Deck 3: Federalism

Question 1

The Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v.Hodges (2015) was significant because it

A)allowed state governments to limit marriage to one man and one woman.
B)struck down state laws that made sodomy a crime.
C)required that all states offer marriage licenses to two people of the same sex.
D)declared the full faith and credit clause unconstitutional.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The ________ clause in the U.S.Constitution affirms that national laws and treaties are the supreme law of the land.

A)full faith and credit
B)necessary and proper
C)supremacy
D)establishment

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The inclusion of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution was MOST strongly supported by the

A)Federalists.
B)Antifederalists.
C)Whigs.
D)Progressives.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In a federal system, governmental responsibilities are

A)under the complete authority of the federal government.
B)under the complete authority of state governments.
C)under the complete authority of local governments.
D)shared by both state and federal governments.

Question 5

What is it called when a state grants a city the ability to govern its own local affairs?

A)home rule
B)dual federalism
C)separation of powers
D)city governance

Question 6

The specific powers granted to Congress in Article I, Section 8, of the U.S.Constitution are called the ________ powers.

A)implied
B)expressed
C)sovereign
D)executive

Question 7

Which powers, derived from the Tenth Amendment, are neither delegated to the national government nor denied to the states?

A)concurrent
B)expressed
C)police
D)reserved

Question 8

Which of the following statements about the relationship between state and local governments is NOT accurate?

A)Local governments are created by state governments.
B)State governments can legally dissolve local governments.
C)State governments can legally force multiple local governments to consolidate into one large locality.
D)Local governments can legally dissolve the government of the state in which they reside if every local government votes to do so.

Question 9

The privileges and immunities clause of Article IV is also referred to as the ________ clause.

A)federalism
B)vesting
C)comity
D)dual sovereignty

Question 10

The United States, Canada, and Switzerland are all ________ systems of government, while France is a ________ system of government.

A)unitary; federal
B)federal; unitary
C)totalitarian; federal
D)oligarchic; federal

Question 11

The first nation to adopt federalism as its governing framework was

A)Switzerland.
B)Canada.
C)the United States.
D)France.

Question 12

Nations that adopt a federal arrangement are MOST likely to have

A)diverse ethnic or language groups.
B)multiparty systems.
C)strong executives.
D)no history of feudalism.

Question 13

The full faith and credit clause of the Constitution requires the

A)federal government to accept a state's outstanding debt at the time of ratification.
B)states to honor each other's public acts and legal decisions.
C)states, but not the federal government, to run a balanced budget.
D)federal government, but not the states, to run a balanced budget.

Question 14

________ powers exist when both the state and national governments share authority in certain domains.

A)Implied
B)Reserved
C)Expressed
D)Concurrent

Question 15

Which Supreme Court decision partially struck down the Defense of Marriage Act?

A)McCutcheon v.Federal Election Commission
B)National Federation of Independent Business v.Sebelius
C)United States v.Windsor
D)Bush v.Gore

Question 16

Which of the following statements about private property is MOST accurate?

A)Private property is defined in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
B)The federal government defines private property by enacting laws that define who is and is not entitled to use a piece of property.
C)Local governments define private property by enacting laws that define who is and is not entitled to use a piece of property.
D)State governments define private property by enacting laws that define who is and is not entitled to use a piece of property.

Question 17

The purpose of the Tenth Amendment is to

A)ensure that each state constitution offers the same number of individual rights provided by the federal Constitution.
B)limit the powers of the federal government by reserving certain powers to the states and to the people.
C)grant citizens of each state access to the federal court system.
D)protect freedom of speech.

Question 18

Federalism is best defined as a system of government

A)where member nations meet in a multinational conference.
B)in which power is divided between a national government and lower-level governments.
C)in which the national government is funded through direct taxation of local governments.
D)in which authority is divided into separate branches and each individual branch is given some power over the other branches.

Question 19

Which amendment preserves a strong role for the states in the American federal republic?

A)First
B)Fifth
C)Ninth
D)Tenth

Question 20

A state government's authority to regulate the safety, health, and morals of its citizens is called a ________ power.

A)police
B)reserved
C)concurrent
D)implied

Question 21

Which of the following is the best example of a unitary system of government?

A)The federal government sets detailed educational guidelines that all local governments must implement.
B)The federal government establishes general guidelines for schools but leaves most specific policy decisions up to local school boards.
C)The federal government provides parents with vouchers for private schools, and local governments have no role to play in education policy.
D)The federal government provides no funding for schools and leaves education policy entirely up to state legislatures and local school boards.

Question 22

Which clause is the source of implied powers under the U.S.Constitution?

A)full faith and credit
B)comity
C)necessary and proper
D)commerce

Question 23

The ability to charter banks is an example of a ________ power.

A)reserved
B)concurrent
C)state
D)police

Question 24

When Alaska passed a law in the 1970s that gave state residents preference over nonresidents in obtaining work on oil pipelines, this law violated the ________ clause.

A)interstate commerce
B)full faith and credit
C)privileges and immunities
D)necessary and proper

Question 25

Which level of government writes the majority of criminal laws?

A)the national government
B)state governments
C)local governments
D)special judicial districts

Question 26

The best example of a concurrent power under the U.S.Constitution is the power to

A)declare war.
B)coin money.
C)regulate commercial activity.
D)tax imports and exports.

Question 27

The era of dual federalism was from the ________ until ________.

A)Founding; the end of the Civil War
B)Founding; the New Deal
C)Civil War; World War II
D)New Deal; the 1960s

Question 28

How many states prohibited interracial marriage in 1952?

A)3
B)12
C)30
D)47

Question 29

During the era of dual federalism, the primary goal of the federal government's domestic policies was to

A)promote competition between the states.
B)promote the development of commercial activity between and among the states.
C)protect citizens from the abuses of state governments.
D)keep the states from going to war with each other.

Question 30

Which constitutional provision was MOST important in determining the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v.Hodges (2015)?

A)First Amendment
B)Fourteenth Amendment
C)full faith and credit clause
D)supremacy clause

Question 31

The ________ and the ________ clauses of the U.S.Constitution involve the relationships between and among the various states.

A)full faith and credit; privileges and immunities
B)full faith and credit; federalism
C)privileges and immunities; federalism
D)establishment; privileges and immunities

Question 32

State laws banning interracial marriage were successfully challenged in which Supreme Court case?

A)Loving v.Virginia
B)United States v.Windsor
C)Obergefell v.Hodges
D)Sweeney v.Woodall

Question 33

Which of the following has been an important contractual topic between states?

A)the distribution of river water
B)state passport requirements
C)highway regulations
D)coining money

Question 34

Advocates of limiting the powers of the national government justify their position by pointing to the ________ of the U.S.Constitution.

A)commerce clause
B)necessary and proper clause
C)Tenth Amendment
D)due process clause

Question 35

Which of the following statements best describes state-level same-sex marriage laws prior to 2015?

A)No state government had ever allowed same-sex couples to be legally married.
B)No state government had ever passed a law prohibiting same-sex couples from being legally married.
C)Thirteen states had passed laws prohibiting same-sex couples from being legally married.
D)Every state but one-Texas-allowed same-sex couples to be legally married.

Question 36

The fact that state governments are required to enforce restraining orders placed on stalkers and batterers in other states is a result of the

A)Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act.
B)full faith and credit clause of the Constitution.
C)supremacy clause of the Constitution.
D)Supreme Court's decision in Loving v.Virginia.

Question 37

The main function of the privileges and immunities clause of Article IV is that it

A)prevents states from discriminating against nonresidents.
B)compels each state to recognize the laws of other states.
C)requires all states to provide a uniform standard of benefits and entitlement.
D)prevents states from coining their own money.

Question 38

The power of Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several states, and with Native American tribes is found in ________ of the U.S.Constitution.

A)Article I
B)the preamble
C)the First Amendment
D)the Tenth Amendment

Question 39

The Constitution stipulates which of the following about relationships between states?

A)No state may ever enter into a compact or agreement with another state.
B)No state shall enter into a compact or agreement with another state without the approval of Congress.
C)No state shall enter into a compact or agreement with another state without the approval of the Supreme Court.
D)No state shall enter into a compact or agreement with another state without the approval of the governors of the remaining states.

Question 40

The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act was MOST closely related to which of the following constitutional clauses?

A)the commerce clause
B)the necessary and proper clause
C)the full faith and credit clause
D)the interstate compact clause

Question 41

"Commerce among the several states" was first defined in

A)Printz v.United States.
B)Marbury v.Madison.
C)McCulloch v.Maryland.
D)Gibbons v.Ogden.

Question 42

The principle of ________ gives the federal government the power to override any state or local law in one particular area of policy.

A)cooperative federalism
B)grant-in-aid
C)preemption
D)home rule

Question 43

In ________, the Supreme Court reinterpreted the commerce clause, changing it from a check on national power to a source of national power.

A)1865
B)1915
C)1937
D)1973

Question 44

Under the traditional system of American federalism, most of the fundamental governing in the United States was done by

A)state governments.
B)the federal government.
C)local governments.
D)the courts.

Question 45

What was the overall importance of McCulloch v.Maryland (1819)?

A)The Court allowed Congress to use the necessary and proper clause to broadly interpret its delegated powers.
B)The Court gave a very restricted definition of Congress's delegated and implied powers.
C)The Court announced that dual federalism did not conform to the framers' design.
D)The Court declared that the National Bank was unconstitutional.

Question 46

Attempts by Congress to regulate child labor and factory conditions in local workplaces were struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional in the late nineteenth century because regulating local workplaces was

A)perceived to violate the Twenty-First Amendment to the Constitution.
B)perceived to violate the comity clause of the Constitution.
C)beyond the scope of interstate commerce at the time and was therefore perceived to be an unconstitutional exercise of power by the federal government.
D)perceived to violate the strongly held value of regulated federalism.

Question 47

Which of the following statements best summarizes President Herbert Hoover's views on federal action during the Great Depression?

A)It was the federal government's responsibility to alleviate the misery caused by the depression, and Congress should finance public works projects to put people back to work.
B)The federal government was directly responsible for causing the Great Depression and should therefore pay reparations to state governments.
C)State governments were directly responsible for causing the Great Depression and should therefore pay reparations to the federal government.
D)The federal government could do little to alleviate the misery caused by the depression and state and local governments should be responsible for responding to the crisis.

Question 48

Almost 40 percent of all federal criminal statutes passed after the Civil War were enacted between

A)1890 and 1901.
B)1917 and 1931.
C)1941 and 1949.
D)1970 and 1998.

Question 49

The structure of American federalism

A)contributed to the longevity of the U.S.government by allowing many divisive policy decisions throughout American history to be made by states.
B)has contributed to the longevity of the U.S.government by forcing every state to develop in exactly the same way.
C)caused the Civil War to be fought decades before it would have been under a unitary system.
D)has had almost no effect on the stability and functioning of the U.S.government.

Question 50

Which event was MOST influential in triggering the rise of a more active national government?

A)the War of 1812
B)the Civil War
C)the Great Depression
D)the Cold War

Question 51

Which of the following economic policies did the national government implement during the early nineteenth century?

A)chartering a national bank
B)regulating the health and safety of the workplace
C)limiting businesses' use of child labor
D)preventing the production of impure goods

Question 52

By 1932, ________ percent of the labor force in the United States was unemployed.

A)5
B)10
C)15
D)25

Question 53

Congressional grants paid for ________ percent of the development of an interstate highway system after World War II.

A)25
B)50
C)90
D)100

Question 54

Which clause of the U.S.Constitution has been important in allowing the growth of national power?

A)commerce
B)full faith and credit
C)comity
D)the Tenth Amendment

Question 55

Which statement best describes American federalism since the 1930s?

A)Although the federal government has grown significantly more powerful since the 1930s, the basic framework of American federalism has not been altered and state governments remain important.
B)Although state governments have grown significantly more powerful since the 1930s, the basic framework of American federalism has not been altered and the federal government remains important.
C)The growing power of the federal government since the 1930s has fundamentally altered American federalism by rendering state governments obsolete.
D)The growing power of state governments since the 1930s has fundamentally altered American federalism by rendering the federal government obsolete.

Question 56

Which president introduced and presided over the New Deal?

A)Herbert Hoover
B)Franklin Roosevelt
C)Dwight Eisenhower
D)Lyndon Johnson

Question 57

Gibbons v.Ogden (1824) was important because it

A)developed the concept of judicial review.
B)developed the concept of dual citizenship.
C)established the supremacy of the national government in all matters affecting interstate commerce.
D)determined that the forced relocation of the Five Civilized Tribes to Oklahoma was unconstitutional.

Question 58

The fugitive slave clause of the Constitution ensured that slavery would be

A)outlawed by permanently banning the "migration or importation" of slaves to the United States.
B)outlawed by declaring all slave owners to be "fugitives" under federal law.
C)outlawed by preventing newly admitted states from legalizing slavery.
D)protected by obligating free states to return runaway slaves to the state from which they escaped.

Question 59

"Marble cake federalism" is associated with the

A)increasing political power of local governments over the last two decades.
B)pattern of intergovernmental cooperation that has blurred the lines between the states and the national governments.
C)practice of federal officials bribing their state counterparts with various gifts in order to convince them to follow national standards.
D)confusion that emerged during the 1960s about which layer of government is actually responsible for regulating the national economy.

Question 60

Who wrote the Supreme Court opinions in both McCulloch v.Maryland (1819) and Gibbons v.Ogden (1824)?

A)Alexander Hamilton
B)James Madison
C)John Marshall
D)Roger Taney

Question 61

Which of the following Supreme Court cases limited federal power?

A)United States v.Lopez and Printz v.United States
B)Gibbons v.Ogden and McCulloch v.Maryland
C)Gibbons v.Ogden and Brown v.Board of Education
D)McCulloch v.Maryland and Brown v.Board of Education

Question 62

A federal grant to states specifically to assist in the building of new public schools is an example of a ________ grant.

A)categorical
B)formula
C)block
D)general revenue

Question 63

The Supreme Court's decision in Printz v.United States was important because it declared that

A)state and local officials could not be required to administer a federal regulatory program.
B)state and local officials could be required to administer a federal regulatory program.
C)the federal government could not regulate the working conditions or hours of labor for businesses engaged solely in intrastate commerce.
D)the federal government could regulate the working conditions and hours of labor for businesses engaged solely in intrastate commerce.

Question 64

Which of the following statements about state and federal budgets is the MOST accurate?

A)Every state government and the federal government are allowed to run budget deficits.
B)Every state government and the federal government must balance their budgets each year.
C)The federal government has to balance its budget, but the vast majority of state governments are allowed to run budget deficits.
D)The vast majority of state governments must balance their budgets, but the federal government is allowed to run budget deficits.

Question 65

________ is the strategy of delegating authority to a lower level of government.

A)Home rule
B)Redistribution
C)Devolution
D)Incorporation

Question 66

The doctrine of nullification asserted that

A)the Supreme Court could make "null and void" any state law.
B)any federal law could be overturned by a vote of three-quarters of state legislatures.
C)states were not bound by federal laws that they considered unconstitutional.
D)states were not bound by the Bill of Rights.

Question 67

The Supreme Court used which constitutional amendment as the basis for striking down the 1875 Civil Rights Act?

A)First Amendment
B)Second Amendment
C)Tenth Amendment
D)Fourteenth Amendment

Question 68

In Printz v.United States, the Supreme Court struck down a law that required state and local law enforcement officials to conduct background checks on handgun purchasers because the law

A)infringed upon the Second Amendment right for individuals to bear arms.
B)ignored the constitutional principle of habeas corpus.
C)violated the Tenth Amendment's guarantee of state sovereignty.
D)encroached upon the constitutional right to privacy.

Question 69

________ is evidenced when national officials fund a project that is actually implemented by state governments.

A)Dual federalism
B)National supremacy
C)Cooperative federalism
D)Home rule

Question 70

A provision of which law was overturned in the Supreme Court case Printz v.United States?

A)the Defense of Marriage Act
B)the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
C)the Affordable Care Act
D)the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

Question 71

Which statement best describes the Supreme Court's decisions about federalism during the 1990s?

A)The Court granted the national government more power over the states.
B)The Court limited the power of the national government over the state governments.
C)The Court declined to hear federalism cases, arguing that they are political questions.
D)The Court dramatically limited the ability of states to sue the national government in federal courts.

Question 72

The Southern Manifesto

A)was written before the Civil War.
B)was written by southern officials who declared that their states were not bound by Supreme Court decisions outlawing racial segregation.
C)argued in favor of national government power.
D)invalidated the Tenth Amendment.

Question 73

Block grants are designed to

A)fund urban improvements on a specific city block.
B)give the states considerable discretion in how money from the federal government should be spent.
C)fund capital improvements in schools.
D)impose strict limits on how state governments can spend money from the federal government.

Question 74

An example of ________ federalism is when federal officials establish environmental standards that every state must follow.

A)cooperative
B)dual
C)regulated
D)marble-cake

Question 75

Why was United States v.Lopez (1995) important?

A)It was the first time since the New Deal that the Supreme Court limited the power of Congress as outlined under the commerce clause.
B)It was the first time that the Court had used the Tenth Amendment to limit the power of Congress.
C)The Court found the line-item veto unconstitutional.
D)The Court gave a broad interpretation of the commerce clause that expanded the power of the federal government over the states.

Question 76

An example of ________ is when federal officials force state officials to implement more stringent national water pollution regulations.

A)home rule
B)preemption
C)police power
D)the doctrine of states' rights

Question 77

The number of categorical grants in the United States increased dramatically during the

A)Progressive Era.
B)1920s.
C)1960s.
D)1980s.

Question 78

The Internet Tax Freedom Act

A)prevents the federal government from collecting income taxes on website revenue.
B)assigns responsibility for internet regulation to the Internal Revenue Service.
C)prohibits states and localities from taxing internet access services.
D)bans state governments from charging sales tax for purchases made online.

Question 79

Who articulated the doctrine of nullification before the Civil War?

A)Andrew Jackson
B)John C.Calhoun
C)John Marshall
D)Strom Thurmond

Question 80

A major reason that the slogan "states' rights" became tarnished in the 1950s and 1960s was that it had been used by

A)southern opponents of the civil rights movement to support laws favoring racial inequality.
B)religious organizations to increase federal spending on faith-based initiatives.
C)antiwar activists to protest the war in Vietnam.
D)supporters of the civil rights movement to oppose racial segregation.