Deck 2: The Constitution

Question 1

In order for a democracy to work, elections must be which of the following?

A) fair
B) inexpensive
C) hotly contested
D) frequent
E) high-profile

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Who was the author of the Declaration of Independence?

A) Benjamin Franklin
B) James Madison
C) John Adams
D) Paul Revere
E) Thomas Jefferson

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which of the following plans proposed proportional representation in both the House of Representatives and the Senate?

A) Massachusetts
B) New Jersey
C) Ohio
D) Pennsylvania
E) Virginia

Answer 3

E

Question 4

In what year was the Declaration of Independence?

A) 1776
B) 1789
C) 1797
D) 1801
E) 1805

Question 5

Which of the following philosophers greatly influenced the colonists' views on the role of government?

A) George Berkeley
B) John Dewey
C) John Locke
D) Martin Heidegger
E) Michael Foucault

Question 6

How many constitutions has the United States had in its history?

A) one
B) two
C) three
D) four
E) five

Question 7

Refer to Table 2.3. Which of the following statements best matches the tenets of eighteenth-century republicanism?

A) Anyone has the right to run for office.
B) Elected representatives act as "delegates."
C) Government safeguards property rights.
D) The population rules the country directly.
E) The word "people" is broadly defined.

Question 8

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

A) Congress
B) legislative
C) presidency
D) Senate
E) Supreme Court

Question 9

In what year was the U.S. Constitution ratified?

A) 1776
B) 1777
C) 1788
D) 1791
E) 1797

Question 10

Which of the following debated and drafted the Declaration of Independence?

A) American Congress
B) Constitutional Congress
C) Continental Congress
D) Liberty Congress
E) Revolutionary Congress

Question 11

Which clause provides that the Constitution shall be the supreme law of the land?

A) due process
B) full faith and credit
C) legal
D) primacy
E) supremacy

Question 12

Under the Articles of Confederation, the most important decisions were made by __________.

A) Congress
B) local governments
C) state legislatures
D) the federal government
E) the judiciary

Question 13

Which of the following was the key inspiration for the American Revolution?

A) to get control of native inhabitants
B) to increase trade with Great Britain
C) to preserve an existing way of life
D) to promote expansion to the west
E) to protect fledgling state's rights

Question 14

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

A) ten
B) twelve
C) fifteen
D) twenty-seven
E) thirty-six

Question 15

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

A) America
B) Confederation
C) Democracy
D) Revolution
E) Unity

Question 16

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

A) Anti-Federalists
B) Constitutionalists
C) Federalists
D) Tories
E) Whigs

Question 17

At the Constitutional Convention, the delegates agreed that slaves would be counted as __________ of a person for determining population for representation in the House of Representatives.

A) four-fifths
B) one-fourth
C) one-third
D) three-fifths
E) two-thirds

Question 18

The colonists rebelled against the unilateral imposition by the British government of which of the following?

A) a military draft
B) curfews
C) health care
D) religious laws
E) taxes

Question 19

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

A) chief justice
B) president
C) secretary of defense
D) secretary of state
E) Speaker of the House

Question 20

In which of the following systems is government by representatives of the people instead of directly by the people themselves?

A) democracy
B) monarchy
C) oligarchy
D) republic
E) utopia

Question 21

Which of the following advocates for limited government that is based on popular consent, but protects against majority tyranny?

A) constitutionalism
B) democracy
C) federalism
D) libertarianism
E) republicanism

Question 22

__________ Rebellion was a protest by Massachusetts farmers to stop foreclosures by state courts.

A) Brown's
B) James's
C) Miller's
D) Shays's
E) Smith's

Question 23

Why was anti-slavery language in the Constitution ultimately excised?

A) anti-slavery sentiment
B) Connecticut Compromise
C) fear of splintering the convention
D) non-slave states had more votes
E) slave states had more votes

Question 24

As described in Table 2.1, Comparing Eighteenth-Century Republicanism and the Democratic Ideal, both eighteenth-century republicanism and the democratic ideal believed that government must be based on which of the following?

A) control
B) submission
C) popular consent
D) equality
E) participation

Question 25

In what year was the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution?

A) 1776
B) 1788
C) 1789
D) 1791
E) 1798

Question 26

Refer to the "Can Government Do Anything Well?" box. The government's proper role in the U.S. economy has been the focus of bitter debate. With which of the following would liberals agree?

A) Government action on the economy interferes with the free market.
B) Heavy taxation of the wealthy discourages business creation.
C) Real economic growth comes only from the private sector.
D) Tax breaks have helped increase income and wealth inequality.
E) When government tries to help, it often makes things worse.

Question 27

Which of the following was the most contentious issue during the drafting of the Constitution?

A) economic stability
B) representation in Congress
C) state's rights
D) strong national government
E) taxation without representation

Question 28

Jackie attends a protest against animal testing. Which of the following secures her right to attend this protest?

A) The Second Treatise on Government
B) Articles of Confederation
C) The Federalist Papers
D) Declaration of Independence
E) Bill of Rights

Question 29

Which of the following allows a president to alter the meaning of a bill while signing it into law?

A) veto
B) line-item veto
C) dissenting statement
D) signing statement
E) presidential dissent

Question 30

In the Mapping American Politics sidebar, two cartograms show that in terms of legislative power, __________ is one of the biggest losers in the House and __________ is one of the biggest losers in the Senate.

A) Florida, North Dakota
B) New York, Vermont
C) Pennsylvania, Montana
D) Texas, South Dakota
E) Wyoming, California

Question 31

Article VI, Section 2 of the Constitution, commonly called the supremacy clause, __________.

A) blocked the possibility of a tyrannical federal government
B) placed substantial obstacles in the path of majoritarian rule
C) positioned the judiciary as the ultimate arbiter of federal law
D) protected state's rights against a powerful national government
E) recast a loose confederation into a more centralized federal system

Question 32

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

A) balances and powers
B) checks and balances
C) checks and freedoms
D) freedom and power
E) weights and measures

Question 33

The Articles of Confederation required __________ consent from the states for ratification.

A) majority
B) three-fifths
C) three-fourths
D) two-thirds
E) unanimous

Question 34

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution contains which powers of Congress?

A) enumerated
B) executive
C) implied
D) military
E) restrictive

Question 35

Which of the following would the Framers have seen as a serious encroachment on controls to protect against majority rule?

A) abolishment of the Electoral College
B) expansion of the use of executive privilege
C) repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment
D) the Supreme Court ruling in Bush v. Gore
E) voter ID laws and other voter suppression efforts

Question 36

Which Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence?

A) Second
B) Third
C) Fourth
D) Fifth
E) Tenth

Question 37

The purpose of "stay acts" was to __________.

A) block tariffs between states
B) delegitimize British rule
C) halt formation of militia
D) protect fledgling banks
E) stop farm foreclosures

Question 38

Many of the Founders believed that the __________ contract gave the government its legitimacy.

A) consent
B) governing
C) implied
D) natural
E) social

Question 39

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

A) Congressional College
B) Election College
C) Electoral College
D) Presidential College
E) State College

Question 40

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

A) Article I
B) Article III
C) Article V
D) Article VI
E) Article IX

Question 41

Which of the following was part of both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution?

A) Congress
B) the presidency
C) the federal judiciary
D) collection of taxes by the federal government
E) unanimous consent for ratification

Question 42

Which of the following is a reason for the separation of powers?

A) to ensure the power of the executive
B) to promote justice
C) to prevent tyranny by any one branch
D) to create gridlock in government
E) to improve international relations

Question 43

The Virginia Plan proposed that the seats in Congress be apportioned based on which of the following?

A) economic strength
B) political importance
C) military power
D) random selection
E) population size

Question 44

The publication of which of the following galvanized the colonists' belief that reconciliation with Great Britain was impossible?

A) American Cousin
B) Articles of Confederation
C) Common Sense
D) Federalist No. 10
E) Revolution

Question 45

What was the subject of the Great Compromise?

A) the form of the executive branch
B) the form of the legislative branch
C) the legality of slavery
D) the number of states in the Union
E) the number of Supreme Court justices

Question 46

One of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation was that it could not prevent __________ warfare between the states.

A) political
B) outright
C) commercial
D) religious
E) territorial

Question 47

Which of the following was a problem under the Articles of Confederation?

A) The national government was too strong compared to the states.
B) The government derived its power from the citizens themselves.
C) Congress imposed excessive taxes.
D) Citizens lacked a national identity.
E) Amendments to the Articles were too easy to ratify.

Question 48

What did supporters of the New Jersey Plan want to do to the Articles of Confederation?

A) repeal them
B) replace them
C) strengthen them
D) weaken them
E) maintain them

Question 49

The Great Compromise ended an impasse over the makeup of the legislative branch of government. Under which plan would California and Wyoming have had the same number of representatives in Congress?

A) Connecticut Plan
B) New Jersey Plan
C) New York Plan
D) Virginia Plan
E) West Virginia Plan

Question 50

Which plan called for a one-house legislature and multi-person executive?

A) Connecticut
B) Maryland
C) New Jersey
D) Ohio
E) Virginia

Question 51

Which of the following can be found in Article I?

A) Electoral College
B) procedure for presidential impeachment
C) necessary and proper clause
D) supremacy clause
E) penalty for treason

Question 52

__________ broke new ground in expanding executive power, issuing 1,200 signing statements, thereby contravening official acts of Congress.

A) President Barack Obama
B) President Bill Clinton
C) President George H. W. Bush
D) President George Washington
E) President George W. Bush

Question 53

What was the greatest fear of the Anti-Federalists during the Constitutional Convention and subsequent debate?

A) that a weak national government would undermine the survival of the United States
B) that a strong national government would infringe on the essential liberties of the people
C) that a powerful judiciary would restrict freedom of religion
D) that powerful state governments would never assent to the new Constitution
E) that a weak judiciary would be unable to enforce the new Constitution

Question 54

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

A) by three-fourths of the state legislatures
B) by three-fourths of the state governors
C) by three-fourths of voting-age citizens
D) by half of the state legislatures
E) by half of the state governors

Question 55

The current historically low levels of taxation on the wealthy, and the advocacy of that tax policy by some in Congress, is reminiscent of __________.

A) state legislatures that forbade farm foreclosures as a punishment for indebtedness
B) the authors of the Constitution interested in tamping down anti-slavery sentiment
C) the drafters of the Constitution interested in protecting private property rights
D) the Framers' freedom of input from women, Native Americans, free blacks, and slaves
E) the writers of the Articles of Confederation interested in protecting state's rights

Question 56

Which of the following best explains why slavery was allowed when the Constitution was written?

A) Many feared that slavery would splinter the convention and doom the Union.
B) No slaves or free blacks were selected to serve as delegates to the convention.
C) The delegates did not believe people of African descent were their equals.
D) There was little public outcry at this time against the institution of slavery.
E) The wealthy elites at the convention could not see beyond their own self-interest.

Question 57

Which of the following was most likely to support proposed provisions that strengthened national power?

A) George Mason
B) James Madison
C) James Winthrop
D) Patrick Henry
E) Samuel Adams

Question 58

Which of the following remains a compelling source for determining the intent of the Framers?

A) Minutes of the Constitutional Convention
B) The Federalist Papers
C) Common Sense
D) Treatise on Government
E) Declaration of Independence

Question 59

Which of the following best describes the Constitutional Convention?

A) The Convention lasted only one week.
B) The Convention was free of significant disagreement.
C) The Convention was inclusive of all types of citizens.
D) The Convention was secretive.
E) The Convention was transparent.

Question 60

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

A) by direct election
B) by the president
C) by state governors
D) by state legislators
E) by the Supreme Court

Question 61

According to the "By the Numbers" box, there was only one way that Vice President Al Gore could have accrued enough votes in a recount to win the White House in 2000.

Question 62

Article I of the Constitution describes the powers of the president.

Question 63

The Constitution has been amended __________ times.

Question 64

Trade restrictions by England were a major catalyst for the American Revolution.

Question 65

Congress passed the __________ in 1777.

Question 66

The Constitution was formally approved in 1776.

Question 67

The __________ of powers is a key feature of the government established by the Constitution.

Question 68

The New Jersey Plan proposed a powerful central government with three branches.

Question 69

North Carolina's rejection of the Constitution prompted Congress to submit the Bill of Rights to the states for ratification.

Question 70

The free enterprise system is characterized by competitive markets and private ownership of a society's productive assets.

Question 71

The Three-Fifths Compromise specified that only three-fifths of slaves could vote.

Question 72

The Anti-Federalists strongly supported the Bill of Rights.

Question 73

The __________ Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence.

Question 74

The main weakness of the Articles of Confederation was the lack of a strong national government.

Question 75

The New Jersey Plan proposed a one-house legislature with one vote for each state.

Question 76

The __________ Amendment protects freedom of assembly.

Question 77

Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government had broad power to levy taxes.

Question 78

Generally, smaller states wanted to strengthen the Articles of Confederation, rather than replace them.

Question 79

A constitution is a written document establishing the structure, functions, and limitations of a government.

Question 80

The Constitution permits Congress to establish lower national courts.