question

THe Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore can be viewed as an "activist" ruling in that:

answer

The Court involved itself in what many considered to be a political issue

question

In regards to the federal courts, the Constitution states that:

answer

There will be a Supreme Court and those inferior courts that COngress chooses to establis

question

The federal judiciary is described in Article ____ of the Constitution.

answer

3

question

In Federalist Paper No. 78, Alexander Hamilton makes the argument that:

answer

The Court should have the power to check the legislature since the legislature cannot be trusted to check itself

question

Constitutional courts are those courts that:

answer

Are created by Congress under Article 3 of the Constitution

question

The three main types of courts that make up the federal judiciary are:

answer

District, circuit, Supreme

question

True or False: Federal district courts are courts of original jurisdiction?

answer

True

question

Judicial review is the power of the Supreme Court to:

answer

Invalidate acts fo the other branches of government if it finds thos acts to be in violation of the Constitution

question

True or False: Federal Judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate

answer

True

question

__________ refers to the doctrine that courts should base their interpretation of a law or constitutional provision on past precedent.

answer

Stare Decisis

question

According to the Constitution, the number of judges on the Supreme Court is:

answer

The Constitution does not say. Congress determines the number of sitting judges.

question

True or False? : Most members of the Supreme Court have had their education at very expensive and selective universities.

answer

True

question

The "rule of four" is that at least four Supreme Court judges must:

answer

Agree to grant certiorari and hear a case

question

In the decades following the Civil War, the Supreme Court supported the doctrine of:

answer

Laissez-faire economics

question

Which of the following chief justices presided over the Court during a time when individual rights and liberties were significantly expanded?

answer

Earl Warren

question

Justices who are labeled as judicial activists are those who:

answer

Are most willing to overturn laws on constitutional grounds

question

Marbury v. Madison is an important case in constitutional history because it:

answer

set the precedent for the Court's power to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional

question

Organizations with a strong interest in a case before the Supreme Court often try to influence the Court by:

answer

Filing an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the party in the case they are supporting

question

The Supreme Court justice who writes the majority opinion for the Court is:

answer

Chosen by the most senior member voting with the majority if the chief justice voted with the minority

question

The authors of the text indicate there is a substantial body of literature that suggests:

answer

The Court conforms to public opinion as much as the president and Congress do

question

The Constitution established a bicameral legislature. This means that:

answer

Bills must pass two separate legislative bodies in exactly the same form

question

The Constitution originally called for the election of senators by state legislatures because the framers:

answer

Wanted to insulate the Senate from democratic pressures

question

Legislators are more likely to adopt the trustee role if they:

answer

Occupy relatively "safe" seats

question

Edmund Burke believed that a representative owed his constituents:

answer

His own best judgment

question

Descriptive representation refers to:

answer

The extent to which the demographic charachteristics of the legislature reflect the demographic charachteristics of the country as a whole

question

The percentage of African Americans in Congress was highest:

answer

During the post-Civil War Reconstruction era

question

Which of the following groups is over represented in Congress?

answer

People with college degrees

question

According to the authors, the fact that the people in Wyoming elect two U.S. senators just like the people in California do:

answer

Distorts the expression of popular sentiment and diminishes democracy

question

Since 1910, the size of the House of Representatives has been set at:

answer

435

question

Gerrymandering refers to the practice of creating legislative districts:

answer

With odd shapes to ensure one party will be able to dominate

question

The averate Senate race now costs around ________.

answer

$5 million

question

Under the McCain-Feingold law, the maximum contribution an individual can give directly to a candidate is:

answer

$2,000

question

Franking privileges permit those in Congress to:

answer

Send mail to constituents without paying for any postage

question

After a bill is introduced in the House, it will generally be referred to a __________ committee.

answer

Standing

question

Conference committees are established when:

answer

The House and Senate pass different versions of the same bill

question

A committee that is sometimes said to constitute a "third house of Congress" is the __________ committee.

answer

Conference

question

The norm of reciprocity means that legislators generally will:

answer

Defer to one another in their respective areas of expertise

question

The U.S. Senate differs from the House of Representatives in that it:

answer

Gives individual members more freedom of action

question

A filibuster can be ended through a:

answer

Vote of cloture

question

If Congress passes a bill, sends it to the president, and then adjournes within 10 days:

answer

The bill dies from a "pocket veto" unless the president signs it

question

When running for president in 2000, George W. Bush:

answer

Conveyed only modest foreign policy and defense goals

question

There have been significant changes in all of the following areas of the presidency EXCEPT:

answer

The president's formal constitutional powers

question

The authors suggest that the reason the early nineteenth-century presidency seems so weak compared to the modern presidency is that:

answer

The nation just did not need a very strong presidency back then

question

The president under whose administration the nation acquired California and most of what is now the southwestern United States was:

answer

Polk

question

The president who presided over the most significant expansion of presidential functions and activities in American history was:

answer

Franklin Roosevelt

question

The first president to master the use of television as a means of presidential communication was:

answer

John Kennedy

question

The president credited with demonstrating that a vigorous and popular presidency was still possible after the failed presidencies of Nixon, Ford, and Carter is:

answer

Ronald Reagan

question

In contrast to the leaders of Europe's parliamentary democracies, the president:

answer

Functions also as Head of State

question

Which of the following roles was given to the president by a congressional act and is not based on a constitutional provision?

answer

Manager of the Economy

question

The president's constitutional power to "appoint and receive ambasadors" means that the president:

answer

Decides unilaterally with whom the United States will have diplomatic relations

question

Executive agreements that a president makes with other nations:

answer

Are as legally binding as formal treaties

question

The president's White House Office advisors include all of the following EXCEPT:

answer

Chairman of the Federal Reserve

question

The Lincoln quote - "Eight votes for and one against; the nays have it" - is cited in the text to make the point that:

answer

In cabinet deliberations, the president's "vote" is the only one that really counts

question

Presidents have come generally to rely more on White House Office staff for general advice and counsel than they do on cabinet officials. One reason is that, unlike cabinet officers, White House staff:

answer

1. Serve only the president 2. Are more likely to be generalists (rather than specialists) 3. Do not require Senate confirmation

question

The last time the Congress formally declared war on another nation was at the time of the:

answer

Second World War

question

The agency responsible for exercising legislative clearance is the:

answer

Office of Management and Budget

question

When Richard Neustadt wrote that the power of the presidency was the power to persuade, he was making the point that:

answer

To get much done, presidents need the cooperation of others

question

Which of the following is an example of an executive function that the Constitution gives to Congress?

answer

Senate confirmation of most presidential appointees

question

Which of the following is likely to increase tensions between the president and Congress?

answer

When the president is from one party and Congress is controlled by another

question

Legislative powers given to the president include the power to:

answer

Veto legislation

question

George W. Bush did not reduce the size and cost of government as he said he would during the 2000 campaign because:

answer

The higher expenditures for homeland security and the military resulting from 9/11 had not been anticipated during the campaign

question

Two new government agencies that were created in direct response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks were the Department of Homeland Security and the:

answer

Transportation Safety Administration

question

The nation's republican Founders tried to prevent the development of a large federal bureaucracy by:

answer

Creating a federal system in which state governments were expected to provide most of the services needed by the people

question

Democratic theorists believe that big government is okay as long as it is:

answer

Carrying out the tasks agreed to by the people

question

The Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act were examples of efforts to provide greater public control over the growing power of:

answer

Big business

question

The Cold War led to the creation of new government agencies such as the:

answer

CIA and the National Security Agency

question

Which Democratic president declared in his State of the Union Message that the "era of big government is over?"

answer

Bill Clinton

question

Cabinet-level departments are:

answer

Established by Congress

question

The Tennessee Valley Authority would be an example of a(n):

answer

Government corporation

question

A major catalyst for the creation of a civil service system was the:

answer

Assassination of James Garfield in 1881

question

The president who saw the spoils system as an important compliment to democratic government was:

answer

Andrew Jackson

question

______________ was the president who formed a "plumber's leak" to stop White House leaks.

answer

Richard Nixon

question

A president's ability to control bureaucracy is limited because:

answer

All of the above factors limit a president's ability to control the bureaucracy

question

Which of the following is NOT a tool that Congress can use to influence what the bureaucracy does?

answer

Appointing department heads

question

The inspectors general position created in 1978 reports directly to ______________ on waste, fraud, and bureaucratic abuses of power.

answer

Congress

question

During the late 1990s, Vice President Al Gore was a strong advocate of the ___________ approach to reforming bureaucracy.

answer

Reinventing government

question

Foundations are a type of government unit established to ________ free from political pressure:

answer

Promote scientific research and scholarly and artistic endeavors

question

The appointment of Michael Brown as FEMA director is citedin the text as an example of:

answer

A patronage appointment of someone who lacked the experience needed to run an important agency

question

The President who required that any proposed regulation be subjected to a cost-benefit analysis was:

answer

Reagan

question

An example of a "quasi-governmental" organization would be:

answer

Corporation for Public Broadcasting

question

Eighteenth-century republican principles included all of the following EXCEPT:

answer

Popular sovereignty

question

Fundamental principles of representative democracy include all of the following EXCEPT:

answer

Property Rights

question

The separation of pwers and checks and balances are constitutional provisions designed to protect against:

answer

The abuse of power

question

The 2000 presidential election showed that:

answer

The United States is not a pure democracy

question

The unequal distribution of wealth in society threatens most directly the democratic principle of:

answer

Political equality

question

During the course of American history:

answer

Support for democratic principles has increased and republican ones decreased

question

Eighteenth-century republicanism was most concerned with:

answer

Combating tyranny and protecting individual rights

question

Thomas Jefferson drew heavily from writers such as _______________ when he wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights.

answer

Adam Smith and John Locke

question

The French philosopher Montesquieu believed that the best form of government was:

answer

A mixed government with some elements of democracy combined with other non-democratic elements

question

The Magna Carta helped establish the principle that:

answer

There were certain rights that even the king must respect

question

Under the original plan of the Constitution, the only officials who would be directly elected by the people were:

answer

Members of the United States House of Representatives

question

Eighteenth-century republicans believed the role of the elected official was to:

answer

Exercise independent judgment on how best to serve the public's interest

question

In "The Federalist Papers," James Madison wrote that ____________ "have been spectacles of turbulence and contention ... and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."

answer

Democracies

question

The authors credit the emergence of republicanism in the mid-to-late eighteenth century with all of the following EXCEPT:

answer

Helping to spark the American Revolution

question

The text cites _____________________________ as the purest form of democracy that ever existed.

answer

Ancient Athens

question

Popular sovereignty means that:

answer

The ultimate source of public authority resides with the people

question

According to the text, __________________ is/are the best mechanism(s) for ensuring that leaders will be responsive to the people's wishes.

answer

Periodic elections

question

Which of the following is NOT true?

answer

The United States today is much closer to being a true direct democracy than it was at its founding

question

Which of the following principles do eighteenth-century republicanism and the democratic ideals hold in common?

answer

Government is based on popular consent

question

Which of the following is NOT cited in the text as a reason behind democracy's appeal?

answer

Democracies are more efficient at getting things done

question

Shay's Rebellion refers to:

answer

Farmers in western Massachusetts fighting to keep the courts from foreclosing on their land

question

Which of the following statements about the Articles of Confederation is true?

answer

1. The Articles were produced by the Second Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War. 2. The Articles were successful in protecting state soverignty and keeping the central government from encroaching on the rights of the people. 3. Under the Articles, most important decisions were made by state legislatures.

question

The central government created by the Articles of Confederation had the power to:

answer

Make war and enter into peace treaties

question

"Stay Acts" were state laws that:

answer

Prohibited farm foreclosures for nonpayment of debt

question

During the time of the Articles of Confederation, there was a growing concern on the part of many elites that some action was needed to protect the right to:

answer

Acquire and enjoy property

question

The Constitutional Convention was held in:

answer

1787

question

Which of the following statements best describes the delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia?

answer

The delegates were well educated and familiar with the great works of western philosophy and political science.

question

In his book, AN ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION, the historial Charles Beard argued that:

answer

The Constitution's framers were mainly interested in protecting their own economic interests

question

Under the Great Compromise, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention agreed to:

answer

Create a bicameral legislature composed of a House and Senate

question

Those favoring the New Jersey Plan wanted:

answer

A system under which the states would remain sovereign

question

What did the Constitution originally have to say about voting qualifications?

answer

Voter qualifications were left for the states to decide.

question

What did the original language of the Constitution say about slavery?

answer

It prohibited Congress from restricting the slave trade until 1808.

question

WHen the delegates at the Constitutional Convention created the Electoral College, most assumed that:

answer

Electors would usually deadlock and the president would actually be chosen in the House of Representatives

question

The elastic clause is also referred to as the:

answer

Necessary and proper clause

question

Which amendment states that the powers not denied them by the Constitution or given solely to the national government are retained by the states?

answer

Tenth Amendment

question

Under the original Constitution, only ___________ was/were chosen by popular election.

answer

Members of the House of Representatives

question

THe Seventheenth Amendment to the Constitution changed the way we choose:

answer

Members of the Senate

question

The checks and balances found in the Constitution reflected a growing concern among delegates over the possible abuse of power by:

answer

Legislators

question

The main concern the Founders had over a system based "too much upon the democratic order" was that such a system would not:

answer

Provide adequate protection to property rights

question

Which of the following statements about the ratification of the Constitution is true?

answer

After ratification, even Anti-Federalists quickly came around to support the new form of government.

question

The federal structure of the American system represents a compromise between:

answer

Centralized and highly decentralized government

question

Local units of government like cities and counties are different from states in that:

answer

Their boundaries can be changed without their consent

question

The American federal system:

answer

Divides powers between the states and central government and gives each constitutional standing

question

A country that has a unitary system of government is:

answer

France

question

Federal systems of government are most likely to be found in nations that are:

answer

Large and diverse

question

The 23 nations operating under federal systems today have approximately _____ of the world's total population.

answer

40%

question

Federalism can be viewed as an important component of eighteenth-century republicanism because it:

answer

Provides another way to fragment government power

question

Supporters of states' rights are most likely to point to the ________________ of the Constitution to support their position.

answer

Reserved powers clause

question

Whether one state would have to recognize same-sex marriages that have been performed in another state will be determined by how the Courts choose to interpret the:

answer

Full faith and credic clause

question

The Constitution gives states a major role to play in:

answer

Amending the constitution

question

In McCullough v. Maryland, the Supreme Court cited the necessary and proper clause in upholding Congress's right to:

answer

Incorporate a national bank

question

According to the doctrine of ________________, when the national government has acted on a certain subject, the states cannot do anything that might interfere with that action.

answer

Preemption

question

According to Chief Justice John Marshall, states cannot tax activities of the national government because:

answer

The power to tax involves the power to destroy

question

Even though the Constitution does not specifically give Congress the right to tell with whom private businesses must do business, the Supreme Court has ruled that Congress does have this authority under the:

answer

Interstate commerce clause

question

What nineteenth-century event dramatically enhanced the authority of the national government over that of the states?

answer

The Civil War

question

Most of the provisions of the Bill of Rights now apply to state governments as well as the antional government because of the passage of the:

answer

Fourteenth Amendment

question

True of False: In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Supreme Court struck down a number of national efforts to regulate business.

answer

True

question

Support for devolution during the 1980's and 1990's was based on a belief that:

answer

State and local governments were more effective and responsive than the national government

question

The metaphor of the marble cake is used to help make the point that in contemporary American federalism:

answer

There are few clear lines of separation between state and national responsibilities

question

One of the earliest examples of a national government grant was the support provided under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to help states support:

answer

Education

question

In the history of the United States, the only "third" party to become powerful enough to win the presidency was the:

answer

Republicans

question

True or False: Political parties are expected to Implement the programs that are adopted by government

answer

False

question

In order to form voting coalitions large enough to win elections, parties:

answer

Try to be as inclusive as possible

question

America's current two-party system of Democracts and Republicans goes back to:

answer

1856

question

Southern whites, African Americans, white ethnics, Catholics, Jews, union members, and small farmers were all part of the New Deal Coalition that made the Democratic party the nation's majority party between:

answer

1932 and 1968

question

The sixth party system identified in the text is different from the preceeding five in that:

answer

It was charachterized more by dealignment than by realignment

question

Teddy Roosevelt's "Bull Moose" party would be an example of a _________ party.

answer

Splinter

question

Minor, or third, parties have influenced American politics in which of the following ways?

answer

1. Bringing up new ideas that are adopted by the major parties when voters begin to respond to them 2. Affecting the outcome of an election by taking votes away from one of the major party candidates 3. Allowing voters who are unhappy with the two major parties to register a protest vote

question

Which of the following election procedures would be most advantageous to minority parties?

answer

Elect members to Congress through a system of proportional representation

question

Compared to political parties in other democratic nations, American parties:

answer

Select their candidates largely through primary elections

question

In contrast to the American system, parliamentary systems:

answer

Combine legislative and executive branches

question

In the 1996 U.S. elections, Ross Perot's Reform party won 8% of the vote. In Israel or the Netherlands, a party winning 8% of the vote:

answer

Would be given 8% of the seats in the legislature

question

The country's framers believed that political parties:

answer

Promoted conflict and posed a threat to republican ideals

question

There are a number of obstacles that third parties face when they try to compete in elections. Which of the following is NOT an obstacle?

answer

The dealignment that has taken place in recent decades

question

To be a Republican (or a Democrat) in the Untied States means:

answer

Just about anything a person wants it to mean

question

Well-organized political machines led by strong bosses:

answer

Never existed at the national level

question

A party's candidates for public office in Germany:

answer

Are selected by local party committees

question

Which of the following statements is true?

answer

Democratic activists are more liberal than the party's rank and file members.

question

With record levels of contributions, both parties have developed technologically sophisticated campaign machines operating out of new office buildings with large, well-trained staff. As these changes have been taking place within the parties:

answer

Grassroots party organizations have withered and disappeared in many areas

question

According to the text, parties should be aiding democracy by:

answer

1. Stimulating interest in campaigns and getting people out to vote 2. Helping voters understand what positions are most consistent with their own values and interests 3. Increasing governemnt accountability by assuming collective responsibility for what is done

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