Chapter 2: Origins Of American Government

led to the Albany Plan of the Union which was the first plan to unite the colonies

tax on paper, legal documents, etc that angered the colonists

British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists in reaction to taunting from the colonists; first bloodshed in American Revolution

1773 protest in which colonists dressed as Native Americans dumped British tea into the Boston harbor

issued by the Second Continental Congress, explaining why the colonies wanted independence from Britain (1776)

• Happened at Lexington & Concord
• 1775 conflicts between Massachusetts colonists and British soldiers that started the Revolutionary War

1. unicameral legislation
2. state government was more powerful than central
3. no power to tax
4. needed unanimous approval of states to make changes
5. congress did not have the power to regulate commerce

outraged the colonists and led to the First Continental Congress

revolt to prevent judges in Massachusetts from foreclosing on the farms of farmers who could not pay taxes the state had levied

the plan for government in which the national government would have supreme power and a legislative branch would have two houses with representation determined by state population

group of people who supported the adoption of the US Constitution and strong national government

group of people who opposed the adoption of the US Constitution

liked stronger state governments

favored weak national government

• state vs. national government
• wanted to make sure natural rights were included
• representation numbers for each state

to establish individual liberties

the first ten amendments of the US Constitution

principle that the powers and functions of government are restricted by the US Constitution and other laws

power is held by the people and exercised through the efforts of representatives elected by the people

following established legal procedures

two house legislature

one house legislature

concept that a government gets its power from the people and that ultimate political power remains with the people

to approve

delegates of the Constitutional Convention who developed the framework for the government and wrote the Constitution

John Locke's idea of everyone has right the life, liberty and property

proposal to create a unicameral legislature with equal representation of states instead of representation by population

an agreement worked out at the Constitutional Convention establishing that a state's population would determine representation in the lower house of the legislature, while each state would have equal representation in the upper house

an agreement stating that 3/5 of the slave population would be counted when determining a state's population for representation in the lower house of Congress