Federal Government Unit 1

Studies show that an increasing number of young Americans receive their political knowledge from

late-night comedy shows

During the Philadelphia Convention, the New Jersey Plan was supported by

less populous states

As a constitution, the Articles of Confederation were concerned primarily with

limiting the powers of the central government

The power of Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several states, and with Indian tribes is found in ______ of the Constitution.

Article I

Which of the following was designed by the frames to be an office directly elected by people?

member of the House of Representatives

The principle of giving each branch of government its own constituency is what Montesquieu calls a

mixed regime

The era of federalism which saw a return of decision making power to the states is called

new federalism

James Madison believed that in the Constitutional Convention the greatest conflict of interests was between

northern states and southern states

A state government's authority to regulate the safety, health, and morals of its citizens is called ______ power.

police

The belief that you can influence how your government acts is called

political efficacy

Shay's Rebellion was an attempt to

prevent the state of Massachusetts from foreclosing on the lands of debt-ridden farmers

Which of the following presidents brought about the era of cooperative federalism?

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The newest federal cabinet department is

Homeland Security

Which of the following was a ramification of the Three-Fifths Compromise?

It allowed for a political agreement between the North and the South

What is one of the biggest problems with federal block grants?

There is a need for greater accountability in how the funds are actually spent by the states.

All of the following are constitutional powers of the president except the power to

regulate commerce between the states

Who said that the best government was the one that "governed least"?

Thomas Jefferson

The willingness to be restrained by the power of social institutions, but not political or legal institutions, is hallmark of a(n) ______ regime.

authoritarian

Which of the following was not necessarily a separate era of federalism, but signified the federal government gaining extensive control over the states?

coercive federalism

Which of the following economic policies was the national government allowed to implement during the nineteenth century?

establishing a series of national banks

Since the 1960s, Americans' trust in their government has generally

fallen sharply

A block grant entails specific detailed instructions which must be followed in order for the recipient to receive the funds.

false

A federal block grant gives states no discretion on how to spend the money.

false

Because of the United States' diversity of races, ethnicities, and religions, Americans do not share a common political culture.

false

Cooperative federalism ended during the Civil War.

false

In the 1990s, welfare policy was centralized by the national government.

false

The Anti-federalists wanted a stronger central government than that proposed in the Constitution.

false

The Boston Tea Party started as a reaction to the British imposing an embargo of tea and coffee trade on the colonies.

false

The Declaration of Independence was the United States' first governing constitution.

false

The New Deal led to the weakening of the national government's powers.

false

The Tenth Amendment gives the national government expressed powers over state governments.

false

The United States has never accepted the principle of popular sovereignty.

false

The era of new federalism was brought about by FDR's New Deal.

false

The full faith and credit clause demands that the U.S. government run a balanced budget.

false

When a single ruler controls all government power, it is called an oligarchy.

false

Before the eighteenth century

government rarely sought the support of their people

Compared with the Articles of Confederation, federalism under the Constitution has led to

greater centralization of power

The first prerequisite to increasing political efficancy is

increasing political knowledge

The U.S. Supreme Court Case "Gibbons v. Ogden" (1824) was important because

it established the supremacy of the national government in all matters affecting interstate commerce

The Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution addresses

reserved power

In a federal system a majority of governmental responsibilities are

shared by both state and federal authorities

According to the text, which sector of society did not have interests that were important to colonial politics?

slaves

The Stamp Act was a

tax on commerce

What was the most common form of taxation during the colonial era?

taxes on commercial products and activities

The first written constitution for the United States was called

the Articles of Confederation

Federal laws concerning crime mostly deal with

the District of Columbia and other federal territories

What led the British to raise taxes on the American colonists during the 1760s?

the French and Indian War

Which event was most influential in the rise of a more active national government?

the Great Depression

Which of the following possesses the sole power to create revenue bills?

the House of Representatives

Which clause of the Constitution has been critical in allowing the growth of national power?

the commerce clause

According to the text, what is the main benefit of a constitutional government?

the government is limited by the rule of law

What constitutional clause affirms that national laws and treaties, made under the authority of the Constitution, are the supreme law of the land?

the supremacy clause

Colonial protesters of the Stamp Act rallied around what famous political slogan?

"No taxation without representation"

Congressional grants paid for ______ percent of the development of an interstate highway after World War II.

90

______ describes the strategy of delegating a policy program to a lower level of government.

Devolution

Recent polls reveal that more than three-fourths of Americans know the name of the current speaker of the House.

False

The principle of "one person, one vote" summarizes the idea of liberty.

False

Which of the following eras of federalism saw the extensive use of block grants?

New Federalism

Which of the following presidents brought about the era of new federalism?

Richard Nixon

Over the past several decades, the public's belief that the government is responsive to the people has declined.

True

Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education are both Supreme Court cases dealing with the meaning of equality.

True

The referendum is a form if direct democracy.

True

At the Constitutional Convention, the plan to create a Congress where representation was distributed according to population was called the

Virginia Plan

Which of the following is NOT an example of a public good?

a job

A service that a person needs but is usually unable to provide for him or herself individually is called

a public good

The federal system can be best defined as

a system of government in which power is divided between a national government and lower levels of government

Which of the following is NOT a reason given to explain American citizens' increased political apathy?

an increase in the knowledge of how government operates

If the government were controlled by a small group of wealthy landowners and corporate leaders, this would be best described as

an oligarchy

A ______ is a system of government in which states retain sovereign authority except for powers expressly delegated to a national government.

confederacy

A government that is formally limited by laws and rules is called

constitutional

Shay's Rebellion was significant because it

convinced many observers that the government of the Confederation had become dangerously inefficient and indecisive

The era of federalism in which the federal government and state governments started to deal with the same issues is known as

cooperative federalism

Which era of federalism saw the introduction of categorical grants?

cooperative federalism

The electoral college is

designed to select the president

Which of the following is not an accurate statement about the consequences of declining trust in government?

distrust motivates people to participate in politics through voting, volunteering for political campaigns, and running for office

The era of federalism in which the national government and state government dealt mainly with their own issues and did not overlap is called

dual federalism

According to a 2007 poll, compared to readers of major newspaper websites, the audience of the "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" had ______ political knowledge

equal

Only one-third of the Senate is up for re-election during any single election year because the framers believed that

this was the only way to protect the Senate against radical changes

Which of the following powers are NOT explicitly given to Congress by the Constitution?

to abolish state boundaries

During the era of dual federalism, what was the primary goal of the federal government's domestic policies?

to assist the development of commercial activity within and between the states

Which of the following powers do state governments not have?

to coin their own money

What was the primary goal of the Constitution's frames?

to create an effective government

Local governments are not mentioned anywhere in the U.S. Constitution.

true

Many of the most critical dilemmas of American politics involve conflicts over the way commonly held values are put into practice.

true

McCulloch v. Maryland gave Congress potentially expansive powers for regulating commercial activity.

true

Parliaments began in Europe as institutions for aristocrats.

true

The Anti-federalists feared an overly strong central government under the new Constitution.

true

The Articles of Confederation created a weak central government and a loose alliance of nearly independent states.

true

The Constitution guarantees that a state cannot discriminate against someone from another state.

true

The Virginia Plan would have created a federal legislature where representation was based solely on the population of each state.

true

The constitution is very difficult to change by amendment.

true

Unfunded mandate refers to the national government imposing regulatory costs on the states without reimbursement.

true

The framers of the Constitution intended to create a presidency capable of

withstanding excessive popular pressure by making it subject to indirect election through the electoral college