C963 Practice Test

The voting process:

a) Primary Election

a primary in which the voters indicate preferences for nominees for president of the US directly by vote or indirectly through the choice of delegates.

b) General Election

U.S. citizens vote for president and vice president

Checks on branches:

A system that allows each government branch to limit the powers of the others.

Constitutional powers that allow each branch of government to limit the use of power of the other two branches or approve their actions; this system requires different parts of government to work together and find agreement in order to accomplish new official actions

The Great Depression:

The economic crisis and period of low business activity in the U.S. and other countries, roughly beginning with the stock-market crash in October, 1929, and continuing through most of the 1930s

Supremacy clause:

The Constitution and federal laws (of the types listed in the first part of the Clause) take priority over any conflicting rules of state law.

Anti and Federalist views:

The Federalists supported the new Constitution. They tended to be among the elite members of society—wealthy and well-educated landowners, businessmen, and former military commanders—who believed a strong government would be better for both national defense and economic growth. A national currency, which the federal government had the power to create, would ease business transactions. The ability of the federal government to regulate trade and place tariffs (fees) on imports would protect merchants from foreign competition. Furthermore, the power to collect taxes would allow the national government to fund internal improvements like roads, which would also help businessmen. Support for the Federalists was especially strong in New England.

Opponents of ratification were called Anti-Federalists. Anti-Federalists feared the power of the national government and believed state legislatures, with which they had more contact, could better protect their freedoms. Although some Anti-Federalists, like Patrick Henry, were wealthy, most distrusted the elite and believed a strong federal government would favor the rich over those of "the middling sort." This was certainly the fear of Melancton Smith, a New York merchant and landowner, who believed that power should rest in the hands of small, landowning farmers of average wealth who "are more temperate, of better morals and less ambitious than the great."1 Even members of the social elite, like Henry, feared that the centralization of power would lead to the creation of a political aristocracy—which would be detrimental to state sovereignty and individual liberty.

Enumerated Powers:

Enumerated powers are the powers granted to the Federal government, and specifically Congress , which are mostly listed in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution . Namely the power “to lay and collect taxes ”, duties, impost and excises, to pay debts , to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States, to regulate commerce with foreign Nations, to constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court, to raise and maintain armed forces, to declare war, to establish a Post Office, etc.

Implied Powers:

implied powers refers to the abilities and powers that a government branch has that are not explicitly stated in the U.S. Constitution but are suggested to be applicable in some or all cases.

Reserved Powers:

Powers not prohibited by the Constitution or delegated to the national government, reserved for the states.

Concurrent Power:

Concurrent powers are powers shared by both states and the federal government. They are powers that are not exclusive to the state or federal government, but are held by both. The first concurrent power held by both the federal government and state governments is the right to levy taxes.

Articles Of Confederation:

the first attempt at organizing the government of the United States, consisting of a unicameral (one-chamber) Congress; did not permit Congress to tax, regulate foreign or interstate commerce, or enforce its laws; failed as it formed an alliance of sovereign states with too weak a national government

who votes for the Senate or House :

Senate and House of Representative elections differ in who votes for the candidates. All eligible voters within a state may vote for Senator. A Representative is elected by only those eligible voters residing in the congressional district that the candidate will represent. Election winners are decided by the plurality rule. That is, the person who receives the highest number of votes wins. This may not necessarily be a majority of the votes.

who nominates a presidential candidate:

Currently, candidates go through a series of state primary elections and caucuses where, based on the number of votes they receive from the electorate, they win a certain number of delegates. The delegates—people authorized to represent their state—will vote for their assigned candidate at their political party's convention

2nd Amendment: The right to bear arms.

10th Amendment:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

6th Amendment:

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

8th Amendment:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

4th Amendment:

Prevented illegal search and seizure requires a warrant with just cause.

15th Amendment:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude–

The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

14th Amendment:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

5th Amendment:

stated a citizen can not be tried for the same crime (double jeopardy)

Plessy v Ferguson:

stated that segregation didn’t violate the 14th amendment and that black americans were considered separate but equal.

Mapp v Ohio: A case in which the Court decided that evidence obtained illegally may not be used against someone in a court of law by the Fourth Amendment.

Miller v California: Adressed obscenity rules based off community standards

Obergefell v Hodges: Ruled same sex marriages should have the same rights and benefits as traditional marriage between a man and women.

Tinker v Des Moines:

The justices said that students retain their constitutional right to freedom of speech while in public schools. They said that wearing the armbands was a form of speech because they were intended to express the wearer's views about the Vietnam War.