AP Gov Final Exam Test Bank
"[I]t has already been incontrovertibly shown that on the present occasion a bill of rights was totally unnecessary, and that it might be accompanied with some inconveniency and danger if there was any defect in the attempt to enumerate the privileges of the people. This system proposes a union of thirteen sovereign and independent states in order to give dignity and energy to the transaction of their common concerns. It would be idle, therefore to countenance the idea that any other powers were delegated to the general government than those specified in the Constitution itself." Justice Thomas McKean at the Pennsylvania State Convention to ratify the Constitution, edited by John Back McMaster and Frederick D. Stone, 1788 Which of the following best summarizes the author's argument?
A Bill of Rights would potentially give the federal government more power than is explicitly stated in the Constitution
Based on previous rulings, the Supreme Court is most likely to view a case concerning which of the following as a violation of the Sixth Amendment?
A Court refuses to provide a defendant a lawyer even though she cannot afford one
Which of the following scenarios is an example of how a state government CAN reasonably restrict speech protected under the First Amendment?
A group of protesters is arrested after staging a sit-in on the governor's front lawn to protest a Voter ID law
Based on previous rulings, which of the following scenarios would most likely violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
A state law criminalizes intermarriage between white and black citizens
Which of the following best explains how the president can limit the Court's power by appointing a new Supreme Court justice?
By choosing justices who change the ideological leanings of the court
Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the two court cases?
Comparison A
Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the two court cases?
Comparison B
Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the roles of President of the Senate and Speaker of the House?
Comparison D
Which of the following scenarios would violate the Tenth Amendment?
Congress passing a law raising the minimum driving age to 21
Which of the following policies is likely to create the most tension between the competing values of rule of law and limited government?
Expelling undocumented US residents from the country
Which statement accurately summarizes the impact of the Roe v. Wade (1973) decision?
It incorporated a woman's right to privacy when having an abortion to state and local governments
Which of the following statements best explains why the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a significant political event?
It removed structural barriers to minority voting
"The District Court's assessment that all this evidence proved racial predominance clears the bar of clear error review. The court emphasized that the districting plan's own architects had repeatedly described the influx of African-Americans into District 12 as a . . . compliance measure, not a side-effect of political gerrymandering. And those contemporaneous descriptions comported with the court's credibility determinations about the trial testimony—that Watt told the truth when he recounted Rucho's resolve to hit a majority-BVAP target; and conversely that Hofeller skirted the truth (especially as to Guilford County) when he claimed to have followed only race-blind criteria in drawing district lines. We cannot disrespect such credibility judgments." -Associate Justice Elena Kagan, opinion of the Court in Cooper v. Harris, 2017 Which of the following statements best summarizes the author's argument?
North Carolina created a district predominantly based on racial lines, which is unconstitutional
A Supreme Court precedent banning prayer in schools could be viewed as interfering with state powers under the Constitution, and as creating law rather than interpreting it. Which of the following may Congress do to limit the Supreme Court's power?
Pass legislation changing the court's jurisdiction
Examine the table and answer the question below. Source: Pew Research Center The data displayed in the table above best supports which of the following statements?
Respondents of all races were less likely to support programs giving special preferences to black candidates than programs aimed to help them more generally
"The president may be convinced that a piece of legislation is unwise. But his judgment as to its un-wisdom is not a legal reason for his declining to execute it. (It may be a reason to veto it, and one of the objections to signing statements is that they are vetoes not subject to override.) And the president may have a definite view as to what the legislation means, and that view might include conclusions as to its constitutionality, but his is not the view that counts. He may be the commander in chief, but he is not the interpreter in chief." -Stanley Fish, "Who's Afraid of Presidential Signing Statements?" 2007. Source: New York Times Which of the following statements best summarizes Fish's argument?
Signing statements go beyond the president's expressed constitutional powers
Which of the following is NOT an agent of political socialization?
Sports teams
Which of the following scenarios is an example of the process of political socialization in schools?
Students are required to take an American government course to graduate from high school
Use the image below to answer the following question. Which of the following is the best explanation for the change in contributions from 2010 to 2016?
The Supreme Court's 2010 decision appears to have had a positive impact on soft/outside contributions to single issue or partisan recipients, leading to a significant funding increase
A member of the House of Representatives proposes a Constitutional amendment that would force the president and Congress to balance the budget every year.
The bill must pass both the House and the Senate with a two-thirds majority.
When the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1789, the amendments protected civil liberties infringement from which levels of government?
The federal government only
An animal rights organization conducts a random digit dialing survey, asking 1,500 respondents to answer the following question: "Should the United States repeal a law that requires responsible dog owners to pay for expensive and invasive surgery on a dog to prevent them from fathering cute puppies?" The organization reported a sampling error of ± 4% and published its findings in the following chart. A pollster might claim that this poll is unreliable for which of the following reasons?
The poll used a biased question that strongly influenced respondents to have one opinion
"In addition to educating the country, [President Barack Obama's] goal is to frame the political debate and set an agenda that the next Democratic presidential nominee can run on next year - an agenda that Obama hopes will put opposition Republicans at a big disadvantage. Obama has been getting lots of attention for bypassing the Republican-controlled Congress and using his unilateral powers, such as executive orders, to get his way. But his power to persuade is another vital weapon in the president's arsenal, since he can command media and public attention almost whenever he wants." -Kenneth T. Walsh, U.S. News & World Report, 2015 Which of the following statements best summarizes the author's argument?
The president's ability to command media attention gives him an advantage in shaping the national policy agenda.
In Federalist No. 10, Madison argues that the Constitution disperses power between the federal government and state governments. Which of the following describes a constitutional provision in the newly ratified Constitution that does that?
US Senators were chosen by state legislatures.
The Connecticut (Great) Compromise provided for
a bicameral legislature with one house's composition based upon state population and another's on equal state representation.
Which of the following policies would a libertarian politician most likely support?
abolishing the death penalty
The importance of the separation of powers in the American government system is
clearly defined responsibilities and authority for each branch
On Election Day, radio news network Guam Live is trying to project the result of the presidential election. They send pollsters to 350 voting places throughout the United States to survey people after they have voted. Which type of poll is the news network conducting?
exit poll
Which of the following policies would a liberal politician most likely support?
increasing funding for school lunch programs
"The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular states, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other states: a religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it, must secure the national councils against any danger from that source: a rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the union." Publius (James Madison), Federalist #10, 1787 Which of the following models of representative democracy is most consistent with the passage?
pluralist democracy
Which of the following is a characteristic of a reliable scientific poll?
randomized sample
Which of the following leadership abilities is critical to presidential success?
the ability to persuade members of Congress and the American public
What is implementation?
the process by which a law or policy is put into practice
