Terms : Hide Images
| 36099724 | Disestablish | To separate an official state church from its connection with the government. "...the Protestant Episcopal church ...was everywhere disestablished." (p. 167) | 0 | |
| 36099725 | Emancipation | Setting free from servitude or slavery. "Several northern states ... provided for the gradual emancipation of blacks." (p. 167) | 1 | |
| 36099726 | Chattel | An article of personal or movable property; hence a term applied to slaves, since they were considered the personal property of their owners."...a few idealistic masters freed their human chattels." (p. 167) | 2 | |
| 36099727 | Abolitionist | An advocate of the end of slavery. "In this ... were to be found the first frail sprouts of the later abolitionist movement." (p. 167) | 3 | |
| 36099728 | Ratification | The confirmation or validation of an act (such as a constitution) by authoritative approval. "Massachusetts ... submitted the final draft directly to the people for ratification." (p. 168) | 4 | |
| 36099729 | Bill of rights | A list of fundamental freedoms assumed to be central to society. "Most of these documents included bills of rights...." (p. 168) | 5 | |
| 36099730 | Speculators (speculation) | Those who buy property, goods, or financial instruments not primarily for use but in anticipation of profitable resale after a general rise in value. "States seized control of former crown lands ... although rich speculators had their day." (p. 169) | 6 | |
| 36099731 | Township | In America, a surveyed territory six miles square; the term also refers to a unit of local government, smaller than a county, that is often based on these survey units. "The sixteenth section of each township was set aside to be sold for the benefit of the public schools...." (p. 174) | 7 | |
| 36099732 | Territory | In American government, an organized political entity not yet enjoying the full and equal status of a state. ". . . when a territory could boast sixty thousand inhabitants, it might be admitted by Congress as a state...." (p. 174) | 8 | |
| 36099733 | Annex | To make a smaller territory or political unit part of a larger one. "They ... sought to annex that rebellious area to Britain." (p. 175) | 9 | |
| 36099734 | Requisition | A demand for something issued on the basis of public authority. "The requisition system of raising money was breaking down...." (p. 176) | 10 | |
| 36099735 | Foreclosure | Depriving someone of the right to redeem mortgaged property because the legal payments on the loan have not been kept up. ". . . Revolutionary war veterans were losing their farms through mortgage foreclosures." (p. 176) | 11 | |
| 36099736 | Quorum | The minimum number of persons who must be present in a group before it can conduct valid business. "A quorum of the fifty-five emissaries from twelve states finally convened at Philadelphia...." (p. 177) | 12 | |
| 36099737 | Anarchy | The theory that formal government is unnecessary and wrong in principle; the term is also used generally for lawlessness or antigovernmental disorder. "Delegates were determined to preserve the union [and] forestall anarchy...." (p. 179) | 13 | |
| 36099738 | Bicameral, Unicameral | Referring to a legislative body with two houses (bicameral) or one (unicameral). "... representation in both houses of a bicameral Congress should be based on population. . . ." "This provided for equal representation in a unicameral Congress...." (p. 179) | 14 | |
| 36099739 | Protestant | New name for the Anglican Church after it was disestablished and de¬-Anglicized in Virginia and elsewhere | 15 | |
| 36099740 | Republican Motherhood | The idea that American women had a special responsibility to cultivate "civic virtue" in their children | 16 | |
| 36099741 | Constitutional Convention | A type of special assembly, originally developed in Massachusetts, for drawing up a fundamental law that would be superior to ordinary law | 17 | |
| 36099742 | Articles of Confederation | The first constitutional government of the United States | 18 | |
| 36099743 | North West | The territory north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi governed by the acts of 1785 and 1787 | 19 | |
| 36099744 | Sections | In the new territories, six-mile by six-mile square areas consisting of thirty-six sections, one of which was set aside for public schools | 20 | |
| 36099745 | Territory | The status of a western area under the Northwest Ordinance after it established an organized government but before it became a state | 21 | |
| 36099746 | Shays Rebellion | A failed revolt in 1786 by poor debtor farmers that raised fears of "mobocracy" | 22 | |
| 36099747 | Virginia Plan | The plan proposed by Virginia at the Constitutional Convention for a bicameral legislature with representation based on population | 23 | |
| 36099748 | New Jersey Plan | The plan proposed by New Jersey for a unicameral legislature with equal representation of states regardless of size and population | 24 | |
| 36099749 | 3/5 Compromise | The compromise between North and South that resulted in each slave being counted as 60 percent of a free person for purposes of representation | 25 | |
| 36099750 | Antifederalist | The opponents of the Constitution who argued against creating such a strong central government | 26 | |
| 36099751 | Federalist Papers | A masterly series of pro-Constitution articles printed in New York by Jay, Madison, and Hamilton | 27 | |
| 36099752 | President | The official under the new Constitution who would be commander-in-chief of the armed forces, appoint judges and other officials, and have the power to veto legislation | 28 | |
| 36099753 | Bill of Rights | A list of guarantees that federalists promised to add to the Constitution in order to win ratification | 29 | |
| 36099754 | Antifederalist | Group that failed to block the central government they feared but did force the promise of a bill of rights | 30 | |
| 36099755 | James Madison | Father of the Constitution and author of Federalist No. 10 | 31 | |
| 36099756 | Society of the Cincinnati | An exclusive order of military officers that aroused strong democratic opposition | 32 | |
| 36099757 | Federalists | Wealthy conservatives devoted to republicanism who engineered a nonviolent political transformation | 33 | |
| 36099758 | Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom | Legislation passed by an alliance of Jefferson and the Baptists that disestablished the Anglican church | 34 | |
| 36099759 | Daniel Shays | Revolutionary War veteran who led poor farmers in a revolt that failed but had far-reaching consequences | 35 | |
| 36099760 | Benjamin Franklin | Elder statesman who lent his prestige to the Constitutional Convention and promoted the "Great Compromise" | 36 | |
| 36099761 | New York | The only state to allow a direct vote on the Constitution | 37 | |
| 36099762 | John Jay | Frustrated foreign affairs secretary under the Articles; one of the three authors of The Federalist | 38 | |
| 36099763 | Northwest Ordinance of 1787 | Legislation that provided for the orderly transformation of western territories into states | 39 | |
| 36099764 | Massachusetts | First of key states where federalists won by a narrow margin over the opposition of antifederalist Sam Adams | 40 | |
| 36099765 | Patrick Henry | Virginia antifederalist leader who thought the Constitution spelled the end of liberty and equality | 41 | |
| 36099766 | George Washington | Unanimously elected chairman of the secret convention of "demi-gods" | 42 | |
| 36099767 | Alexander Hamilton | Young New Yorker who argued eloquently for the Constitution even though he favored an even stronger central government | 43 | |
| 36099768 | Articles of Confederation | Document of 1781 that was pub out of business by the Constitution | 44 |
