AP Gov Chapter 2

American Government Roots and Reform 2016 Edition

Causes of colonial unrest and the American Revolution

Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Townshend Acts, Boston Massacre, Tea Act, Boston Tea Party, Coercive (Intolerable) Acts

Who urged colonial unity as early as 1754, twenty-two years before independence?

Benjamin Franklin

What 1754 meeting produced a plan later reflected in parts of the Articles of Confederation?

The Albany Congress (Albany Plan of Union)

What war was fought from 1754 to 1763 between Britain and France with American Indian allies?

The French and Indian War

What economic theory justified Britain's strict import/export controls on the colonies?

Mercantilism

What 1765 law required a Crown-mandated stamp on paper goods sold in the colonies?

The Stamp Act

What political slogan captured colonial anger over taxation without colonial approval?

"No taxation without representation"

What 1765 law required colonists to house British troops?

The Quartering Act

Who organized resistance to British policies through groups formed throughout the colonies?

The Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty

What was the first official meeting of the colonies, held in 1765?

The Stamp Act Congress

What 1767 acts imposed duties on colonial imports including tea?

The Townshend Acts

What event on March 5, 1770 left five colonists dead, including Crispus Attucks?

The Boston Massacre

Who was the African American killed in the Boston Massacre, the first American to die before the Revolution?

Crispus Attucks

What group did Samuel Adams help create in 1772 to keep colonies informed of developments with Britain?

The Committees of Correspondence

What 1773 law granted the East India Company a monopoly on tea sales to the colonies?

The Tea Act

What event took place when colonists dumped a British tea shipment into Boston Harbor?

The Boston Tea Party

What were the 1774 laws that blockaded Boston Harbor known as in the colonies?

The Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts)

How many delegates attended the First Continental Congress, and where did it meet?

Fifty-six delegates, in Philadelphia

What document from the First Continental Congress called for rights of petition, assembly, and trial by peers?

The Declaration of Rights and Resolves

What battles marked the start of armed conflict in April 1775?

Lexington and Concord

What did the Second Continental Congress send to King George III in a final attempt to avoid war?

The Olive Branch Petition

What pamphlet, published anonymously in January 1776, argued forcefully for independence?

Common Sense, by Thomas Paine

Who financed the publication of Common Sense?

Benjamin Franklin

Who moved that the colonies "are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States"?

Richard Henry Lee of Virginia

Who chaired the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence?

Thomas Jefferson

Which colony abstained from the July 2, 1776 vote for independence?

New York

On what date did the Second Continental Congress adopt the Declaration of Independence?

July 4, 1776

Which two Enlightenment philosophers most influenced the Declaration of Independence?

John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau

What theory holds that governments exist based on the consent of the governed?

Social contract theory

What is commonly shared attitudes, behaviors, and core values about how government should operate called?

Political culture

What kind of government did the Articles of Confederation create among the states?

A confederation (a loose "league of friendship")

How many states had to approve a measure in the Congress of the Confederation?

Nine states

What period from 1781 to 1789 is known as a time of chaos under the Articles of Confederation?

The Critical Period

What rebellion in 1786-87 exposed the weaknesses of the national government under the Articles?

Shays's Rebellion

Who led the rebellion of armed farmers marching on the Springfield arsenal?

Daniel Shays

What event prompted states to call for a convention in Philadelphia in 1787?

Shays's Rebellion

Who presided over the Constitutional Convention?

George Washington

What plan proposed a strong national government with a bicameral legislature based on population?

The Virginia Plan

What plan favored keeping a one-house legislature with equal votes for each state?

The New Jersey Plan

What compromise created a bicameral legislature with the House based on population and the Senate with equal representation?

The Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise)

What compromise counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes?

The Three-Fifths Compromise

What mechanism did the Framers create to select the president?

The Electoral College

Who wrote Federalist No. 68 explaining the reasoning behind the Electoral College?

Alexander Hamilton

Which branch has the sole power to investigate and impeach a president?

The House of Representatives

Which branch has the sole power to try an impeached president, and who presides over that trial?

The Senate, presided over by the Chief Justice

What French philosopher inspired the idea of separation of powers with checks and balances?

Montesquieu

What is the distribution of power between the national government and the states called?

Federalism

What clause at the end of Article I, Section 8 gives Congress power to pass laws to carry out its other powers?

The necessary and proper clause (elastic clause)

What powers are inferred by the president from the Constitution rather than specifically listed?

Inherent powers

What clause in Article IV requires states to honor the laws and judicial proceedings of other states?

The full faith and credit clause

What clause in Article VI makes the Constitution and national law supreme over state law?

The supremacy clause

How many states were required to ratify the Constitution for it to take effect?

Nine states

What group favored a strong national government and supported ratifying the Constitution?

The Federalists

What group favored strong state governments and opposed ratifying the Constitution?

The Anti-Federalists

What series of eighty-five essays supported ratification of the Constitution?

The Federalist Papers

Who were the three authors of the Federalist Papers?

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay

Which Federalist Paper argues that a large republic best controls the dangers of factions?

Federalist No. 10

Which Federalist Paper argues that separation of powers prevents any one branch from dominating government?

Federalist No. 51

Which state was the crucial ninth state to ratify the Constitution?

New Hampshire

Which state was the first to reject the Constitution?

North Carolina

Which state was the last to ratify the Constitution?

Rhode Island

What are the first ten amendments to the Constitution called?

The Bill of Rights

In what year was the Bill of Rights ratified?

1791

What two methods can be used to propose a constitutional amendment?

A two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress, or a national convention called by two-thirds of state legislatures

What two methods can be used to ratify a constitutional amendment?

A vote of three-fourths of state legislatures, or ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states

What 1803 Supreme Court case established that courts could declare acts of government unconstitutional?

Marbury v. Madison

What did President Woodrow Wilson call the Supreme Court because of its role in shaping constitutional meaning?

"A constitutional convention in continuous session"

Roughly how many words was the original 1787 Constitution?

Less than 5,000 words

Roughly how many words is the Constitution today including all amendments?

Less than 8,000 words