ALL poli-sci topic 1
In 2015, the Texas legislature passed legislation allowing ______, greatly reducing local governments' ability to pass or enforce more strict regulation.
"open carry" firearms
Which of the following correctly identify an article of the Texas Constitution and the general topic it addresses?
Article 17: amending the Constitution Article 6: suffrage
Match the grant type with the applicable characteristic. Instructions
Categorical Grants-Recipients must spend the funds for a designated purpose. block grants-Recipients have discretion for allocating funds within a specified policy area.
As practiced today, Blank______ is a system in which the government stresses economic equality and owns a number of major industries.
Capitalism
What part of the U.S. Constitution delegates or reserves some powers to the state governments or the people?
10th
Amending the Articles of Confederation required ______ states to approve of the amendment.
13
Which amendment of the Constitution was at the center of the famous Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)?
14th
The ratification of what constitutional amendment made the direct election of senators, a cause long supported by Progressives, the law of the land?
17th
Of all of Texas's constitutions, which one provided for a strong centralized government?
1869
Public support for federal domestic spending declined after the
1960s
The U.S. system of government is said to be ______ in providing for majority influence through elections.
Dem
In what year was discrimination against Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian immigrants finally removed from U.S. immigration law?
1965
A recent trend in intergovernmental relations to "pass down" policy authority from the national government to state and local governments is known as ______.
Devolution
In a ______ form of democracy (for example, the type that might be conducted through town meetings) citizens decide policy instead of depending on elected representatives.
Direct
The "layer cake" comparison is used to describe ______ federalism, which began in the 1800s.
Dual
In which of the following cases did the Supreme Court block states from regulating labor practices, concluding that doing so would violate factory owners' property rights?
Lochner v. New York
In which of the following cases did the Supreme Court act to protect businesses from Congress's attempts to regulate them under its authority to regulate commerce?
Lochner v. New York Hammer v. Dagenhart
Identify the events that led to creation of the U.S. Constitution.
Madison and Hamilton encouraged delegates at the Annapolis Convention to meet again to revise the Articles of Confederation. Shays' rebellion had shown the weakness of the national government under the Articles of Confederation. The Annapolis Convention did not have enough participants to revise the Articles of Confederation.
The tyranny of the refers to the potential of the majority becoming inflamed by a passionate issue or fiery demagogue and trampling on the rights of the minority.
Majority
The concept of separation of powers was proposed by ______.
Montesquieu
In the spirit of devolution, President Ronald Reagan proposed a type of federalism, called "Blank______ federalism" that would give more control to the states and localities
New
Match each government action with the situation that demanded it. Instructions
New Deal programs- The government responded to massive unemployment during the Great Depression. Great Society programs matches Choice Americans supported government-provided health care for the elderly and poor. Welfare Reform Act matches Choice Americans believed that too many people were getting undeserved benefits and federal programs had become too expensive.
An elite few hold the power to govern in which of these forms of government?
Oligarchy
Because of Supreme Court decisions that invalidated New Deal programs, in 1937 President Roosevelt put forth a plan to increase the number of justices in order to swing the Court to his side. How was this situation resolved?
One justice inexplicably changed sides, giving Roosevelt the majority he wanted.
Which of the following are true of party polarization?
Partisanship has increased dramatically over the past few decades. Partisan divisions have surfaced on nearly every issue.
President Lyndon Johnson promoted federal initiatives to help the poor as part of his Great (Blank) program
Society
According to legal experts and political theorists, which of the following most closely meets the "ideal characteristics" for a constitution?
U.S. Constitution
A single individual controls governance in which of these forms of government?
autocracy
Andrew Jackson believed the public should ______.
be more fully involved in government
Based on the current political culture of Texas, the constitution will likely ______.
continue to be amended in a piecemeal process
What are constitutions?
contracts between the government and the people
The "marble cake" comparison is used to describe ______ federalism, which began in the 1930s.
cooperative
Identify the two steps involved in the constitutional amendment process for most states' constitutions.
proposing amendments and citizen approval
A particularly strong example of Americans' determination to build a more equal society is its ______.
public education system
What was behind the 1990s-era rollback of federal authority?
public opinion
The state of California barred individual of Japanese descent from doing what?
purchasing property
Who or what holds the power in a pluralist system?
special interests
What are two methods by which modern voters choose the presidential nominee of their party?
state primaries open party caucuses
Which of the following are tools that political science offers to increase one's ability to think critically? (Choose every correct answer.)
terms and concepts that precisely describe aspects of politics reliable information about how the U.S. political system operates systematic generalizations about major tendencies in American politics
Which of the following stands in the way of broad changes to the Texas Constitution?
the conservative nature of Texas politics
Which of the following are the two most important forces in the evolution of the American federal structure?
the country's changing needs the strength of contending interests that sought to change the balance of power between the nations and the states
Following the French and Indian War, Britain for the first time imposed what on the colonies?
the implementation of heavy taxation
At what point in American history did the influence of business firms on public policy become a defining feature of American politics?
the late 1800s
Which of the following are to blame for voter ignorance of amendment elections?
the media voters themselves
During the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, Anti-Federalists believed that
the national government was going to have excessive power under the Constitution
When the Constitution was being drafted, leaders such as Patrick Henry objected to the idea of a strong national government because ______.
the national government would have direct authority over the people
The implied powers of Congress derive from which clause of the Constitution?
the necessary and proper clause
The term party polarization refers to ______.
the situation resulting from the intense conflicts between Republicans and Democrats in recent years
The tyranny of the majority feared by the framers of the Constitution occurs when the majority ______.
tramples on the rights of the minority
Concerning power sharing, the United States is ______.
unique
Americans' personal freedom at the time the Constitution was being created is best characterized as ______.
unparalleled
The American Revolution was partly a rebellion against Britain's failure to ______.
uphold colonial traditions of self-government
The 1999 Select Committee on Constitutional Revision found that the Texas Constitution ______.
was not in need of a general revision
What was the first opportunity to determine whether or not the judiciary had the power to nullify actions that violated the Constitution?
when a dispute arose after the election of 1800
Despite the original purpose of the Philadelphia convention, which was to revise the Articles of Confederation, from its beginning prominent delegates were determined to
create a stronger central government.
Goals of the framers of the Constitution included ______.
creating a national government that could meet the nation's defense needs preserving the states as governing entities dividing power between the national government and the states
Which of the following actions gave the national government more power than the states during George W. Bush's presidency?
creation of the Department of Homeland Security
As compared to other states, Texas's bill of rights is
equally permissive.
The majority of changes to the U.S. Constitution are ______ in nature.
evolutional
______ is a commitment to personal initiative and self-sufficiency.
individualism
What happens in one part of the country affects what happens in other parts because of ______.
interdependency
The president's ability to veto a bill ______.
is a check on Congress
Political scientist Richard Neustadt described the system of checks and balances set up by the framers of the Constitution as system of ______.
limited government
Political scientists use the term ______ to describe the situation in which more than half of citizens effectively determine what government policy will be.
majoritarianism
In the U.S. federal system, which of the following are the national government's responsibility?
military defense currency regulation
In blocking federal action to break up the monopoly on the manufacture of sugar during the 1890s, the Supreme Court decided that ______.
the power to regulate interstate commerce did not include the manufacture of goods
The necessary and proper, or elastic, clause of the Constitution provides Congress with ______.
powers that are not listed in the Constitution but are needed to exercise the listed powers
One goal of the framers of the Constitution was to ______.
preserve the states as governing entities
Who or what owns the means of production in a free-market economic system?
private firms
In a pluralist system, who or what would have the most influence on policies regarding regulation of Internet service providers?
the providers themselves
During the direst part of the Great Depression, approximately Blank______ percent of the nation's workers was unemployed.
25
How many distinct historical eras of federalism have occurred in the United States?
3
Article III of the Texas Constitution states that the senate is composed of ______ members and the house of representatives is to be ______ members.
31; 150
Under Article IV of the Texas Constitution, how many positions in the executive branch are elected?
5
The agreement of Blank______ states was required to enact legislation under the Articles of Confederation.
9
What happened as a result of Shays' Rebellion?
A convention was called for, to meet in Annapolis.
In 2010, the Democratic-controlled Congress passed the ______, one of the largest expansions of federal authority since the 1960s.
Affordable Care Act
Who among the following were the authors of The Federalist Papers, which argued for ratifying the Constitution?
Alexander Hamilton James Madison
Which of the following statements are true about American ideals and government? (Choose every correct answer.)
Americans generally believe that government power should be widely shared. Americans believe that their government should have a high purpose.
The text suggests that Americans tend especially toward selective memory and recasting history because ______.
Americans' beliefs are so idealistic
According to the Virginia Plan, who or what would exercise power in all areas "in which the separate states are incompetent"?
Congress
What term refers to the influence of business firms on public policy?
Corporate Power
The system chose by the framers to select the president is the ______.
Electoral College
What does the text describe as "America's most elusive ideal"?
Equality
True or false: The Virginia Plan favored the states with smaller populations.
False
True or false: Block grants are more restrictive than categorical grants in how they can be used.
False Reason: Recall that block grants allow greater freedom than categorical grants.
A governmental structure with two levels of government in which each level has sovereignty over different policy matters and geographic areas is a
Federal
Which of the following statements about political institutions and interests in the United States is true?
Few nations have as many competing interests and institutions as the United States.
What was the lesson of the Articles of Confederation?
Government must be granted the amount of power that is necessary for it to carry out its responsibilities.
Which of the following statements are true of economic power in the United States?
Firms have greater control over wages and working conditions than in other Western democracies. Roughly two-thirds of all lobbyists in the nation's capital represent business firms.
A major strength of the federal system is its ______.
Flexibility
Advocates of gay marriage argued that Section 2 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which stated that no state must accept another state's definition of marriage, violated the ______ of the Constitution.
Full Faith and Credit Clause
What constitutional clause addresses issues of divorce, child custody, and same-sex marriage across all states?
Full Faith and Credit Clause
Which of the following were periods with high levels of bipartisanship in American history?
George Washington's first years as president World War II
Which of the following is a core value of American political ideology?
Government should serve the people.
What tax policies did the South fear as the negotiations began that eventually resulted in the Three-Fifths Compromise? (Choose every correct answer.)
Heavy taxes on manufactured goods imported from Europe Reason: The South depended upon imported manufactured goods, since it had little manufacturing of its own. a tax of any kind on the importation of slaves Reason: The South's dependence on slave labor would have made this a crucial issue. heavy taxes on agricultural goods exported from the United States Reason: The South depended upon the export of its agricultural products, and higher taxes would make those products less attractive to purchasers.
Which of the following statements describe the terms democracy and republic as understood by the framers of the Constitution?
In a democracy the power of the majority is unlimited. The government of a republic responds to the needs of the majority while protecting the minority.
The obstacles to critical thinking have ______ in recent decades.
Increased
Which of the following conditions or strings is typically attached to a categorical grant?
It can be used only for a specific, designated activity.
What did the Supreme Court rule concerning the interstate commerce clause in the 1890s?
It covers only transportation of goods, not their manufacture.
Which of the following describe Article II of the Texas Constitution?
It discusses the separation of powers in Texas government. It more explicitly refers to the separate checks on the branches of government than does the U.S. Constitution.
Why is the necessary and proper clause called the elastic clause?
It gives the national government powers it needs to carry out its enumerated powers.
Which statement is most accurate regarding the Texas Constitution?
It is one of the longest state constitutions in the nation.
What does the supremacy clause do?
It makes the U.S. Constitution the supreme law of the land.
Which of the following are reasons that the level of detail in the Texas Constitution is problematic?
It makes the constitution too inflexible. It contributes to the unwieldy length of the document. It contributes to the necessity for constant change to the constitution.
What is characteristic of a federal system?
It provides for a balance of power and shared responsibilities between a national government and state governments.
is the principle that individuals should be free to act and think as they choose, provided they do not infringe on the freedoms of others.
Liberty
When the states drafted new constitutions after the start of the Revolutionary War, ______ did not have separation of powers. Its negative experience, in which the all-powerful legislature ignored basic rights and freedoms, proved the necessity of separation.
Pennsylvania
Which of the following are elements of the social contract that John Locke believed was the foundation of government?
People are born with certain inalienable rights, such as life, liberty, and property People submit to governmental authority in return for the protection it can provide, if it respects their rights. If a government does not respect the natural rights of the people, the people can rightfully rebel against it.
What role, generally, do politicians play in misinformation?
Politicians' deceptions have always been part of our politics, and they have contributed to the current rise in misinformation.
The overall way in which society settles conflicts and allocates the resulting benefits and costs is called ______.
Politics
The ability of persons, groups, or institutions to influence political developments is called ______.
Power
What does the phrase "separation of powers" mean?
Power is divided among the three branches of government.
According to Andrew Jackson, what requirement should not be used to determine who has the right to vote?
Property
Which of the following are constitutional grants of power to the national government?
Raising an army taxation declaring war against another nation
What was the first constitution to govern Anglos in Texas?
Republic of Mexico's Constitution
Which statement is accurate regarding amending state constitutions?
State constitutions are amended much more often than the national constitution.
Before the New Deal, who was responsible for assisting the poor?
States
The reserved powers in the U.S. system of government fall to the
States
Which of the following is an example of a structural amendment to the Constitution?
Tenth Amendment
Upon what assumption was Chinese immigration to the United States suspended in 1882?
The Chinese were an inferior people.
What was the legal argument in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) against the federal government establishing a national bank?
The Constitution did not expressly authorize the establishment of a national bank.
Which of the following best describes the doctrine of dual federalism?
The Supreme Court maintained a precise separation of state power and national power.
Which of the following are reasons that the system of government of the United States is in some ways seen as more democratic than those of many European countries?
The U.S. system uses primary elections to select party nominees for office. The U.S. system elects representatives to its larger legislative chamber more frequently.
Which of the following accurately describe higher education in the United States?
The United States has the most elaborate system of higher education in the world. The United States ranks second only to Canada in the number of people over 25 with a college degree. U.S. states with the lowest proportion of college grads have more residents with a bachelor's degree than the typical European country.
What is the method of selecting nominees for state and national offices that was introduced by Progressives and adopted by most states by the early 1900s?
The common people voted for nominees in primary elections.
What is the connection between the Supreme Court's Lochner and Hammer decisions?
The earlier Lochner decision actually made the later Hammer decision unenforceable.
Which of the following has occurred under cooperative federalism?
The federal government has been more heavily involved in policy areas traditionally reserved for the states.
Which of the following are reasons why the policy role of the federal government has expanded greatly since the early twentieth century?
The federal government has superior taxing capacity. Americans expect government help. American society is highly interdependent.
Which idea is expressed by the Tenth Amendment?
The federal government is limited to those powers given to it by the people.
What were some of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?
The national government did not have the power to regulate commerce between the states.
Which of the following were the major weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?
The national government had no power to regulate interstate commerce. The national government had no power to tax.
Which of the following best describes the limit that dual federalism places on national government power?
The national government is kept from extending its power into policy areas traditionally reserved for the states.
What did the Supreme Court decide in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)?
The necessary and proper clause implies the power to establish a national bank. National law overrides state law.
Who is the "self" in the political ideal of self-government?
The people
Which of the following is true of American democratic political ideals?
They come from European Enlightenment beliefs about individual worth.
In Texas, what is the legislature's role in proposing amendments to the state's constitution?
Two-thirds of each house in the Texas legislature must propose constitutional amendments.
Why did the framers of the U.S. Constitution separate powers and provide for a system of checks and balances?
They were afraid of concentrating power in the hands of a single person.
How would the framers have reacted to the ways in which federal power has evolved over the decades?
They would be largely unsurprised.
As president, Andrew Jackson implemented much of what ______ had foreshadowed.
Thomas Jefferson
True or false: An ideal constitution does not necessarily equal good governance.
True
True or false: It took over 60 votes for the delegates to the constitutional convention to agree on how the president would be chosen.
True
True or false: Natural rights are defined as those possessed by all people.
True
True or false: Prior to the passage of the United States Constitution, many of the states governed under their own state constitutions, which dated back to the colonial era.
True
True or false: The principle of federalism has provoked frequent and bitter conflict from the time the Constitution was ratified.
True
True or false: When large numbers of Americans are misinformed and base their behavior on that misinformation, democracy is at risk.
True
Which of the following are reasons that voter turnout for constitutional amendments in Texas tends to be low?
Voters are not particularly interested in the amendments. Amendments are often placed on ballots in odd-numbered years, when there are no state-wide elections.
Which of the following can result from a poorly worded amendment proposal?
Voters may not understand the amendment and may accidentally vote in a way they did not intend. Voters may not understand the amendment and therefore may not cast a vote.
What was the central question that led to establishing judicial review?
Who was to decide whether officials were operating within the limits of their constitutional powers?
For the Federalists, the Bill of Rights was ______.
a political necessity to get the Constitution ratified
What provision had been removed from Jefferson's initial draft of the Declaration of Independence at the insistence of southern states?
a statement critical of slavery
The 1836 constitution of the Republic of Texas provided for ______.
a unitary form of government
In the framers' view, a republican government does which of the following? (Choose every correct answer.)
adds constraints that protect the rights of individuals reduces the likelihood of reckless, hasty actions reduces the risk of tyranny of the majority
Pursuant to the Constitution's Tenth Amendment, ______.
all powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states
Political culture in the United States is based upon Americans' ______.
allegiance to common goals
As a discipline, political science relies upon ______, which requires critical thinking.
analysis
Rather than using the Fourteenth Amendment to protect formerly enslaved people, in 1886 the Supreme Court interpreted the amendment to provide protection to
businesses
A dilemma that confronted the framers is that a threat to liberty is inherent in government because of its ______ power.
coercive
Under Article IV of the Texas Constitution, the executive branch consists of the ______.
comptroller of public accounts commissioner of the general land office lieutenant governor governor attorney general
States alone are sovereign in a ______.
confederacy
The U.S. system of government created by the founders in 1787 can be described as which of the following?
constitutional republican
The idea that there are lawful restrictions on government power is called ______.
constitutionalism
Article V of the Texas Constitution ______.
describes the judicial branch outlines the qualifications for judges in Texas
Article VII of the Texas Constitution addresses ______.
education
Some misinformation is expected, but widespread misinformation is dangerous because it makes ______.
effective government difficult
Why was there strong support for a bill of rights during the debate over ratification of the Constitution?
fear that the national government would not respect people's rights
The mechanism by which political authority is divided between national government and the states is ______.
federalism
The structure of the executive branch in Texas is purposely ______ pursuant to Article IV of the Texas Constitution.
fragmented
Under socialism as it is practiced today in Sweden and other countries, the government ______.
guarantees its citizens a minimal standard of living
In the system of cooperative federalism, the states ______.
have retained most of their traditional authority
The complex demands of contemporary society ______.
have shifted power to the national government
The U.S. Constitution placed limitations on popular rule in which of the following ways?
having the president nominate federal judges having the president elected by the Electoral College having U.S. senators elected by state legislatures
Under the U.S. Constitution, which of the following sets of powers are associated with the national government rather than state governments?
implied enumerated
Compared to categorical grants, the use of block grants
is less narrowly defined, which means the recipients enjoy greater discretion
In the Electoral College, each state has electors equal to ______.
its representation in Congress
According to Article V of the Texas Constitution, ______.
judges in Texas are elected
The justices of the post-Civil War Supreme Court mostly favored
laissez-faire capitalism
Written in 1875, the Texas Constitution particularly reflected the strong influence of ______.
landowners
Match the branch of the federal government with its definition.
legislative-the Congress executive-the president judicial-the Supreme Court
In all states, the ______ can propose changes to the state constitution.
legislature
Which of the following dictates the ballot wording of all constitutional amendments in Texas?
legislature
Initiative-generated amendments are ______.
less likely to succeed than those proposed by state legislatures
The principle that individuals should be free to act and think as they choose, provided they do not infringe unreasonably on the freedom and well-being of others, is known as ______.
liberty
A government that is subject to strict legal constraints on the uses of power so as not to threaten the people's liberty is a ______.
limited government
In terms of opportunity, Blacks in the United States today are:
not equal in terms of opportunities for a better life for their children.
As defined by the framers, who or what limits the majority's power in a democracy?
nothing and no one
Elements of constitutionalism include ______.
officials being required to follow the laws the protection of individual rights lawful restrictions of governmental power
Which of the following terms best describes the power relationship between the various layers of government during the era of cooperative federalism?
overlapping
Which of the following are general criticisms of the Texas Constitution?
overly long constant change unclear organization
At the time that the Medicare and Medicaid programs were enacted, the public ______.
overwhelmingly supported them
Under the principle of popular sovereignty, power rests with the ______.
people
An 1886 Supreme Court ruling determined that corporations were:
persons.
Alexander Hamilton claimed that the federal government had the implied power to create a national bank through its power to ______.
regulate currency
A government in which people govern by voting for officials to act for them is called a ______.
representative government
The Philadelphia convention was called to ______.
revise the Articles of Confederation
Which of these ideals encompasses the principle that the people are the ultimate source of government authority and should have a voice in their governing?
self-government
In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court established the ______ doctrine, arguing that it did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause.
separate-but-equal
The House and the Senate (which together form the Congress) ______.
share the lawmaking function in the United States
In a federal system of government, power is ______.
shared by national and state governments
The tools of political science attempt to ______.
sharpen students' understanding of American politics
According to John Locke's theory, called the ______, people agree to form a government in order to protect society from the actions of dangerous individuals.
social contract
The framers tried to balance the need to give people a voice in their government against the need to prevent ______.
the tyranny of the majority
A defining characteristic of American politics is:
the widespread sharing of power.
Participants in a free-market economy depend primarily on which of the following for their economic security?
themselves
When the key pieces of the New Deal programs were struck down by the Supreme Court, President Franklin Roosevelt responded by ______.
threatening to pack the Court with his own justices
In America, majoritarianism occurs mainly ______.
through competition between the Republican and Democratic parties
Andrew Jackson argued that electoral votes should be ______.
tied to the popular vote
What is the function of statements on civil liberties in state constitutions?
to recognize basic freedoms