Deck 2: The Elite Consensus of the Founding Fathers: Us Political Principles

Question 1

Slavery was protected in the Constitution by the

A) Three-fifths Compromise.
B) agreement to not end the slave trade until after 1808.
C) requirement of returning of runaway slaves.
D) All of the above are true.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which was not an elite preference for the new Constitution?

A) Elimination of trade barriers
B) Protection of property
C) States' rights
D) Repayment of government debts

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The majority of the Founders at the Constitutional Convention had training in which professional field?

A) Medicine
B) Accounting
C) Law
D) Diplomacy

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following best describes the men who wrote the Constitution?

A) All were educated at elite institutions.
B) Each of them was experienced at government.
C) All maintained a national point of view.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 5

Under the Constitution, taxation of the states by the national government was based on

A) property.
B) wealth.
C) population.
D) exports.

Question 6

The Constitution sets up a system where the role of the masses is

A) the basis of government.
B) to participate in decision-making.
C) limited and indirect.
D) repressed by the elite.

Question 7

The idea of government as a contract suggests that people give their allegiance or obedience to government in exchange for

A) democratic freedoms.
B) protection of persons and property.
C) the right to vote.
D) food and entertainment.

Question 8

The preeminent elite in the early United States is best described by which of the following?

A) Farmers
B) Merchants
C) A broad base of the population
D) Very small in number

Question 9

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention were selected

A) through an election by the people.
B) by property ownership.
C) through appointment by state legislatures.
D) None of the above is true.

Question 10

Leveling away inequalities in wealth was seen by the Founders as

A) a dangerous violation of property rights.
B) an important step toward equality in society.
C) a basic human right.
D) a matter to be left for the states.

Question 11

The Founders believed that political authority rested with

A) the king.
B) God.
C) the ruling elite.
D) the people.

Question 12

The text describes nationalism as which of the following?

A) The belief in the supremacy of one's country over all others
B) The belief that it is necessary to submit to national power over individual values
C) The belief that a strong national government is a good approach to government
D) The belief that George Washington should be king

Question 13

What was the reason the Constitutional Convention met behind closed doors?

A) To avoid interruptions
B) To have more effective negotiations
C) A belief that secrecy helped hide their conspiracy to destroy freedom
D) To keep the masses out

Question 14

The powers granted the federal government under the Constitution that had been lacking under the Articles of Confederation were

A) the regulation of commerce.
B) the ability to levy taxes.
C) the power to create a navy.
D) all of the above.

Question 15

The Constitution does not have a property qualification for voting or holding office because the Founders

A) could not agree on what the qualifications might be.
B) believed it to be undemocratic.
C) wanted to include all people in the political process.
D) were more concerned with deliberating on the issue of slavery.

Question 16

The Constitutional proposal that each state should have one vote and that the national government should have three separate branches of government was presented by delegates from

A) Virginia.
B) New Jersey.
C) Connecticut.
D) California.

Question 17

Which power was reserved for the states in the Articles of Confederation?

A) Regulation of commerce
B) Providing for the common defense
C) Promoting the general welfare
D) Making treaties with other countries

Question 18

The Constitution limits the power of government because the Founders viewed government as

A) a threat to freedom.
B) a tool of the elite.
C) an archaic English concept.
D) not very important.

Question 19

Elite consensus among the Founders included

A) a belief in the protection of individual liberty.
B) a belief in equal levels of wealth.
C) a belief in the need to maintain slavery.
D) a belief that government was a natural part of human life.

Question 20

Which of the following ideas made the elite principles of the United States' government different from most other countries in 1787?

A) The consent of the governed
B) Equal rights
C) Human rights
D) All of the above

Question 21

____________________was chosen to preside over the writing of the Constitution.

Question 22

The Anti-Federalists were an elite who believed that

A) the national government was likely to infringe upon individual liberties.
B) the masses should rule not the elites.
C) Federalists were secretly working for the British.
D) the President should have more authority.

Question 23

Republican government is based on the delegation of powers by the people to a small number who

A) are patriotic and love justice.
B) are better than the masses.
C) have all the money and power.
D) control the military.

Question 24

Military power before the Constitution was ineffective largely because it was

A) made up of paid mercenaries.
B) dependent on using state militias.
C) made up of immigrants who did not believe in America.
D) low on ammunition.

Question 25

A strong navy was seen as essential for

A) protection against invasion.
B) protection of U.S. commerce.
C) Western expansion.
D) all of the above.

Question 26

The notion that slaves should count as only a fraction of a human being for Congressional representation is known as the ____________________.

Question 27

The Constitution used the federal power to regulate commerce as a means to promote ____________________ between the states.

Question 28

Classical liberal theory holds that society is created by a __________________.

Question 29

The President can check the power of the Congress through which of the following Constitutional powers?

A) Declaring Congressional acts unconstitutional
B) Refusing to appear before the Congress
C) Vetoing bills passed by Congress
D) Signing statements challenging Congress

Question 30

The economic interests of the Founders meant that besides political freedom, _____________ prosperity and _______________ were major goals of the new Constitution.

Question 31

During the Constitutional Convention, one of the reasons for why there was no need for a federal Bill of Rights was that

A) all of the states already had Bills of Rights.
B) the national government was a benign entity.
C) the federal government did not have the power to interfere with freedom, making it unnecessary.
D) none of the above is true.

Question 32

_________________ is a legal system built up over generations and even centuries of precedents.

Question 33

The negotiation that resulted in a proposed two house legislature, with one based on population and the other equal by state was called the ____________________.

Question 34

The debtors' rebellion in Massachusetts in 1786 was known as

A) Shays' Rebellion.
B) Boxer Rebellion.
C) Whiskey Rebellion.
D) War of Independence.

Question 35

As originally mandated by the Constitution, which of the following parts of the federal government is elected directly by the people?

A) The members of the Senate
B) The justices of the Supreme Court
C) The members of the House of Representatives
D) The President

Question 36

____________________ concerns the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and property.

Question 37

Before the Constitution, the document through which the states worked together was called the ____________________.

Question 38

A ____________________ was a small-scale farmer working his own land.

Question 39

The Constitution became law when it was approved by

A) the voters.
B) all of the state governors.
C) Congress.
D) None of the above is true.

Question 40

The checks and balances system is designed to make majority rule

A) nearly impossible.
B) a smooth democratic process.
C) safe from unjust and self-seeking minorities.
D) work at both the state and federal levels.

Question 41

At the time of the Convention George Washington was one of the richest men in the country.

Question 42

The principle that the courts can invalidate laws by states or the Congress is known as ____________________.

Question 43

The federalist papers were written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and ____________________.

Question 44

Because the government under the Articles of Confederation could not pay off its debt, government bonds lost value.

Question 45

Southern elites might have desired a central military to protect them from ____________________.

Question 46

Coining money, fighting counterfeiting, and enforcing copyrights are all Constitutional powers of the government to protect ____________________.

Question 47

Few delegates at the Convention had any legal training or service as a lawyer or a judge.

Question 48

James Madison stated that "the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than is pronounced by ____________________."

Question 49

The faction that opposed the Constitution as undoing freedom and equality was called the _____________________.

Question 50

Farmers, shopkeepers, and artisans formed the middle class in 1787.

Question 51

The Founders were distinguished by their vast experience in government.

Question 52

The Articles of Confederation allowed only the National Government to regulate trade and tariffs.

Question 53

____________________ government sets up different government bodies to check and balance each other.

Question 54

The first ten amendments to the Constitution are collectively known as ____________________.

Question 55

Communications and transportation infrastructure were encouraged by the Constitutional right of Congress to build ____________________.

Question 56

The House of Representatives and Senate check and balance each other because ____________________.

Question 57

The power to appoint members of the Supreme Court is shared by the President and the _____________________.

Question 58

Western land speculation was made possible because the ____________________ protected settlers.

Question 59

The ____________________ was created to protect shipping from piracy on the high seas.

Question 60

The Constitutional Convention was quick to discard its congressional mandate to "revise the Articles of Confederation."

Question 61

How was the American Constitution both conservative and radical?

Question 62

What characteristics of George Washington described in this chapter would make him an elite leader?

Question 63

Is the system of checks and balances dependent on a pluralistic politics of many interest groups (or factions as Madison calls them)?

Question 64

The original U.S. Constitution includes a property qualification for the right to vote.

Question 65

State-issued paper money helped debtors by becoming worth less over time.

Question 66

Runaway slaves that made it to non-slave states were declared free by the Constitution.

Question 67

Madison believed tyranny by the majority could be prevented by having so many factions nobody could get a majority.

Question 68

Most delegates to the Constitutional Convention were slave owners.

Question 69

The Constitution limits the corrupting influence of power by balancing representation in the national government.

Question 70

A republican form of government believes in mass democracy.

Question 71

The Bill of Rights was a concession made by the elites in order to secure the ratification of the Constitution.

Question 72

The Virginia Plan called for the United States to have a parliamentary system similar to Britain.

Question 73

Discuss the elements of American social class structure at the time of the Constitution.

Question 74

The Courts can check the power of Congress by declaring laws to be unconstitutional.

Question 75

The system of checks and balances can be seen as a way to frustrate mass movements.

Question 76

The Founders believed that inequality of wealth and property was a natural result of diversity.

Question 77

Very few farmers carried heavy debt in 1787.

Question 78

The structure of government created in the Constitution functions to protect freedom from the masses.

Question 79

The text argues the Constitution is an elite document because the elites benefited more directly and immediately than did nonelites.

Question 80

Congress can check the power of the President by overruling the results of the Electoral College.