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2.3 - The Development of The Constitution (Openstax)

The document discusses key terms related to the structure of the US government under the Constitution such as bicameral and unicameral legislatures, the Virginia and New Jersey Plans, the Great Compromise, and concepts like separation of powers, checks and balances, veto powers, federal and reserved powers, and the Supremacy Clause.

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Areej Mirza
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33 views2 pages

2.3 - The Development of The Constitution (Openstax)

The document discusses key terms related to the structure of the US government under the Constitution such as bicameral and unicameral legislatures, the Virginia and New Jersey Plans, the Great Compromise, and concepts like separation of powers, checks and balances, veto powers, federal and reserved powers, and the Supremacy Clause.

Uploaded by

Areej Mirza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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a.

bicameral legislature

A legislative body consisting of two houses.

b. Virginia Plan

A bicameral legislature where the number of a state’s representatives in each house was to be based
on the state’s population.

c. New Jersey Plan

A unicameral legislature where each state has 1 vote.

d. unicameral legislature

A legislative body consisting of one house.

e. Great Compromise

it was decided, would consist of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each
state, regardless of size, would have two senators, making for equal representation as in the New
Jersey Plan. Representation in the House would be based on population. Senators were to be
appointed by state legislatures, a variation on the Virginia Plan. Members of the House of
Representatives would be popularly elected by the voters in each state. Elected members of the House
would be limited to two years in office before having to seek reelection, and those appointed to the
Senate by each state’s political elite would serve a term of six years.

f. Three-Fifths Compromise

Slaveholding states were allowed to count all their free population, including free African Americans
and 60 percent (three-fifths) of their enslaved population. To mollify the north, the compromise also
allowed counting 60 percent of a state’s slave population for federal taxation, although no such taxes
were ever collected.

g. separation of powers

Dividing the national government into three separate branches and assigning different responsibilities
to each one.

h. checks and balances

Each of the three branches of government the power to restrict the actions of the others, thus
requiring them to work together.

i. Veto

Power of the President that can check congresses legislative power.

j. federal system
Power is divided between the federal government and the state governments.

k. enumerated powers

Great or explicit powers

l. reserved powers

All powers not expressly given to the national government were intended to be exercised by the states

m. supremacy clause

Article VI of the Constitution proclaimed that the Constitution, laws passed by Congress, and treaties
made by the federal government were “the supreme Law of the Land.”

2. Identify the four main points of contention in drafting the Constitution.

Many wished to preserve state autonomy, although not to a degree that prevented the states from
working together collectively or made them entirely independent of the will of the national
government. They wished to give political rights to all free men but also feared mob rule. Delegates
from small states did not want their interests pushed aside by delegations from more populous states
like Virginia. Representatives from southern states worried that delegates from states where it had
been or was being abolished might try to outlaw the institution.

3. What are the core features and structure of the U.S. government under the Constitution?

Mainly the Constitution was divided into three branches, legislative, executive, and judiciary. And an
important part of these branches is checks and balances.

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