American Federal Government – Flashcards
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How did the Federalists believe that the power of the government could be controlled?
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By creating an internal system of checks and balances between the different branches of the government.
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A state govenment's authority to regulate the safety, health, and morals of its citizens is called the _____ power?
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Police Power
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Which of the following statements about the origin of politics is most correct?
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Politics is even older than humanity, and is found in the other animal species as well.
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Which of the following practices was explicitly protects by the "seperate but equal" rule?
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Segregated Schools
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Which of the following statements about the federal government and the police power is most correct?
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The federal government does not have the general police power because it is a limited government of expressed powers.
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Miranda v. Arizona (1966) was important because it produced procedural rules that must be used when?
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By the police before questioning an arrested criminal suspect.
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How did Harold Lasswell define politics?
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Politics is who gets what, when, and how.
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Civil liberties and Civil Rights?
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Civil liberties primarily are based in the Bill of Rights, while civil rights are primarily based in the 14th amendment.
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The constitutional basis for the nationalization of the Bill of Rights is?
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Incorportation through the 14th amendment
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What does Supremacy Clause mean?
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The constitution and all laws are made under it are superior to any state laws.
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Unitary System of Governance
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Centralized decision-making in a national-level government; there may be regional governments, but they do not have independent authority.
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What are rights guaranteed by the 1st amendment?
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The right to petition, assemble peacefully, free speech, press, free exercise of religion, and right to be free from an established religion.
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When two conditions create a collective action problem?
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There is a collective benefit, one that everyone in the group share if it is achieved; and it doesn't take everyone's effort to achieve the benefit.
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What is self-governance?
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"Citizens jointly exerting 'power with; others, as they jointly endeavor to solve common problems or realize shared goals.'
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Which statement best describes American Federalism since the 1930's?
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Although the federal government has grown significantly more powerful since the 1930s, some power has been returned to the states in recent years.
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Which amendment protects people from unreasonable seaches and seizures?
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4th Amendment
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Which of the following rights is not found in the original, unamended Constitution?
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A prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments.
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What are the authorities of the president?
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Commander-in-Chief of the military, make treaties, appoint ambassadors, grant pardons.
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Countries that adopt a federal system tend to have?
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Diverse ethnic or language groups.
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Due process of law in the United States is generally defined by?
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Fourth, fifth, sixth, and eight Amendments.
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The number of people killed by the worst industrial accidents and terrorist attacks in history is small comparison to the number of people killed by goverments that target their own citizens.
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...
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Powers of Congress?
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To raise an army, declare war, create courts infereior to the Supreme court, regulate commerce amond the states and with foreign nations, to coin money, to borrow money,
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The first governing document of the United States was?
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The Aricles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.
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True or False? According to Max Weber, government cannot by defined by its end, or the tasks it undertakes, because there are no tasks that have always been undertaken only by goverment.
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True
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What are the three general types of problems politics deal with?
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Conflict, coordination, and collective action.
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Which clause of the Constitution has been most critical in allowing the growth of national power?
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The Commerce Clause
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In which article and section is the legislative process described?
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Article 1, section 7.
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What summarizes the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas?
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Racially segregated schools can never be equal.
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Which of the following statements about democracy is most correct?
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It's possible to have a democratic country without a written constitution.
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The _____ rule forbids the introduction in trial of any piece of evidence that was obtained illegall.
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Exclusionary
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The ability of the President to veto a bill passed by Congress is an example of what principle of limited government?
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Checks and Balances
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The Bill of Rights
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Is the first 10 amendments to the Contitution
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Which of the following is the issue that almost caused the Constitutional Convention to collapse in failure?
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Representation of the states in the national legislatures.
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What did the political philosopher Montesquieu mean by a "mixed regime"?
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Giving each branch of government its own distinct constituency.
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Article 2 of the Constitution is about what?
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The Executive Branch (The President)
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The constitution originally stated that senators would be chosen by whom?
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The legislatures of the states
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Which of the following countries has a unitary system of goverment?
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United Kingdom
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What is the length of a member of the House of Representatives term of office?
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2 years
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Which amendment ended slavery?
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13th Amendment
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Block Grant
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A sum of money granted by the federal goverment to state or local goverments with only general provisions as to how it may be spent.
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Categorical Grant
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A sum of money granted by the federal government to state or local governments with restrictions limiting them to be used only for specific, narrowly-defined, purposes.
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Revenue Sharing
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A sum of money granted by the general goverment to state or local governments with no restrictions on its use
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Unfunded mandates
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Programs that the federal government requires the state governmens to implement, without giving them any funds to cover the cost
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Which article describes how the Constitution can be amended?
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Article 5
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The federal system is best defined as?
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A system of government in which power is divided between a national government and lower levels of government.
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Article 3 of the Constitution is about what?
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The Judicial Branch (The Supreme Court)
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Chartering a bank is a _____ power, because both federal and state governments have the authority to do it.
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Concurrent
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How many courts inferior to the Supreme Court does the Constitution create?
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As many as Congress chooses to establish.
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Drafting and Ratifying the Constitution
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The process of drafting and ratifying the Constitution was contenious because there was disagreement about the need for political change and what form that change should take.
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Virginia Plan
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Representation of states by population or the state's revenue contribution to the federal government in each house of Congress.
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New Jersey Plan
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Equal representation of all states in each house of Congress.
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Connecticut Plan/ Connecticut Compromise
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States represented by population in the House, and having equal representation in the Senate.
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The New York Plan
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There was no such plan
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The most commond political structure among the world's countries is?
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Unitary government
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How did Max Weber define government?
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The organization "that successfully claims monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory."
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Which amendments constitute the Bill of Rights?
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The first 10 amendments.
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_______ is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central government and regional goverments?
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Federalism
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What is subsidiarity?
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The principle that as many decisions as possible should be made as close as possible to the people.
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Compared to most constitutions in the world, the U.S Constitution is what?
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Both brief and vague.
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Why was the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution?
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The antifederalists demanded it as the price of ratification of the Constitution.
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Racial discrimination in the workplace was prohibited by _____?
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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Which of the following is the best example of a procedural civil liberty?
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No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
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What is a free rider?
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Someone who tries to recieve a benefit without contributing to the achievement of that benefit.
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In which article and section are the powers of Congress enumerated?
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Article 1, section 8.
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Under the original (un-amended) Constitution, the only members of the federal government directly elected by the public was/were?
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Members of the House of Representatives.
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Federalists and Anti-federalists?
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Those who supported the Constitution were called Federalists, and those who opposed the Constitution were called the Anti-federalists.
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Which of the following are things Congress is forbidden by the Constitution to do?
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Pass a bill of attainder, grant titles of nobility, suspend the writ of habeus corpus except if necessary because of rebellion or invasion, pass an ex post facto law.
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Nation
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A group of people with a collective identity, usually based on a particular geographic location and a set of shared attributes such as ethnicity, religion, language, customs and a common historical expirience.
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State
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A sovereign independent country that has a specific land area with well-defined borders, a pernament population, a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence within its borders, and that has the ability to enter diplomatic relations with sovereign countries.
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Regime
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A particular structure of governing principles and institutions that prevail within any particular country.
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Nation-State
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A particular area with a pernament population within a country, with a government that has less authority than a higer government.
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What tool does the federal government use to peruade states to follow its lead when it does not have direct authority over them?
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Grants-in-aid
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The term "marble cake federalism" refers to what development?
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Intergovernmental cooperation blurring the lines between responsibilities of the federal and the state governments.
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At the Constitutional Convention, what type of system of representation in the national legislature did the Virginia Plan purpose?
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Representation of each state based on its population or the proportion of the state's revenue contributed to the federal government.
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How are members of the federal judiciary selected?
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Appointed by the President and approved by the Senate.
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Which amendment guranteed the right of women to vote?
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19th amendment
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What is the purpose of the 10th amendment?
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To limit the powers of the central government by establishing powers reserved to the states and individuals.
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Which states favored the Virginia Plan?
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Large population states, since it emphasized the importance of population and wealth.
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Since the ratification of the Constitution, more than 11,000 amendments have been formally proposed in Congress. How many of these achieved ratification by the states?
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27
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Most of the amendments to the Constitution that were ratified after the Bill of Rights have been directly or indirectly concerned with?
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The structure of the government.
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What is the length of a federal judge's term of office?
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Barring impeachment, it is for life.
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According to The American Anomaly, the U.S has certain unusual characteristics. Which of these is not one of those characteristics?
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The exceptional quality of the American people
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The specific powers granted to the federal government in Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution are called the?
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Expressed Powers
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The right against ______ prevents persons from being tried twice for the same crime.
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Double jeaopardy
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Compared with the Articles of Confederation, federalism under the Constitution has led to what?
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Greater centralization of the political power in the federal government.
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The "seperate but equal" rule was devised by the Supreme Court in which case?
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Plessy v. Ferguson
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Which Amendment gurantees the right to vote regardless of race or color?
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15 Amendment
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The Supreme Court formally articulated the right to privacy in a case involving what issue?
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The right to access birth control.
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The source of an implied constitutional power of the federal government is the _____ clause?
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Necessary and Proper
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When did civil rights become a part of the U.S Constitution?
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Civil rights were incorporated with the ratification of the 14th Amendment.
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Civil liberties and Civil rights where are they based?
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Civil liberties are primarily are based in the Bill of Rights, while civil rights are primarily based in the 14th Amendment.
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What power is not explicitly given to Congress by the Constitution?
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To abolish state boundaries.
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Which event was most influential in the rise of a more active federal government?
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The Great Depression
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What constitutional clause affirms that national laws and treaties, made under the authority of the Constitution, are the supreme law of the land?
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The Surpemacy Clause
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Which article and section of the Constitution lists things Congress is forbidden to do?
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Article 1, section 9
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The Federalists believed that the most dangerous source of tyranny was what?
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Popular majority
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Legally mandated segregation in public schools is a form of _____ discrimination.
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De jure
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True or False: Although the U.S Constitution set the precedent for countries having written constitution, the structure of the Constitution has not been an influential model for other countries' consitutions.
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True
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Article 1 of the Constitution is about what?
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The Legislative Branch (Congress)
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What is judicial review?
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The power of the courts to decide on the constitutionality of actions taken by the other branches of government.
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What is the best example of substantive civil liberty?
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Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion.
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According to the text, when was the era of dual federalism?
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From the ratification of the Constitution until the New Deal.
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Which level of government writes the majority of criminal laws?
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State governments
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The takings clause states that government may not take private property...?
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Without just compensation
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Which amendment protects citizens from being deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law?
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5th amendment
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Which amendment prohibits states from denying equal protection of law to any person?
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14th amendment