POS2041 Chapter 2

According to Article II of the U.S. Constitution, the president has the power to

A. officially recognize other nations. b. overrule federal judges. c. convene Congress in special session. WRONG d. regulate commerce in the states.

In the debates over ratification, which label was given to those who thought the powers of the federal government should be "confined to certain defined national objects" so that it did not "swallow up all the power of the state governments"?

Antifederalists

The United States' first written constitution was called the

Articles of Confederation.

Who orchestrated the Boston Tea Party?

Samuel Adams

In response to which of the following events did George Washington say, "I am mortified beyond expression that in the moment of our acknowledged independence we should by our conduct verify the predictions of our transatlantic foe, and render ourselves ridiculous and contemptible in the eyes of all Europe."

Shays's Rebellion

The Antifederalists argued that the powers of the national government should be limited by

adding a bill of rights to the Constitution to limit the government's power.

Antifederalists bitterly attacked which two parts of the Constitution as unlimited and dangerous grants of power to the national government?

the supremacy clause and the elastic clause

Beginning in 1760, British tax and trade policies

undermined support for British rule among the colonial elite by threatening the economic interests of New England merchants and Southern planters.

Colonial protesters of the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act rallied around which slogan?

"No taxation without representation"

The Boston Tea Party was largely a response to the

British government's actions in carrying out the Boston Massacre. NOT THIS ANSWER British government's decision to tax the colonists' personal incomes. NOT THIS ANSWER British government's decision to remove all of its soldiers from the colonies. b.British government's decision to eliminate the lucrative colonial tea trade.

What is the significance of the Bill of Rights?

It ensured certain rights and liberties to the people.

________ defended the British soldiers who were involved in the Boston Massacre.

John Adams

What did the New Jersey Plan propose for Congress?

Representation would be equal for each state.

Which of the following statements best describes British rule of the American colonies during the first half of the eighteenth century?

The British ruled with a light hand and exerted a strong influence only in the largest colonial cities.

Which of the following statements about the House of Representatives and the Senate is true?

The House has the power to originate revenue bills but the Senate does not.

Which of the following statements about how the Constitution has changed over time is most accurate?

There has never been a successful attempt to amend the Constitution through the formal procedure spelled out in Article V. NOT THIS ANSWER While most amendment efforts have failed because they attempted to address issues related to voting rights, successful amendments addressed issues related to the regulation of interest groups and parties. WRONG b.While most amendment efforts have failed because they attempted to address issues related to voting rights, successful amendments addressed issues related to the regulation of interest groups and parties.c.While most amendment efforts have failed because they attempted to change the structure or composition of government, successful amendments addressed specific public policy problems.d.While most amendment efforts failed because they attempted to address a specific public problem, successful amendments changed the structure or composition of government.

Why did the delegates at the Philadelphia Convention turn down the idea of including a list of citizens' rights in the Constitution?

They believed that such a list would be unnecessary because the federal government was already limited to its expressed powers.

Procedures for amending the Constitution are found in Article

V

At the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, the proposed plan to create a congress where representation was distributed according to population was called the ________ Plan.

Virginia

Compared with the Articles of Confederation, federalism under the Constitution meant

a greater centralization of power.

The Boston Massacre occurred when

a small number of colonists were killed by British soldiers outside the Town House in Boston.

A ________ is a system of government in which member states retain almost all of their sovereign authority and delegate limited powers to a weak central body.

confederation

The size of the Supreme Court is

determined by Congress.

When radicals won control of Pennsylvania's government and redistributed land from large landowners to small farmers, the national government under the Articles of Confederation

did nothing because the government had no powers allowing them to intervene.

While the framers designed a system based on checks and balances, they intended which branch to be the most powerful?

judicial NOT THIS ANSWER

All of the following constitutional provisions were a result of the Founders' desire to create a federal government strong enough to promote commerce and protect property from radical state legislatures EXCEPT

national government control over commerce and finance. NOT THIS ANSWER b.national judicial supremacy over state courts. c.the Fifth Amendment's eminent domain provision. d.a strong presidency.

According to historian Charles Beard, the framers of the Constitution were mostly concerned with

promoting their own economic interests.

The political significance of the Great Compromise and the Three-Fifths Compromise was to

reinforce the unity of the New England merchants and the southern planters.

New England merchants hoped to accomplish which of the following by supporting the radicals who staged the Boston Tea Party?

revocation of the Tea Act

Which of the following laws passed by the Congress of the Confederation compelled states to surrender their western land claims?

the Northwest Ordinance of 1787

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

the debts incurred as a result of the French and Indian War

The separation of powers best describes

the division of power among several institutions that must cooperate in decision making.