Benchmark B Study Guide

Early American Governments

  1. ______Georgia’s first constitution; document adopted in Savannah that created Georgia’s first unicameral government
  1. ______First United States (federal) constitution; created a weak central government and was eventually replaced by our current constitution
  2. ______Two representatives from GA that helped to write the new constitution at ______the Constitutional Convention of 1787

Foundations of Government

  1. SEPERATION OF POWERModel for governance where each branch of government have different and independent duties, powers, and responsibilities.
  1. RESPONSIBILITES Paying taxes, serving on a jury when called, protecting your country are examples of ?????????? of citizens
  1. CONSTITUTIONA set of laws for a nation or state; document that creates the government for a nation or state and describes voting rights, limits of power, and rights of citizens; Georgia and the United States each have one of these.
  1. CHECK & BALANCESSystem created so that each branch of government can limit the powers of the other branches; ensures that one branch of government does not become more powerful than the others.
  1. 18 YEARS OF OLDERThree requirements to register to vote in the state of Georgia

CITIZENS OF US

CITIZENS OF THE COUNTY YOU ARE VOTING IN

Branches of Government

Legislative / Executive / Judicial
Members / General Assembly; House of Rep and Senate / Governor and Lieutenant Governor / Supreme Court and Lower State Courts
Terms / 2 Year Terms / 4 Year Terms / Supreme and Appeals (6 Year Terms); others 4 Years Terms
Qualifications / Legal residents of GA and their districts; Senate (25); Rep. (21) / US Citizens for 15 Years and GA for 6; min. of 30 Years Old. / Practice law for 7 Years and live in the district they serve
Duties / Create laws for GA; pass the state budget. / Enforce laws for GA; create the state budget. / Interpret laws for GA; hold trials in Criminal and Civil cases.
Elected or Appointed / Elected by GA citizens. / Elected by GA citizens / Elected by GA citizens; vacancies appointed by the Governor.
  1. DRAFTING5 Steps for a bill to become a law in Georgia.
  2. INTRODUCTION
  3. COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION
  4. FLOOR CONSIDERATION
  5. GOVERNOR CONSIDERATION

Westward Expansion

  1. UNIVERSITY OF GAFirst land grant university; meant to educate all white men regardless of whether they were poor or wealthy
  1. ABRAHAM BALDWINThis politician not only took part in the Great Compromise, but was also the first President of University of Georgia from 1785-1801
  1. LOUISVILLE Georgia’s third capital city from 1796 to 1807; moved to this location after GA’s population continued to move westward
  1. METHODISTTwo largest church denominations in Georgia after the American BAPTIST Revolution; spread across the state as the population moved westward
  1. HEADRIGHT SYSTEMMethod used to distribute land by giving up to 1,000 acres of land to white

men (considered the head of the family)

  1. YAZOO LAND ACTThis act sold much of the land that is present day Alabama and Mississippi to four land companies for $500,000. After this act was signed into law, it was discovered that the land companies had bribed members of GA’s General Assembly to sell the land cheaply.
  1. YAZOO LAND FRAUDThis controversy resulted in Georgia ceded all land west of the Chattahoochee River to the U.S. government for $1.25 million.
  1. LAND LOTTERYMethod used to distribute land; white men, orphans, and widows were allowed to buy tickets used to determine the area of land they were given
  1. COTTON GIN Machine, invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, that separated seeds from cotton
  1. RAILROADSA new, faster & efficient mode of transportation in Georgia; reduced the need for horses, stagecoaches, & boats; important to the establishment of the city of Terminus (which was later renamed Marthasville then Atlanta)

Indian Removal

  1. ALEXANDER MCGILLIVRAYCreek leader in the Oconee War between Creek and Georgia pioneers; worked to centralize powers within Creek society and protect Creek lands
  1. WILLIAM MCINTOSHLeader of the Creek Nation from 1810 – 1820 who signed the Treaty of Indian Springs; murdered by the police force he created after giving away all Creek lands in GA (after being bribed)
  1. SEQUOYAH Cherokee Indian who created the written Cherokee language (syllabary)
  1. JOHN ROSSBecame the principal chief of the Cherokee in 1827; established a written constitution for the Cherokee Nation using the syllabary
  1. DAHLONEGA The discovery of gold in this Georgia city led to the forced removal of the Cherokee Indians to present day Oklahoma (known as the Trail of Tears)
  2. JOHN MARSHALLChief Justice of the US Supreme Court; ruled in Worcester v. Georgia that the Cherokee territory was not subject to state law
  1. ANDREW JACKSONAmerican general that became a US president; assisted in the forced removal of the Creek and Cherokee Indians from Georgia

Antebellum Georgia

  1. ABOLITIONISTPeople who worked/fought to get rid of slavery
  2. KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACTNullified the Missouri Compromise. When a territory asked for statehood, people would vote on slavery = POPULAR SOVERIEGNTY
  3. ABRAHAM LINCOLNAmerican President during the Civil War; elected President in 1860
  1. COMPROMISE OF 1850Agreement between northern and southern states; admitted California as a

free state and New Mexico and Utah could vote on slavery.

  1. SLAVESForced labor; provided most of the labor in the south during Antebellum
  1. NULLIFICATIONLegal theory that states had the right to invalidate (not follow) any law they

believed to be unconstitutional

7.MISSOURI COMPROMISEAgreement between northern and southern states in 1820; admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. Prohibits slavery north of the

36° 30’ line (southern border of Missouri)

  1. DRED SCOTTSlave whose case went to the U.S. Supreme Court; argued that he was free

because he had lived in a free state; U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of

the owner ruling that slaves were property

  1. INDUSTRY OR FACTORIESMain way that the people in the North made money (Def.: Manufacturingactivity whose purpose is to create, or make, something useful)
  1. COTTONMain agricultural (farming) product produced in the South; the economy of

the south was based on this product

  1. REPUBLICANNew political party that opposed slavery; created prior to the Civil War
  1. STATE RIGHTS One of the major causes of the American Civil War; belief that the interests of a state take precedence over the national government.

13. ALEXANDER STEPHENSServed as a Georgia Representative in Congress from 1843-1859 and spoke out against secession. However, once southern states seceded, became the Vice President of the Confederacy in 1861.

14.GEORGIA PLATFORMThe willingness of Georgia to remain in the Union after the Compromise of 1850 as long as the North complied with the Fugitive Slave Act and would stop trying to ban slavery in new territories and states.