Unit 6: Government, Forming a New Nation

Unit 6 Vocabulary:

Unit 6 Forming a New Nation

1. Republic – A government in which the people elect representatives to make and enforce the laws that govern the country
2. Constitution – a written plan that explained what the government could and could not do and what rights of citizens would be protected
3. Articles of Confederation – set up a system of government in which power was divided between the national government and state governments. Proved to be ineffective and was replaced by the Constitution.
4. Shays’ Rebellion – Farmers in Massachusetts demanded that the state lower their taxes, but their complaints were ignored. They rebelled but Massachusetts troops stopped it without the much needed help of the Congress. Exposed weakness of central government.
5. Great Compromise – agreement in which the legislature would have two houses of representatives based off of population: the Senate and the House of Representatives
6. Three-Fifths Compromise – Compromise between northern and southern states at the Constitutional Convention that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for determining direct taxation and representation in the House of Representatives.
7. Electors –Representatives in the Electoral College who vote for president.
8. Federalist – A group who supported the new Constitution and a strong government.
9. Anti-Federalist – A group who feared that the new Constitution created a central government with too much power.
10. Domestic - relating to one's’ own country
11. Bill of Rights – first ten constitutional amendments, which guarantee freedom of speech, press, religion, and other rights
12. Amendment - changes to the constitution
13. Congress – the one body of national government established by the articles (had little power)
14. Ratification - official approval
15. Federalism – a system of government in which power is divided between central government and smaller political units such as states
16. Checks and Balances - The balancing of power and checking of one branch by another
17. Impressment – the kidnapping of American sailors to work on British ships
18. War of 1812 – War versus the British because the refused to leave Canada, aided Native Americans in their attacks of settlers, and violated American’s traders rights at sea
19. Warhawk – any Western leader who wanted to go to war against Britain to stop British aid to Native Americans and to force British out of Canada
20. Andrew Jackson – American general who patched together an army to fight the British at the Battle of New Orleans
21. Battle of New Orleans – An American victory over the British in 1814. Unnecessary because the war had ended weeks earlier because of the Treaty of Ghent
22. William Henry Harrison – governor of Indiana territory who defeated the Shawnee at the Battle of Tippecanoe
23. Tecumseh – united Native American tribes to fight settlers. He declared agreements between the settlers and some tribes willing to sell their lands meaningless
24. Separation of Powers – to prevent too much power falling into the hands of a single group. It meant the division of basic government roles into branches so no one branch is given all the power
25. Popular Sovereignty - a government in which the people rule. A broad range of Americans share in the power to govern themselves