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Exam 2 Government

Terms in this set (88)

1. Blame for the free riding and other forms of shirking that hampered the early American Revolutionary War effort should be placed on which of the following?
Ineffective government
2. The American Revolution was nearly undermined by what collective action problem when the states failed to contribute their promised money and supplies or soldiers enlisted and quickly deserted with their new booty?
Free riding
3. What was the name of the practice where Britain ceded control to the colonists to manage their own domestic affairs including taxation?
Home rule
What was one of the most important experiences colonial Americans learned about government?
A popularly elected legislature controlling the purse strings could dominate other government institutions.
Why did home rule not provide the necessary training for self-governance?
British regulation of commerce and provision of military security ingrained free riding and provided limited opportunities for engaging in collective action.
Which event provided the first serious proposal for a national government?
Albany Congress
The Stamp Act
was controversial because the tax on printed materials was not self-imposed by colonial legislatures
Britain responded to the Boston Tea Party with the Restraining Acts and Coercive Acts. What did these acts do?
. In part closed the Boston Harbor to all commerce, dissolved the Massachusetts Assembly, forced Americans to quarter or house British soldiers, and ordered Americans charged with protest crimes be sent to England for trial
At the First Continental Congress, called by Boston resistance leader Samuel Adams, the delegates from the colonies did which of the following?
Passed resolutions condemning British taxes and administrative decrees and adopted the Declaration of American Rights
How did the First Continental Congress propose to combat free riding that was likely to occur as a result of the boycott of British goods?
Using institutions like committees of observation that could identify and sanction those who violated the boycott
The Second Continental Congress instructed the local colonial committees to do which of the following?
Reconstitute themselves as state governments based on republican principles
Which of the following was the primary point of Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense?
Only in the creation of an independent republic would the people find contentment
Thomas Jefferson articulated the real rationale for throwing off British rule in the Declaration of Independence as
the fundamental right of self-governance
The first American Constitution created a confederation, which can best be described as which of the following?
A highly decentralized governmental system in which the national government derives limited authority from the states rather than directly from the citizens
During the Revolutionary War, the management of the war can best be described as
fragmented because Congress generally served as a coordinator and a suspicion of government prevented the creation of national administrative structures needed.
During the Revolutionary War, state officials were prepared to sacrifice for the war effort only if they were confident the states would do their part and this is an example of what?
Coordination
On October 17, 1781, the American collaboration with __________ finally paid off with a decisive victory over Great Britain at Yorktown, Virginia, which ended the war.
France
Which of the following was one of the events that mobilized states behind reforming the Articles of Confederation?
Shays's Rebellion
The writings of Charles, Baron de Montesquieu, provided the Framers of the Constitution with which of the following?
His discussion of the classification of governmental functions and forms as the legislative, executive, and judicial
James Madison attributed the failure of the confederation to which of the following?
Faulty institutions
Which of the following statements about the Virginia Plan is true?
It created a more active national government possessing the authority to solve the collective action problems of the nation.
A central feature of the Great Compromise was which of the following?
A bicameral legislature with the upper chamber representation equal for all states and the lower chamber representation based on population
Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution contains the
enumerated powers of Congress
The "commerce clause" of the Constitution
gave Congress the authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states.
The "necessary and proper clause" of the Constitution
provides Congress with the authority to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers enumerated by the Constitution
When Madison fashioned independent executive and judicial branches that could contain efforts by the states to subvert national policy, which of the following was he establishing?
Checks and balances
The checks and balances contained within the Constitution result in which of the following?
Some capacity of each of the three branches to limit the power of the other two
Modern presidents have asserted that the "take care clause" of Article II allows them to take whatever action the nation's well-being requires provided that which of the following is true?
The action is not expressly forbidden by the Constitution or public law
The Senate's power to confirm appointments and to ratify treaties are examples of which of the following?
A legislative check on presidential duties
The Framers of the Constitution carved out a major role for the President in domestic legislation in part by enabling the executive to check congressional action through which of the following?
The presidential veto that allows him to check the legislative branch
The supremacy clause contained in Article IV of the Constitution declares which of the following?
That national laws take precedence over state laws when both properly discharge their government's respective responsibilities
The ability of the Supreme Court to overturn federal laws and executive actions as unconstitutional is known as
judicial review
Under the Constitution, which of the following is true about the responsibility for common defense and security?
It is solely the responsibility of the national government.
For the purposes of representation in the House of Representatives, slaves would be
counted as three-fifths a citizen
To keep the amendment of the Constitution from being too easy an option for a popular majority to accomplish, the Framers did which of the following?
They imposed heavy transaction costs on changing the Constitution that required support of Congress and the states
The most successful objection the Antifederalists raised against the proposed Constitution was
the absence of a Bill of Rights that would protect individuals
Which of the following individuals did not contribute to the writing of The Federalist Papers?
. . . . adverse to the rights of other citizens or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community."
The Madisonian view of democracy often is referred to as which of the following?
Pluralism
Which is true about the document produced by the Constitutional Convention?
It is a plan no delegate favored or even could have imagined on the opening day of the convention
Who is the ultimate arbiter of controversies involving American federalism?
The U.S. Supreme Court
A confederation is a form of government best described as which of the following?
Lower-level governments possess primary authority
In unitary government systems, which of the following is true?
The national government monopolizes constitutional authority
Which of the following is not one of the general conditions of a federal system?
Each level of government must have identical powers to foster the greatest possible competition
American federalism is which of the following?
A two-tiered system comprising the national government and the state governments
The Seventeenth Amendment, which came about amid persistent and widespread charges of bribery, mandated which of the following?
The direct and popular election of senators
The original intent of the supremacy clause was to ensure which of the following?
The national government would prevail over states when both governments were acting in a constitutionally correct manner
The so-called elastic clause of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution provides that Congress can "make all Laws which shall be
necessary and proper for carrying into Execution" the foregoing enumerated powers
Which amendment provides the most explicit endorsement of federalism found in the Constitution?
Tenth
Which of the following best describes scholars who argue that the Tenth Amendment—which provides that the powers not taken by the national government belong to the states—is little more than a truism?
They point to the powerful combination of the supremacy clause and the elastic clause to support their argument.
In the case of McCulloch v. Maryland, Chief Justice John Marshall upheld the right of the national government to create a bank based on which of the following?
The elastic clause in the Constitution
Advances in national civil liberties policy have frequently involved
reigning in majorities that assert their prerogatives over the objections of individuals and groups who did not wish to conform to prevailing social norms and rules.
Which branch of the federal government is designed to play a key role protecting civil liberties in the United States?
Judicial
What are the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution called?
Bill of Rights
Which of the following best describes the language of the Bill of Rights?
It seems generally clear and unequivocal but sometimes is ambiguous
In Federalist No. 84 Alexander Hamilton poses the question, "Why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?" He was expressing which of the following concerns?
That a list of rights in the Constitution might imply that the federal government had the authority to restrict the freedoms not expressly protected
What is the name of the process that uses the Fourteenth Amendment to make the Bill of Rights binding on the actions of state governments and not just the federal government?
Incorporation
Although the Antifederalists lost their battle against ratification of the Constitution, which of the following is true?
They salvaged a major political concession in the Bill of Rights, which is their chief legacy to future generations of Americans
In 1833, in the case of Barron v. Baltimore, the Supreme Court reasoned that the whole thrust of the Bill of Rights was
directed exclusively at restraining federal power
A unified national citizenship is provided for in the Constitution
in the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment
The second sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment, which includes both the "equal protection clause" and the "due process clause," means in part that
all persons enjoy the same civil liberties and rights, which the states cannot deny without following reasonable, legally established procedures applied equally to everyone
In the 1873 Slaughterhouse Cases, the Supreme Court stated that ____________________ would "fetter and degrade the State governments by subjecting them to the control of Congress."
the broad application of the Fourteenth Amendment to state policy
The first provision of the Bill of Rights to be incorporated by the Supreme Court into the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause was
the Fifth Amendment's ban on taking private property without just compensation
From the 1920s through the 1940s, the Supreme Court incorporated into the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment the First Amendment freedoms, which include
speech, press, and religion
In part, the incorporation decisions handed down by the Supreme Court since 1925 have done which of the following?
Offered new opportunities for litigation and have generated the dramatic growth in the civil liberties docket of the Supreme Court
The Bill of Rights has, during the twentieth century
...
How has Madison's vision of the national government as the ultimate guarantor of individual rights fared throughout the years?
It has largely been realized
Incorporation of provisions of the Bill of Rights into the Fourteenth Amendment occurred through which of the following?
Judicial interpretation
Judicial decisions regarding civil liberties
reveal the personal and political ideologies of the justices so judicial doctrine can change as justices come and go from the bench
Which of the following statements about judicial ideology and civil liberties is most accurate?
Judicial ideology allows elected officeholders to keep the judiciary from straying too far from the majority opinion in the country
The Roberts Court
has been distinguished by deciding many cases involving civil liberties with a conservative 5-4 majority.
The "criminal anarchy" for which Benjamin Gitlow was arrested and convicted was which of the following?
Organizing labor strikes
Although in Gitlow v. New York, the Supreme Court established the Fourteenth Amendment's jurisdiction over the states, when it came to free speech, which of the following was also true?
Defendant Gitlow still had his state-level conviction upheld and went to prison.
The "clear and probable danger" test
requires the Supreme Court to consider whether the gravity of the evil discounted by its probability justifies the invasion of free speech.
The Supreme Court has held all of the following to be expression protected by the First Amendment except which of the following?
Obscenity
The case of Miller v. California reformulated the standard for obscenity and did which of the following?
It shifted primary authority for obscenity policy back to the states and, implicitly, to local governments
An independent press plays an indispensable role in maintaining a representative democracy for which of the following reasons?
Without reliable information about the performance of officeholders, citizens would be hard-pressed to monitor their agents, and politicians would find it difficult to communicate with their constituents.
Although the First Amendment guarantees the freedom of religion, before independence which of the following was true?
Many of the early colonies designated official churches that believers and nonbelievers alike were forced to attend and support with taxes.
Which of the following is true about the religious freedom provision of the First Amendment?
It prohibits Congress from passing any legislation "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
Madison and Jefferson both subscribed to the view that the First Amendment erects a "wall of separation between church and state"
but this is only one interpretation, as separation is not mentioned in the Constitution itself
Which of the following is true about the religious freedom provision of the First Amendment, which prohibits any legislation respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof?
It at first only applied to actions of the federal government.
The Lemon test was designed to
determine whether the federal government prevented the free exercise of religion
The free exercise clause of the First Amendment has been interpreted to allow which of the following?
Animal sacrifice and door-to-door solicitations
The Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourth Amendment to allow for police searches and seizures of evidence without a warrant under all of the following circumstances, except for which of the following?
When using a thermal imaging device to conduct a blanket sweep of neighborhoods to search for basement marijuana fields
Despite the Fifth Amendment's ban on self-incrimination, a witness can be compelled to testify against himself under which of the following circumstances?
If granted immunity from prosecution
The effect of the Supreme Court's decision in Gideon v. Wainwright has been to
ensure that defendants in criminal cases have the right to counsel through all stages of the legal process
The Supreme Court has held the death penalty to be which of the following?
Constitutional since 1976 after the State of Georgia separated trials from sentencing so juries could consider aggravating and mitigating circumstances
The constitutional right to privacy is to be found in the Constitution's penumbras, which are best defined as
implicit zones of protected privacy rights on which the existence of explicit rights depend
Which of the following is true about the Supreme Court's 1973 opinion in Roe v. Wade?
It ended abortion's varying legality across the states
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