Federal Government Chapter 2
What provisions of the constitution serve to limit the power of the judicial branch of the federal government?
- Congress can restrict the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction in some instances - Congress can impeach and remove judges from office - The president can appoint federal judges with the consent of the Senate
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 separation of powers is a characteristic of republican government - The government of a republic responds to the needs of the majority while protecting the minority
Which of the following are reasons that the system of government of the United States is in some ways seen as more democratic than those of many European countries?
- The U.S. system elects representatives to its larger legislative chamber more frequently - The U.S. system uses primary elections to select party nominees for office
What tax policies did the South fear as the negotiations began that eventually resulted in the three-fifths compromise?
- a tax of any kind on the importation of slaves - heavy taxes on manufactured goods imported from Europe - heavy taxes on agricultural goods exported from the U.S.
The New Jersey Plan
- called for a unicameral legislature - designated that all states would have an equal vote in the legislature
Which of the following are constitutional grants of power to the national government?
- declaring war against another nation - raising an army - taxation
The U.S. constitution placed limitations on popular rule in which of the following ways?
- having U.S. Senators elected by state legislatures - having the president nominate federal judges - having the president elected by the Electoral College
Which of the following were features of the Virginia Plan for national government?
- it would include a bicameral legislature - states with the largest populations would have the most representatives
Which of the following are reasons why the Constitution begins with the words "We the People"
- people need to exercise control over government - The U.S. government ultimately derives its power from the people
Which of the following are elements of the social contract that John Locke believed was the foundation of government?
- people submit to government authority in return for the protection it can provide, if it respects their rights. - If a government does not respect the natural rights of people, the people can rightfully rebel against it. - People are born with certain inalienable rights, such as life, liberty, and property.
Goals of the framers of the constitution included
- preserving the states as governing entities - creating a national government that could meet the nation's defense needs - dividing power between the national government and states
In the framer's view, a republican government
- reduces the likelihood of reckless, hasty actions - prevents the tyranny of the majority - adds constraints that protect the rights of individuals.
During the debate over ratification of the Constitution, what objections did the Anti-Federalist raise?
- the absence of a bill of rights - too much power being taken from the states and given to the national government
What were some 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
Amending the Articles of Confederation required _____ states to approve the amendment
13
The ratification of what constitutional amendment made the direct election of senators, a cause long supported by Progressives, law of the land?
17th
A U.S. Senator's term of service is
6 years
Delegates to the constitutional convention decided that the Constitution would take effect for ratifying states when _____ of the 13 states approved it
9
To pass legislative policies and ratify treaties under the Articles of Confederation, _____ states were required to vote for it.
9
A key concern for the group known as the ______ was that the proposed Constitution lacked a bill of rights
Anti-Federalist
According to the Virginia Plan, who or what would exercise power in all areas "in which the separate states are incompetent"
Congress
Which series of essays did James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay write in support of the Constitution?
Federalist Papers
At the time the constitution was created, what was the only institution that would be based on direct popular election?
The House of Representatives
What led the British navy to blockade Boston's port during the period of the Boston Tea Party?
The city refused to pay for the destroyed tea
What was the lesson of the Articles of Confederation?
The government must be granted the amount of power that is necessary for it to carry out its responsibilities
As president, Andrew Jackson implemented much of what ________ had foreshadowed
Thomas Jefferson
The Philadelphia convention was called to
To revise the Articles of Confederation
What was the central question that led to establishing judicial review?
Who was to decide whether officials were operating within the limits of their constitutional powers?
As a result of Shay's Rebellion
a convention was called for to meet in Annapolis
Historian Charles Beard described the founding fathers who wrote our constitution as
a group of wealthy individuals whose main goal was to keep power in the hands of the wealthy
What provision had been removed from Jefferson's initial draft of the Declaration of Independence at the insistence of southern states?
a statement critical of slavery
The Boston Tea Party happened in direct response to
a tax on tea
The U.S. Constitution is rarely amended because
amending the Constitution is a difficult, two-step process
The framers goal of a government that would not threaten liberty was to be accomplished by
an elaborate system of checks and balances
John Adams believed that the nation was best governed by
an elite class
The key point of Madison's federalist #10 is that governments need to be structured carefully in order to ______ factions
balance and control
On what point concerning separation of powers did the framers disagree with Montesquieu?
dividing government authority along institutional lines would provide sufficient separation of power
The mechanism by which political authority is divided between national government and the states is
federalism
John Adams publicly stated that the Constitution was designed
for a governing elite
Under the Articles of Confederation, the states
had more power than the national government
Following the French and Indian War, Britain for the first time imposed what on the colonies?
implementation of heavy taxation
Madison, Hamilton, and Jay wrote The Federalist Papers
in support of the constitution
The Presidents ability to veto a bill
is a check on Congress
A government that is subject to strict legal limits on the uses of power so as not to threaten the peoples liberty is a
limited government
The Bill of Rights
limited the power of the national government
As defined by the framers, who or what limits the majority's power in a democracy?
nothing and no one
One goal of the framers of the constitution was to
preserve the states as governing entities
According to Andrew Jackson, what requirement should not be used to determine who has the right to vote?
property
Even if passed by 2/3 of both houses of Congress, a constitutional amendment still must be _____ by 3/4 of the states
ratified
Concerning banks, Andrew Jackson sought to
reduce their power
Jefferson and Jackson had different views concerning the branch of government that was best equipped to
represent the views of the majority
The U.S. system of government created by the founders in 1787 can be described as which of the following?
republican and constitutional
Political scientist Richard Neustadt described the system of checks and balances set up by the framers as the constitution as a system of
separated institutions sharing power
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 House and Senate
share the lawmaking function in the U.S.
When the president makes a treaty, it must be approved by
the Senate
Executive Power is vested in
the president
The challenge facing the framers was how to reconcile
the representative government and limited government
Why didn't Congress respond with troops when the governor asked for assistance during Shay's Rebellion?
there were no troops to send
How did Madison view factions?
they are natural divisions, but no faction should gain full power
When did North Carolina and Rhode Island ratify the Constitution?
they ratified only after the other 11 states had done so
Andrew Jackson argued that electoral votes should be
tied to popular votes
Why does our Constitution contain checks and balances?
to prevent the arbitrary use of power
According to the New Jersey Plan, what power in addition to those in the Articles of Confederation would the national government have?
to tax
The Articles of Confederation gave the most power
to the individual states
Natural rights are defined as those possessed by all people
true
Americans' personal freedom at the time the constitution was being created is best characterized as
unparalleled
The American Revolution was partly a rebellion against Britain's failure to
uphold colonial traditions of self-government
