independence? In what year was the US Constitution written? 1787 What was the Great Compromise? When the convention decided to have members of the House be chosen by population and each state would get 2 Senators regardless of population. What are the 6 regions of the country from east Atlantic coastal plain, Appalachian Mountains, to west? Central Lowland, Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Pacific coast. What issue was the cause of the Civil War? slavery What is unique about the Great Lakes? They are all connected and they are the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world. What does continental United States mean? The 48 states that are all connected. Not Alaska and Hawaii. Where does the US rank in physical size? 3rd Where does the US rank in population? 3rd Where does the US rank in GDP? 1st How many people live in the United States? 320 million What are the three branches of the US Legislative, Executive, Judicial government? Who runs the executive branch? President What are the two parts of the legislative branch? House of Representatives and Senate How did the first Americans come here? (not the They crossed a land bridge called Beringia Pilgrims) during the Ice Age. How many original states were there? 13 What kind of representative democracy does the federal republic United States have? In our federal republic, power is shared between Between the central government and the the three branches of the national government. states. How else is power shared? What kind of economic system does the United A free enterprise system where private States have? companies compete free of government control. Why is Madison considered the Father of the He created the basic framework for the Constitution? Constitution and he wrote the Bill of Rights. What was the main reason the 13 colonies Great Britain began taxing the colonies and declared independence from Great Britain? trying to run the colonies from Great Britain. The colonists wanted their own elected governments to govern. Why is a large, diverse republic better than a No single faction can take over and violate the small one? rights of others.