DC Government test #1

Which of the following statements are true about American ideals and government?

Americans believe that their government should have high purpose, Americans generally believe that government power should be widely shared

Direct results of the Boston Tea Party included

Britain asking the colonists to pay for the destroyed tea, colonists refusing to pay for the destroyed tea, a British naval blockade of Boston Harbor

___ of the governed is a traditional pillar of a democratic system of government

Consent

___is a form of government in which the people govern, either directly or through elected representatives.

Democracy

Which of the following is true concerning RESPONSIBLE political thinking?

Enables citizens to cast votes intelligently; involves the critical evaluation of information in the process of forming a judgement; opinions not reached by carefully evaluating information are usually incomplete and misguided

Which series of essays did James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay write in support of the Constitution?

Federalist Papers

Which of the following statements are true of economic power in the US?

Firms have greater control of wages and working conditions than in other Western democracies; Roughly two-thirds of all lobbyists in the nation's capital represent business firms; Corporate power operates in part through the influence that firms have with government officials.

Which of the following statements describe the terms democracy and republic as understood by the framers of the constitution?

In a democracy the power of the majority is unlimited, the government of a republic responds to the needs of the majority while protecting the minority, the separation of powers is a characteristic of republican government

Which of the following are true of the Constitution?

It grants the national government certain powers and denies it others; It accepts self-government but shows the momentum of popular majority ideas; It separates power among three branches of government

The essay Federalist No. 10, written by ___ is considered one of the most influential writings on American government

James Madison

______ is the principal that individuals should be free to act and think as they choose, provided they do not infringe on the freedoms of others.

Liberty

The federal court case that established judicial review was ___

Marbury v. Madison

Which of the following statements concerning the influence of technology on political participation are true?

Modern technology enhances the flow and access of information to citizens, Modern technology may confuse citizens because unreliable information is mixed with true information.

Which of the following are true of party polarization?

Partisanship has increased dramatically over the past few decades; partisan divisions have surfaced on nearly every issue; partisan fights have become prolonged and bitter

Which of the following are elements of the social contract that John Locke believed was the foundation of government?

People are born with certain inalienable rights, such as life, liberty and property; people submit to governmental authority in return for the protection it can provide, if it respects their rights; if a government does not respect the natural rights of the people, the people can rightfully rebel against it

Which of the following statements is true concerning political thinking?

Political thinking involves the gathering and sifting of information to form a knowledgeable view about a political view

Which of the following were placed in the US Constitution to prevent majority tyranny?

Separation of powers, checks and balances, a bill of rights

Which of the following statements about Shays' Rebellion are correct?

Shay's followers were a large group of farmers, The rebellion was led by a former captain in the American army, The primary purpose of the rebellion was to prevent land foreclosures

Which of the following were features of the Virginia Plan for national government?

States with the largest populations would have the most representatives; a bicameral legislature

Judicial power rests with the

Supreme Court and lower federal courts

Which of the following statements are true about the motivations for creating American democracy?

The American Revolution sought to create a radically different form of society; Colonists, following Enlightenment ideas, wanted to overturn the European way of governing; The idea of individual choice could be achieved more easily in the New World than in the Old World

Which of the following events led to the creation of the US Constitution?

The Annapolis Convention did not have enough participants to revise the Articles of Confederation; Shay's rebellion had shown the weakness of the national government under the Articles of Confederation; Madison and Hamilton encouraged delegates at the Annapolis convention to meet again to revise the Articles of Confederation

How does the United States government compare with that of most European democracies in terms of the level of taxation?

The US has a lower level of taxes

Which of the following are reasons that the system of government of the US is in some ways seen as more democratic than those of many European countries?

The US system uses primary elections to select party nominees for office, The US system elects representatives to its larger legislative chamber more frequently

What is the method of selecting nominees for state and national offices that was introduced by Progressives and adopted by most states by the early 1900s?

The common people voted for nominees in primary elections

What were some of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?

The national government did not have the power to regulate commerce between the states; the national government depended on the states for its funding and they often didn't pay their full share

Which of the following is true of American democratic political ideals?

They come from European Enlightenment beliefs about individual worth

Who was the principal writer of the Declaration of Independence?

Thomas Jefferson

True or false: Americans turn to the courts to make rights claims more often than people elsewhere in the world

True

True or false: Many people prefer to receive messages from the media that confirm what they already believe

True

Which of the following are ways in which citizens participate in government/

Voting, attending political meetings, helping out in a campaign

What of the following is a major barrier to political thinking?

a citizen's unwillingness to make the effort to think politically by paying close attention to politics

The founders of the American government structured it to be which of the following?

a constitutional republic

The US Constitution is rarely amended because

amending the Constitution is a difficult, two-step process

In which form of government do leaders suppress individuality, forcing people to think or act in prescribed ways or else risk punishment?

an authoritarian government

Goals of the First Continental Congress included

asking Britain for their own councils for the imposition of taxes, requesting a guarantee of trial by local juries, seeking an end to the British military occupation in the colonies

A properly designed legal system enables citizens to do which of the following?

assert their rights and interests

Which governing structure repressed individuals and groups that oppose the regime?

authoritarianism

The New Jersey Plan

called for a unicameral legislature, designated that all states would have an equal vote in the legislature

Political thinking

can be improved through practicing the use of the tools of political science

The different mechanisms that each branch uses to monitor and limit the other branches are called ___ and ___

checks, balances

The principal of ___ and ___ is designed to prevent a branch of the government from exceeding its constitutional powers

checks, balances

Democratic governments chiefly depend on which of the following actions to establish legitimacy?

citizen participation

Goals of the framers of the Constitution included

creating a national government that could meet the nation's defense needs, preserving the states as governing entities, dividing power between the national government and the states

Which of the following are constitutional grants of power to the national government?

declaring war against another nation, taxation, raising an army

One key risk of ___ government is the potential for tyranny of the majority

democratic

Powers specifically prohibited from belonging to the state and national governments in the Constitution are known as

denials of power

The tools of political science attempt to

depict and explain politics

In a ___ democracy, which may take place through town meetings, citizens decide policy directly without elected representatives.

direct

In choosing the president, the number of members of the House and Senate from a state determines the state's number of

electoral votes

The power exercised by well-positioned and highly influential individuals is known as

elitism

Which of the following ideals reflects the notion that all individuals have the same moral worth and treatment under the law?

equality

Why was there strong support for a bill of rights during the debate over ratification of the Constitution?

fear that the national government would not respect people's rights.

Citizens can participate in government responsibly by

forming opinions on political issues, contributing to political causes, casting votes

Which of the following is an economic system that centers on the transactions between private parties?

free market

An economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated to produce profit is known as

free market capitalism

Public policies in America include

how to use military power, where to build roads and bridges, how to educate children

Madison, Hamilton and Jay wrote the Federalist Papers

in support of the Constitution

A commitment to personal initiative and self-sufficiency defines

individualism

President Andrew Jackson

involved the public more fully in selecting government leaders

The use of the courts as a means of asserting rights and interests is known as

legal action

The branches of the federal government include the ___ branch, the ___ branch, and the ___ branch

legislative, executive, judiciary

The American ideal of equality has led to which of the following in recent years?

lifting of restrictions on interracial marriages, more women in higher paying jobs, more rights for Hispanic immigrants

The US Constitution placed limitations on popular rule in which of the following ways?

limiting the right to vote to a minority of citizens, having US senators elected by state legislatures, having the president elected by the Electoral College

Political scientists use the term ___ to describe the situation in which the majority of citizens effectively determines what government policy will be

majoritarianism

When political leaders respond to the policy desires of the majority, it is referred to as

majoritarianism

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention decided that the Constitution would take effect for ratifying states when ___ states approved it

nine

An elite few hold the power to govern in which of these forms of government?

oligarchy

Unlike the Federalists, the Anti-Federalists

opposed the ratification of the Constitution

Which concept refers to the widely shared and deep-seated beliefs of a people about their politics?

political culture

The ability of persons, groups, or institutions to influence political developments is called

politics

The overall way in which society settles conflicts and allocates the resulting benefits and costs is called

politics

Who or what owns the means of production in a free market capitalist economic system?

private owners

The Constitution was designed to

provide for a limited government

The decisions of government to pursue particular courses of action are known as

public policies

A governing form that is responsive to the majority but not captive to it is a

republic

Marbury v. Madison (1803) established the judicial branch's power of judicial ___

review

The Philadelphia Convention was called to

revise the Articles of Confederation

Which of these ideals encompasses the principle that people are the ultimate source of government authority and should have a voice in their governing?

self-government

The belief that the power of government can be controlled by dividing it into several branches instead of concentrating it in one area is known as

separation of powers

The Three-Fifths Compromise stated that ___ would be counted for the purposes of representation and apportionment, but only partially

slaves

As practiced today, ___ is a system in which the government stresses economic equality and owns a few major industries

socialism

Politics are necessary because

society's resources are limited, conflict in a society is inevitable, people do not all think alike

Pluralism asserts that, on most issues, the actors who exercise the most influence over government policy are

special interest groups

Which of the following are characteristics of an authoritarian form of government?

suppression of individuality, suppression of minority rights

Which of the following are tools that political science offers to increase one's ability to think politically?

systematic generalizations about major tendencies in American politics, terms and concepts that precisely describe aspects of politics, reliable information about how the US political system operates

Which of the following were actions of the British government after the French and Indian War (1754-1763) that colonists found objectionable?

taxation without representation, levying a tax on newspapers, passage of the Townshend Act

Shay's Rebellion was an uprising of farmers against the government of Massachusetts over what issues?

taxes, back pay for military service

The president's powers can be checked by

the Senate's role of "advice and consent" on treaties and the appointment of high-ranking officials; Congress's control of appropriations and funding; Congress's power to impeach and remove the president from office

Which of the following beliefs are the core values of American government?

the citizens are the ultimate authority, that all citizens deserve equal treatment under the law, that people can act as they choose if they don't harm others

Anti-Federalists believed that

the national government was going to have excessive power under the Constitution

Elements of Constitutionalism include

the protection of individual rights, officials being required to follow the laws, lawful restrictions of governmental power.

Under an authoritarian government,

the regime is usually backed by the military or police; opposition leaders are sometimes brutalized or imprisoned; political opposition is openly repressed

In America, majoritarianism occurs mainly

through competition between the Republic and Democratic parties

Why does our Constitution contain checks and balances?

to prevent the arbitrary use of power

During the debate over ratification of the Constitution, what objections did the Anti-Federalists raise?

too much power being taken from the states and given to the national government, the absence of a Bill of Rights

Elected officials who act as ___ rely primarily on their own judgment in making decisions, while those who act as ___ vote strictly according to the wishes of their constituents.

trustees, delegates

The founding fathers built the concept of separation of powers into the Constitution because they

wanted the power to govern to be spread over three distinct branches of government, didn't want one person or faction taking control of government

Which of the following are determined by electoral majorities?

who is elected to office, general policy as represented by major political parties

The best way to characterize political power in the US is that it's

widely shared