American Political Institutions
Question Bank
Course Introduction
This course offers an in-depth analysis of the fundamental structures and operations of American political institutions, including Congress, the Presidency, the Supreme Court, and federal bureaucracy. Students will explore the historical development, organization, and functions of each institution, as well as their interactions within the framework of checks and balances. Attention is also given to the roles of political parties, interest groups, and the media in shaping policy and influencing government action. Through case studies and discussion, the course highlights current challenges and debates affecting the effectiveness and legitimacy of the American political system.
Recommended Textbook Government in America People Politics and Policy Brief Edition 11th Edition by George C. Edwards
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17 Chapters
2189 Verified Questions
2189 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Introducing Government in America
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to Michael Delli Carpini and Scott Keeter,all of the following are strong reasons for staying informed about political affairs EXCEPT
A)fostering civic virtue.
B)helping citizens identify policies that will benefit them.
C)easing the burden placed on journalists and media organizations charged with educating the public.
D)promoting active participation in politics.
E)helping citizens incorporate policy information into their voting behavior.
Answer: C
Q2) Public goods are things that everyone shares,such as clean air.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Patrick Henry's famous utterance,"Give me liberty or give me death!" is an example of Americans' belief in egalitarianism as a central component to the American creed.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 2: The Constitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Connecticut Compromise created a bicameral Congress and a system of representation that ultimately gives greater representation to citizens of less populous states.
A)True
B)False Answer: True
Q2) The Constitution established a federal system of government that divided the power of the government between a national government and individual states.
A)True
B)False Answer: True
Q3) Under the original Constitution,the only institution placed under direct control of the people was the House of Representatives.
A)True
B)False Answer: True
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Federalism
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is TRUE of the Constitution?
A)It created obligations of the national government toward the state,including the obligation to protect states from invasion.
B)It established states as vital components of the machinery of government.
C)It guaranteed states equal representation in the Senate.
D)It guaranteed the continuation of each state by forbidding Congress to create new states by dividing existing states without the approval of the existing state.
E)All of these are true of the Constitution.
Answer: E
Q2) Federalism is a way of organizing a nation so that
A)power is centralized in state and local government.
B)both national and state levels of government have some authority over the same land and people.
C)there is one federal government,and all regional governments are administrative subunits of it.
D)power is centralized in the national government.
E)there are three branches of government and a system of checks and balances.
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties and Public Policy
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135 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In Griswold v.Connecticut (1965),the Supreme Court
A)ruled that various portions of the Bill of Rights cast "penumbras" protecting a right to privacy,including a right to family planning.
B)overturned a woman's legal right to abortion.
C)ruled that the state of Connecticut could legally ban the sale of contraceptives under state police powers of the Tenth Amendment.
D)held that abortion was a woman's legal right.
E)overturned a Connecticut state sodomy law.
Q2) The right to privacy is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Students in public schools may be subject to greater regulation of free speech than adults in other settings.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Compare and contrast the civil liberty issues involved in the different types of speech such as obscenity,libel,symbolic speech,commercial speech,and speech over the public airways.
Q5) What is the exclusionary rule and how has it been used by the Supreme Court?
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights and Public Policy
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121 Verified Questions
121 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What were the main provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
Q2) Which of the following statements about Native Americans is FALSE?
A)Native Americans are the oldest minority group in the United States.
B)Native Americans are guaranteed access to the polls,housing,and to jobs.
C)Native Americans were made citizens of the United States long before African Americans received the same status.
D)The Indian Claims Act of 1946 established a means to settle financial disputes arising from lands taken from the Native Americans.
E)Native Americans are the poorest minority group in the United States.
Q3) Increased government activity in protecting civil rights can actually lead to greater checks on government.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Explain how civil rights laws expand both the scope and power of government,citing specific court decisions and federal laws as evidence.
Q5) What was so dramatic about the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v.Board of Education? How did the decision affect schools in its immediate aftermath? Should the Court have been more aggressive,or less? Explain.
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Chapter 6: Public Opinion and Political Action
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126 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen as representative of the whole is called a(n)
A)quota.
B)population.
C)census.
D)sample.
E)cohort.
Q2) Because it would be prohibitively expensive to ask every citizen his or her opinion on a whole range of issues,polls rely on what is called a(n)________ of the population.
A)extraction
B)sample
C)census
D)slice
E)demography
Q3) Explain what is meant by "sampling error."
Q4) Almost half of most Americans have no opinion on the scope of government,according to survey data from 2000.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: The Mass Media and the Political Agenda
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125 Verified Questions
125 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The primary interest of publicly owned media is _____________; the primary interest of privately owned media is_______________.
A)making a profit; serving the public interest
B)serving the public interest; making a profit
C)spreading propaganda; being as objective as possible
D)serving the state; serving the people
E)undermining democracy; supporting democracy
Q2) Which of the following is a chain,that is,a group of newspapers published by media conglomerates?
A)MTV
B)ABC
C)Newhouse
D)NBC
E)Associated Press
Q3) Up until the early 1960s,the relationship between politicians and the press was relatively cozy; that is,many reporters saw themselves as extensions of the government,accepting most of what government officials told them.
A)True
B)False
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) Do parties keep their campaign promises? For what purpose is a party platform,and how well does it predict the policies the party attempts to carry out when its candidates win office? In your opinion,are America's two political parties sufficiently different or too much the same? Explain.
Q2) The Republicans emerged as a powerful political party in the A)1890s.
B)1790s.
C)1930s.
D)1850s.
E)1820s.
Q3) Research suggests that the vast majority of party platform promises are never actually fulfilled.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What are patronage jobs?
A)Jobs given for political reasons rather than for merit or competence
B)Jobs in the national convention
C)Jobs given on the basis of merit rather than for political reasons
D)A description of anyone who worked in the Daley administration in Chicago
E)Jobs that manage volunteers
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Chapter 9: Campaigns and Voting Behavior
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156 Verified Questions
156 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The extended length of the nomination process advantages individuals who already hold prominent political positions.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Today,a majority of the delegates to the national convention are selected through
A)state party conventions.
B)party caucuses.
C)presidential primaries.
D)local party conventions.
E)state legislatures.
Q3) Suffrage means
A)the legal right to vote.
B)turning out to vote.
C)voting for the winner.
D)voting for the loser.
E)the struggle for equal rights for women.
Q4) What are the main provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act? What was the goal and was it effective?
Q5) Do political campaigns affect individuals voting behavior? Explain.
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Chapter 10: Interest Groups
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Sample Questions
Q1) A "communication by someone other than a citizen acting on his or her own behalf,directed to a governmental decision maker with the hope of influencing his or her decision" is a definition of A)campaigning.
B)lobbying.
C)electioneering.
D)litigation.
E)a policy output.
Q2) Provide an example of a single-interest group.What differentiates a single-interest group from a traditional interest group?
Q3) The term "lobbying" is derived from the fact that petitioners used to stop legislators in the lobby of their boarding houses and hotels when Congress was in session.
A)True
B)False
Q4) American unions have been strong supporters of right-to-work laws. A)True
B)False
Q5) Are PACs helpful or harmful to American democracy? Explain.
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Chapter 11: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) The minority whip
A)assists the majority leader in party-line votes.
B)becomes the Speaker automatically if the Speaker resigns.
C)represents African Americans,Hispanic Americans,and Asian Americans in each chamber of Congress.
D)keeps a close head count on key votes and attempts to keep party members in line.
E)is used to punish members who do not vote with the rest of their party.
Q2) Party leaders who work to count votes and lean on waverers are called whips.
A)True
B)False
Q3) How many senators are elected from each state?
A)One
B)Two
C)Four
D)It depends on a state's population.
E)The same number as the state's electors in the Electoral College
Q4) The first woman to serve as Speaker of the House was Hillary Clinton.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 12: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the impeachment process.
Q2) Theodore Roosevelt,Woodrow Wilson,and Franklin Roosevelt each
A)increased the role of the national government.
B)decreased the role of the national government.
C)championed constraints on the scope of government and limits on domestic policy spending.
D)were ideologically conservative and operationally liberal.
E)blocked congressional-led government growth.
Q3) List and briefly describe the constitutional powers of the president.Which are the most important and why?
Q4) Compare and contrast the veto,pocket veto,and the line-item veto.
Q5) Describe the constitutional powers of the presidency and group them in terms of national security powers,legislative powers,administrative powers,and judicial powers.
Q6) The Nineteenth Amendment limits presidents to two terms of office.
A)True
B)False
Q7) A two-thirds vote in each house of Congress is required to overturn a veto.
A)True
B)False
Page 14
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Chapter 13: The Federal Bureaucracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Karl Marx is the German theorist who advanced the classic conception of bureaucracy.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Iron triangles are mutually advantageous relationships between bureaucratic agencies,interest groups,and congressional committees.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Executive orders do not carry the force of law.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Explain why the implementation process sometimes fails.What are the obstacles to successful implementation? As an example,discuss implementation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
Q5) Cabinet secretaries are selected by the president and approved by the Senate.
A)True
B)False
Q6) What is meant by administrative discretion,and when is it most often used?
Q7) What are issue networks? Explain their significance.
Page 15
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Chapter 14: The Federal Courts
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Sample Questions
Q1) All courts rely heavily upon ________,the way similar cases were handled in the past,as a guide to current decisions.
A)writs of certiorari
B)writs of mandamus
C)precedent
D)original intent
E)amicus curiae
Q2) What is a per curiam decision? Why is it significant?
Q3) Amicus curiae literally means
A)enemy of the court.
B)friend of the court.
C)let the decision stand.
D)we command.
E)standing to sue.
Q4) What is a political question? Give an example of an issue that the Court has deemed a political question and,therefore,left to Congress and the presidency to decide.
Q5) Explain the importance of amicus curiae briefs.
Q6) What is the difference between criminal cases and civil cases?
Q7) Explain the difference between original jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction.
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Congress,the President,and the Budget: the
Politics of Taxing and Spending
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Sample Questions
Q1) The term "military-industrial complex" was coined by President George W.Bush.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Your textbook suggests that when it comes to the budget and the scope of government,two phenomena seemingly exist at the same time.On the one hand,it may seem that there is no limit to budgetary growth.On the other hand,the budgetary process can limit government.Explain this tension.
Q3) Medicare is
A)given only to those who do not have private insurance.
B)administered separately from the Social Security system.
C)provided only for hospital care of poor people.
D)the most expensive of all welfare programs,providing basic medical care for the poor.
E)designed to provide both hospital and physician coverage to the elderly.
Q4) The Constitution allocates the task of budgeting to the executive branch alone.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The total federal debt is about $15 million.
A)True B)False
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Chapter 16: Social Welfare Policymaking
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Sample Questions
Q1) The "War on Poverty" programs were later attacked and had their funding reduced substantially by President
A)Dwight Eisenhower.
B)Lyndon Johnson.
C)Ronald Reagan.
D)Richard Nixon.
E)George H. W. Bush.
Q2) Americans generally indicate that they favor increasing government spending on social welfare policies more than they favor increasing spending on priorities such as education.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The gap between the rich and the poor is smaller today than it was in the middle of the twentieth century.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The president who declared a "War on Poverty" was Ronald Reagan.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What,according to Martin Giles,explains Americans' dislike of welfare policies?
Page 18
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Chapter 17: National Security Policymaking
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the multiple ways that the United States distributes foreign aid.
Q2) How has United States foreign policy contributed both to the nuclear arms race and to efforts to reduce nuclear weapons? Does it appear that we are heading for further reductions or for a new arms race?
Q3) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an example of a A)United Nations agency.
B)regional organization for military purposes.
C)regional organization for economic purposes.
D)multinational corporation.
E)global organization for military purposes.
Q4) What are economic sanctions,and how have they been used to pursue foreign policy goals?
Q5) When the American people hold strong opinions regarding international relations, A)they are usually ignored.
B)policymakers manipulate the agenda to emphasize domestic issues.
C)they usually find policymakers responsive to them.
D)they follow the lead of the president.
E)The media provide better coverage of national security policy issues.
Q6) Explain how the Constitution distributes power over the military between the branches of government.
Page 19
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