Founding Documents / The Constitution

What was the first document that was written and signed that declared us as the country of the United States of America?

• Treaty of Paris

• Declaration of Independence

• The Bill of Rights

• The Gettysburg Address

What are two of the parts/systems that one usually needs for establishing and running a government that the Declaration of Independence is missing? (pick 2)

• Actually declaring independence

• Saying who leads the country

• What the national and state government does

• Saying why the people are leaving Britain

What document did the Continental Congress write in order to fix several of the issues/problems with what the D.O.I. was missing?

• Inaugural Speech

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• The article "Common Sense"

• The Articles of Confederation

What were two features of the Articles of Confederation? (pick 2)

• It established a Congress

• It laid out how the Supreme Court would make decisions

• It set down a Bill of Rights with 12 Amendments

• The central government had to ask states to give it money

What were the two plans proposed for figuring out representation in Congress AND what was their feature?

• Virginia Plan: representation would be based on population (more people = more reps)

• Florida Plan:

  The President would decide how representation would work

• Georgia Plan: representation would be based how much tax money was collected

• New Jersey Plan: every state would get the same number of representation (population didn’t matter)

How did The Great Compromise combine the Virginia and New Jersey Plans? (pick 2)

• Each state would debate with other states about how many senators each state would receive

• The House of Representatives would be based on population

• The President would decide how many representatives each state would get

• The Senate would have the same number of representatives (2) for each state (population didn’t matter)

What compromise was reached by the states regarding how enslaved people would be counted?

• All enslaved people would be counted toward representation

• 3 out of 5 enslaved people or three-fifths of an enslaved person counted toward representation

• No/zero enslaved people would be counted toward representation

What are the three branches of the federal government? (pick 3)

• Legislative Branch

• Executive Branch

• Parliament Branch

• House of Commons Branch

• Judicial Branch

What are some of the characteristics of the Executive Branch of our government? (pick 2)

• Includes the President, Vice President, and the Cabinet

• The Cabinet can make final decisions in the area where they are experts

• The President can veto (reject) laws passed by the legislative branch

• Votes to approve or reject Justices/Judges to the Supreme Court

What are some of the characteristics of the Legislative Branch of our government?  (Who is it and what are its responsibilities?) (Pick 2)

• Includes the Commander-in-Chief of the military

• Determines if laws follow the Constitution or not

• Has two houses/parts: The House of Representatives and The Senate

• Controls the government’s money