Constitutional Origins - United States History

A significant input into the creation of the Constitution was colonial experience of over 150 years of self-government. Which of the following is a key part of that experience?

"Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." The excerpt is a quote from which of the following?

"Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." The excerpt was created in response to which of the following?

Enlightenment philosophers like John Locke and Jean-Jaques Rousseau helped shape the creation of the Constitution. Their writings helped foster a growing belief of which of the following?

A significant questioning of both theology and of religious leaders themselves may have created a spirit that led to the questioning of British laws and British leaders leading up to the American Revolution. What was this movement called?

"“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”" James Madison, Federalist 51. This excerpt represents a growing belief (certainly a Federalist belief) that the new government needed which of the following?

“The Judiciary of the United States is so constructed and extended, as to absorb and destroy the judiciaries of the several States; thereby rendering law as tedious, intricate and expensive, and justice as unattainable, by a great part of the community, as in England, and enabling the rich to oppress and ruin the poor.” George Mason, 1787. The ideas expressed in this excerpt best reflect which of the following groups?

"“The first maxim of a man who loves liberty should be never to grant to rulers an atom of power that is not most clearly and indispensably necessary for the safety and well-being of society.” Richard Henry Lee, 1787. The philosophy expressed in this excerpt demonstrates the greatest continuity with which of the following?

"In the process they...infused into American political culture...the major themes of eighteenth-century radical libertarianism brought to realization here. The first is the belief that power is evil, a necessity perhaps but an evil necessity; that it is infinitely corrupting; and that it must be controlled, limited, restricted in every way compatible with a minimum of civil order. Written constitutions; the separation of powers; bill of rights; limitations on executives, on legislatures, and courts; restrictions on the right to coerce and wage war—all express the profound distrust of power that lies at the ideological heart of the American Revolution and that has remained with us as a permanent legacy ever after.” Bernard Bailyn, Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967). Bailyn expressed a commonly held historian's belief of which of the following?

“It appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the Delegates from so many different States (which States you know are also different from each other in their manners, circumstances and prejudices) should unite in forming a system of national Government, so little liable to well-founded objections.” George Washington in a letter to Lafayette from 1788. Washington was referencing his very positive beliefs about which of the following events?

“My political curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude for the public welfare, leads me to ask who authorized them (the framers of the Constitution) to speak the language of ‘We, the People,’ instead of ‘We, the States’?” Patrick Henry, 1788. Virginia Ratifying Convention. Henry's quote illustrates Anti federalist concerns that culminate in the creation of which of the following?

"The moment is, indeed, important! – If government shrinks, or is unable to enforce its laws; fresh maneuvers will be displayed by the insurgents – anarchy & confusion must prevail – and every thing will be turned topsy turvey in that State; where it is not probable the mischiefs will terminate." George Washington to Henry Know, 1787. The event referenced in this letter helped cause George Washington to change his mind regarding what meeting?

What colony had an early statute (1649) that guaranteed religious freedom to Christians?

Which colony had a written Constitution (1639) which many historians consider to be the first written Constitution?

Although not ratified until 1781, what served as our first system of government from 1777 until the Constitution was ratified in 1788?