Government

Chapter 2 study guide

 

Ÿ             Limited government: basic principle of American government which states that government is restricted in what it may do, and each individuals has rights that government cannot take away

Ÿ             Representative government: system of government in which public policies are made by official postponement of the execution of a sentence

Ÿ             Magna Carta: Great Charter forced upon King John of England by his barons in 1215, established that the power of the monarchy was not absolute and guaranteed trial by jury and due process of law to the nobility

Ÿ             Petition of Right: document prepared by parliament and signed by King Charles I of England in 1628; challenged the idea of the divine right of kings and declared that even the monarch was subject to the laws of the land

Ÿ             English Bill of Right: document written by parliament and agree on by William and Mary of English 1689, designed to prevent abuse of power by English monarchs; forms the basis for much in American government and politics today

Ÿ             Charter: a city’s basic law, its constitution; a written grant of authority from the king

Ÿ             Bicameral: an adjective describing a legislative body composed of two chambers

Ÿ             Proprietary: organized by a proprietor (a person to whom the king had made a grant of land)

Ÿ             Unicameral: an adjective describing a legislative body with one chamber

Ÿ             Confederation: a joining of several groups for a common purpose

Ÿ             Albany Plan of Union: plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 that aimed to unit the 13 colonies for trade, military, and other purposes; the plan was turned down by the colonies and the crown

Ÿ             Delegate: representative from the 13 colonies who attended the annual congress of delegate

Ÿ             Boycott: refusal to buy or sell certain products or services

Ÿ             Repel: recall

Ÿ             Popular sovereignty: basic principle of the American system of government which asserts that the people are the sources of any and all government power, and government can exist only with the consent of the governed

Ÿ             Articles of Confederation: plan of government adopted by the continental congress after the American Revolution; established “a firm league of friendship” among the states, but allow few important powers to the central government

Ÿ             Ratification: formal approved, final consent to the effectiveness of a constitution, constitutional amendment, or treaty

Ÿ             Presiding officer: chair

Ÿ             Framers: group of delegates who drafted the United States constitution at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787

Ÿ             Virginia Plan: plan presented by delegates from Virginia at the Constitutional convention; called for a three-branch government with a bicameral legislature in which each state’s membership would be determined by its population or its financial support for the central government

Ÿ             New Jersey Plan: plan presented as an alternative to the Virginia Plan at the constitutional Convention; called for a unicameral legislature in which each state would be equally represented

Ÿ             Connecticut Compromise: agreement during the constitutional convention that congress should be composed of a senate, in which states would be represented equally, and a house, in which representation would be based on a state’s population

Ÿ             Three-fifths compromise: an agreement at the constitutional convention to count a slave as three-fifths of a person when determining the population of a state

Ÿ             Commerce and slave trade compromise: an agreement during the constitutional convention protecting slave holders; denied congress the power to tax the export of goods from any state, and, for 20 years, the power to act on the slave trade

Ÿ             Federalist: a system of government in which a written constitution divides power between a central, or national government and several regional government

Ÿ             Anti-federalists: those persons who opposed the ratification of the constitution in 1787-1788

Ÿ             Quorum: least number of member who must be present for a legislative body to conduct business; majority  

 

¤ Magna Carta was a 1215 British document which established the principle of limited government, and also the first English document to limit the power of the king

 

¤ Petition of Right was a 1628 British document which challenged the divine right of the king,, and the power of crown was first limited by Parliament under the Petition of Right

 

¤ English Bill of Right was a 1689 British document that allowed the right to tax to the parliament, and prohibit the king’s abusive and unreasonable punishment

 

¶         Rhode Island and Connecticut, charter colonies, were largely self-governing.

¶         The second continental congress was the first U.S. national government, may 10, 1775, established under force of circumstance  

¶         Massachusetts Constitution was the oldest written constitution today

¶         Seven of the 13 colonies adopted the Bill of Right

¶         New state government has little power, because the previous Royal Governor held an unlimited power over the people, thus the new state constitution was mostly focus on limiting the state government’s power; and most power went to the legislatives

 

The Article of Confederation:

Ø Flawed document formally approved in 1781

Ø First attempt to establish a lasting government in U.S

 

Economic problem of the nation under Article of Confederation:

ð Unable to tax

ð Financial support to military

ð Unable to regulate states trade

 

‾         Philadelphia Convention, also Constitutional Convention, in 1787, was an attempt to build a new government that would best meet the needs of the nation, and revising the Article of Confederation

‾         Rhode Island’s absence in the Philadelphia Convention was mainly because it was against strong central government

‾         Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were out of town during the convention

‾         James Madison was known as the “Father of the Constitution”

‾         The Convention prohibit congress to level export tax of good, as a concession to the south

‾         Baron De Montesquieu wrote “The Spirit of the Laws”, 1748

‾         Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote the “Social Contract”, 1762

‾         John Locke wrote “Two treatises of Government”, 1690

 

Author of “Federalist”, 1788:

Ü Alexander Hamilton

Ü James Madison

Ü John Jay

 

 

The Article VII of the new constitution stated:

± 9 states to ratify

± Explain and promote ratification of constitution

 

New York was the country’s capital when the constitution was ratified

Delaware was the first state to ratify the constitution

 

Three governing ideas English colonist brought to America:

P        Ordered government

P        Limited government

P        Representative government

 

Three kinds of colonies:

#        Royal

          Directly control from thing king

          King appointed a governor and a council

          New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, and Georgia

#        Proprietary

          King grant the land to the proprietor

          Maryland (Lord Baltimore), Pennsylvania and Delaware (William Penn)

          Proprietor appoint governor

#        Charter

          Self-governing colonies

          Elected governors

          Connecticut and Rhode Island

 

Colonies’ unity and opposition to the crown:

            New England Confederation

            The Albany Plan of Union

            Stamp Act (Declaration of Rights and Grievances)

            Boycott

            Boston Tea Party

Virginia Plan suggested plural executives

The Connecticut Compromise is also known as the Great Compromise

Heaviest opposition to the new constitution:

²         An increase to central government’s power

²         Bill of right wasn’t included in the constitution