Founding Documents Review

This document declared the colonies’ independence from Great Britain:

• Declaration of Independence  

• VA Statute for Religious Freedom

• Charter for the Virginia Company of London

• VA Declaration of Rights

A ______________________  is the opening section or introductory statement.

• Representative Government

• Limited Government

• Preamble

• Government’s Rights

The _____________________ lists the reasons for the US Constitution.

• Protecting minority Rights

• Majority Rule

• Preamble

• Establishing the structure of government

In the United States, whoever the more people vote for becomes Senator, which shows ___________________.

• Protecting minority Rights

• Majority Rule

• Preamble

• Establishing the structure of government

What did many American colonists use Thomas Paine's Common Sense to justify?

• Acts of sabotage against British merchants

• Declaring independence from Britain

• Supporting the British monarchy

• Joining the British Army

Which idea is from the Magna Carta?

           

• The people should be completely free from the government.

• The government should give people a fair and speedy trial.

• The government should have unlimited power to tax.

• The King does not have to follow the same laws as the people.

Use the quotation to answer the question.

“ We, whose names are underwritten . . . solemnly and mutually . . .covenant [agree to] and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick [government], for our better Ordering and Preservation.”   —excerpt from the Mayflower Compact

This part of the Mayflower Compact is an example of how the colonists put which of the following into practice? 

• Behaving for the common good

• A two house legislature

• Checks and Balances

• Individual Rights

Use the quotation to answer the question.

“Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, ’TIS TIME TO PART. Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and America, is a strong and natural proof, that the authority of the one, over the other, was never the design of Heaven.”

—Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

What is Thomas Paine trying to win support for?

• the separation of natural rights from legal rights

• the separation of powers between state and federal governments

• the separation of powers between the three branches of government

• the separation of the colonies from Great Britain

Below is a timeline.

1918: Latvia declares independence

1940: Soviet Union takes over Latvia

1988: Latvian people push for independence

August 1991: Latvia declares independence

September 1991: U.S. president announces full diplomatic recognition of Latvia

September 1991: Latvia joins the United Nations

Which writing encourages the action demonstrated in the timeline?

• Common Sense

• U.S. Constitution

• Mayflower Compact

• Articles of Confederation

Under the Articles of Confederation, the U.S. government had ONE branch of government. Which one?

• executive

• legislative

• judicial