Glossary Term – Event
Constitution adopted
State delegates (except Randolph, Mason, and Gerry) signed the new United States Constitution.
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Showing results 11 – 20 of 30
Glossary Term – Event
Ratification of the Constitution
The basic document by which the United States is governed, the US Constitution was ratified when the ninth state, New Hampshire, voted in favor of the document on June 21, 1788. Drafted at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the Constitution divided governmental powers between the national and state governments in a system known as federalism. It also divided the national government into three independent branches.
Glossary Term – Organization
republicanism
When asked what kind of government the Constitutional Convention had created, Benjamin Franklin replied: “A republic, if you can keep it.” Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution contains an unamendable provision that begins: “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a republican form of government.” This refers to the principles and practices appropriate to a government in which ultimate authority resides in the people and in which elected officials and representatives are responsible to the people and must govern...
Glossary Term – Person
George Mason
George Mason (1725–1792) was an American political leader from Virginia who opposed strong central government and supported protections for individual liberties. During the 1760s and 1770s, Mason vocally opposed British policies and called on colonists to oppose the Stamp Act in 1765. He drafted the Fairfax Resolves in 1774 and Virginia’s Declaration of Rights in 1776. His Declaration of Rights became a model for the Declaration of Independence. It also became a foundation for the Constitutional Bill of Rights adopted in 1791. At the...
Glossary Term – Person
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804) shaped the financial, political, and legal systems of the young United States. Born in poverty in the Caribbean, Hamilton was sent to New York to receive and education. He was sympathetic to the demands of rebellious colonists and he joined the militia when the Revolution began. In March of 1777 Hamilton was appointed to George Washington’s staff as an aide-de-camp and later distinguished himself at the Battle of Yorktown. He married Elizabeth Schuyler, of the eminent Schuyler family, and went on to serve in...
Glossary Term – Person
Rufus King
Rufus King (1755–1827) was one of the framers of the US Constitution. King served in the Massachusetts state legislature from 1783 to 1784 and then in Congress, where he was responsible for the resolution calling for a Constitutional Convention in 1787. An ardent Federalist, King supported the strong central government created by the Constitution and advocated for the document’s ratification. King was also an opponent of slavery who supported compensated emancipation and in 1785 introduced a congressional resolution prohibiting slavery in...
Glossary Term – Place
Philadelphia
During the Revolutionary era, Philadelphia was the site of the First and Second Continental Congresses. The surrounding countryside was also the location for several major events during the Revolution, including the battles at Brandywine and Germantown. The British occupied Philadelphia from 1777 to 1778. After the Revolution, Philadelphia hosted the Constitutional Convention and served as the nation’s capital from 1790 to 1800.
Recommended Resource
Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution
Brookhiser, Richard. Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution. New York: Free Press, 2003.
Teaching Resource
The Survival of the US Constitution
The United States has the oldest written national framework of government in the world. At the end of the twentieth century, there were about 159 other national constitutions in the world, and 101 had been adopted since 1970. While the United States has been governed by a single framework of government for over two centuries, France, in contrast, has had 10 separate and distinct constitutional orders (including five republics, two empires, a monarchy, and two dictatorships). The country of El Salvador has had 36 constitutions since 1824....