GOVT: Chapter 2

The Constitution gave Congress the power to end the importation of new slaves in which year?

1808

A U.S. senator's term of service is

6 years

A key concern for the group known as the ______ was that the proposed Constitution lacked a bill of rights.

Anti-Federalists

Which document served as the first constitution of the United States?

Articles of Confederation

According to the Virginia Plan, who or what would exercise power in all areas "in which the separate states are incompetent"?

Congress

The power to impeach and remove the president from office is held by

Congress

One way to propose an amendment to the Constitution is to have

Congress pass it by at least a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate.

The system chose by the framers to select the president is the

Electoral College

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

Federalist Papers

The plan that accommodated both large and small states by creating a two-chamber Congress was known as the

Great Compromise

How did Jefferson propose to put his vision of a popular government into practice?

He had no clear idea about how to accomplish this

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

It would include a bicameral legislature and States with the largest populations would have the most representatives

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

James Madison

The concept of separation of powers was proposed by

Montesquieu

When the states drafted new constitutions after the start of the Revolutionary War, ______ did not have separation of powers. Its negative experience, in which the all-powerful legislature ignored basic rights and freedoms, proved the necessity of separation.

Pennsylvania

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 uses primary elections to select party nominees for office, and elects representatives to its larger legislative chamber more frequently.

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

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

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, and in a democracy the power of the majority is unlimited.

What provisions of the Constitution serve to limit the power of the judicial branch of the federal government?

The president can appoint federal judges with the consent of the Senate, Congress can impeach and remove judges from office, and Congress can restrict the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction in some instances

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

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

Why didn't Congress respond with troops when the governor asked for assistance during Shays' Rebellion?

There were no troops to send

When did North Carolina and Rhode Island ratify the Constitution?

They ratified only after the other 11 states had done so

As president, Andrew Jackson implemented much of what ______ had foreshadowed.

Thomas Jefferson

Who argued that "A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse or rest on inference"?

Thomas Jefferson

Who was the principal writer of the Declaration of Independence?

Thomas Jefferson

The northern-southern conflict over slavery resulted in which compromise?

Three-Fifths Compromise

Most historians assume that ______ role in the new government is what tipped the balance toward ratification of the Constitution?

Washington's

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?

The Great Compromise created

a bicameral legislature with a lower house based on population and an upper house based on equal representation of the states.

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.

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

Goals of the First Continental Congress

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

The key point of Madison's Federalist No. 10 is that governments need to be structured carefully in order to ______ factions.

balance and control

Southern delegates to the Philadelphia convention were determined to

block any attempt to end slavery.

Thomas Jefferson's interpretation of Locke's ideas, as found in the Declaration of Independence, was a

call for revolution.

The New Jersey Plan

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

From the beginning of the Philadelphia convention, prominent delegates were determined to

create a stronger central government

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

denials of power

The goal of the First Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia in 1774, was to

develop policy requirements for an improved relationship with Britain

Goals of the framers of the Constitution included

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

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

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

The U.S. Constitution placed limitations on popular rule in which of the following ways?

having the president nominate federal judges, having the president elected by the Electoral College, and having U.S. senators elected by state legislatures

What tax policies did the South fear as the negotiations began that eventually resulted in the Three-Fifths Compromise?

heavy taxes on agricultural goods exported from the U.S., a tax of any kind on the importation of slaves, heavy taxes on manufactured goods imported from Europe

Madison, Hamilton, and Jay wrote The Federalist Papers

in support of the Constitution

A federal judge's term of service is

indefinite but subject to "good behavior"

The president's ability to veto a bill

is a check on Congress

In his criticism of the Constitution, historian Charles Beard noted that none of the delegates to the Philadelphia convention were

laborers or small farmers

The principle that individuals should be free to act and think as they choose, provided they do not infringe unreasonably on the freedom and well-being of others, is known as

liberty

The Bill of Rights

limited the power of the national government

To pass legislative policies and ratify treaties under the Articles of Confederation, only ______ states were required to vote for it.

nine

As defined by the framers, who or what limits the majority's power in a democracy?

nothing and no one

Historical evidence suggests that a majority of ordinary Americans __________ ratification of the Constitution.

opposed

Under the Constitution, Congress was prohibited until 1808 from taking which of the following actions regarding slaves?

passing laws ending the slave trade

Which of the following are reasons why the Constitution begins with the words "We the People"?

people need to exercise control over government, and the U.S. government ultimately derives its power from the people

One goal of the framers of the Constitution was to

preserve the states as governing entities

Regular voters select their party nominees through ______ elections.

primary

According to Andrew Jackson, what requirement should not be used to determine who has the right to vote?

property

Even if passed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, a constitutional amendment still must be __________ by three-quarters 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

One key risk of ____________ government is the potential for tyranny of the majority.

representative

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

review

The Philadelphia convention was called to

revise the Articles of Confederation

The House and the Senate (which together form the Congress)

share the lawmaking function in the United States

According to John Locke's theory called the ______, people agree to form a government in order to protect society from the actions of dangerous individuals.

social contract

Historical evidence suggests that a majority of wealthier Americans ______ ratification of the Constitution.

supported

In the debate over the U.S. Constitution, the Federalists

supported a strong national government

According to the New Jersey Plan, what power in addition to those in the Articles of Confederation would the national government have?

taxation

Which British policy was the main source of dispute for the American colonists?

taxation without representation

Shays' Rebellion was an uprising of farmers against the government of Massachusetts over what two issues?

taxes and back pay for military service

The framers of the Constitution wanted a government

that protected unpopular groups from mob rule and violence, where popular majorities could not disregard the rights of others, and where people could be free to do as they pleased if they didn't harm others

In the U.S., what is the highest law of the land?

the Constitution

The branches of the federal government include

the executive, the legislative and the judicial

In a majority of the state conventions to ratify the Constitution (8 of 13), it was claimed that ______ would have the power to nullify actions that violated the Constitution.

the judiciary

Who or what has the power to pardon persons convicted in the courts?

the president

Who among the following felt threatened by Shays' Rebellion?

the wealthy

Andrew Jackson argued that electoral votes should be

tied to the popular vote

Why does our Constitution contain checks and balances?

to prevent the arbitrary use of power

The Articles of Confederation gave the most power

to the individual states

Natural rights are defined as those possessed by all people.

true

True or false: The U.S. Constitution provides the method for choosing the country's leaders.

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

What was the first opportunity to determine whether or not the judiciary had the power to nullify actions that violated the Constitution?

when a dispute arose after the election of 1800