Forming a government system

• Constitutional convection- a meeting held in Philadelphia to create a new constitution
• executive branch- the president and department that helps run the government
• Great compromise- an agreement that gave each state one vote in the upper house legislature and number of representatives based on its population in the lower house
• Popular sovereignty- the idea that political power belongs to people
• James Madison- delegate from Virginia known as the father of the constitution
• Checks and balances - a system that keeps any branch of government from becoming too powerful
• Three-fifths compromise- only three-fifths of state slaves we’re chosen during the representation in congress
• New Jersey plan- a plan creating a unicameral legislature or a one-house legislature
• Judicial branch- a system of all national courts
• Virginia plan- a plan giving supreme power to the central government and creating a bicameral legislature made of two groups, or houses of representatives
• federalism- the sharing power between the central government and the states
• Legislative branch- a congress of two houses that proposes and passes laws