1. The Enlightenment- An Intellectual movement that brought new ideas from Europe. It caused the American colonists to use logic and reason to question England’s authority.

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2. The Great Awakening An Religious movement that caused the American colonists to questions religious leadership and bring people back to the church.

3. John Locke- an Enlightenment thinker, who believed that people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property. He felt that a government is a social agreement between the leaders and the people

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4. natural rights- the belief that developed during the Enlightenment that people had certain rights, such as the right to life, liberty, and property

5. Declaration of Independence- the document, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, in which the delegates of the Continental Congress declared the colonies’ independence from Britain.

6. Articles of Confederation- A document; approved by the Second Continental Congress in 1781; that outlined the form of government of the new United States.

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7. Shay's Rebellion- An uprising of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers protesting increased state taxes in 1787.

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8. Virginia Plan- A plan proposed by James Madison, called for a bicameral (two house) legislature with membership based on a state’s population. The larger states favored this plan.

9. New Jersey Plan- A plan proposed by William Paterson, called for a unicameral (single house) legislature in which each state had an equal vote(representation). The smaller states favored this plan.

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10. Great Compromise- An agreement between large and small states reached during the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 that combined the New Jersey and Virginia Plans that proposed a bicameral legislature.

11. 3/5 Compromise- An agreement worked out at the Constitutional Convention stating that enslaved people would be counted as three-fifths of a person when determining a state's population for representation in the lower house of Congress

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12. Constitution- The fundamental laws and principles that prescribe the nature, functions and limits of the United States government.

13. Bill of Rights- The first ten amendments to the US Constitution; consisting of a formal list of citizens’ rights and freedoms.

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14. Federalism- A political system in which a national government and state governments share power.

15. Separation of Powers- The three branches of government: legislative branch (make laws), executive branch (carry out laws), and judicial branch (interpret laws and settle disputes).

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16. Checks and Balance-A system which prevents any one branch from dominating the other two.

17. Marbury v. Madison- an 1803 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that it had the power to abolish legislative acts by declaring them unconstitutional; this power came to be known as judicial review.

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18. Popular Sovereignty- A system in which the residents vote to decide an issue.

19. Missouri Compromise- A compromise admitting Missouri into the union as a slave state. States located above the 36th parallel line would be free states, those below would be slave states.

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20. Compromise of 1850- was a series of five laws which balanced the interests of the slave states and the free states to resolve the territorial and slavery controversies arising from the Mexican-American War. California was admitted as a free state.

21. Dred Scott case- a slave who attempted to use the courts as a means of earning his freedom. Scott lost the decision and the Supreme Court declared no slave or descendant of a slave could be a U.S. citizen.

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22. Secession - The years of 1860 and 1861 when eleven southern states each declared themselves seceded from the United States and joined together to form the Confederate States of America.

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23. Reconstruction-the period of rebuilding that followed the Civil War, during which the defeated Confederate states were readmitted to the Union.

24. Jim Crow Laws/Black Codes- laws enacted by Southern state and local governments to separate white and black people in public and private facilities.

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25. Plessy v. Ferguson-Supreme Court case that supported the idea of racial segregation as fair (legal) under the Constitution.Created the separate-but-equal doctrine.

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