Deck 2: The Constitution

Question 1

Which of the following was done to pay for the defense of the colonies during the French and Indian War?

A) The British government sought compensation from the French.
B) Taxes were imposed equally across the British Empire.
C) The British government decided to impose taxes on the American colonies.
D) American colonists imposed a tax on themselves.
E) The British government imposed a tax on the landed aristocracy of Britain.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The American system, with multiple points at which powers can block action, often leads to which of the following?

A) Effective government
B) Caretaker government
C) Limited government
D) Impeachment of government officials
E) A call for new elections

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The Jamestown colonists set a political precedent by doing which of the following?

A) Allowing the government to use a line-item veto
B) Instituting a direct democracy
C) Instituting a representative assembly
D) Creating a judicial system
E) Writing a constitutional document

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress had the power to do which of the following?

A) Establish and control the armed forces
B) Compel the states to meet military quotas
C) Collect taxes directly from the people
D) Regulate interstate and foreign commerce
E) Compel states to pay their share of government costs

Question 5

The Declaration of Independence listed grievances against which of the following people, including the suspension of popularly elected colonial legislatures, taxing without representation, and trials without juries?

A) King George II
B) King George III
C) Queen Elizabeth
D) George Washington
E) Thomas Jefferson

Question 6

The creative thinkers who designed the Constitution were most influenced by which of the following?

A) The historical and political context of the Civil War
B) The political philosophy of the time about how people should be governed
C) The historical experiences gained through trial of several forms of government during New World settlement
D) The historical experiences gained through trial of several forms of government during Old World settlement
E) The political philosophy of the time about how people should be governed, and the historical experiences gained through trial of several forms of government during New World settlement

Question 7

One result of the Second Continental Congress was which of the following?

A) A brief reconciliation with Great Britain
B) A plan for the Boston Tea Party
C) The decision to create thirteen colonies
D) The adoption of the Declaration of Independence
E) Increases in colonial taxes paid to Great Britain

Question 8

Which of the following was a purpose of the final version of the Declaration of Independence?

A) Disband the army headed by George Washington
B) Condemn the growing slave trade
C) Guarantee personal civil rights to all colonists
D) Support the idea of a strong central government
E) Justify the colonists' revolt against Great Britain

Question 9

The president of the United States is selected by which of the following?

A) A popular vote of the people
B) The U.S. Senate
C) The House and Senate combined
D) The Electoral College
E) The governors of the states

Question 10

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson's statement that "all men are created equal" is similar to which of the following theorist's belief that government is based on the "consent of the governed"?

A) John Locke
B) James Madison
C) John Hancock
D) Joseph Ellis
E) John Adams

Question 11

Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense advocated which of the following?

A) The formation of a new government still loyal to the king
B) The formation of a new government that would limit further immigration
C) An end of hostilities with Great Britain
D) The repeal of all taxes, including those imposed on themselves
E) The formation of the country's own government as a way to gain independence

Question 12

Which of the following is true of the First Continental Congress?

A) It declared independence from Great Britain.
B) It encouraged the colonists to petition King George III to express their grievances.
C) It was held in Boston, Massachusetts.
D) It urged colonists to purchase British goods to win favor with the king.
E) It produced a document that the colonists found to be coercive.

Question 13

The Articles of Confederation established a voluntary association of independent states that did which of the following?

A) Relied on the national government to resolve all regional conflicts
B) Paid a yearly levy to the national government to enforce state laws
C) Agreed to only limited restraint on their freedom of action
D) Were represented on the basis of population in the Confederate assembly
E) Did not collect tariffs on goods coming into the state

Question 14

The Articles of Confederation did which of the following?

A) Provided for a bicameral legislature
B) Established a strong executive branch
C) Allowed the states to retain most of their power
D) Created a way to raise taxes to fund an army
E) Ended slavery

Question 15

Which of the following was one of the main actions of the Second Continental Congress?

A) Establishing an army and appointing a commander-in-chief
B) Signing a treaty with Britain prohibiting trade with France
C) Signing a treaty with France to declare war on Great Britain
D) Creating a unitary government in America
E) Establishing a document with ambitious designs to join with Great Britain in a war against Spain

Question 16

The first draft of the Declaration of Independence was written by whom?

A) Benjamin Franklin
B) John Locke
C) John Adams
D) Thomas Jefferson
E) George Washington

Question 17

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal" are the first words of which of the following documents?

A) The Constitution of the United States of America
B) The Declaration of Independence
C) The Magna Carta
D) The United Nations Charter
E) The Bill of Rights

Question 18

Under the Articles of Confederation, which of the following headed Congress?

A) No one
B) A presiding officer selected from among its members
C) A popularly elected president
D) A president chosen by the Electoral College
E) A three-person presiding cabinet

Question 19

The most basic weakness of the Articles of Confederation was which of the following?

A) Tax levels that were too high for most Americans
B) An overpowering executive
C) Congress's lack of power to conduct foreign affairs
D) Congress's lack of power to declare war
E) The inability of Congress to raise funds

Question 20

The Declaration of Independence was necessary for which of the following reasons?

A) To establish a framework for a new system of government that would allow taxation without representation
B) To establish the legitimacy of the new nation in the eyes of foreign governments and the colonists
C) To create a delicate balance between federal and state powers
D) To identify the reasons the British saw separation from the colonies as necessary
E) To demand a separation of church and state

Question 21

The concept of separation of powers was included in the Constitution to prevent which of the following?

A) Disputes between the federal and state governments
B) The imposition of export taxes
C) A major dispute over power between the House and the Senate
D) Disputes over power between Congress and the president
E) Tyranny by either the majority or the minority

Question 22

The protest movement of debt-ridden farmers facing foreclosures on their homes and farms was known as which of the following?

A) The Boston Tea Party
B) The Boston Massacre
C) Shays' Rebellion
D) Bloody Thursday
E) The Farmers' Rebellion

Question 23

Edmund Randolph's Virginia Plan was a proposal of 15 resolutions that did which of the following?

A) Called for all states to be represented equally in the national legislature
B) Called for a unicameral legislative body
C) Served as a minor variation on the Articles of Confederation
D) Called for a national executive who would be elected by the legislative body
E) Included no provision for a president because of the distrust of so much concentrated power

Question 24

How many special state conventions had to ratify the U.S. Constitution before it took effect?

A) Seven
B) Nine
C) Ten
D) Eleven
E) Thirteen

Question 25

States were granted extra representation based on the number of slaves they held under which of the following?

A) The slavery population clause
B) The equal population clause
C) The three-fifths compromise
D) The five-eighths compromise
E) The census clause

Question 26

The Great Compromise resolved the impasse between which of the following two groups?

A) Large and small states regarding the executive branch
B) Large and small states regarding representation
C) Northern and southern states regarding representation
D) Northern and southern states regarding slavery
E) Federalists and Antifederalists regarding the executive branch

Question 27

During the constitutional deliberations, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, to sway public opinion, wrote 85 essays known as which of the following?

A) The Antifederalist Papers
B) Common Sense
C) The Federalist Papers
D) The Mayflower Compact
E) The Pluralist Papers

Question 28

Which of the following was true of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention?

A) Very few were members of the upper class.
B) Only a few came from professional backgrounds.
C) Most represented a cross-section of American society.
D) Most were senior statesmen with governmental experience.
E) Most were members of the upper class, and a majority came from professional backgrounds.

Question 29

Because the delegates wanted to prevent the imposition of tyranny, by either the majority or the minority, the government they proposed had which of the following?

A) A guaranteed right to privacy
B) An Electoral College
C) A separation of powers
D) A supremacy doctrine
E) A unicameral legislature

Question 30

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was brought about by which of the following?

A) Publication of the Treaty of Paris
B) A request by President Washington
C) The failure of the Articles of Confederation
D) The publication of the Declaration of Independence
E) The end of the Revolutionary War

Question 31

Which of the following is true with regard to the Great Compromise?

A) It was advanced by delegates from Georgia.
B) It proposed a bicameral legislature with equal representation in the Senate.
C) It was presented too late to be considered.
D) It was proposed by Delaware.
E) It proposed a unicameral legislature in which each state would have one vote.

Question 32

A major weakness of the Articles of Confederation was a lack of which of the following?

A) A bicameral legislature
B) A national system of courts
C) Power to raise funds for the militia
D) Power to tax exports
E) State-supported currencies

Question 33

The Virginia Plan included which of the following?

A) It called for a bicameral legislature.
B) It worked to the advantage of the small states.
C) It provided for the direct election of the president by the people.
D) It settled all of the controversies.
E) It called for Supreme Court justices to select the president.

Question 34

Shays' Rebellion plays an important role in American history for which of the following reasons?

A) It represents the first major battle to occur in the southern colonies during the American Revolution.
B) It anticipated the states' rights battle.
C) It was the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.
D) It made obvious the weaknesses of the government under the Articles of Confederation.
E) It enabled the colonists to reorganize and gain the upper hand against the British in the Revolutionary War.

Question 35

The scope and authority of power that Congress was granted under the Articles of Confederation can best be described as which of the following?

A) Narrow
B) Broad
C) Implied
D) Powerful
E) All-encompassing

Question 36

The assertion that national law has primacy over state law is in the Constitution in which of the following clauses?

A) The equal protection clause
B) The due process clause
C) The establishment clause
D) The supremacy clause
E) The free exercise clause

Question 37

Which of the following is the term for the fundamental law undergirding the structure of government?

A) Parliament
B) Social contract
C) Constitution
D) Congress
E) Federal system

Question 38

The selection of senators by state legislatures was intended to serve as a check on which of the following?

A) State legislatures
B) The Senate
C) Popular will
D) The president
E) Larger states

Question 39

The Constitution vests all judicial authority of the United States in which of the following, as well as in other inferior courts?

A) The Appeals Courts
B) The Supreme Court
C) The Chief Justice
D) The District Courts
E) The Constitutional Courts

Question 40

The Constitution would not have been ratified in several important states if the Federalists had not assured the states of which of the following?

A) A ban on the importation of slaves would be a focus of the first Congress.
B) Amendments to the Constitution would be passed to protect individual liberties against incursions by the national government.
C) Amendments to the Constitution would be passed to protect the rights of states against incursions by the national government.
D) An amendment to prohibit the manufacture, sale, and consumption of liquor would be passed.
E) Slaves that had escaped to free states would not have to be returned to their owners in slave states.

Question 41

A constitutional amendment can be proposed in which of the following formats?

A) A national convention called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures
B) A two-thirds vote in each chamber of Congress
C) The legislatures in two-thirds of the states
D) A majority vote in both houses of Congress , provided the amendment is not vetoed by the president
E) A national convention called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures and/or a two-thirds vote in each chamber of Congress

Question 42

The voting age of 18 was set by which of the following?

A) Congress
B) 26th Amendment
C) 19th Amendment
D) Supreme Court
E) The states

Question 43

The rights and liberties enjoyed in the United States are stated in which of the following documents?

A) The Articles of Confederation
B) The Bill of Rights
C) The Constitution as originally written
D) The Constitution as written and the Bill of Rights
E) The Declaration of Independence

Question 44

A constitutional amendment can be ratified in which of the following ways?

A) A positive vote in conventions in three-fourths of the states
B) A positive vote in the legislatures of three-fourths of the states
C) A two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress
D) The legislatures in two-thirds of the states
E) A positive vote in conventions in three-fourths of the states and/or a positive vote in the legislatures of three-fourths of the states

Question 45

The assignment in the Constitution of lawmaking, law-enforcing, and law-interpreting functions to the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, respectively, is known as which of the following?

A) The supremacy clause
B) Inherent powers
C) Direct democracy
D) The implied powers clause
E) Separation of powers

Question 46

Charles Beard hypothesized which of the following about the Constitution?

A) It was produced by wealthy property owners in order to protect their property.
B) It was produced by abolitionists in order to abolish slavery.
C) It was produced by the poor in order to build economic resilience.
D) It was produced by the politically elite in order to control the bulk of the government's power.
E) It was produced by the poor in order to push toward class-based revolution.

Question 47

Under separation of powers, the U.S. system keeps power among branches balanced by enabling one branch to counter the actions of another by the use of which of the following?

A) Authority
B) Checks and balances
C) Republicanism
D) Economic manipulation
E) Federalism

Question 48

The only formal method used so far to propose an amendment to the Constitution has been which of the following?

A) The popular vote of the people
B) A two-thirds vote in favor of it by both houses of Congress
C) State legislatures or conventions in three-quarters of the states
D) A national convention
E) A proposal by the president

Question 49

While there are multiple ways to formally amend the Constitution, the most common way has been which of the following?

A) The people propose new amendments and Congress ratifies them
B) A national convention proposes new amendments, and state legislatures ratify them.
C) Congress proposes new amendments, and state legislatures ratify them.
D) A national convention proposes new amendments, and special state conventions ratify them.
E) Congress proposes them, and special state conventions ratify them.

Question 50

The Bill of Rights provided for which of the following?

A) The protection of individual liberties from state governments
B) The protection of individual liberties from the national government
C) Equal protection under the law
D) Protection against state infringements on the freedoms of conscience, the press, and jury trial
E) The protection of individual liberties from the national government, and protection against state infringements on the freedoms of conscience, the press, and jury trial

Question 51

The central government set up by the Constitution was likely to be seen in which of the following manners?

A) As necessary by an Antifederalist, but dictatorial by a Federalist
B) As overbearing and burdensome by an Antifederalist, but as necessary by a Federalist
C) As corrupt by an Antifederalist, but benevolent by a Federalist
D) As authoritarian by an Antifederalist, but libertarian by a Federalist
E) As corrupt and authoritarian by an Antifederalist, but benevolent and libertarian by a Federalist

Question 52

The Bill of Rights limits the power of which of the following?

A) The government over the rights and liberties of individuals
B) The national government over the rights of the states
C) State governments over the inherent powers of the national government
D) National and state governments to tax individuals
E) State governments to tax the national government

Question 53

Which of the following was true of the Antifederalists?

A) They lived in urban areas.
B) They attended the Constitutional Convention.
C) They supported a strong central government.
D) They opposed the new Constitution.
E) They lived in urban areas and attended the Constitutional Convention.

Question 54

The power of the Supreme Court to declare actions of the other branches of government to be unconstitutional is known as which of the following?

A) Judicial review
B) Judicial activism
C) Legislative ratification
D) The supremacy doctrine
E) The Madisonian model

Question 55

The Supreme Court first declared that the courts have the power to overturn government acts that conflict with the Constitution in which of the following cases?

A) Marbury v. Madison
B) McCullough v. Maryland
C) Gideon v. Wainwright
D) Dred Scott v. Sandford
E) Hamilton v. Burr

Question 56

Originally, the Constitutional Convention's purpose was to do which of the following?

A) Adopt a new constitution
B) File a formal tax protest with Great Britain
C) Raise money for a national army to stop Shays' Rebellion
D) Revise the Articles of Confederation
E) Overturn articles amended by the Second Continental Congress

Question 57

Which of the following was true of the Federalists?

A) They supported the new Constitution.
B) They were mostly rural people from the lower classes.
C) They did not attend the Constitutional Convention.
D) They supported the status quo.
E) They were worried that the national government would be too powerful.

Question 58

The constitutional amendment process was designed to be which of the following?

A) Easy, in order to let the majority direct the country
B) Easy, in order to allow the document to change with the times
C) Difficult, in order to promote a competition of ideas
D) Difficult, in order to preserve the original vision of the Founders
E) Difficult, in order to prevent tyranny of the majority

Question 59

Who drafted the Bill of Rights?

A) George Washington
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) James Madison
D) John Adams
E) Benjamin Franklin

Question 60

The chief obstacle to ratification of the Constitution by the states was which of the following?

A) Its failure to abolish slavery
B) The omission of a Bill of Rights
C) The power it granted to tax
D) The lack of court structure below the Supreme Court
E) Inclusion of the plural executive

Question 61

Examine the major conflicts of the Constitutional Convention and how they were ultimately resolved.

Question 62

The Constitution's ratification process included arguments for and against ratification by Federalists and Antifederalists, respectively. Describe and evaluate the arguments expressed by both of these groups.

Question 63

Describe how the Constitution deals with social and political equality and how this has changed since the Constitution was ratified.

Question 64

Consider the actions of the British government toward its colonies and the "unalienable rights" listed in the Declaration of Independence, and discuss ways in which British actions prior to the Revolutionary War did or did not violate these rights.

Question 65

Discuss accomplishments under the Articles of Confederation and how the weaknesses of the Articles made it necessary to develop a new system of government.

Question 66

Compare and contrast the structures of governments formed under the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution. How did the weaknesses of the Articles lead to a different structure in the Constitution?

Question 67

Describe the competing interests of the small states and large states. How were these conflicting interests resolved in the final version of the Constitution of 1787?

Question 68

Describe the methods of proposing and ratifying a constitutional amendment.

Question 69

Describe the impact that the Antifederalists had on the Constitution.

Question 70

Discuss the importance of the Bill of Rights in terms of its role in the ratification process.