Key Terms of the U.S. Constitution and Early American Government

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Constitution

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a document that sets out the fundamental principles of governance and establishes the institutions of government.

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Republic

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a government in which people elect representatives to carry out their wishes.

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Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union

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a governing document that created a union of thirteen sovereign states in which the states, not the national government, were supreme.

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Unicameral

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having a one-house legislature.

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Shays’s Rebellion

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an uprising by debtors against the government of Massachusetts.

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Constitutional Convention

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a meeting attended by state delegates in 1787 to fix the Articles of Confederation.

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Writ of Habeas Corpus

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the right of people detained by the government to know the charges against them; a document setting out the reasons for an arrest or detention.

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Bills of Attainder

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legislative acts that declare people guilty and impose punishment on those people without a trial.

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Ex Post Facto Laws

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laws that punish people for acts that were not crimes at the time they were committed.

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Bicameral

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A legislative body with two chambers or houses.