Constitution AP Classroom

In 2005, the Utah legislature passed a law that allowed school districts to ignore parts of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), a law passed by Congress in 2001 that supported standards-based education reform. Utah did this despite the fact that it endangered losing $76 million in federal aid to Utah public schools. Which of the following statements best explains why Utah took this action?

Educational policy is not mentioned in the Constitution, which has created debate about the proper role for the national government in educational policy.

Which of the following is a consequence of the dynamic competition among branches of government described in the passage?

Effective policy change among governmental levels and branches occurs with little long-term abuse of authority.

In the Constitution as originally ratified in 1788, the provisions regarding which of the following most closely approximate popular, majoritarian democracy?

Election of members of the House of Representatives

Which of the following accurately characterizes the main difference between elite theories and pluralist theories of politics in the United States?

Elite theories argue that a single minority dominates politics in all policy areas; pluralist theories argue that many minorities compete for power in different policy areas.

Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution does which of the following?

Emphasizes both national sovereignty and federalism.

Which of the following ideals of democracy is reflected in the procedure for apportionment in the House of Representatives?

Government is based on the consent of the governed.

Under the Articles of Confederation, which of the following were true? I. Congress could not tax the states directly. II. The executive branch of government exercised more power than Congress. III. Congress was a unicameral body. IV. States were represented in Congress proportionally according to population.

I and III

Which of the following describes the social contract theory as advanced by John Locke?

It is an agreement in which the government promises to protect the natural rights of people.

The Connecticut (Great) Compromise drafted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 is significant for which of the following reasons?

It proposed a Senate with equal representation for each state and a House of Representatives with membership established according to the population of each state.

The president cannot veto which of the following?

Joint resolutions that propose constitutional amendments

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the checks held by the legislative and judicial branches?

Legislative checks to the judicial branch-> Impeaching and removing federal judges Judicial checks to the legislative branch-> Declaring an entire law unconstitutional

(Adam Smith- Wealth of Nations) Which of the following ideals of United States government is most relevant to this passage?

Limited government

In 1974, the House of Representatives approved a resolution granting the Judiciary Committee authority to investigate impeachment of President Nixon for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. Which constitutional ideal of democracy is demonstrated in this scenario?

Limited government

In 2015, the United States Supreme Court decided the case Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which ruled that states must recognize same sex couples' right to marry. Which of the following ideals of democracy would the attorneys for the same sex couple most likely put forth as their argument?

Natural rights of life and liberty include the right to marry whom you choose.

Which of the following statements best reflects James Madison's beliefs about political representation as expressed in the passage?

People are best represented by a few politicians chosen to voice their issues.

Members of Congress receive many phone calls, meeting invitations, and e-mails from various competing interest groups asking for support on their preferred public policies. This situation best exemplifies which of the following models of democracy?

Pluralist

Which of the following is a model of democracy that emphasizes the role of interest groups in advocating for public policy?

Pluralist democracy

Which of the following best captures the author's argument regarding the forms of democracy?

Pluralist democracy, though it involves groups at different stages of the process of developing policy, excludes a significant portion of the population.

The Declaration of Independence states "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." This was a revolutionary change from the system of British monarchy, which was based on the divine right of kings. For which of the ideals of democracy does this quote provide a foundation?

Popular sovereignty

Which of the following statements reflects a pluralist theory of American politics?

Public policies emerge from compromises reached among competing groups

The author explains that the powers given to each branch "sometimes appear to swing like a pendulum" from one branch to another. Which of the following best describes how these shifts ensure that constitutional government is functional?

Separation of powers divides responsibilities and authority between branches, which allows each branch to be checked by the other two branches to ensure accountability.

(George Washington- Farewell Address) In what respect does the Constitution address Washington's concern regarding the "spirit of encroachment" expressed in the excerpt?

The Constitution distributes power across national institutions.

(Elizabeth Cady Stanton- Seneca Falls Convention) The language in the first paragraph of the selection most closely parallels that of which of the following documents

The Declaration of Independence

Which of the following procedures results in the removal of the President from office?

The House votes for impeachment, and the Senate conducts a trial and reaches a guilty verdict.

Which of the following is true under the system of checks and balances?

The Senate must ratify treaties negotiated by the President before they become law.

Which of the following is an example of the constitutional design of checks and balances?

The Senate rejects a president's nomination for secretary of state

Which of the following was the most important effect of replacing the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution of 1787?

The creation of a strong national government

Which of the following is the best example of a constitutional concept that supports the vision of the United States as a union of states, rather than a union of individual citizens?

The electoral college

In the passage, Hamilton is concerned that under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government does not have sufficient constitutional powers to gain compliance from state governments. Which of the following is a way that the Constitution allows the federal government to address this problem?

The federal government can pass laws that allow it to fine or tax individuals directly.

Which of the following scenarios illustrates a solution for the problem of getting states to comply with federal government policies, as described in the passage?

The federal government can withhold highway funds from states that do not raise the age to drink alcohol to 21.

The procedure for formally amending the United States Constitution best illustrates which of the following?

The federal structure of the United States government

Which of the following best describes the influence of social contract theory on the Constitution of the United States?

The framers attempted to legitimize the Constitution through an appeal to popular sovereignty.

In the early part of the twenty-first century, public opinion polls showed that a majority of Americans believed it should be illegal to burn the American flag. As a result, many members of Congress introduced amendments to make it illegal to burn or desecrate the American flag. However, these efforts have been unsuccessful. Which of the following statements best explains why these efforts have been unsuccessful?

The framers made the amendment process difficult in order to protect individual rights.

(Adam Smith- Wealth of Nations) Which of the following best summarizes the perspective of Adam Smith in the passage?

The government should not be used to promote manufacturing.

Which of the following is commonly identified as a failure of the Articles of Confederation?

The national government lacked an effective power to raise revenue.

Which of the following is an example of how separation of powers creates friction between the executive and legislative branches in the policy-making process?

The president threatens to issue an executive order for stricter gun control if Congress continues to refuse to take action.

Which of the following is an example of checks and balances in action in the United States government?

The president vetoes a bill passed by Congress.

Which of the following is an example of checks and balances, as established by the Constitution?

The requirement that presidential appointments to the Supreme Court be approved by the Senate

The process in the diagram reflects which of the following about the perspective of the framers on constitutional government?

The system should be able to accommodate political change, but the process for change should incorporate checks and balances.

In the 1780s, proponents of the new Constitution cited Shays' Rebellion as an example in support of which of the following criticisms of the national government under the Articles of Confederation?

There was a lack of a national military power to address security concerns.

Which of the following best describes Madison's primary concern about representative government?

Those who seek to represent the people may be tempted to act in their own interests instead.

Which of the following is a correct comparison between the United States Constitution and the Articles of Confederation?

United States Constitution-> Granted Congress the power to levy taxes Articles of Confederation-> Granted states alone the power to levy taxes

The Connecticut (Great) Compromise provided for

a bicameral legislature with one house's composition based upon state population and another's on equal state representation

The framers of the Constitution intended to establish

a representative republic

The legislative process at the national level reflects the intent of the framers of the Constitution to create a legislature that would

be cautious and deliberate

All of the following were concerns about the Articles of Confederation that led to the calling of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 EXCEPT

dissatisfaction over safeguards of individual rights and liberties

American political culture is characterized by strong popular support for all of the following EXCEPT

economic equality

Which of the following was a direct outcome of the Three-Fifths Compromise?

he number of representatives in the House of Representatives from slaveholding states increased.

As originally ratified, the United States Constitution included provisions designed to

increase the economic powers of the central government

The importance of Shays' Rebellion to the development of the United States Constitution was that it

indicated that a strong, constitutionally designed national government was needed to protect property and maintain order

Constitutional checks and balances, especially applied to the president, are designed to

minimize the threat of tyranny from any one branch of government

The theory that all interests are and should be free to compete for influence in government, resulting in healthy democratic compromise and balance, is called

pluralism

The framers of the Constitution all believed that one of the primary functions of government is

protecting individual property rights

Of the following, the most significant difference between the Constitution of 1787 and the Articles of Confederation was that the Constitution

provided for a strong national government with many powers, while the Articles created a weak central government with few independent powers

After a constitutional amendment has been proposed by both houses of Congress, its adoption requires

ratification by three-fourths of the states

The Articles of Confederation implemented the principle of

state sovereignty

One example of constitutional checks and balances is

the House can impeach federal judges and the president, and the Senate holds the impeachment trial

In The Federalist papers, James Madison argues that political liberty is best protected by

the fragmentation of political power in a large republic

Throughout most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most African Americans were prevented from voting in many Southern states despite the Fifteenth Amendment, which extended the right to vote to African American males. Southern states were able to take this action because

the framers allowed the individual states to create voting processes and voter qualifications

All of the following issues were decided at the Constitutional Convention EXCEPT

voting qualifications of the electorate

Which of the following is an example of checks and balances?

A rule issued by a bureaucratic agency may be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Which of the following is NOT a trait of a liberal democracy?

Achieving income equality

Which of the following sections of the United States Constitution most concerns Madison according to the passage?

Article I, Section 2—"The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature."

The process shown in the diagram is outlined in which of the following parts of the United States Constitution?

Article V

Which of the following is the correct pairing of powers found in the Articles of Confederation and powers found in the Constitution?

Articles of Confederation-> Unicameral legislature United States Constitution-> Bicameral legislature

Based on The Federalist 21, which of the following arguments about government would Hamilton likely agree with?

As a practical matter, the laws of the national government ought to have supremacy over state laws.

Which of the following best explains how the view of the author of the passage compares with The Federalist 51 regarding separation of powers and checks and balances?

Both the author of the passage and The Federalist 51 assert that the structure of government helps control ambitions among the branches in such a way as to promote effective government.

All of the following are ways that the legislative branch can check the powers of the executive branch EXCEPT:

Congress may pass a law declaring a presidential action unconstitutional.