question

In general, Americans' trust in their government has ________ since the 1960s.

answer

fallen sharply

question

Today, the federal government is

answer

an enormous institution that enacts a large number of programs affecting virtually all Americans.

question

The belief that citizens can influence what government does is called ________.

answer

political efficacy

question

In order to be a good citizen, it is most critical to possess ________.

answer

political knowledge

question

Survey data demonstrates that the level of Americans' political knowledge is ________.

answer

low and spotty

question

It is important for Americans to have political knowledge so that they will

answer

be better able to assess their own interests when making political choices.

question

According to the authors of the text, democracy functions best when ________.

answer

citizens are informed

question

Government can best be defined as the ________.

answer

institutions and procedures by which a territory and its people are ruled

question

Direct democracy is best defined as

answer

a system that allows citizens to vote directly for laws and policies.

question

The belief that political authority should rest with the people themselves is called ________.

answer

popular sovereignty

question

Which of the following statements is true?

answer

Americans express mixed views about government.

question

The essential documents of the American founding are the ________ and the ________.

answer

Declaration of Independence; Constitution

question

Colonial protesters of the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act rallied around ________.

answer

"no taxation without representation"

question

The events that led to the Revolutionary War were triggered by which of the following?

answer

The British raised revenue by increasing the tax rate of the colonies.

question

What led British officials to raise taxes on the American colonists during the 1760s?

answer

the amount spent on fighting the French and Indian Wars

question

The Three-fifths Compromise

answer

determined that three out of every five slaves would be counted for purposes of representation and taxation.

question

The issue of representation, which threatened to cause the Philadelphia Convention to fail, was resolved by the ________.

answer

Connecticut (or Great) Compromise

question

Which of the following was a ramification of the Three-fifths Compromise?

answer

It allowed for a political agreement between the North and the South

question

The three branches of government created by the Constitution are

answer

executive, legislative, and judicial.

question

The system of shared powers, divided between a central government and the states, is called ________.

answer

federalism

question

Which of the following was designed by the framers to be an office directly elected by the people?

answer

a member of the U.S. House of Representatives

question

Judicial review is the power of

answer

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

question

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

answer

prevent the new government from abusing its power.

question

Compared with the Articles of Confederation, federalism under the Constitution has led to

answer

greater centralization of power.

question

The supremacy clause

answer

announces that the Constitution and all laws made under it are superior to any state laws

question

Nations that adopt a federal arrangement tend to have

answer

diverse ethnic or language groups.

question

Which of the following powers do state governments NOT have?

answer

to coin their own money

question

The constitutional idea of states' rights was strongest during which historical period?

answer

the years immediately preceding the Civil War

question

________ presided over the New Deal.

answer

Franklin Roosevelt

question

Block grants are designed to

answer

give the states considerable discretion in how the money should be spent.

question

________ compels state officials to obey costly federal regulations, but does not reimburse those costs.

answer

An unfunded mandate

question

Disapproval of unfunded mandates is most common among those who want to

answer

educe the power of the federal government.

question

Which of the following is true about the Bill of Rights?

answer

It includes the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

question

________ are areas of personal freedom with which governments are constrained from interfering.

answer

Civil liberties

question

During the Founding era, ________ were the strongest supporters of adding a bill of rights to the Constitution

answer

Antifederalists

question

Which of the following is NOT a liberty protected by the Bill of Rights?

answer

equal protection of the laws

question

the Bill of Rights was written because

answer

the Antifederalists demanded it as the price of ratification of the Constitution.

question

The ________ of the First Amendment protect(s) an individual's right to believe and practice whatever religion he or she chooses.

answer

free exercise clause

question

.The wall of separation between church and state is best found in what clause of the Constitution?

answer

the establishment clause

question

Justice Potter Stewart was talking about ________ when he declared "I know it when I see it."

answer

pornography

question

Freedom of speech and of the press have a special place in American democracy because

answer

free and open debate is an essential mechanism for determining the quality and validity of competing ideas.

question

The judicial doctrine that places a heavy burden of proof on government officials when they seek to regulate or restrict speech is called ________.

answer

prior restraint

question

Which of the following is true about high school students in public schools?

answer

High school students have conditionally protected speech.

question

Which of the following types of speech receives the greatest level of First Amendment protection?

answer

political speech that stops short of inciting violence

question

Which of the following statements about freedom of speech is true?

answer

Free speech can be regulated by government officials.

question

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution deals with ________.

answer

the right to bear arms

question

What is the standard for determining guilt in criminal cases?

answer

Guilt must be proven "beyond a reasonable doubt."

question

________ imprisons more of its people than any other country on earth.

answer

The United States

question

What is a grand jury?

answer

a jury that determines whether there is enough evidence to justify a trial

question

The requirement that a person under arrest be informed of his or her right to remain silent is known as the ________ rule.

answer

Miranda

question

Which of the following statements about America's prison population is FALSE?

answer

There are almost no drug offenders in prison

question

In Lawrence v. Texas (2003), the Supreme Court justices ruled that

answer

laws criminalizing gay sexual behavior are a violation of the right to privacy.

question

What does the term Jim Crow mean?

answer

the system of racial segregation in the South after Reconstruction

question

What did the Thirteenth Amendment accomplish?

answer

It abolished slavery.

question

The ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

answer

established the separate but equal rule.

question

The NAACP had the most success with ________ for combating racism.

answer

lawsuits

question

Legally enforced segregation in public schools is a form of ________ discrimination.

answer

de jure

question

_______ began the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-1956.

answer

Rosa Parks

question

Which area was NOT covered by the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

answer

military service

question

Which statement best describes the path to women's suffrage in the United States?

answer

Some states granted women the right to vote first, and then a constitutional amendment gave all women the right to vote.

question

Desegregating schools in northern states proved to be difficult because

answer

segregation in the North was generally de facto, the product of both segregated housing and acts of private discrimination that were hard to prove.

question

Which of the following best summarizes the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954)?

answer

Racially segregated schools can never be equal.

question

Which of the following is true of Brown v. Board of Education (1954)?

answer

The justices outlawed de jure segregation.

question

Which of the following statements best describes the impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on voter registration in southern states?

answer

The gap between the percentage of whites registering to vote and the percentage of African Americans registering to vote

question

Strict scrutiny is the level of judicial review that federal judges give to all cases that involve ________ classifications.

answer

racial

question

At what level of scrutiny do federal judges review cases involving gender discrimination?

answer

intermediate scrutiny

question

What was the purpose of California's Proposition 187?

answer

It barred unauthorized immigrants from receiving most public services.

Political Science Mid Term – Flashcards

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