Chapter 5 Review
1. How did the Magna Carta influence American leaders when they were considering the
structure of their government? It showed that it was important to limit the powers of
government.
2. What problem did Anti-Federalists have with the Constitution? They felt that the central
government had been given too much power.
3. What was the significance of the Articles of Confederation? They established the first national
government of the United States.
4. Why were the Articles of Confederation ineffective in solving internal problems that existed in
the United States? The Articles created a weak national government that had little control over
actions of individual state governments.
5. Following Shays’s Rebellion, most Americans called for establishing: A stronger central
government.
6. How did the delegates resolve the debate over how slaves should factor into representation in
government? They decided to compromise and count three out of every five slaves.
7. What characteristics of most state constitutions created during the American Revolution
strongly influenced the ideas behind American government? The creation of governments with
limited power.
8. How did the Great Compromise resolve the debate over state representation in the federal
government? It created a bicameral legislature, where in one house population determined
representation, and in the other the number of representatives were equal.
9. How were western lands divided by the Land Ordinance of 1785? The land was divided into
townships, which were divided into smaller lots and sold.
10. How did the ideas in Jefferson’s Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom differ from previous
ideas held by the government? Jefferson felt the government had no right to control religious
choice.
11. What is federalism? A system of government in which powers of government are shared
between the national and state governments.
12. In what ways did northerners and southerners disagree about the issue of slavery at the
Constitutional Convention? Southerners wanted slaves to be counted as part of their state
populations.
13. The banning of slavery in some state constitutions were significant because it marked the
beginnings of the Abolitionist movement.
14. Under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, a territory could apply to become a state when it
had 60,000 settlers and a drafted constitution.
15. Why did the framers of the Constitution create a system of checks and balances? To keep any
one branch of government from becoming too powerful.
Chapter 5 Review
16. What was the purpose of the Land Ordinance of 1785? To set up a system for surveying and
dividing territory.
17. How did the Bill of Rights, added to the Constitution in 1791, use the ideas introduced in the
Declaration of Independence? It ensured the protection of individual rights so that the abuses
listed in the Declaration would be illegal.
18. How did the national government eventually respond to Shays’s Rebellion? It announced a
convention to revise the Articles of Confederation to better meet the nation’s needs.
19. In 1784 Spain closed which important trade route to the US? The lower Mississippi River.
20. How did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 affect education in the Northwest Territory? It
made education a basic right by providing public education for all citizens.
21. The Constitution delegated the power to coin money to the federal government. What is an
advantage of this decision? A single currency would be used and accepted everywhere in the
US.
22. In what way did the Constitution attempt to implement the ideals set forth in the Declaration
of Independence? The Constitution adopted a system of checks and balances within the federal
government.
23. What was the significance of Shays’s Rebellion? It showed Americans the weaknesses of the
Confederation government.
24. The Magna Carta was a document that Required British royalty to obey the same laws as other
English people
25. Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom declared that no person could be
forced to attend church or to pay for a church with taxes.
26. How did the Federalist Papers try to assure Americans about the new federal government
created under the Constitution? By saying that the government would not overpower the
states.
27. What was the Bill of Rights? The first ten amendments added to the Constitution to protect the
rights of individual citizens.
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