Political Science 101 - Unit 1 Quiz

Which of the following is true regarding constitutional democracies in the world today?

About 40 percent of the global population lives in a constitutional democracy.

Which of the following statements about contemporary America is true?

About half of the states have legalized medical marijuana.

Which statement best describes American federalism since the 1930s?

Although the federal government has grown significantly more powerful since the 1930s, the basic framework of American federalism has not been altered and state governments remain important.

Which of the following statements concerning political values in the United States is true?

American values often conflict with each other in practice.

Which of the following statements is true?

Americans express mixed views about government.

________ compels state officials to obey costly federal regulations, but does not reimburse those costs.

An unfunded mandate

Bicameralism is a constitutional principle that means the division of

Congress into two chambers.

Why was the Declaration of Independence a remarkable philosophical statement for its time?

It asserted that there were "unalienable rights" that could not be abridged by governments.

________ federalism is evidenced when federal officials establish environmental standards that every state must follow.

Regulated

What did the New Jersey Plan propose for Congress?

Representation would be equal for each state.

Which of the following statements is true about the Defense of Marriage Act?

The Defense of Marriage Act was passed in 1996.

Why did the Progressives support women's suffrage in the early twentieth century?

The Progressives believed women would support their reform movement.

Which of the following was a way the framers tried to make the Senate a check against excessive democracy?

The Senate has staggered terms of office.

In American political culture, economic freedom means ________.

capitalism

The ability of the president to veto a bill passed by Congress is a good example of ________.

checks and balances

According to the authors of the text, democracy functions best when

citizens are informed.

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

comity clause

A ________ is a system of government in which states retain sovereign authority except for powers expressly delegated to a national government.

confederation

Politics can be defined as

conflicts over the character, membership, and policies of any organization to which people belong.

A government that is formally limited by laws and rules is called ________.

constitutional

The Supreme Court justices determined that the Affordable Care Act was

constitutional under Congress's power to tax.

The Federalists believed that the powers of government could be limited by

creating an internal system of checks and controls within government.

Block grants are designed to

give the states considerable discretion in how the money should be spent.

A representative democracy is a system of government that

gives citizens a regular opportunity to elect top government officials.

Compared with the Articles of Confederation, federalism under the Constitution has led to

greater centralization of power.

As a constitution, the Articles of Confederation were concerned primarily with

limiting the powers of the central government.

The demand that there be no taxation without representation is a good example of what political reform of the eighteenth century?

more popular influence on government

James Madison believed that the greatest conflict of interests in the Philadelphia Convention was between ________ and ________.

northern States; southern States

Shays's Rebellion was an attempt to

prevent the state of Massachusetts from foreclosing on the lands of debt-ridden farmers.

Under the Articles of Confederation, it was left to the ________ to execute the laws passed by Congress.

states

Which event was most influential in the rise of a more active national government?

the Great Depression

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

the United Nations' relationship with member states.

Judicial review is the power of

the courts to decide on the constitutionality of actions taken by the other branches of government.

Which clause in the U.S. Constitution has been central in debates over same-sex marriage?

the full faith and credit clause

Which clauses of the U.S. Constitution involve the relationships between and among the various states?

the full faith and credit clause and the privileges and immunities clause

The Federalists believed that the most apparent source of tyranny was ________.

the popular majority

Which of the following is the best example of a concurrent power under the U.S. Constitution?

the power to regulate commercial activity

Which level of government writes the majority of criminal laws?

the state governments

The constitutional idea of states' rights was strongest during which historical period?

the years immediately preceding the Civil War

Under the United States' first constitution,

there was no president.

The number of categorical grants in the United States increased dramatically during the ________.

1960s

Which of the following statements about federalism in America is true?

Each generation of Americans has a different view of federalism.

________ described politics as "who gets what, when, and how."

Harold Lasswell

Why was the decision to assign jurisdiction over controversies between citizens of different states to the Supreme Court significant?

It meant that the federal judiciary, rather than the state courts, would ultimately become the primary venue for resolving disputes.

What is the main purpose behind the privileges and immunities clause of Article IV?

It prevents states from discriminating against nonresidents.

How does the U.S. Constitution create a system that under represents urban areas?

It provides each state with two U.S. senators, regardless of population.

________ defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre.

John Adams

________ are the three core values in American politics.

Liberty, equality, and democracy

Which statement about government under the Articles of Confederation is FALSE?

Members of Congress had significant independence from their states.

Which of the following statements best describes naturalization laws in the United States prior to 1870?

Only free whites could become naturalized citizens.

________ orchestrated the Boston Tea Party.

Samuel Adams

Which of the following is true about the Southern Manifesto?

Southern officials declared that their states were not bound by Supreme Court decisions outlawing racial segregation.

Advocates of limiting the powers of the national government justify their position by the ________ of the U.S. Constitution.

Tenth Amendment

Which of the following statements about the changes in American society between 1900 and 2010 is NOT true?

The average age of Americans has fallen.

According to the authors of the text, what is the main benefit of a constitutional government?

The government is limited by the rule of law.

What is one of the biggest problems with federal block grants?

There is a need for greater accountability in how the funds are actually spent by the states.

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 since the federal government was already limited to its expressed powers, further protection of citizens was not needed.

Which of the following statements best describes the history of American federalism?

Throughout American history, there has been considerable debate about the allocation of responsibilities between the states and the federal government.

Which of the following Supreme Court cases limited federal power?

United States v. Lopez and Printz v. United States

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

Virginia Plan

The essential dilemma of a limited government raised by the ratification debates is

a government too weak to do harm also cannot do good.

Montesquieu called ________ the principle of giving each branch of government its own constituency.

a mixed regime

The federal system can be best defined as

a system of government in which power is divided between a national government and lower levels of government.

The expressed powers of Congress are listed in ________ of the U.S. Constitution.

article 1, section 8

What is the term length of a federal judge?

barring impeachment, life

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

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

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

both confining the powers of the federal government to certain narrowly defined areas and adding a bill of rights to the Constitution.

The ________ was the key group in Europe that pushed for limited government.

bourgeoisie

How did the framers attempt to reassure citizens that their views would be represented in the new government created by the Constitution?

by defining the new government's most important powers, such as collecting taxes, borrowing money, and regulating commerce, as belonging to Congress

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) was important because it

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

Which of the following economic policies was the national government allowed to implement during the nineteenth century?

establishing a series of national banks

The three branches of government created by the Constitution are

executive, legislative, and judicial.

During most of the nineteenth century, Congress used it powers to ________ commerce.

facilitate

In general, Americans' trust in their government has ________ since the 1960s.

fallen sharply

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

idea of limited government.

The most important political value for the framers of the Constitution was ________.

individual liberty

Government can best be defined as the

institutions and procedures by which a territory and its people are ruled.

"Marble cake federalism" is associated with

intergovernmental cooperation blurring the lines between different layers of government.

The framers of the U.S. Constitution attempted to create a government that could do all of the following EXCEPT

lead to the eventual inclusion of nonwhites in political life.

The Bill of Rights was designed to protect ________.

liberty

The bourgeoisie sought to change which of the following institutions into instruments of political participation?

parliaments

Which of the following was NOT a function of government most commonly performed by state governments during the era of dual federalism?

patents and copyrights

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

police

The right of each citizen to vote is an example of ________.

political equality

The Constitution's Preamble, beginning with the words "We the People," is an illustration of ________.

popular sovereignty

Disapproval of unfunded mandates is most common among those who want to

reduce the power of the federal government.

Which of the following powers is NOT explicitly given to Congress by the Constitution?

to abolish state boundaries

Which of the following was not discussed as a purpose of government in the Constitution's Preamble?

to guarantee an equal distribution of wealth for all citizens

According to the authors of the text, what is the goal of politics?

to have a say in a government's leadership, organization, and policies

A government that is not constrained by legal limits and also seeks to eliminate those organized social groups that might challenge or limit its authority is known as a(n) ________ government.

totalitarian

A ________ vote by both houses of Congress, and a ratification vote of ________ of the states are required to amend the U.S. Constitution.

two-thirds; three-fourths