Chapter 5 Review

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Chapter 5 Review 								Joe Puccio

Key Terms
Shay’s Rebellion
Electoral College 
Constitutional Convention 
Great Compromise 
Virginia Plan
Separation of Powers
Judicial review 


People To Identify 
John Marshall was a chief justice and best know for the case marbury v madison. 
Alexander Hamilton is known for the federalist papers and his work as treasurer. 
Patrick Henry led the movement for independence in Virginia and vehemently opposed the stamp act and is known for his speech: “Give me liberty, or give me death”. 
James Madison played a pivotal role in the development of the constitution. 
George Mason, along with James Madison, is called one of the “fathers of the bill of rights”. 
William Paterson played a crucial role in the development of the New Jersey plan. 
Edmund Randolph played a crucial role in the development of the Virginia plan.

Places To Locate
B
C
A

Reviewing the Facts
Shay’s rebellion was started because farmers’ farms were being taken away due to debt. It made the country realize just how powerless the national government was, and many feared more revolts. These events lead to the Constitutional Convention. 
Problems with currency (Shays’ Rebellion) and all around pressure from “the national feeling that something must be done.” 
All the delegates very much agreed with the Declaration of Independence, and knew that natural rights could not exist without government. 
There were three large issues that came into play concerning the Legislative branch. The first was the role of the people in appointing officials to legislature. James Madison suggested that for a government to be “free” the people must elect one house of the legislature, this led to The Convention finally deciding that the people would directly elect the House of Representatives. The second issue concerned how many representatives each state had. Large states liked the Virginia Plan (which would give them more power), while small states preferred the New Jersey Plan (which provided a unicameral legislature with equal representation for all states). This was resolved with the Great Compromise (the Connecticut Compromise), proposed by Roger Sherman. It called for the people to be represented in the House of Representatives, and the states to be (equally) represented in the Senate. The third major issue concerned slavery. Northern states thought only “free persons” should be represented under the Virginia Plan. However, southern states wanted slaves to be counted too. The two sides met in the middle (well, not quite the middle) with the Three-Fifths Compromise. This compromise would have representation counted by free citizens and three-fifths of “other persons.” 
There were three major issues in the institution of the Executive branch. The first came with deciding who would hold executive powers. Many did not want a single person to hold them, for fear of corruption. However, eventually, comforted by the assumption that George Washington would be the first president, the convention voted for a single leader. Though, they did not limit this leader’s powers using checks and balances. The next issues were about the President’s selection; term of office, and should the President be corrupt, would Congress have the power to impeach. The Convention was unable to decide so they handed the issue over to a committee which decided that: the President would serve four terms without limits on re-election, that the President would be chosen by an Elector College (the number of representatives would be equal to the state’s representation in both houses of Congress), and that the House of Representatives could impeach the President, but the Senate would conduct the trial. 
Over the next nine months the Constitution had to be approved by nine of the thirteen states for it to be adopted. 
The Antifederalists had two main concerns, the fact that the Constitution had no Bill of Rights (which would mean the loss of birthrights they had since the Magna Carta), and that it gave a lot of power to the national government (which led to the fear that it would swallow up state governments). 
Federalists ended up endorsing a Bill of Rights because with out one, the government (especially the judiciary branch) would end up having a tough time. 
The amendment process takes a 2/3 vote to propose an amendment and a 3/4 vote to pass it. There are two clauses which allow for a stretch of power, they are the “good welfare” clause and the elastic (necessary and proper) clause. 
Judicial Review is the power of the Supreme court to declare something unconstitutional. This decision can be abolished by either an amendment or a later Supreme court decision. 

Critical Thinking Skills

Sam Adams, and others like him were likely against Shays’ Rebellion because they probably sow it as unnecessary. They saw the Boston Tea Party as a necessary act against an oppressive government, while, to them, shays’ Rebellion was an unnecessary act against a newly forming government. Also Shas’ Rebellion seemed a lot more like anarchy than the message the Boston Tea Party sent. 
Separation of powers works to protect liberty in America by using a system of checks and balances. This system underuses that no one branch of government becomes too powerful, and in doing so prevents even the possibility of loss of liberty. 
In saying this I think that Franklin meant (and knew) that, acting on the words would be a difficult endeavor. 
The change in meaning between “We the states” and “We the people” may seem minor, but it is more important than it appears superficially. By objecting to this the Antifederalists were essentially saying “Speak for yourselves.” They didn’t think that such a small group had the right or authority to speak for such a large nation.