Unit 3 The Constitution

How did the people in the newly independent states set up governments once the Revolutionary War ended?

• Citizens in each state wrote state constitutions that established state legislatures, created rules for choosing state governors, and set up state judicial systems.

• Citizens in some states created their own constitutions, while citizens in others states ceded all power over their affairs to the newly formed central government.

• Citizens in all states helped to devise a single constitution that established a single national government, forbade the existence of individual state governments, and created a federal judicial system.

• Citizens in each region created strong alliances with their neighbors and created sectional governments that sent representatives to work with the federal government.

Which term describes a detailed written plan for a state or nation's government?

• a constitution

• a charter

• a commission

• a constituent

Which statement about the Articles of Confederation is true?

• They officially announced the independence of the United States and started the Revolutionary War.

• They were the first constitution of the United States, and they united the newly independent states under a national government with limited power.

• They created a national government that was much stronger than any individual state governments, which led many citizens to call for stronger state governments.

• They established the United States as a protectorate of Great Britain, capable of creating its own laws but relying on the British armed forces to defend it.

What principle weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation led to the creation of the Constitution?

• The federal system set up by the Articles of Confederation meant that the national government was supreme to the individual state governments, and Americans worried that the country was too much like England.

• The laws passed by the national government under the Articles of Confederation taxed Americans heavily, which angered those who had never wanted to break from Britain, so new laws had to be written.

• The limited powers granted to the national government by the Articles of Confederation made collecting tax money, passing and enforcing laws, and regulating trade either difficult or impossible, so major changes were necessary.

• The court system established by the Articles of Confederation did not give any other branch of government the ability to check the power of the judicial branch, and people soon realized that the balance of power needed to be restored.

Which statements about Shays's Rebellion are true?

Choose exactly two answers that are correct.

• It began because despite fighting a war to win their freedom, many Americans still owned slaves and did not wish to grant their slaves the same freedom that they enjoyed.

• It forced the early leaders of the United States to include an amendment to the Constitution that grants citizens the right to bear arms and defend themselves.

• It started because some state governments, including Massachusetts, taxed their citizens excessively in an attempt to raise funds to pay off large debts.

• It led many citizens to believe that a stronger national government—one that could be trusted to maintain law and order—had to be established.

Why didn't the leaders of the United States opt to simply revise or improve the Articles of Confederation in 1787?

• The Articles of Confederation had always been envisioned as a temporary document, not a long-term plan for the country's government.

• Great Britain had recognized the weakness of the United States under the Articles of Confederation and was planning to attack and conquer the country.

• The citizens of every state signed petitions demanding that their leaders scrap the Articles of Confederation and create a new plan of government.

• They accepted that the country needed a stronger central government than the one created by the Articles of Confederation could provide.

Which compromise reached at the Constitutional Convention established that the population of enslaved people in a state would be only partially represented in that state's official population for representation and taxation purposes?

• the Three-Fifths Compromise

• the One-Half Compromise

• the Two-for-One Compromise

• the Two-Thirds Compromise

Which description of the Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut Compromise, was reached at the Constitutional Convention in 1787?

• The president and vice president would be chosen by a group of delegates chosen by votes in each state.

• Seventy-five percent of the state legislatures would have to vote for an amendment to the Constitution before it could be ratified.

• Every citizen would be allowed to vote in state elections, but only those citizens who owned property would be given the right to vote in national elections.

• Congress would be composed of two houses: one in which representation was based on a state's size, and one in which every state was represented equally, regardless of size.

What did the Federalists want after the Constitution was written in 1787?

• the country to continue under the Articles of Confederation

• an amendment to the Constitution that outlawed slavery

• the Constitution to be ratified as written

• state governments to have power over the federal government

What did the Anti-federalists want after the Constitution was written in 1787?

• state governments to have the power to disband the federal government with a simple majority vote

• a constitutional guarantee that the federal government would not seek to abolish slavery for at least 20 years

• the Constitution to do more to protect individual freedoms and limit the power of the national government

• the judicial branch of the federal government to have the power to appoint or remove other federal officials from their posts