Chapter 2 Study Guide
Origins of American Government
Directions: Complete this study guide and begin to prepare for you test. There is a possibility of 40
questions on the test.
1. What are the three principles of government from colonial period that we still use today?
Ordered Government
Limited Government
Representative Government
2. What do the Magna Carta, Petition of Rights, and English Bill of Rights have in common?
Limited the power of the monarchy, gave people rights, and they were English documents
3. Describe the government of the Royal Colonies, the Proprietary Colonies, and the Charter Colonies.
Royal Colonies – Directly controlled by the King, Governor appointed by the King, Bicameral
Legislature – Upper House: council appointed by the king, Lower House: elected by colonists
Proprietary Colonies – King gives a land grant to a person, had governor and unicameral
legislature
Charter Colonies – Self-governed, elected governor
4. What took place at the First Continental Congress?
Embargo placed on Britain, Declaration of Rights sent to Britain
5. Describe the Second Continental Congress.
Group was made up of our Founding Fathers; this was our first national government
(unicameral); Adopted the Declaration of Independence; ended with the Articles of Confederation
6. What are the four common features of the first state constitutions?
Popular Sovereignty, Limited Government, Civil Rights & Liberties, Separation of powers & Checks and
Balances
7. What were the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?
1 vote for each state; Congress couldn’t collect taxes or regulate trade; no executive branch or
national court system; Laws and Amendments required 9/13 majority
8. Who is known as the Father of the Constitution?
James Madison
9. Why did the Philadelphia Convention originally meet?
To fix the Articles of Confederation
10. What were the main parts of the Virginia Plan?
Called for 3 branches; Bicameral legislature; Representation based on population or amount of
money given to the government
11. What was the main component of the New Jersey Plan?
Unicameral Legislature with equal representation
12. What is another name for the Connecticut Compromise and what did the compromise entail?
The Great Compromise, it created the bicameral legislature we have today. The Senate is equal
representation with 2 per state, and the House of Representatives is based on population.
13. Describe the 3/5 compromise.
Counted 3/5 of the slave population as people toward the state population (3 out of 5)
14. What did the Southern colonies fear would happen if they agreed to the Constitution and what was
the compromise that lead to their agreement?
Southerners feared that the commercial interests of the North would hurt the agricultural
economy and the slave trade. Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise prohibited tax on any export to
any state, and slaves couldn’t be taken away, but a tax was placed on each new one.
15. Which committee of the Constitutional Convention put the document in its final form and what year
was it finally approved by the convention?
Committee of Stile and Arrangement; 1787