The right of people in a territory or state to vote directly on issues rather than have their elected representatives decide.

a proposed law.

a principle of the U.S. Constitution that states that the government has only the powers that the Constitution gives it.

to reject, as when the President rejects a law passed by Congress.

a principle of the U.S. Constitution that gives each branch of government the power to check, or limit, the actions of the other branches.

To set aside; disregard; overrule replace.

Document in which the laws, principles, organization, and processes of a government are established.

A principle of the U.S. Constitution that established the division of power between the federal government and the states.

Contrary to what is permitted by the U.S. Constitution.

To approve

To cancel

an agreement in which each side gives up par of what it wants to end a disagreement.

A law that divided much of the United States into a system of townships to facilitate the sale of land to settlers.

A weak constitution created in 1777 that governed America during the Revolutionary War. There was no executive (president) and the states had their own armies and could print their own money.

Created the Northwest Territory (area north of the Ohio River and west of Pennsylvania), established conditions for self-government and statehood, included a Bill of Rights, and permanently prohibited slavery

A square normally 6 miles on a side. The Land Ordinance of 1785 divided much of the United States into a series of these.

Rebellion led by Daniel Shays of farmers in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787, protesting mortgage foreclosures. It highlighted the need for a strong national government just as the call for the Constitutional Convention went out.

Period when business activity slows, prices and wages drop, and unemployment rises. This occurred in the 1780s and resulted in farms being seized by the government.