Chapter 5 Vocabulary
1. Section 5-1
a. Magna Carta: Document signed by King John in 1215, made the King subject to law
b. Constitution: set of basic principles and laws that states the powers and duties of the government
c. Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom: declared that no person could be forced to attend a particular
church or be required to pay for a church with tax money
d. Suffrage: The right to vote
e. Articles of Confederation: (1777) document that created the first central government for the United
States; was replaced in 1789 by the Constitution
f. Ratification: official approval
g. Land Ordinance of 1785: legislation passed by Congress authorizing surveys and the division of public
lands in the western region of the country
h. Northwest Ordinance: legislation passed by Congress to establish a political structure for the Northwest
Territory and create a system for admission of new states
i. Northwest Territory: lands including present-day Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin;
organized by Northwest Ordinance
2. Section 5-2
a. Tariffs: taxes on imports or exports
b. Interstate Commerce: trade between 2 or more states
c. Inflation: when there are increased prices for goods and services combined with the reduced value of
money
d. Depression: period of low economic activity combined with a rise of unemployment
e. Shays’s Rebellion: uprising of farmers to protest high taxes and heavy debt
3. Section 5-3
a. Constitutional Convention: held May 1787 in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall to improve the Articles of
Confederation
b. Virginia Plan: a proposed new federal constitution that would give sovereignty, or supreme power, to
the central government
c. New Jersey Plan: called for a unicameral legislature and gave each state an equal number of votes in the
federal government
d. Great Compromise: agreement top create a 2-house legislature
e. 3/5s compromise: only 3/5 of a state’s slave population would count when determining representation
f. Popular Sovereignty: the idea that political authority belongs to the people
g. Federalism: shared power between a central government and the states that make up the country
h. Legislative Branch: Congress; responsible for making laws
i. Executive Branch: includes president and departments that help run the government
j. Judicial Branch: made up of national courts; interprets the constitution
k. Checks and balances: keeps any branch of government from becoming too powerful
4. Section 5-4
a. Antifederalists: people who opposed the Constitution
b. Federalists: supporters of the Constitution
c. Federalists Papers: essays supporting the constitution; written anonymously by Hamilton, Madison, and
John Jay
d. Amendments: official changes to the Constitution
e. Bill of Rights: First 10 amendments to the Constitution