Unit 5 Constitution Review

The Bill of Rights is the document: 

• added to the Constitution to protect citizens’ rights.
•  used to limit the powers of state governments.
• outlining the rights of the federal government.
• stating the ways in which citizens can participate in government.

The Federalist Papers attempted to reassure Americans about the new federal government created under the Constitution by saying that the government would

• be more like Great Britain’s.
• not overpower the states.
• one day abolish slavery in the nation.
• grant the states political independence.

Under the Virginia Plan the structure of the national government would have been changed by the creation of a/an

• unicameral legislature with an equal number of delegates from each state.
• bicameral legislature in which the number of delegates per state would be based on a states’ population.
• strong judiciary with sovereignty over the other two branches of government.
• executive office the leader of which would have sole control of the nation.

Women, African Americans, and Native Americans did not take part in the Constitutional Convention because they

• did not have the rights of citizenship.
• opposed expanding the central government.
• were protesting against the new constitution.
• could not find a delegate to represent them.

The Great Compromise resolved the debate over state representation in the federal government by

• creating a bicameral legislature that represented both the small and large states.
• creating a unicameral legislature.
• giving more power to the large states 
• deciding that each state would have the same number of delegates.

The Three-Fifths Compromise

• freed three-fifths of slaves in the southern states.
• granted three-fifths of freed slaves the right to vote.
• determined how many representatives a state would have in the Congress by counting three-fifths of the state’s slave population.
• decided to give an extra delegate to each state that had banned the slave trade, giving northern states a three-fifths majority in the Congress.

The framers of the Constitution created a system of checks and balances to

• outline the powers held by each branch of government.
•  keep any one branch of government from becoming too powerful.
• give the people an opportunity to control the branches of government.
• strengthen the powers held by each branch of government.

What is federalism?

• a government system where the central government holds supreme power
• a system that keeps each branch of government from obtaining too much power
• the sharing of power between a central government and the states of a country
•  the part of government responsible for making the laws of a country or nation

An amendment to the Constitution is a/an

• suggested addition.
• judicial opinion.
• legal clarification.
• official change.

What position did Federalists hold toward the new constitution?

• They condemned its authors’ disregard of individual rights.
• They praised the way it balanced power among different branches of government.
• They criticized the excessive control it gave to the central government.
• They defended the economic independence it granted to the individual states.