Creating The Constitution Vocabulary

A meeting held in Philadelphia at which delegates from the states wrote the Constitution

• Shay's Rebellion

• Constitutional Convention

• Continental Congress

• Great Compromise

The plan for government proposed at the Constitutional Convention in which the national government would have supreme power and with representation determined by state population.

• Virginia Plan

• New Jersey Plan

• Great Compromise

• Three Fifths Compromise

A proposal to create a unicameral legislature with equal representation of states rather than representation by population.

• Virginia Plan

• New Jersey Plan

• Great Compromise

• Three Fifths Compromise

An agreement worked out at the Constitutional Convention establishing that a state’s population would determine representation in the lower house of the legislature, while each state would have equal representation in the upper house of the legislature

• Virginia Plan

• New Jersey Plan

• Great Compromise

• Three Fifths Compromise

An agreement worked out at the Constitutional Convention stating that only three-fifths of the slaves in a state would count when determining a state’s population for representation in the lower house of Congress.

• Virginia Plan

• New Jersey Plan

• Great Compromise

• Three Fifths Compromise

The idea that political authority belongs to the people.

• federalism

• checks and balances

• popular sovereignty

• republicanism

The division of the government that proposes bills and passes them into laws

• Executive Branch

• Legislative Branch

• Judicial Branch

• Unitary Branch

The division of the federal government that includes the president and the administrative departments; enforces the nation’s laws

• Executive Branch

• Legislative Branch

• Judicial Branch

• Unitary Branch

The division of the federal government that is made up of the national courts; interprets laws, punishes criminals, and settles disputes between states

• Executive Branch

• Legislative Branch

• Judicial Branch

• Unitary Branch

A system established by the Constitution that prevents any branch of government from becoming too powerful

• federalism

• popular sovereignty

• checks and balances

• Great Compromise