HISTORY 1301 EXAM # 3
1. How did southern delegates attending the Philadelphia Convention get around the use of the word “slave”
in the Constitution? P.181
a) They seemed embarrassed to call the institution by its true name, and in the Constitution itself, slaves
were described as “other persons,” such persons,” “persons held to Service or Labor,” in other words,
as everything but slaves.
2. How did Northern delegates rationalize the deals on the slavery issue in the Constitution? P.184
a) Many Northerners, they conceded that establishing a strong national government was of greater
immediate importance than ending the slave trade. “Great as the evil is,” Madison wrote, “a
dismemberment of the union would be worse.”
3. Know the provisions of the following Articles in the Constitution:
a) Article 1.section 2-Blacks counted as 3/5 person
b) Article 2.section 9-no more importation of Blacks as of 1808
c) Article 4.section 2-slaves were to be returned to their owners if caught
4. How would the President be elected and why? How was the position of Vice President determined?
What happened if no one person received a majority of the vote? P.184
a) During sessions, the members of the convention concluded that the president, as they now called the
executive, should be selected by an electoral college, a body of men in each state chosen by local
voters.
b) Whoever received the second largest number of votes in the electoral college automatically became
vice president.
c) In the event that no person received a majority of the votes, the election would be decided by the
lower house – the House of Representatives with each state casting a single vote.
5. What is the “electoral college” and how many votes did each state have in it? P.184
a) The number of “electoral” votes held by each state equaled its number of representatives and senators.
6. Know the two privileges the chief executive received from the delegates. P.184
a) Delegates also armed the chief executive with veto power over legislation as well as the right to
nominate judges.
7. The delegates who signed the Constitution of 1787 knew there would be significant opposition because
their plan cut so heavily into state authority. They agreed that only nine states would be needed to ratify
the Constitution-through special state conventions rather than through state legislatures-to allow the
new central government to commence operation.
Who were the Federalist?
, a) Supporters of the Constitution (nationalists) took on the name of “Federalists suggesting that they
stood for a confederation of states rather than the creation of a supreme national authority. In fact,
they envisioned the creation of a strong centralized national government capable of fielding a
formidable army.
b) Who were the Anti-federalists?
Anti-federalists were critics of the Constitutions who tended to be somewhat poorer, less urban
(rural), and less well educated than their opponents. They wanted to continue the confederation of
sovereign states.
8. How did the nationalists help the effort to ratify the Constitution?
a) The nationalists were also very effective in planning the Convention’s work. The essence of their
argumentation appeared in The Federalist Papers, a service of 85 remarkably cogent newspaper
essays written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay on behalf of ratification in New
York. They discussed various aspects of the Constitution and tried to demonstrate how the document
would ensure political stability and provide enlightened legislation.
9. How did the Anti-federalists fight against ratification of the Constitution? P.186
a) Antifederalists demanded direct, personal contact with their representatives. They argued thatelected
officials should reflect the character of their constituents as closely as possible. It seemed unlikely
that in large congressional districts the people would be able to preserve such close ties with their
representatives. According to the Antifederalists, the Constitution favored persons wealthy enough
to have forged a reputation that extended beyond a single community.
10. How did Federalists respond to their opponents’ arguments against ratification of the Constitution?
P.186
a) Federalist speakers mocked their opponents’ localist perspective. The Constitution deserved general
support precisely because it ensured that future Americans would be represented by “natural
aristocrats,” individuals possessing greater insights, skills, and training than did the ordinary citizen.
11. How did the Bill of Rights help with the acceptance of the passage of the Constitution?
a) To strengthen popular support for the new government, Congress also approved a Bill of Rights in
the form of ten amendments to the Constitution. These first amendments guaranteed the rights for
free press, free speech, and free exercise of religion; the right to peaceful assembly; and the right to
petition government. The Bill of Rights also ensured that the national government could not infringe
on the right to trial by jury. In an effort to reassure Anti-federalists that the powers of the new
government were limited, the tenth amendment “reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”
all powers not specified in the Constitution.
12. Who were the members of President Washington’s cabinet?
a) Vice President John Adams, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of State
Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of War Henry Knox, Attorney General Edmund Randolph, and
Postmaster General Samuel Osgood.
1. How did southern delegates attending the Philadelphia Convention get around the use of the word “slave”
in the Constitution? P.181
a) They seemed embarrassed to call the institution by its true name, and in the Constitution itself, slaves
were described as “other persons,” such persons,” “persons held to Service or Labor,” in other words,
as everything but slaves.
2. How did Northern delegates rationalize the deals on the slavery issue in the Constitution? P.184
a) Many Northerners, they conceded that establishing a strong national government was of greater
immediate importance than ending the slave trade. “Great as the evil is,” Madison wrote, “a
dismemberment of the union would be worse.”
3. Know the provisions of the following Articles in the Constitution:
a) Article 1.section 2-Blacks counted as 3/5 person
b) Article 2.section 9-no more importation of Blacks as of 1808
c) Article 4.section 2-slaves were to be returned to their owners if caught
4. How would the President be elected and why? How was the position of Vice President determined?
What happened if no one person received a majority of the vote? P.184
a) During sessions, the members of the convention concluded that the president, as they now called the
executive, should be selected by an electoral college, a body of men in each state chosen by local
voters.
b) Whoever received the second largest number of votes in the electoral college automatically became
vice president.
c) In the event that no person received a majority of the votes, the election would be decided by the
lower house – the House of Representatives with each state casting a single vote.
5. What is the “electoral college” and how many votes did each state have in it? P.184
a) The number of “electoral” votes held by each state equaled its number of representatives and senators.
6. Know the two privileges the chief executive received from the delegates. P.184
a) Delegates also armed the chief executive with veto power over legislation as well as the right to
nominate judges.
7. The delegates who signed the Constitution of 1787 knew there would be significant opposition because
their plan cut so heavily into state authority. They agreed that only nine states would be needed to ratify
the Constitution-through special state conventions rather than through state legislatures-to allow the
new central government to commence operation.
Who were the Federalist?
, a) Supporters of the Constitution (nationalists) took on the name of “Federalists suggesting that they
stood for a confederation of states rather than the creation of a supreme national authority. In fact,
they envisioned the creation of a strong centralized national government capable of fielding a
formidable army.
b) Who were the Anti-federalists?
Anti-federalists were critics of the Constitutions who tended to be somewhat poorer, less urban
(rural), and less well educated than their opponents. They wanted to continue the confederation of
sovereign states.
8. How did the nationalists help the effort to ratify the Constitution?
a) The nationalists were also very effective in planning the Convention’s work. The essence of their
argumentation appeared in The Federalist Papers, a service of 85 remarkably cogent newspaper
essays written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay on behalf of ratification in New
York. They discussed various aspects of the Constitution and tried to demonstrate how the document
would ensure political stability and provide enlightened legislation.
9. How did the Anti-federalists fight against ratification of the Constitution? P.186
a) Antifederalists demanded direct, personal contact with their representatives. They argued thatelected
officials should reflect the character of their constituents as closely as possible. It seemed unlikely
that in large congressional districts the people would be able to preserve such close ties with their
representatives. According to the Antifederalists, the Constitution favored persons wealthy enough
to have forged a reputation that extended beyond a single community.
10. How did Federalists respond to their opponents’ arguments against ratification of the Constitution?
P.186
a) Federalist speakers mocked their opponents’ localist perspective. The Constitution deserved general
support precisely because it ensured that future Americans would be represented by “natural
aristocrats,” individuals possessing greater insights, skills, and training than did the ordinary citizen.
11. How did the Bill of Rights help with the acceptance of the passage of the Constitution?
a) To strengthen popular support for the new government, Congress also approved a Bill of Rights in
the form of ten amendments to the Constitution. These first amendments guaranteed the rights for
free press, free speech, and free exercise of religion; the right to peaceful assembly; and the right to
petition government. The Bill of Rights also ensured that the national government could not infringe
on the right to trial by jury. In an effort to reassure Anti-federalists that the powers of the new
government were limited, the tenth amendment “reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”
all powers not specified in the Constitution.
12. Who were the members of President Washington’s cabinet?
a) Vice President John Adams, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of State
Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of War Henry Knox, Attorney General Edmund Randolph, and
Postmaster General Samuel Osgood.
