Chapter 8 Study Guide
Building a Republic, 1775-1789
Joshua Falls
1. Why was the confederation government’s authority so limited? Because there was no
federal government
2. What were the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation? What events played a
significant role in showing those weaknesses? Each state only had one vote in Congress,
regardless of size
3. How did states determine who would be allowed to vote? They excluded women and
nonwhite men
4. What was the significance of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix and the Northwest Ordinance
(1784, 1785, and 1787)? It showed where the rest of the west would be settled
5. Why did the government proposed by the Constitutional Convention employ multiple
checks on each branch? So that one branch would not hold most of the power.
6. How did the Great Compromise satisfy both the Virginia and New Jersey plans? It
created a bicameral legislature
7. What did antifederalists oppose the Constitution? They did not like the ratification of the
constitution.
Terms and Names- Define and give the historical significance (Who, What, Where, When,
Why, How) of the following:
Articles of Confederation: main priority was
to form a common defense
Requisition: a request of 3 million dollars
towards operating costs, foreign leaders, and
American soldiers
Republicanism: government that promoted
the people’s welfare
Bill of Rights: 10 rights given to citizens in
America that shall not be infringed
Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett): won
freedom based on the idea that “all men are
born free and equal”
Gradual Emancipation: laws to balance civil
rights of blacks.
Robert Morris: insisted that taxation was
necessary.
Impost: a tax
Newburgh Conspiracy: a plan to challenge
the authority of the congress
Iroquois Confederacy: several tribes of
native Americans formed a government.
Treaty of Fort Stanwix: established new
boundary lines between the colonists and
native peoples
Northwest Territory: rea north of the Ohio
River and east of the Mississippi
Northwest Ordinance 1784, 1785, and 1787:
created procedures for dividing land.
Shays’s Rebellion: a series of attacks on
government properties.
James Madison: wrote 85 essays called The
Federalist Papers
Alexander Hamilton: helped write the
federalist papers
Constitutional convention: event in which
35 men gathered in Philadelphia and agreed
there were weaknesses in the article.
Virginia Plan: outlined the three government
branches.
New Jersey Plan: 15-point plan to
restructure the government
Great Compromise (Sherman Compromise
or Connecticut Compromise): created the
three fifths compromise
United States Constitution: The us
government and its three branches.
Three-Fifths Clause: Stated that a slave was
counted as three fifths of a free person for
population reasons
Fugitive Slave Clause: demanded that
citizens help recover fugitive slaves
Commerce Clause: discussed fugitives and
the import of people.
Federalists: favored weak state government
and wanted a centralized government.
Antifederalists: opposed the ratification of
the 1787 U.S. Constitution
The Federalist Papers: wanted to ratify the
constitution .