Chapter 2

A document that sets out the fundamental principles of governance and establishes the institutions of a government.

A government ruled by representatives of the people.

A governing document that created a union of thirteen sovereign states in which the states, not the national government, were supreme

One-house legislature

A popular uprising against the government of Massachusetts

A meeting attended by state delegates in 1787 to fix the Articles of Confederation

The right of people detained by the government to know the charges against them

When the legislature declare someone guilty without a trial

Laws punishing people for acts that were not crimes at the time they were committed

A plan of government calling for a three-branch government with a bicameral legislature, where more populous states would have more representation in Congress

A plan of government that provided for a unicameral legislature with equal votes for each state

A committee at the Constitutional Convention that worked out the compromise on representation

An agreement for a plan of government that drew upon both the Virginia and New Jersey Plans; it settled issues of state representation by calling for a bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives apportioned proportionately and a Senate apportioned equally

Two house legislature

An agreement reached by delegates at the Constitutional Convention that a slave would count as three-fifths of a person in calculating a state's representation

Congress could not restrict the slave trade until 1808

A design of government that distributes powers across institutions in order to avoid making one branch too powerful on its own

A design of government in which each branch has powers that can prevent the other branches from making policy

The sharing of power between the national government and the states

The institution responsible for making laws

Authority specifically granted to a branch of the government in the Constitution.

Language in Article I, Section 8, granting Congress the powers necessary to carry out its enumerated powers

Authority of the federal government that goes beyond its expressed powers

The institution responsible for carrying out laws passed by the legislative branch

The institution responsible for hearing and deciding cases through the federal courts

Constitutional provision declaring that the Constitution and all national laws and treaties are the supreme law of the land

The process by which changes may be made to the Constitution

Supporters of the proposed Constitution, who called for a strong national government

Those opposed to the proposed Constitution, who favored stronger state governments

a series of 85 essays written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay published between 1787 and 1788 that lay out the theory behind the Constitution

An essay in which Madison argues that separation of powers and federalism will prevent tyranny

A group of self-interested people who use the government to get what they want, trampling the rights of others in the process

An essay in which Madison argues that the dangers of faction can be mitigated by a large republic and republican government.

An Antifederalist Paper arguing that the country was too large to be governed as a republic and that the Constitution gave too much power to the national government.