Christopher Pittman

9/21/2006
American Gov’t Pd. 7

Homework

Section One Review

1. a) limited government- Basic principle of the American system of government; that

government is limited in what it may do, and each individual has certain rights that the
government cannot take away.
b) Representative government- System of government in which public policies are made
by officials who are selected by the voters and held accountable to them in periodic
elections.
c) Magna Carta- The Great Charter establishing the principle that the power of the
monarch was not absolute in England; forced upon the king by his barons in 1215, and
protecting such fundamental rights such as trial by jury.
d) Petition of Right- Challenged the idea of the divine right of kings, declaring in 1628
the even a monarch must obey the law of the land.
e) English Bill of Rights- Drawn up by Parliament in 1689 to prevent abuse of power by
English monarchs; forms the basis for much in American government and politics today.
f) charter- a written grant of authority from the king.
g) Bicameral- An adjective, describing a legislative body composed of two houses.
h) Unicameral- An adjective, describing a legislative body composed of only one house.

2. The early English settlers brought political ideas such as ordered government, limited
government, and representative government.

3. The three types of colonial government in pre-revolutionary America were royal

colonies, proprietary colonies, and charter colonies. Royal colonies were subject to the
direct control of the crown. Proprietary colonies were colonies setup by people who the
king had made a grant of land and by charter, that land could be governed much as the
proprietor chose.

Section Two Review

1. a) Albany Plan of Union- Plan put forward by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 that aimed at
uniting the 13 colonies for trade, military, and other purposes; never enacted.
b) boycott- Refusal to buy or sell and opponent’s goods in order to influence his/her
behavior.
c) constitution- Body of fundamental law, setting out the basic principles, structures,
processes, and functions of government and placing limits upon its actions.
d) popular sovereignty- Basic principle of American system of government; that the
people are the only source of any and all governmental power, that government must be
conducted with the consent of the governed.
2. The relationship between the colonies had become federal.
3. The second continental congress became the first national government because it had
representatives from each colony or state and it had a leader with the title Commander in
Chief, which is one of the titles that the current president of the United States holds.
4. The Declaration of Independence was written mainly by Thomas Jefferson, but
Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Roger Livingston helped.
5. a) Popular Sovereignty
b) Limited Government
c) Civil Rights and Liberties
d) Separation of Powers
e) Checks and Balances

Section Three Review

1. a) ratification- Formal approval, final consent to the effectiveness of a constitution,

constitutional amendment, or treaty.
b) Articles of Confederation- Document by which the United States government was
established after the American Revolution; allowed few important powers to the central
government.
2. The Articles of Confederation were written in 1776-1777 and approved on October 15,
1777. They were written by the members of the Second Continental Congress.
3. a) The government set up by the Articles was simple, the states held much more power
than the central government, and the central government held almost none.
b) Congress had the power to declare war and peace, send and receive ambassadors,
make treaties, borrow money, setup a monetary system, build a navy, fix uniform
standards of weights and measures, and settle disputes among states.
4. One of the major weaknesses of the Articles was that it gave very little power to the
federal government, which meant that the federal government couldn’t control the states
or force anything upon the states, whether it be good or bad. Another weakness was that
the Congress could not impose taxes, which meant that they had to either borrow money
from the states or ask for money, both of which the states didn’t have to allow if they
chose not to.

Section Four Review

1. a) Framers- The group who came together in 1787 to draft the Constitution of the
United States.
b) Virginia Plan- Offered at the Constitutional Convention; called for bicameral
legislature in which representation in both houses would be based on population or
financial support for the central government.
c) New Jersey Plan- An alternative to the Virginia Plan offered at the Constitutional
Convention of 1787, differing chiefly in the matter of how states should be represented in
Congress.
d) Connecticut Compromise- Agreement during the constitutional convention that
Congress should be composed of a senate, in which the states would be represented
equally, and the house, in which representation would be based upon the state’s
population.
e) Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise- An agreement during The constitutional
convention of 1787 protecting that intrusive slave holders by forbidding Congress the
power to tax that export of goods from the state game for twenty years the power to act
on the slave trade.
2. The Constitution was written in September, 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
3. a) Thomas Jefferson is known as the “the of the constitution”.
b) He has this title because he was responsible for most of its writing.
4. Instead of rewriting the Articles of Confederation, they would have to write a whole
new constitution for the government of the United States.
5. The Constitution is a bundle of compromises because in order for it to be written and
agreed upon by the delegates, each had to settle for an idea that suited a majority and not
only their own individual states.
6. The framers of the constitution drew their ideas from many sources of European
governments such as William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England and
Jean Jacques Rousseau’s Social Contract.

Section Five Review

1. a) Federalist- Those persons who supported the adoption of the Constitution in 1787-
1788.
b) Anti-federalist- Those persons who opposed the adoption of the Constitution on 1787-
1788.
2. a) The Constitution was ratified after nine states agreed to the new document.
b)
3. The strong central government and the lack of a bill of rights.