The Constitutional Era Review
A ___________ is a representative democracy. The basic principle of a republic is the people elect _______________, who
then make the ________. The first attempt at workable government in the United States was the ______________ of
____________________. The basic problem of the government under the Articles of Confederation was the government was too
__________. Recognizing this weakness in the new American government, leaders agreed to meet and discuss revisions to the
Articles of Confederation. This meeting produced the Constitution, which the United States uses today.
The Constitution provides the basic _____________ for the American government. The structure of the national
government under the Articles of Confederation had been influenced by America’s pre-Revolutionary relationship with
_______________. When they set up the Articles of Confederation, America’s political leaders feared a ______________ central
government like England’s. This fear existed, because Americans had fought the Revolution to escape what they considered to have
been unfair taxation by _______________ and tyrannical rule by King __________ _____. Consequently, the Articles of
Confederation created a ________ national government.
Several factors made the government under the Articles ________. __________ was the only branch of the national
government and its _______________ power was very limited. For example, the Confederation Congress had no power to ______
and no power to regulate or control interstate ____________. The term commerce refers to ________ and interstate means ________
states. The Articles of Confederation provided for no national ______________ or paper money. Without a common currency it was
very difficult for the United States to develop a national _____________. The Articles created another problem when they gave
each state _____ vote in Congress, since the large states believed this system was unfair and undemocratic.
The Constitutional Convention met in _______________, Pennsylvania. Three issues divided the delegates who attended
this convention. Arguments developed between large states and __________ states, about the division of power between the
____________ government and the states, and about the institution of African-American ____________. Eventually, these arguments
were solved by _______________, which are agreements in which both sides get part of what they want but neither side gets all of
what it wants.
George ______________ and James _____________ were two Virginians who played important roles at the Constitutional
Convention. Washington was important, because he served as the convention’s ________________. In this role Washington acted as
____________ of the convention’s proceedings. Many Americans were willing to trust the convention’s actions, because they trusted
George _______________. James Madison was important because he often led the convention’s _________, kept a _____________
record of the proceedings, and wrote the “___________ Plan.” This plan proposed a federal government of three separate branches:
the ______________, the ________________, and the judicial. The “___________ Plan” was important, because it became the
foundation for the structure of the new government. For these reasons historians have considered James Madison the “___________
of the Constitution.”
Another name for ___________ law is federal law. Federal law is the _____________ law of the land. This means that
when state law conflicts with federal law, then the federal law overrides the _________ law. This belief is known as the __________
clause. The supremacy clause says that the laws and treaties of the United States, when constitutional, must be upheld by the _______
courts. If a state law clashes with a law passed by Congress, the state law must yield. Nevertheless, the Constitution allowed the
_________ to keep considerable power for self-government.
At the Constitutional Convention, the __________ states and _________ states disagreed on the states’ representation in the
national legislature. Madison’s Virginia Plan proposed a ______-___________legislature. Since under this plan population would
determine a state’s representation in both houses of Congress, the Virginia Plan favored the ______ states and would greatly reduce
the ___________ states’ influence in the national government. In short, under the Virginia Plan, wealthy states like _____________,
Massachusetts, and _________________ would have control over the new national legislature because they had the largest
populations.
For this reason the small states immediately rejected the Virginia Plan and proposed the ______ ___________ Plan. Under
the New Jersey Plan, all states would have __________ representation in the national legislature. By giving each state _____ vote in
Congress, the Constitution would preserve the principle of state equality. Large states, like Virginia, liked the New Jersey Plan no
more than small states had liked Madison’s Virginia Plan. After much debate, the convention worked out this big state/small state
conflict by adopting the __________ Compromise. The Great Compromise said Congress would consist of a _____-____________
legislature. Each state, regardless of its size, would get _______ members in the United States Senate, while ________________
would determine a state’s representation in the House of Representatives. In short, the _________ _______________ provided for a
two-house legislature in which the people would be represented in the House of Representatives and the states would be represented in
the Senate. Thereby, the Great Compromise balanced power between the _________ states and the _________ states.
In the years immediately following the American Revolution all the ___________ states had abolished (ended) slavery. The
northern states decided to abolish slavery, because they recognized that African-American slavery contradicted (went against) the
Declaration of Independence’s idea that “_____ _______ are created _________.” In contrast, the southern states had decided to keep
slavery, because they believed it made them money or brought them ___________ prosperity. The absence of slavery in the north and
the existence of slavery in the south caused the two regions to disagree regarding whether African-American slaves should be counted
for the purpose of determining a state’s representation in the ________ of ________________. Because slavery no longer existed in
the north, African-Americans would already count in figuring the population of each of the northern states to determine that state’s
membership in the House of Representatives. Southern states wanted/did not want slaves to count in figuring their population,
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because a larger population would give them more members in the House of Representatives. The two regions eventually reached
agreement in what historians have called the _____ Compromise. Under this compromise, a slave counted as ______ of a _________
in figuring each southern state’s population for membership in the House of Representatives.
At the time of the Constitutional Convention, many Americans were concerned about the national government becoming too
______________. James Madison tried to answer this concern in the Virginia Plan by dividing the federal government’s power
among __________ separate branches. This division of power among three separate branches of the government is known as
_______________ of ___________. The Constitution created three branches: the legislative, the ______________, and the
____________. The name of the legislative branch of the federal or national government is ___________, and its job is to
__________ the laws. The ______________ leads the executive branch of the federal government, and the executive branch
___________ the laws. The Supreme Court leads the federal government’s _____________ branch, which ____________ or explains
the meaning of the laws. The Constitution included a checks and balances system that none of the three branches would become too
_______________. A checks and balances system is a system of government in which each branch can ________ or check the
___________ of the other branches.
In addition to trying to prevent any of the three branches of the federal government from becoming too powerful, the
______________ ____________ also tried to prevent the new national government from taking too much power away from the states.
It did this by limiting the federal government’s powers to those powers specifically _____________ in the Constitution. Furthermore,
_______ of the thirteen states had to ratify or ________ the Constitution before it could take effect. The ratification debate in Virginia
became very important, because Virginia was the __________ state in terms of population and geographically it was located on the
Atlantic coast right in the _________ of the nation.
Americans who supported ratification of the Constitution became known as ___________, while the Constitution’s
opponents were called ______-____________. The Federalists believed a strong national government could promote public
improvements by using federal tax money to build roads and canals, which could lead to ____________ expansion. Two leading
Federalists in Virginia were _________ _____________ and _________ ____________. The Anti-Federalists feared an overly
powerful national government, because they believed it would destroy the rights of ______________ and the power of the _________.
Virginia’s two leading Anti-Federalists were _________ _________ and __________ _________. Because of their concern for
individual rights and preservation of the power of the state governments, the Anti-Federalists wanted a ______ of __________
included in the Constitution.
All ____________ states ratified or approved the Constitution, and the Constitution took effect in ______. However, since
several states called for a Bill of Rights during the ratification process, _________ __________ took responsibility for drafting
amendments to the new Constitution that would guarantee basic individual rights. When Madison worked on the Bill of Rights, he
consulted the Virginia ______________ of _________ and the Virginia Statute for ______________ _______________. The
Virginia Declaration of Rights, which __________ ___________ had written, said government should not violate basic __________
rights. The author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was __________ _______________. Since a statute is a law, this
Virginia state law had forbidden an established _________ in Virginia and supported the idea of freedom of ____________. During
colonial times, the ____________ Church had been the established church in Virginia, which meant it had received financial support
from the colonial _______________.
The Bill of Rights is the first _____ amendments to the Constitution. A constitutional amendment is an ____________ to the
Constitution. The First Amendment guarantees individual rights, including freedom of ___________, freedom of the press, freedom
of __________, freedom of assembly, the right of ____________. Freedom of ____________ is the right to gather at public meetings,
while the right of _____________ is the right to make written requests to make changes in the government.
Ratification of the Constitution did/did not end debate in the United States on the issue of governmental power. Debate over
the meaning of the Constitution does/does not continue to occur today. Contemporary political debates over the meaning of the
Constitution are similar to those which divided the Federalists from the Anti-Federalists during the ratification process in regard to the
size and role of _______________, the issue of _______________, and the protection of ______________ _________. Those
Americans today who believe the federal government should take the lead in solving national problems are heirs to the
_______________ beliefs during the Constitutional era. In contrast, today’s conservatives, who emphasize liberty, individual
initiative, and free markets, are heirs to the _______-_____________ of the 18th century. The term ______ ___________ refers to
business and trade without government regulation or rules.
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