Chapter 2 Quiz POLS 111

Prior to the ratification of the Constitution,

90% of the country's enslaved people lived in in Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

Which of the following is an example of a confederation?

A group of states agree to create a new government over them, which they will allow to manage some issues of common interest, but otherwise the states will remain independent.

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

Article I, Section 8

The United States' first written constitution was called the

Articles of Confederation.

The Boston Tea Party was largely a response to the

British government's decision to eliminate the lucrative colonial tea trade.

What did the New Jersey Plan propose for Congress?

Representation would be equal for each state.

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.

The Articles of Confederation

could be amended only with a unanimous vote of the Congress.

The electoral college is

designed to select the president of the United States.

The size of the Supreme Court is

determined by congress

The framers employed the separation of powers and federalism in order to

prevent the new government from abusing its power.

Shays's Rebellion was an attempt to

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

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

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

Who were more likely to identify as Federalists during the ratification debates?

small farmers, frontiersmen, and debtors

During the national debate over ratification of the new Constitution, the Federalists

supported the Constitution and preferred a strong national government.

Which of the following documents summarized its philosophy toward the national government by stating "each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence"?

the Articles of Confederation

Of all the parts of the new government, the framers saw ________ as being capable of timely and decisive action to deal with national issues and problems.

the House of Representatives

Under the Constitution, which part of government has final say whether a governmental power is exclusive to the national government, exclusive to the states, or shared between the two?

the Supreme Court

Which entity is placed in charge of determining whether a state discriminated against goods or people from another state?

the Supreme Court

Judicial review is the power of

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

What was Madison referring to when he wrote that "a double security arises to the rights of the people"?

the fact that the Constitution protects the rights of the people through both federalism and the separation of powers

Bicameralism is a constitutional principle that represents the division of

the legislature into two chambers.

The Virginia Plan proposed a system of representation in the national legislature that was based on

the population of each state or the proportion of each state's revenue contribution, or both.

Only one-third of the Senate is up for re-election during any single election year because the framers believed that

this was a way to make the Senate resistant to popular pressure.

There are ________ amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

27

Which of the following statements best summarizes the Federalists' view on representation?

In order to provide good representation, the represented must be a "true picture of the people" and this can only be achieved in small, relatively homogeneous republics.

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

It helped unify previously divided colonial groups by identifying shared problems, grievances, and principles.

Which statement about amendments to the Constitution is most accurate?

Only one amendment to the Constitution has been successfully repealed.

The framers designed the Senate to be a check against excessive democracy by doing which of the following?

Senators were originally appointed by state legislatures.

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 national defense under the Articles of Confederation is most accurate?

There was no national army and the armed forces were composed entirely of state militias.

The Constitution gives the president several powers. Which of the following is not one of them?

call for new Congressional elections.

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.

The weakness of the national government under the Articles of Confederation became a concern to southern planters and New England merchants when

WRONG:a series of revolts led by enslaved people swept through the southern states and overthrew a number of local governments in the summer of 1783.

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

While most amendment efforts failed because they attempted to address a specific public problem, successful amendments changed the structure or composition of government.

Which office did the framers design to be directly elected by the people?

a U.S. representative

Daniel Shays was

a former army captain who led a rebellion against the Massachusetts government.

The First Continental Congress was

a group of colonial delegates assembled in 1774 that called for a total boycott of all British goods.

The Land Ordinance of 1785 was significant because it

established the principles of surveying and ownership that governed westward expansion.

Which of the following was NOT one of the reprisals enacted by the British in response to the Boston Tea Party?

execution of the leaders of the Boston Tea Party

The three branches of government created by the Constitution are

executive, legislative, and judicial.

States like Delaware, Connecticut, and New York opposed the Virginia Plan because they

feared that large states would dominate the new government if representation were to be determined by population.

The system of shared powers, divided between a central government and the state governments, is called

federalism.

What is the term length of a federal judge?

for life

The most common method of passing and ratifying an amendment to the Constitution is passage

in both houses of Congress by a two-thirds vote, followed by a majority vote in three-fourths of the state legislature.

During the Philadelphia Convention, the New Jersey Plan was supported by ________ states.

less populous

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

promoting their own economic interests.

On the subject of representation, Antifederalists wanted

representative bodies that accurately resembled those being represented.

The Constitution expressly grants which of the following powers to Congress?

to regulate interstate commerce

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.