AP U.S. Government Final

What is the oldest constitutional democracy in the world?

United States

1) What is meant by constitutional democracy?

Government by representative politicians

2) How is democracy defined?

Government by the people

3) Statism is the idea that the right of the nation are supreme over the rights of the \__________.

Individual

4) What is the idea that a just government must derive its powers from the people it governs called?

Popular Consent

Governance according to the expressed preferences of the majority is known as which of the following?

Majority Rule

What is the term for an election in which a candidate can win by getting the most votes, even if it I less that 50 percent of the votes?

Plurality

What is a distinctive element of the U.S. Constitutional system under the original Constitution?

bicameralism

Which elements of the U.S. Constitutional system divides powers between national and state governments

federalism

What is a favorable condition for democracy?

An educated citizenry

The Puritans of Massachusetts established which of the following?

Theocracy

As the Revolutionary War widened to include all thirteen colonies, the 1777 Congress established a new national government under which of the following?

Articles of Confederation

Which of the following is true about the Annapolis Convention?

It issued the call for another convention to consider amendments to the Articles of Confederation.

In the summer of 1787, fifty-five delegates gathered in Philadelphia to accomplish which of the following tasks?

amend the articles of confederation

What was the first form of government that was planned for the newly independent United States?

A confederation system

Historian Charles Beard argued that the primary motive of the Framers of the Constitution was which of the following?

The protection of their own economic self-interests

What was Shay's Rebellion?

An uprising by farmers in western Massachusetts protesting mortgage foreclosures

Which of the following is true in a balanced government?

no balanced government

Which of the following is the best characterization of the Framers of the Constitution?

Experienced, practical politicians

Most delegates to the Constitutional Convention accepted the idea of \__________.

Republican Government

The 3/5s compromise was mainly a compromise between which of the following?

Northern and Southern States

Why were the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention kept secret?

Delegates would be encouraged to speak freely

As a delegate from a small states at the Constitutional Convention, you would have been most likely to support which of the following as the basis for representation in the legislature?

The New Jersey Plan

What did the Federalists favor?

A strong central government, relative to the state governments

Why did the Federalists argue against inclusion of all bill of rights in the Constitution?

Explicit guarantee of some rights might imply that other rights did not exist

What was one reason Antifederalists opposed the ratification of the Constitution?

State and local governments would be more responsive to local needs and concerns

What was The Federalist papers?

a series of essays written to encourage ratification of the Constitution

Why were Antifederalists handicapped in their campaign against ratification?

Most newspapers supported ratification

"Government by the people" means that everyone must be involved in politics and policy making

False

The ideal politician is a myth

True

Initiatives and referendums are not permitted in all states.

True

Aristotle was the political philosopher who first rejected the idea that kinds had a divine right to rule.

False

We can discover the specifics of a nation's political culture only by studying what its people believe.

False

Self-determination means that all individuals have the opportunity to realize their own goals

True

Political scientists use the term \____________ to refer to the widely shared beliefs, values, and norms citizens hold about their relationship to government and to one another.

Political beliefs

Many of our political values come together in the \__________, a complex set of ideas that holds that the United States is a land of opportunity where individual initiative and hard work can bring economic success.

American dream

\____________ highlighted the lack of a mechanism to enforce contractual obligations in the absence of a strong central government.

Shay's rebellion

\___________- the principle of the two-house legislature- reflected delegates' belief in the need for balanced government.

bicameralism

The \_________ Plan would have created a strong national government with disproportionate power to the more populous states

Virginia

The \__________ Compromise was a setback for the large states, which agreed to it only when the smaller states made it clear this was their price for union.

Connecticut

What is the name given to the law that would govern human beings before governments existed?

Natural Law

The U.S. Constitution was adopted in response to the weaknesses of the Articles of \___________.

Confederation

What article provides that the Constitution shall be the supreme law of the land?

Article VI

Which of the following generally favored a strong national government and supported the proposed U.S. Constitution?

Federalists

Who wrote the opinion in Marbury v. Madison?

John Marshall

In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decided that segregation by race violated which of the following?

Equal Protection Clause

Which of the following is a branch of the U.S. Government?

Legislative

Marbury v. Madison involved what type of writ?

Mandamus

The Constitution specifically provides for both the election and the removal of which of the following?

President

How many amendments have been made to the Constitution since its ratification?

Twenty-Seven

Which constitutional amendment allowed voting by all qualified citizens ages eighteen or older?

Twenty-Sixth

According to Article V, the \________ and the states have responsibility for amending the Constitution

Congress

Which of the following philosophers greatly influenced James Madison's beliefs regarding the nature of liberty?

John Locke

In United States v. Eichman, the Supreme Court struck down a statute that prohibited \_________.

Flag burning

Governance in which one party controls both the White House and both houses of Congress is referred to as what?

Unified government

Recent debate over the Second Amendment involves which of the following issues?

The right to bear arms

What is it called when the president refuses to allow an agency to spend funds that Congress has authorized and appropriated?

Impoundment

Which of the following carries the full force of law and does not require congressional approval, although it is subject to legal challenge?

Executive Order

Governance that is divided between two political parties, especially which one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress, is described by which of the following terms?

Divided Government

Which of the following describes the power of the president to keep communications confidential, especially those relating to national security?

Executive Privilege

Under the Constitution, the president is elected by which of the following?

Electoral College

What is the principle that each branch of the federal government has the means to thwart or influence actions by other branches of government?

Checks and balances

Which of the following specifics the procedure for amending the Constitution?

Article V

Marbury v. Madison is significant because it gave the courts power to do which of the following?

Declare laws unconstitutional

Because the Framers knew that men are not angels, they created a Constitution giving the government which type of authority?

Limited

Which of the following is a right secured by the Bill of Rights?

the right to bear arms

If one political party controls Congress or one of its chambers and the other party controls the White house, which of the following is intensified?

Partisanship

The cases of District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010) revolved around the \________ Amendment.

Second

In which type of government does one party control Congress and another party control the presidency?

Divided

Prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, how were senators selected?

By State legislators

The Constitution is both a positive instrument and a restraint because it does which of the following?

Grants power and checks power

How did the process of proposing the Equal Rights Amendment resemble that of the Nineteenth Amendment?

The same cluster of southern states opposed ratification of both amendments

In United States v. Eichman, the Court rules that intentionally burning or defiling the American flag is protected under which amendment?

First

Which of the following is a method of ratification for a constitutional amendment?

By three-fourths of state legislatures

The \_________ party favored a strong national government.

Federalist

In a \_______ system, local and regional governments derive authority from the national government.

Unitary

What are the two types of powers given to the national government under the United States Constitution?

Delegated;implied

The \________ Amendment says that those powers not given to the federal government and not prohibited to the states by the Constitution are reserved for the states and the people.

Tenth

Article VI of the U.S. Constitution established that federal law is \___________ in conflicts between federal and state law.

Supreme

A \______ grant is a large grant to a state by the federal government with only general spending guidelines

Block

\________ powers are shared by the federal and state governments.

Concurrent

Which clause in the Constitution ensures that judicial decrees and contracts made in one state will be binding and enforceable in another?

Full Faith and Credit

What was the first major Supreme Court decision to define the relationship between the federal and state governments?

McCulloch v. Maryland

Which type of federalism seeks to improve government performance by encouraging state and local governments to compete?

Competitive

Which type of federalism focuses on the national government's strong voice in shaping state action?

Coercive

\_________ is the right of a national law or regulation to preclude enforcement of a state or local law or regulation.

Preemption

The \_______ Mandates Reform Act of 1995 prevented Congress from passing costly federal programs without a debate about how to fund them.

Unfunded

\_________ grants typically allocate federal dollars based upon population.

Categorical

On which clause of the U.S. Constitution did the Supreme Court base its ruling in McCulloch v. Maryland?

Supremacy

From 1937 until the 1990s, the Supreme Court essentially removed national courts from what had been their role of protecting states from acts of Congress. The Supreme Court broadly interpreted the commerce clause to allow Congress to do whatever Congress thought necessary and proper to promote the common good, even if national laws and regulations infringed on the activities of \________ governments.

State and local

The Anti-Federalists believed that \_________ governments would be more responsive to the people and, thus, were less a danger to their liberties.

State

Which clause applies primarily to enforcing judicial settlements and court awards?

Full faith an credit

What are reserve powers?

Powers that are not specifically delegated to the national government by the constitution

The power to \_____ and \___________ included the right to place conditions on the receipt of federal money.

tax;spend

One benefit of the federal system is the ability of the states to operate as \_________ for new ideas.

laboratories

Which type of federalism is characterized by a system of separate but equally powerful state and national governments?

Dual

The national and state governments may have their own lists of powers, but the national government relies on four constitutional pillars for its ultimate authority over the states. Of the following, which is one of those four pillars?

The Commerce Clause

What is a mandate?

An order from the federal government requiring the states to take a certain action

The Supreme Court found most of Arizona's immigration law to be a violation of whose broad control over immigration?

The federal government

Which of the following is a delegated power of the national government?

Control over money supply