new legistlation

Congress could not tax the states (had to rely on the states to give it money)

Congress did not have much power over people or economics.

How did the delegates go about fixing the Articles of Confederation? What did James Madison do?

They spent over 4 months trying to find a system that would fix the issues. In 1786, Madison studied a lot of books sent by Jefferson and concluded, in the Federalist Papers, that they were essentially on their own (as other nations who did this failed).

What two constitutions contributed to a new United States Constitution?

The Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Constitution.

What was the Pennsylvania Constitution?

• All power was given to a one-house legistlature

• Members of the house served one-year terms

• No legislature could serve more than 4 years.

• Executive Counsil would have few powers (no president)

What was the Massachusetts Constitution?

• Clear separation of power among branches of government.

• Directly elected governor could veto acts of legistlature and serve for life

• Both voters and elected officials had to own property.

What happened in the Philadelphia Convention? Why did it take so long?

It had 55 delegates from all states besides Rhode Island. In the convention, they had drafted a new Constitution, talked about the three-fifths compromise, the great compromise, and much more.

It took so long mainly because of the Virginia Plan, which was put on the agenda to create a brand new national government.

Why did smaller states, like New Jersey worry about the Virginia Plan?

Because they thought it would elect people and be ran based on population majority (something they didn’t have).

The American version of representative democracy was based on what two major principles?

Separation of power and federalism.

What is Federalism?

It is government authority shared by national and local governments.

What did the Anti-federalists want?

They wanted less power to the Supreme Court, create a council to review the President’s actions, leaving military affairs for the states, and increase the House of Representatives. (Some insisted for a Bill of Rights).