Gov 2 The founding and the constitution

What was the primary goal of the Constitution’s framers?

to create an effective government

What led the British to raise taxes on the American colonists during the 1760s?

the French and Indian Wars

Colonial protesters of the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act rallied around what famous political slogan?

"No taxation without representation"

The Stamp Act was a

a. tax on commerce.

Who defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre?

John Adams

Who was not appointed to help draft the Declaration of Independence?

George Washington

A ______ is a system of government in which states retain sovereign authority except for powers expressly delegated to a national government.

confederacy

The first written constitution for the United States was called

c. the Articles of Confederation.

Under the United States’ first constitution

there was no president.

How was the power in Congress divided under the Articles of Confederation?

Each state had an equal vote.

Under the Articles of Confederation, it was left to the ______ to execute the laws passed by Congress.

states

The Articles of Confederation were adopted in

1777

A conference held to analyze perceived flaws in the articles of confederation was called the

Annapolis Convention

Which was the only state not to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention?

Rhode Island

Shay’s Rebellion was significant because it

convinced many observers that the government of the Confederation had become dangerously inefficient and indecisive.

According to historian Charles Beard, the framers of the Constitution were most concerned with

promoting their economic interests.

The Virginia Plan of the Constitutional Convention proposed a system of representation in the national legislature that was based upon

the population of each state or the proportion of each state’s revenue contribution or both.

What did the New Jersey Plan propose for Congress?

a. Representation would be equal for each state.

During the Philadelphia Convention, the New Jersey Plan was supported by

less populous states.

The issue of representation, which threatened to wreck the entire Constitutional Convention, was resolved by the Great Compromise, also called the

b. Connecticut Compromise.

Which of the following was a consequence of the Three-Fifths Compromise?

a. It allowed for a political agreement between the North and the South.

The Great Compromise led to the

b. creation of a bicameral (two house) Congress.

The ability of the president to veto a bill passed by Congress is a good example of what principle of limited government?

checks and balances

The electoral college is

designed to select the president

The framers of the Constitution intended to create a presidency capable of

withstanding excessive popular pressure by making it subject to indirect election through the electoral college.

Which of the following was designed by the framers to be an office directly elected by the people?

member of the House of Representatives

What is the term length of a member of the House of Representatives?

two years

Which of the following was a way the framers tried to make the Senate a check against excessive democracy?

a. The Senate has staggered terms of office.

Only one- thirds of the Senate is up for re-election during any single election year because the framers believed that

c. this was the only way to protect the Senate against radical changes.

Judicial review is the power of

the courts to decide on the constitutionality of actions taken by the other branches of government.

What is the term length of a federal judge?

two years

To amend the Constitution requires a ______ vote by Congress, and approval by ______ of the states.

two-thirds; three-fourths

The supremacy clause

states that Congress is the most powerful branch of the government.

Whose "political gospel" inspired the framers to adopt the concept of the separation of powers?

Montesquieu

The system of shared powers, divided between a central government and the states, is called

federalism.

During the ratification debates, who were the Antifederalists?

those who opposed the new Constitution because they wanted a weaker central government

In the national debate over ratification of the new Constitution, the Federalists

supported the Constitution and preferred a strong national government.

Who were the writers of the Federalist Papers?

a. James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton

Brutus and Federal Farmer are two pseudonyms used by the

Antifederalists.

Each of the following was an Antifederalist except

John Jay.

The Antifederalists argued that the powers of government should be limited by

both confining the powers of the federal government to certain narrowly defined areas and adding a bill of rights to the Constitution.

The Federalists believed that the powers of government could be limited by

e. preventing government from collecting revenue through taxation.

The most common method of passing an amendment to the Constitution is

passage in both houses of Congress by a two-thirds vote, followed by a majority vote in three-fourths of the state legislature.

How many amendments are there to the U.S. Constitution?

twenty-seven

Which constitutional principle of the United States has been most frequently imitated by other nations?

written constitutions

Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail to pass?

It failed to get the approval of enough state legislatures.

The most important political value for the framers of the Constitution was

individual liberty.

The idea of a "living constitution" means

the judiciary can shape the interpretation of the Constitution in line with contemporary problems and values.