U.S. Government- Test #2

Which of the following is a requirement in federal legislation that forces state and local governments to comply with certain rules?

A federal mandate

A constitutional amendment can be proposed in which of the following formats?

A national convention called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures and/or a two-thirds vote in each chamber of Congress

Under the Articles of Confederation, which of the following headed Congress?

A presiding officer selected from among its members

Because the delegates wanted to prevent the imposition of tyranny by either the majority or the minority, the government they proposed had which of the following?

A separation of powers

The Articles of Confederation established a voluntary association of independent states that did which of the following?

Agreed to only limited restraint on their freedom of action

The Articles of Confederation did which of the following?

Allowed the states to retain most of their power

The Constitution would not have been ratified in several important states if the Federalists had not assured the states of which of the following?

Amendments to the Constitution would be passed to protect individual liberties against incursions by the national government.

The Virginia Plan was a proposal of 15 resolutions that did which of the following?

Called for a national executive who would be elected by the legislative body

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 which of the following?

Checks and balances

In a federal system, which of the following powers are held jointly by the national and state governments?

Concurrent powers

Which of the following political ideologies traditionally favors state governments over the federal government?

Conservatism

Which of the following is the term for the fundamental law underpinning the structure of government and the rule of law?

Constitution

Which of the following terms describes how state governments and the national government work together to solve the nation's problems?

Cooperative

A government program that is funded by the national government but operated and managed by state governments is representative of which of the following?

Cooperative federalism

Which of the following powers would the ability to coin money be classified as?

Enumerated

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress had the power to do which of the following?

Establish and control the armed forces

Which of the following was one of the main actions of the Second Continental Congress?

Establishing an army and appointing a commander-in-chief

What is the system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between the national and state governments?

Federal system

The era of dual federalism effectively ended with the election of which president?

Franklin Roosevelt

Which of the following is the best example of a categorical grant?

Grants provided to a state or local government to repair a particular stretch of interstate highway

The Virginia Plan included which of the following?

It called for a bicameral legislature.

Which of the following is true of the First Continental Congress?

It encouraged the colonists to petition King George III to express their grievances.

What requirement does the full faith and credit clause place on the individual states?

It honors the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of other states.

In a federal political system, how is authority distributed?

It is divided between the central government and regional or subdivisional governments.

Which of the following statements best describes the police power of the states?

It is the states' authority to legislate for the protection of the health, welfare, safety, and morals of the people.

What is the purpose of block grants given to state or local governments?

It is to be spent in the way the state or local government decides to spend it.

Shays' Rebellion plays an important role in American history for which of the following reasons?

It made obvious the weaknesses of the government under the Articles of Confederation.

During the time of the Constitutional Convention, why was federalism a viable compromise to the delegates?

It maintained state traditions while creating a strong national government to handle common problems.

Charles Beard hypothesized which of the following about the Constitution?

It was produced by wealthy property owners in order to protect their property.

Who authored the initial Bill of Rights?

James Madison

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

John Locke

Which of the following chief justices worked to increase the power of the national government and to reduce the power of the states in the early part of the nineteenth century?

John Marshall

The power of the Supreme Court to declare actions of the other branches of government to be unconstitutional is known as which of the following?

Judicial review

The Declaration of Independence listed grievances against which of the following people, including the suspension of popularly elected colonial legislatures, taxing without representation, and trials without juries?

King George III

The Great Compromise resolved the impasse between which of the following two groups?

Large and small states regarding representation

Which of the following did President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal include?

Large-scale emergency antipoverty programs

Which of the following metaphors is used to describe dual federalism?

Layer cake federalism

The American system, with multiple points at which powers can block action, is described as which of the following?

Limited Government

Which of the following metaphors is used to describe cooperative federalism?

Marble cake federalism

The Supreme Court first declared that the courts have the power to overturn government acts that conflict with the Constitution in which of the following cases?

Marbury v. Madison

The scope and authority of power that Congress was granted under the Articles of Confederation can best be described as which of the following?

Narrow

How many state conventions had to ratify the U.S. Constitution before it took effect?

Nine

The selection of senators by state legislatures was intended to serve as a check on which of the following?

Popular will

A weakness of the Articles of Confederation was a lack of which of the following?

Power to raise funds for the militia

In the Dred Scott case, what did the Supreme Court decide that Congress had no power to do?

Prohibit slavery

Which of the following classes of powers are not given to the federal government by the Constitution, nor reserved to the states?

Reserved powers

Originally, the Constitutional Convention's purpose was to do which of the following?

Revise the Articles of Confederation

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

Separation of powers

The Massachusetts protest movement of debt-ridden farmers facing foreclosures on their homes and farms was known as which of the following?

Shays' Rebellion

The advantages of a federal system of government include which of the following?

State governments are frequently testing grounds for new governmental initiatives.

According to Article IV of the Constitution, which of the following best describes the full faith and credit clause?

States must adhere to civil acts and judicial decisions of other states.

What constitutional clause allows federal laws to take precedent over state laws?

Supremacy clause

Which of the following does the final provision in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, sometimes known as the elastic clause, state?

That Congress can make laws that are necessary and proper to carry out its enumerated powers

Which of the following was done to pay for the defense of the colonies during the French and Indian War?

The British government decided to impose taxes on the American colonies.

The rights and liberties enjoyed in the United States are stated in which of the following documents?

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal" are the first words of which of the following documents?

The Declaration of Independence

The president of the United States is selected by which of the following?

The Electoral College

During the constitutional deliberations, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison wrote 85 essays known as which of the following?

The Federalist Papers

The Constitution vests all judicial authority of the United States in which of the following, as well as in other inferior courts?

The Supreme Court

Which of the following political institutions settles conflicts related to power sharing between the states and the national government?

The United States Supreme Court

In a confederal system of government, the central government has which of the following?

The central government possesses almost no real power.

Which of the following gives Congress the power to regulate trade among the states?

The commerce clause

The commerce clause is the basis for which of the following?

The expansion of federal power, especially in the 20th century

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was brought about by which of the following?

The failure of the Articles of Confederation

Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense advocated which of the following?

The formation of the country's own government as a way to gain independence

The Bill of Rights limits the power of which of the following?

The government over the rights and liberties of individuals

Which of the following was a weakness of the Articles of Confederation?

The inability of Congress to raise funds

What does the doctrine of dual federalism establish?

The national government and the states have authority over defined and mutually exclusive policy areas.

In a unitary system of government, the ultimate government authority is associated with which of the following levels?

The national or central level

What clause in the Constitution grants Congress the power to take action in order to execute its enumerated or expressed powers?

The necessary and proper clause

The framers of the Constitution were most influenced by which of the following?

The political philosophy of the time about how people should be governed, and the historical experiences gained through trial of several forms of government during New World settlement

Which of the following statements regarding the Gibbons v. Ogden case is true?

The power to regulate interstate commerce was determined to be an exclusive national power of the federal government.

In the Constitution, why are reserved powers not clearly defined or established?

The states had all the power when the Constitution was written because of the Articles of Confederation.

The assertion that national law has primacy over state law is in the Constitution in which of the following clauses?

The supremacy clause

What preemptive power is rooted in the Constitution that allows Congress to impose national priorities on states through national legislation?

The supremacy clause

Which of the following prevents states from using their powers to thwart or challenge federal policy?

The supremacy clause

States were granted representation based on the number of slaves they held under which of the following?

The three-fifths compromise

Which of the following statements about most concurrent powers is true?

They are not specifically stated in the Constitution but are implied.

What are federal mandates?

They are requirements in federal legislation that force states to comply with federal rules.

Which of the following was true of the Antifederalists?

They opposed the new Constitution.

Which of the following was true of the Federalists?

They supported the new Constitution.

Which of the following was true of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention?

They were not representative of the population at-large.

The first draft of the Declaration of Independence was primarily authored by whom?

Thomas Jefferson

When Congress enacted the Tariff of 1828, why did South Carolina attempt to nullify it?

To assert the power of the state governments over the national government and to indicate that a state should have the ultimate authority over its citizens

Why did the Founding Fathers incorporate the principle of privileges and immunities into the Constitution?

To ensure that state governments would not discriminate against another state's citizens

The Declaration of Independence was necessary for which of the following reasons?

To establish the legitimacy of the new nation in the eyes of foreign governments and the colonists

The concept of separation of powers was included in the Constitution to prevent which of the following?

Tyranny by either the majority or the minority

What was the central constitutional question in the McCulloch v. Maryland case?

Whether or not Congress had the power to establish a national bank