Social Studies Study Guide

  1. How did Shay’s Rebellion demonstrate the need for a stronger federal government?

The Shay’s Rebellion demonstrated that they needed a strong federal government to stop rebellions like that and that a strong federal government was needed to restore the bad parts of the federal body

  1. Define and explain the characteristics of the Articles of Confederation 

The Articles of Confederation was very weak. It is said that governments lead under the Articles of Confederation are failures. For example: they couldn’t control trade, could not settle disputes that involved trade, couldn’t collect taxes, they couldn’t raise money for war debts and fundraisers for the army. Some other weaknesses were:

  • congress had one house

  • each state had only one vote

  • 9/13 states had to agree to pass a law

  • 13 states had to amend to the Articles

  • lacked something to enforce the laws (executive branch)

  • congress couldn’t create money, the states had to do it

  • states were joined with a “league of friendship”

  1. When and where did the Constitutional Convention take place? 

It happened on May 25, 1787 at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia

  1. Who is the Father of the Constitution? 

James Madison

  1. What were the rules and structure of the Constitutional Convention? 

vow of secrecy →views and ideas wouldn’t be affected by the public, elected George Washington as presiding officer

  1. Define and explain the characteristics of the Virginia Plan. 

strong national government, 3 branches: legislative (make laws) executive (carry out laws) and judicial ( interpret laws), 2-house legislature (representation would be based on population for both houses)

  1. Define and explain the characteristics of the Great Compromise. 

Roger Sherman proposed that the two-house legislature had different forms of representation. In the Senate, there was an equal number of representation is based on population. In the House of Representatives, the representation is based on population.

  1. Define and explain the characteristics of the Three-Fifths Compromise. 

With this compromise it is basically saying that slaves are less that the average person, but it also helped keep the new nation together.

  1. Define and Explain Ratification. 

The Ratification is a professional approval of any agreement. To ratify you need the approval of at least 9 of the 13 states.

  1. Outline the beliefs of Federalists and Anti-Federalists. 

Federalists:strong federal government (wanted to share its power with the states), defended the new Constitution, thought strongly of the idea of the new government, believed strong national government lead to tyranny

Anti-Federalists: not much power given to the states under the Articles of Confederation, opposed the Constitution, believed federal government had to much power, thought Constitution didn’t really protect the citizens’ rights, believed rights need to be put in the Bill of Rights, worried that the government would give heavy taxes, and president would rule as king, they also believed that a strong national government would lead to tyranny

  1. What are the Federalist Papers? 

The Federalist papers are paper in favor of the new plan of government and address claims in the Anti-Federalist Papers. They were 85 essays written by 3 people: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay

  1. Based on the Oath - what is the main purpose of the President?

The purpose of the president is to serve the people they represent without abusing his/her power in office, and taking action for the good of the people.

1 priority: “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution”

  1. How many amendments did Congress accept? How many were ratified to become part of the Bill of Rights?

Congress accepted twelve amendments in the proposal of James Madison, but later only ten were ratified to become part of the Bill of Rights.