Ap Gov

After a constitutional amendment has been proposed by both houses of Congress, its adoption requires

ratification by three-fourths of the states

All of the following are ways that the legislative branch can check the powers of the executive branch EXCEPT

Congress may pass a law declaring a presidential action unconstitutional

All of the following issues were decided at the Constitutional Convention EXCEPT

voting qualifications of the electorate

All of the following were concerns about the Articles of Confederation that led to the calling of the Constitutional

Convention of 1787 EXCEPT

dissatisfaction over safeguards of individual rights and liberties

The process shown in the diagram is outlined in which of the following parts of the United States Constitution?

Article V

The process in the diagram reflects which of the following about the perspective of the framers on constitutional

government?

The system should be able to accommodate political change, but the process for change should

incorporate checks and balances.

In the early part of the twenty-first century, public opinion polls showed that a majority of Americans believed it

should be illegal to burn the American flag. As a result, many members of Congress introduced amendments to make it illegal to burn or desecrate the American flag. However, these efforts have been unsuccessful. Which of the following statements best explains why these efforts have been unsuccessful?

The framers made the amendment process difficult in order to protect individual rights.

Which of the following excerpts from Article I of the United States Constitution resolves a problem described by the author?

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts

and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts

and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;"

Which of the following experiences most likely influenced the perspective conveyed in the passage?

Shay's Rebellion, which was an armed response to the inability of the national government to address unjust economic state policies.

Which of the following is a difference between the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution that is a response to a problem expressed in the passage?

The Articles of Confederation allowed for the federal government to request revenues from states but

did not permit it to tax citizens directly, whereas under the United States Constitution the federal

government could tax citizens directly.

Which of the following is commonly identified as a failure of the Articles of Confederation?

The national government lacked an effective power to raise revenue.

Under the Articles of Confederation, which of the following were true?

I. Congress could not tax the states directly.

II. The executive branch of government exercised more power than Congress.

III. Congress was a unicameral body.

IV. States were represented in Congress proportionally according to population

I and III

Which of the following is the correct pairing of powers found in the Articles of Confederation and powers found in

the Constitution?

(C) Articles of Confederation: Unicameral legislature

United States Constitution: bicameral legislature

In the 1780s, proponents of the new Constitution cited Shays' Rebellion as an example in support of which of the

following criticisms of the national government under the Articles of Confederation?

There was a lack of a national military power to address security concerns.

As originally ratified, the United States Constitution included provisions designed to

increase the economic powers of the central government

The term "bicameralism" refers to the

establishment of two legislative chambers that have different structures and rules

Which of the following political processes would best solve the problem regarding the system of checks and balances, as articulated by the author in the passage?

The Supreme Court rules on a suit brought by an interest group that legislation permitting the president

to launch military strikes without congressional approval is unconstitutional.

Which of the following principles of government is most related to the author's argument in the passage?

Separation of powers is necessary to our constitutional system to limit the power of the three branches and guarantee limited government

Which of the following describes a possible method that can check the power of the president who willingly

violates the constitutional balance of power as described in the passage?

Congress can impeach and remove a president who is unable or unwilling to perform his or her official

functions.

Which of the following is an example of checks and balances?

A rule issued by a bureaucratic agency may be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Which of the following is an example of checks and balances, as established by the Constitution?

The requirement that presidential appointments to the Supreme Court be approved by the Senat

Which of the following is an example of the constitutional design of checks and balances?

The Senate rejects a president's nomination for secretary of state.

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the checks held by the legislative and judicial branches?

(A) Legislative checks to the judicial branch: Impeaching and removing federal judges. Judicial checks to the legislative branch: Declaring an entire law unconstitutional.

Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution does which of the following?

Emphasizes both national sovereignty and federalism.

At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates from larger states argued that each state's representation in the legislature should be proportional to its population. Smaller states argued that each state should have equal representation, regardless of population. The disagreement over representation threatened to derail the ratification of the United States Constitution. Which statement accurately describes the compromise that led to both sides reaching

agreement?

A bicameral legislature with an upper house representing each state equally and a lower house with

representation proportional to each state's population

The Connecticut (Great) Compromise provided for

a bicameral legislature with one house's composition based upon state population and another's on equal

state representation.

One example of constitutional checks and balances is

the House can impeach federal judges and the president, and the Senate holds the impeachment trial

Constitutional checks and balances, especially applied to the president, are designed to

minimize the threat of tyranny from any one branch of government.

Which of the following is a correct comparison between the United States Constitution and the Articles of Confederation?

(B) United States Constitution: Granted Congress the power to levy taxes Articles of Confederation: Granted states alone the power to levy taxes

Of the following, the most significant difference between the Constitution of 1787 and the Articles of Confederation

was that the Constitution

provided for a strong national government with many powers, while the Articles created a weak central

government with few independent powers

Which of the following is a fundamental element of the United States Constitution?

Division of government authority across political institutions

Which of the following was the most important effect of replacing the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution of 1787?

The creation of a strong national government.

Throughout most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most African Americans were prevented from voting in many Southern states despite the Fifteenth Amendment, which extended the right to vote to African American males. Southern states were able to take this action because

the framers allowed the individual states to create voting processes and voter qualifications

Which of the following is the best example of a constitutional concept that supports the vision of the United States

as a union of states, rather than a union of individual citizens?

The electoral college

In order to appease both Federalists and Anti-Federalists, it was agreed at the Constitutional Convention that a group of delegates would be charged with selecting the president. This would ensure that

a qualified person representative of the people would become president

Enumerated powers of the federal government include all of the following EXCEPT the power to

regulate intrastate commerce

Which of the following is an example of checks and balances in action in the United States government?

The president vetoes a bill passed by Congress

Based on The Federalist 21, which of the following arguments about government would Hamilton likely agree

with?

As a practical matter, the laws of the national government ought to have supremacy over state laws.

In the passage, Hamilton is concerned that under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government does not have sufficient constitutional powers to gain compliance from state governments. Which of the following is a way that the Constitution allows the federal government to address this problem?

The federal government can pass laws that allow it to fine or tax individuals directly.

Which of the following scenarios illustrates a solution for the problem of getting states to comply with federal

government policies, as described in the passage?

The federal government can withhold highway funds from states that do not raise the age to drink

alcohol to 21.

Which of the following is an example of how separation of powers creates friction between the executive and legislative branches in the policy-making process?

The president threatens to issue an executive order to address climate concerns if Congress continues to refuse to take action

In the Constitution as originally ratified in 1788, the provisions regarding which of the following most closely approximate popular, majoritarian democracy?

Election of members of the House of Representatives

When independent regulatory agencies make rules, enforce those rules, and adjudicate disputes arising under those rules

they risk violating the constitutional concept of

separation of powers

The legislative process at the national level reflects the intent of the framers of the Constitution to create a

legislature that would

be cautious and deliberate

In May of 2015, a federal appeals court ruled that the National Security Agency's collection of Americans' phone records was in violation of the USA PATRIOT Act. Which of the following debates is at the center of the national conversation regarding the surveillance program referred to in this scenario?

Liberty versus stability and order

Which of the following is a consequence of the dynamic competition among branches of government described in

the passage

Effective policy change among governmental levels and branches occurs with little long-term abuse of

authority

Which of the following best explains how the view of the author of the passage compares with The Federalist 51 regarding separation of powers and checks and balances?

Both the author of the passage and The Federalist 51 assert that the structure of government helps control ambitions among the branches in such a way as to promote effective government

The author explains that the powers given to each branch "sometimes appear to swing like a pendulum" from one

branch to another. Which of the following best describes how these shifts ensure that constitutional government is

functional?

separation of powers divides responsibilities and authority between branches, which allows each branch to be checked by the other two branches to ensure accountability.

In the 1950s Southern states attempted to prevent integration of their public schools. In return, the National Guard was sent to force states to implement federal regulations. This scenario illustrates which of the following about the relationship between the state and national governments?

The debate over the role of the central government and state powers is ongoing.

In 2005, the Utah legislature passed a law that allowed school districts to ignore parts of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), a law passed by Congress in 2001 that supported standards-based education reform. Utah did this despite the fact that it endangered losing $76 million in federal aid to Utah public schools. Which of the following statements best explains why Utah took this action?

Educational policy is not mentioned in the Constitution, which has created debate about the proper role for the national government in educational policy.

Which of the following was a direct outcome of the Three-Fifths Compromise?

A formula for calculating a state's enslaved population for the purposes of representation was enacted.

The Articles of Confederation implemented the principle of

State sovereignty

The procedure for formally amending the United States Constitution best illustrates which of the following?

The federal structure of the United States government

Which of the following procedures results in the removal of the President from office?

The House votes for impeachment, and the Senate conducts a trial and reaches a guilty verdict.

Which of the following is true under the system of checks and balances?

The Senate must ratify treaties negotiated by the President before they become law

The importance of Shays' Rebellion to the development of the United States Constitution was that it

indicated that a strong, constitutionally designed national government was needed to protect property and maintain order

The Connecticut (Great) Compromise drafted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 is significant for which of

the following reasons?

It proposed a Senate with equal representation for each state and a House of Representatives with membership established according to the population of each state.