POS2041 - Exam 1 Study Guide - Chps 1-3

86. Suppose the federal government blocks the states from imposing taxes on high-speed internet service. Which of the following would allow it to do so?

a. preemption

77. The framers employed the separation of powers and federalism to___________.

a. prevent the new government from abusing its power.

64. The "fugitive slave" clause of the Constitution

a. required "free states" without slavery to return freedom-seeking enslaved people to the states from which they escaped.

57. During the last 50 years, the American population has

a. shifted because of people leaving the Northeast and Midwest and moving to the South and Southwest.

98. During the ratification debates, the Federalists were those who_______________.

a. supported the Constitution because it contained a strong national government.

5. The Stamp Act was a:

a. tax on commerce

37. For many Americans, the word "liberty" has become synonymous with

a. the freedoms delineated in the Bill of Rights

65. Which of the following is the best definition of an expressed power?

a. powers given to Congress as spelled out in Article 1 of the Constitution

95. A federal grant to states specifically to assist in the building of new public schools is an example of a ________ grant.

a . categorical

81. There are approximately ________ million people living in the United States without legal authorization, and the majority of these people are from ________.

a. 12; Mexico and Central America

61. Most Americans of African descent were not officially citizens in the United States until

a. 1868, when the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution conferred citizenship on formerly enslaved people.

55. Although ________ of the American population was of African descent at the time of the Founding, only about ________ of this group was free from slavery.

a. 20 percent; 1.5 percent

80. Which of the following statements about religious affiliation in the United States is true?

a. Although the United States was 95 percent Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish as recently as 50 years ago, this number fell to 69 percent of the adult population by 2021.

13. What is the significance of the Supreme Court case Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)?

a. It established the supremacy of the national government in all matters affecting interstate commerce.

87. According to __________________ "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."

a. Lord Acton

67. Which statement best describes how welfare and aid to the poor were handled by government prior to the Great Depression?

a. State and local governments took responsibility for assisting the poor, usually by channeling aid through private charities.

9. According to Aristotle, the worse types of governments were:

a. Tyranny, oligarchy, democracy.

32. Which of the following parts of the U.S. Constitution has been most important in allowing the growth of national power?

a. commerce clause

15. The ability to charter banks is an example of a ________ power.

a. concurrent

63. ________ is evidenced when national officials fund a project that is actually implemented by state governments.

a. cooperative federalism

39. Although the internet has increased Americans' access to information about government, which of the following presents the most significant existing challenge to increasing their political knowledge?

a. disinformation

54. The MOST important political value for the framers of the Constitution was

a. individual liberty

75. According to the Founders, which branch of government would take the primary role in ensuring that justice was carried out?

a. judicial branch

16. The Bill of Rights was designed to protect:

a. liberty

48. The purpose of the Tenth Amendment is to

a. limit the powers of the federal government by reserving certain powers to the states and to the people.

85. Which of the following is a good example of how state governments use their "police power"?

a. mandating that people wear face masks during the Covid-19 pandemic.

27. Which clause is the source of implied powers under the U.S. Constitution?

a. necessary and proper

62. A state government's authority to regulate the safety, health, and morals of its citizens is called a(n) ________ power.

a. police

41. The existence of slavery in the United States is a good example of how:

b. American values are not always reflected in practice.

47. In response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush worked with Congress to create which agency?

b. Department of Homeland Security

42. Which of the following statements about government is true?

b. Government can provide public goods, like defense or regulation of air quality, that citizens need but are likely unable to provide for themselves.

89. Which of the following statements regarding the citizenship status of Native Americans is true?

b. Native Americans became U.S. citizens in 1924.

70. Why do greater numbers of Americans tend to express more trust in their state and local governments than in the national government?

b. State and local governments are smaller than the federal government, which means that citizens can exert greater influence on local and state politics.

18. What effect has the aging U.S. population had on policies?

b. The aging population can make funding key programs for seniors like Social Security more challenging.

96. ________ is a provision from Article IV, Section I, of the Constitution requiring that the states normally honor the public acts and judicial decisions that take place in another state.

b. The full faith and credit clause

21. How has America's changing population shaped the political landscape in the United States?

b. The growing racial and ethnic diversity of the population has raised contentious debates regarding the balance of power between different areas of the country and heightened the urban-rural divide.

94. What decisions did delegates to the Constitutional Convention make about the slave trade?

b. The trade, or "importation," of enslaved Black people was allowed to continue to keep southern states in the Union, and the federal government was granted increased authority to tax the imports of enslaved Africans.

30. What was the main goal of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act?

b. To expand the federal government's authority over public education.

40. How does Americans' trust in government differ for national, state, and local governments?

b. While Americans' trust in the federal government has fallen over recent decades, trust in local and state governments has stayed relatively high.

100. What are the Federalist Papers?

b. a series of essays that argued for the ratification of the Constitution.

56. Which of the following policies would best promote the ideal of political equality?

b. automatic voter registration for all adults

90. It is important for Americans to have political knowledge so that they will

b. be better able to assess their own interests when making political choices.

29. The ability of the president to veto a bill passed by Congress is a good example of what principle of limited government?

b. checks and balances

84. States are required to return fugitives to other states from which they have fled by the Constitution's ________.

b. comity clause

91. The _____ is the concluding paragraph of Article I Section VIII of the Constitution — also known as the necessary and proper clause — which provides Congress with the authority to make all laws necessary and proper to carry out its enumerated power.

b. elastic clause

76. ________ is a widely shared American ideal that all people should have the freedom to use whatever talents and wealth they have to reach their fullest potential.

b. equality of opportunity

36. Immigrants from Asian countries were ___________________.

b. largely prohibited from entering the United States prior to the 1940s.

22. Throughout American history, the concept of liberty has been linked to the idea of

b. limited government

69. "Marble cake federalism" is associated with the

b. pattern of intergovernmental cooperation that has blurred the lines between the states and the national governments.

45. Which of the following describes a principle of democracy in which political authority rests ultimately in the hands of the people?

b. popular sovereignty

49. The main function of the privileges and immunities clause of Article IV is that it

b. prevents states from discriminating against nonresidents.

7. Suppose a state passed a law that gave state residents preference over nonresidents in obtaining work in that state. This law would violate the ________ clause of the Constitution.

b. privileges and immunities

78. Under the traditional system of American federalism, most of the fundamental governing in the United States was done by

b. state governments

12. Regulated federalism is a form of federalism in which _________________.

c. Congress imposes legislation on states and localities, requiring them to meet national standards.

35. What effect did Congress' 1965 decision to lift tight immigration restrictions have on immigration in the United States?

c. It profoundly increased the country's diversity with more than half of Americans under age 16 identified as a member of a racial or ethnic minority group.

24. The issue of representation, which threatened to shatter the Constitutional Convention, was resolved by:

c. The Great Compromise or Connecticut Compromise

71. Which of the following statement about wealth in the United States is true?

c. The middle class has seen its wealth drop and the people below the poverty line increase; the wealthiest 1 percent now holds more wealth than the middle class.

28. Suppose the government wanted to develop a national high-speed rail network. The federal government supplies states with the money to do so but imposes very strict laws on how it will be spent. This type of funding is most likely to come from

c. a categorical grant

25. What is Medicaid?

c. a federal program providing grants to state governments to help pay for medical care for the poor, the disabled, and many nursing home residents.

60. A lawmaker who believes in limited government would most likely support which one of the following proposals?

c. a policy that prevents technology companies from turning over citizens' data to the government

72. Following World War I, in response to nativist fears, Congress passed legislation that

c. allowed a large quota of new immigrants from northern European countries but only a small quota of new immigrants from eastern and southern European countries.

88. In 1790, Native Americans made up

c. an unknown percentage of the population because the United States government did not to count people whom they deemed to be non-American.

66. The privileges and immunities clause of Article IV is also referred to as the ________ clause.

c. comity

2. Shay's Rebellion

c. convinced many that a stronger central government was needed

19. The Great Compromise led to the:

c. creation of a bicameral congress.

20. Bicameralism is a constitutional principle that means:

c. division of Congress into two chambers

43. Congressional law and Supreme Court decisions have ruled that undocumented immigrants are

c. entitled to both education and emergency health care in the United States.

79. During the first 150 years under the Constitution, the federal government was

c. focused narrowly on taking actions to assist commerce and encourage economic development.

31.The fact that state governments are required to enforce restraining orders placed on stalkers and batterers in other states is a result of the

c. full faith and credit clause of the Constitution

34, Which term describes an economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately owned and operated for profit with minimal or no government interference?

c. laissez-faire capitalism

52. Suppose in a closely divided Senate, there are two senators whose support for policies is pivotal for those policies to pass. These senators have

c. political power

23. Members of Congress engaging in discussions and conflicts over the best policies to address an economic recession is an example of

c. politics

14. The Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) was significant because it_____.

c. required that all states offer marriage licenses to two people of the same sex.

6. Under the Articles of the Confederation, the relationship between the states and the federal government can be best compared to:

c. the United Nation's relationship with member states.

68. The "traditional system" of American federalism refers to a period when ________________.

c. the national government was quite small and carried out only a narrow and very specialized set of responsibilities

58. How many constitutional amendments throughout American history have been passed in a national convention called for by Congress in response to petitions by two-thirds of the states?

d. 0

73. About ________ of the American adult population currently identifies with the Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish faiths.

d. 70 percent

82. Which of the following comes closest to describing the political system favored by the American Founders?

d. A system of representative democracy in which the ability to vote for elected representatives would be limited to the middle and upper classes.

11. The inclusion of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution was most strongly supported by

d. Antifederalists.

74. Which of these would be an example of laissez-faire capitalism?

d. Congress reducing certain regulations required of pharmaceutical companies to receive approval of the Food and Drug Administration.

17. How do constitutional governments differ from totalitarian governments?

d. Constitutional governments possess effective, formal limitations on their powers, while totalitarian governments recognize no formal limits and eliminate institutions that challenge them.

59. The essential documents of the American Founding are the ________ and the ________.

d. Declaration of Independence; Constitution

33. How does partisanship influence individuals' trust in government?

d. Democrats express higher levels of trust in government when Democrats control government, and Republicans express higher levels of trust in government when Republicans control government.

44. Which of the following statements about the scope of personal liberties in the United States is most accurate?

d. Far fewer restrictions exist today on the press, political speech, and individual behavior than in the early years of the nation.

99. Who were the authors of the Federalist Papers?

d. James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton

83. State laws banning interracial marriage were struck down as unconstitutional in which Supreme Court case?

d. Loving v. Virginia

4. Colonial protesters of the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act rallied around what famous political slogan?

d. No taxation without representation.

50. What was the overall importance of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)?

d. The Court allowed Congress to use the necessary and proper clause to broadly interpret its delegated powers.

97. President Herbert Hoover's views on federal action during the Great Depression are best characterized by which of these statements?

d. The federal government could do little to alleviate the misery caused by the depression, and state and local governments should be responsible for responding to the crisis.

3. The fact that British officials could not be judge of crimes committed in the colonies by colonial courts indicated to the colonists that:

d. all of the above ------ a. The Crown did not trust them to be fair. b. They were second class citizens. c. Not all British citizens were equal before the law.

93. Which of the following describes a system of government in which power is divided, by a constitution, between a central government and regional governments?

d. federalism

1. The Stamp Act was imposed by Parliament (Crown) to:

d. help raise revenue for the Crown

51. The processes by which local, state, and federal governments negotiate and compromise over policy responsibilities is called ___________________.

d. intergovernmental relations.

10. Attempts by Congress to regulate child labor and factory conditions in local workplaces were struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional in the late nineteenth century because regulating local workplaces was __________________________.

d. perceived as beyond the scope of interstate commerce at the time

53. The belief that citizens can affect what government does is best referred to as

d. political efficacy

38. Opponents of the voter identification laws that have been enacted in many states argue that these laws make it more challenging for certain groups of individuals to vote, which undermines:

d. political equality

26. The principle of ________ gives the federal government the power to override any state or local law in one particular area of policy.

d. preemption

92. The "comity" clause of Article IV of the Constitution was designed to promote national unity by

d. prohibiting state governments from discriminating against citizens of other states in favor of their own citizens.

8. The full faith and credit clause of the Constitution requires the

d. states to honor each other's public acts and legal decisions.

46. The American population grew from almost ________ million people in 1790 to more than ________ million people today.

d.4; 330