Chapter 3: The Constitution Multiple Choice

_________ was heard from some 20,000 protesters, many of them women, in October of 1932 as they demanded repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment.

"We want beer"

The U.S. Constitution contains about _________ words.

4,300

Before it could take effect, the Constitution had to be ratified by ________ states.

9

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson's statement that "all men are created equal" is similar to which theorist's belief that government is based on the "consent of the governed"?

John Locke

The original draft of the Declaration of Independence

Condemned the king's support of the slave trade.

The framers of the Constitution intended ______________ to be the strongest branch(es) of government.

Congress

The American colonists' first claims to the right of "life, liberty and property" date back to the

First Continental Congress

The __________ guaranteed citizenship to all persons, including blacks.

Fourteenth Amendment

The __________ Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Fourth

The Supreme Court first declared that the courts have the power to overturn government acts that conflict with the Constitution in

Marbury vs. Madison

Which state legislature sent no delegates to the Constitutional Convention?

Rhode Island

Which document proclaimed, "Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not... expressly delegated to the United States?"

The Articles of Confederation

The chief obstacle to ratification of the Constitution by the states was

the omission of a bill of rights

According to the text, "it is hard to imagine a government framework better suited [than the Constitution] to _____________."

the pluralist model.

The power of the president to veto laws is an example of

checks and balances

Under separation of powers, the U.S. system keeps power among branches balanced by enabling one branch to counter the actions of another by the use of

checks and balances

Under the Constitution, the slave trade

could be ended after twenty years.

The 2007 European Reform Treaty did all but

create a centralized debt-refinancing agency for indebted countries.

Congress exercises a potential check on the judicial branch through its constitutional power to

create or eliminate lower federal courts.

A constitutional clause that allows for a broad interpretation of implied powers is known as an _____ clause.

elastic

The constitutional amendment process requires

extraordinary majorities

Shay's Rebellion consisted of

farmers trying to prevent foreclosure on their property for debts and taxes owed.

Unless they are impeached, federal judges serve

for life

The three-fifths formula that was used in regard to representation in the House

had been used in 1783 under the Articles to allocate government costs among the states.

The punishment for losing the Revolutionary War, for the signers of the Declaration, would have been

hanging and drawing and quartering

The key principle argued in the case Marbury v. Madison was

judicial review

One similarity between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan was that both plans

left unspecified how many people the executive might have.

Article I of the Constitution refers to the

legislative branch

The "unalienable rights" identified by the Declaration of Independence are

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

The text of the Constitution deals with slavery by

not mentioning it directly

An estimated ___________ American colonists remained loyal to the Brtiish Clown

one in five

According to the New Jersey Plan, how was representation to be structured in Congress?

There would be one house, and all states would have equal representation in it.

Republicanism is a form of government in which power

resides in the people and is exercised by their elected representatives.

A republic is a government

resting on the consent of the governed through their representatives.

Originally, the Constitutional Convention's purpose was to

revise the Articles of Confederation

The idea that the people agree to establish rulers for certain purposes, but they have the right to resist or remove rulers who violate those purposes, is also known as

social contract theory

After the Constitution was amended to permit the federal government to levy a progressive income tax, government could more effectively further the goal of

social equality

The Daughters of Liberty opposed British rule by

spinning their own cloth and using colonial products rather than buying imported British products.

If a state's drinking laws allowed eighteen-year-olds to drink alcoholic beverages in violation of the federal government's age requirement of twenty-one, the federal government's age restriction would supersede the state's law based upon the

supremacy clause

The Bill of Rights consists of the first ___________ amendments to the Constitution.

ten

A greater percentage of the United States population died or was wounded during the Revolution than in any other U.S. conflict except

the Civil War

Which of the following statements concerning the framers of the Constitution is correct?

They believed "experience must be our only guide, reason may mislead us."

The _________, which prevents members of Congress from voting themselves immediate pay increases, was submitted to the states in 1789, but was not ratified until 1992.

Twenty-seventh Amendment

A major event that led to greater British taxation of American colonies was

the Seven Years' War

A result of the Second Continental Congress was

the adoption of the Declaration of Independence

A group of delegates to the Constitutional Convention proposed a powerful national government to replace the weak confederation of states. This was known as the

Virginia Plan

The original procedure for selecting the vice president, under the electoral college, was

the candidate with the next-greatest number of votes would become vice president.

A confederation can best be described as

a loose association of independent states

The assignment in the Constitution of lawmaking, law-enforcing, and law-interpreting functions to the legislative, executive, and judicial branches respectively is known as

a separation of powers

A key component of the Virginia Plan was

a strong national legislature.

Anti-federalists attacked the proposed Constitution on the grounds that

the national government it created was too strong.

The Great Compromise provided for

a two-chamber legislature with equal representation for all states in one chamber and population-based representation in the other.

Including the Bill of Rights, _____________ amendments have been added to the Constitutions

twenty-seven

According to Madison in Federalist No. 10, the most common and durable source of factions had been

unequal distribution of property.

Federalism, or the division of power between a national government and regional units, stands in contrast to

unitary government

Shay's Rebellion indicated the

urgent need to maintain domestic order.

The primary goal of Federalist No. 10 was to demonstrate that the new government

would not fall under the dominance of any one faction.

The primary contribution of the Federalist papers is

their insight into the reasons for constitutional provisions

The _______ guarantees that citizens' right to vote cannot be denied "on account of sex."

Nineteenth Amendment

According to the first national census, in 1790, about _______ of the American population lived in slavery.

18 percent

The idea of republicanism may be traced to the philosopher

Aristotle

Which amendment does the text categorize as "disastrous"

Eighteenth Amendment

The _____________ protects against excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment.

Eighth Amendment

Supporters of the Constitution named themselves

Federalists

By 2012, members of the European Union (EU) agreed to greater central authority over their respective economies, with the exception of

Great Britain

The power of Congress to character a bank is an example of what type of power?

Implied

Which of the following factors contributed to the British loss during the Revolution?

Options A and B are true

The Articles of Confederation failed because

Options A, B, and C are true.

The Federalist Papers were written by

Options A, B, and D are true.

Which document proclaimed, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights"?

The Declaration of Independence

Which of the folloiwng is not a power granted to the president under the Constitution?

The power to declare war.

The Declaration of Independence was based on input from many people, but its primary author was

Thomas Jefferson

When compared with the U.S. Constitution, most American state constitutions

are longer and more detailed.

The main argument against the needs for a bill of rights was that

the Constitution established a government of limited powers; because the government was not given the power to regulate individual liberties, no bill of rights was necessary.

To amend the Articles of Confederation required a

unanimous vote