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Explain why the Articles of Confederation failed:
Compare the Federalists and Anti-Federalists:
What year was the Constitution ratified?
The introduction to the Constitution that identifies the goals of the American government is
called the ____________. The next 7 sections that the Constitution is divided into are called the
_____________. Finally, there are _____ amendments that have been made to the
Constitution. The first 10 are called the __________________.
5. List the 6 basic principles of the Constitution:
The idea that government must be based on the will of the people is called___________________
Division of power among different branches of government _______________________
System designed to prevent a single branch of government from becoming too powerful
____________________________
The sharing of power between the national and state governments _____________________
a. separation of powers
b. federalism
c. checks and balances
d. popular sovereignty
Article I: The Legislative Branch
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The 2 houses of Congress are the ____________ and the _______________________________.
Senators serve ___ years. Representatives serve ____ years.
What are the qualifications to be a Senator? A representative?
How many in the Senate? How many in the House of Representatives?
Explain what the numbers for each are based on.
Article II: The Executive Branch
1. List the 3 formal qualifications to become President.
2. Choose any 3 roles of the President and describe them:
3. Presidents serve ____ year terms. The 22nd Amendment now limits a President to ____ terms
(usually 8 years), or a maximum of _____ years.
4. The President is elected by the _________________. In order to win, he/she must get _____ of
the 538 possible votes.
5. The total number of electors (538) is based on:
6. The President’s annual salary is: ___________
7. List the first and second positions in the order of presidential succession:
a. _______________________________ b. ____________________________
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8. How many executive departments are there? ____ The heads of these departments make up
the President’s ____________________.
9. Name 3 of the executive departments.
Article III: The Judicial Branch
1. Which court or courts was/were directly established by the Constitution?
2. ___________ has the power to establish other inferior courts.
3. What “level” of federal courts falls between the 94 US district trial courts and the US Supreme
Court?
4. Marbury v. Madison (1804) established the Court’s power of: ____________________.
5. Define judicial review:
6. The ________________ appoints Supreme Court justices and the _______________ votes on
their confirmation.
7. The ruling of the Supreme Court is called the ______________ opinion. When some justices
disagree with the ruling, that is called the __________________ opinion.
8. The _______________________ assigns who will write both opinions.
9. How many justices sit on the Supreme Court?
10. Supreme Court justices serve _______ terms.
11. Name the current Chief Justice: ________________
12. What term refers to a judicial decision or ruling that is used as a standard in later cases? (We
haven’t really covered this, but I want you to know it!)
Articles 4-7
1. Article IV deals with relations among the _________________.
a. Article IV guarantees each state a ___________ form of government.
b. It provides a way for new ______ states to be admitted to the union.
c. It says that states are obligated to return________ if they flee the state where the crime
was committed. This is known as __________________.
d. It also says that states are to recognize the legal records of other states, known as the
______________________________ Clause.
2. Article V deals with amending or __________ the Constitution. For the Constitution to be
amended, ____ of Congress or the state legislatures must agree to propose it, and then ____ of
the states must pass it.
3. Article VI includes the Supremacy Clause, which declares the supremacy of __________ law over
any state laws. (The __________________ is the “supreme law of the land.”)
4. Article VII provided for the _______________ of the Constitution. ____ out of the 13 states had
to approve it.