American Political System
Final Test Solutions
Course Introduction
This course provides an in-depth examination of the foundations, structures, and processes that define the American political system. Students will explore the U.S. Constitution, federalism, the roles and functions of the three branches of government, the policy-making process, and the dynamics of political parties, interest groups, and elections. Emphasis is placed on analyzing how these components interact to shape public policy and influence individual rights and responsibilities. Through historical context and contemporary case studies, the course encourages critical thinking about the challenges and opportunities facing American democracy today.
Recommended Textbook
We the People 10th Edition by Benjamin Ginsberg
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18 Chapters
1574 Verified Questions
1574 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: American Political Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) The first prerequisite to increasing political efficacy is ________.
A) increasing political knowledge
B) decreasing political knowledge
C) reducing political participation
D) reducing trust in government
E) increasing political indifference
Answer: A
Q2) A government that is formally limited by laws and rules is called ________.
A) democratic
B) constitutional
C) oligarchic
D) authoritarian
E) totalitarian
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: The Founding and the Constitution
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Q1) How was political power in Congress divided under the Articles of Confederation?
A) Each state had an equal vote.
B) Each state's votes were proportionate to its population.
C) The states were not formally represented in Congress.
D) Each state's power depended on its geographic size.
E) Each state's power depended on its economic wealth.
Answer: A
Q2) ________ defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre.
A) Thomas Jefferson
B) Samuel Adams
C) John Adams
D) John Hancock
E) George Washington
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: Federalism
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Sample Questions
Q1) 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
E) 1981
Answer: C
Q2) During most of the nineteenth century, Congress used it powers to ________ commerce.
A) regulate
B) facilitate
C) limit
D) corrupt
E) prohibit
Answer: B
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) The process by which the Supreme Court justices have expanded specific parts of the Bill of Rights to protect citizens against state and federal actions is called
A) habeas corpus
B) selective incorporation
C) the takings clause
D) dual federalism
E) cooperative federalism
Q2) Why is Palko v. Connecticut (1937) an important case?
A) It was the first time the Supreme Court announced a constitutionally protected right to privacy.
B) The Supreme Court explained the process for determining which parts of the Bill of Rights would protect individuals against states as well as the national government.
C) The Supreme Court established the "exclusionary rule" in this case.
D) This case was the first time the Supreme Court upheld the free exercise protections for a nonmainstream religion.
E) The Supreme Court ruled that persons under arrest must be informed of their right to remain silent.
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6
Chapter 5: Civil Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the University of Michigan affirmative action cases, the Supreme Court justices
A) rejected mechanical point systems for university admissions but upheld highly individualized affirmative action policies that were designed to promote diversity.
B) upheld mechanical point systems for university admissions but rejected highly individualized affirmative action policies.
C) rejected all affirmative action policies that address university admissions.
D) declared that affirmative action policies would no longer be subject to strict scrutiny.
E) asserted for the first time that affirmative action policies would be subject to strict scrutiny.
Q2) At what level of scrutiny do federal judges review cases involving gender discrimination?
A) strict scrutiny
B) intermediate scrutiny
C) loose scrutiny
D) stare decisis
E) rational basis
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Chapter 6: Public Opinion
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Sample Questions
Q1) The term public opinion is used to describe
A) the president's collected speeches and writings during his term in office.
B) the analysis of events broadcasted by reporters during the evening news.
C) beliefs and attitudes toward different issues, events, and people.
D) the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions.
E) political debates that take place between citizens in public settings.
Q2) Which of the following statements is true about public opinion in the contemporary time period?
A) Elected officials are more responsive to the poor than the rich.
B) Technology has eliminated the challenges of "filter bubbles" in the United States.
C) The Internet has reduced the amount of political information available to the public.
D) Digital citizenship offers the promise of a more informed electorate.
E) The problem of "bomb-throwers" on the Internet has been eliminated.
Q3) What is the difference between a value and an ideology? Describe some of the characteristics and beliefs that define both liberalism and conservatism in contemporary American politics. What are the main differences between these two ideologies in terms of their emphasis on core American values? What are their points of agreement?
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Chapter 7: The Media
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Sample Questions
Q1) A majority of newspaper reporters identify themselves as ________.
A) liberal
B) conservative
C) anarchist
D) nonpolitical
E) socialist
Q2) What has helped accelerate the trend toward less variety in national news in the past decade?
A) the rise of the Internet as a major source of news reporting
B) the growing level of government censorship and restrictions on the media
C) the corporate consolidation of news media into a small number of conglomerates
D) the increasing popularity of AM radio talk shows
E) the growing popularity of newspapers as a source of news
Q3) The most important selection bias in news is the ________.
A) ideology of the journalists
B) audience appeal of a story
C) newsworthiness of a story
D) economic interests of the media's owners
E) approval of government regulators
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Political Participation and Voting
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Sample Questions
Q1) The main goal of the group Rock the Vote is to
A) encourage increased voting by musicians.
B) draw young voters into participating politically.
C) encourage states to use voting machines with paper ballots.
D) register more Latino voters.
E) eliminate voter fraud.
Q2) Which of the following is NOT a key factor affecting one's level of participation?
A) age
B) income
C) geographic region
D) education
E) occupation
Q3) Which of the following is NOT a reform that has attempted to make voting easier?
A) early voting
B) Election Day registration
C) voter ID laws
D) permanent absentee ballots
E) none of the above
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Chapter 9: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) The establishment of the Republican Party is a good example of ________.
A) external mobilization
B) internal mobilization
C) seditious mobilization
D) elite bargaining
E) proportional representation
Q2) Incumbents in Congress
A) typically are outspent in campaigns by their challengers.
B) rarely get re-elected due to the dismal approval rating of Congress as an institution. C) typically raise three times the money for their political campaigns than challengers. D) are typically challenged by strong opponents in their own party in the primary and by the opposition party in the general election.
E) are highly likely to be challenged by women.
Q3) The proportion of Independents, Democrats, and Republicans in the American public has changed significantly over the last five decades. Describe these changes and discuss why they may have occurred. Is there evidence that a party dealignment is occurring in the United States? Explain.
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11
Chapter 10: Campaigns and Elections
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following politicians was recalled from office?
A) President Warren Harding (1921)
B) New York City mayor David Dinkins (1993)
C) California governor Gray Davis (2003)
D) President Richard Nixon (1972)
E) President George W. Bush (2007)
Q2) Modern political campaigns do NOT depend on ________.
A) broadcast media
B) direct mailings
C) a large army of volunteers from the party
D) phone banks
E) public-opinion polling
Q3) When do incumbents have difficulty securing supporters and contributors?
A) some of the time
B) when they have experienced negative publicity
C) never
D) a majority of the time
E) none of the above
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Chapter 11: Groups and Interests
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Sample Questions
Q1) Many interest groups are initially organized because
A) most state-level government agencies will only negotiate policy implementation with organized groups.
B) funding opportunities provided by the federal bureaucracy encourage collective action.
C) a political entrepreneur with a strong commitment to a particular set of goals believes a group will promote his or her goals and enhance his or her political influence.
D) activists realize that it is easier to form an interest group than it is to engage in other forms of political participation.
E) a politician has lost an election and wants to challenge the results.
Q2) The National Governor's Association is a good example of a ________.
A) public-sector interest group
B) professional association
C) political party
D) political action committee
E) public interest group
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13
Chapter 12: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) Agencies in Congress designed to oversee administrative agencies and evaluate presidential proposals are called ________.
A) committee agencies
B) oversight committees
C) staff agencies
D) review offices
E) iron triangles
Q2) Which of the following is true of the impeachment process?
A) It is a nonpartisan exercise.
B) It is one where all legislators have a common understanding of the definition of "high crimes and misdemeanors."
C) It is a partisan exercise.
D) both b and c
E) It has resulted in the removal of two U.S. presidents.
Q3) A proposed piece of legislation is called a ________.
A) bill
B) referendum
C) proposal
D) cloture
E) filibuster
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Chapter 13: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) When the president infers powers from the "rights, duties, and obligations" of the presidency, these are called ________ powers.
A) delegated
B) necessary and proper
C) inherent
D) war
E) expressed
Q2) An informal group of advisers to the president is often called the ________.
A) kitchen cabinet
B) plumbers
C) round table
D) colloquium
E) good ole boys (despite the fact that many women have entered these ranks)
Q3) The last time Congress exercised its constitutional power to declare war was during
A) World War II
B) the Korean War
C) the Vietnam War
D) the Afghanistan War
E) the Iraq War
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Chapter 14: Bureaucracy in a Democracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Obama administration's campaign to make government more transparent A) was jeopardized by Edward Snowden's leak of sensitive national security documents in 2013.
B) resulted in the termination of the National Security Agency's global surveillance operations.
C) resulted in the passage of the Freedom of Information Act.
D) resulted in the repeal of the USA Patriot Act.
E) resulted in the closing of the base at Guantanamo Bay.
Q2) The most significant example of devolution in recent decades has been in the area of ________.
A) homeland security
B) crime enforcement
C) education
D) welfare policy
E) health care
Q3) Bureaucracies have often been criticized for being inefficient. What are some of the management techniques that have been used to make bureaucracies more efficient and responsive to needs? Why have many of these reforms had limited success?
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16
Chapter 15: The Federal Courts
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Sample Questions
Q1) The assignment of the opinion in a Supreme Court case is
A) unimportant because the final vote of the justices is the only statement that carries any weight in future cases.
B) important because differences in wording and emphasis can have important implications for how the decision is interpreted in future litigation.
C) unimportant because all justices usually describe their decisions in exactly the same way.
D) important because every word of a decision is legally binding.
E) unimportant because it is rarely, if ever, read by anyone involved in the legal process.
Q2) If a man is arrested because his home was searched by police without a legal warrant, he could argue in court that he had been denied ________.
A) a writ of habeas corpus
B) his Miranda rights
C) a writ of certiorari
D) judicial review
E) the due process of law
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Chapter 16: Government and the Economy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The minimum wage was first enacted in ________.
A) 1879
B) 1901
C) 1938
D) 1962
E) 1995
Q2) ________ once said "Now I am a Keynesian."
A) Herbert Hoover
B) Dwight Eisenhower
C) Richard Nixon
D) Ronald Reagan
E) George W. Bush
Q3) Which of the following was a driving force for economic growth during the late nineteenth century?
A) agriculture
B) war
C) manufacturing industries
D) government work projects
E) international trade
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Page 18
Chapter 17: Social Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) How did deregulation of the mortgage industry in 1999 help produce the housing crisis of 2007 and 2008?
A) It drove housing prices down by preventing too many qualified people from obtaining the mortgages needed to purchase homes.
B) It allowed many new mortgage companies to form, offering "predatory" loans that people could not afford to repay.
C) It made foreclosures almost impossible under the law and allowed many people to stop paying their mortgages with no monetary penalties.
D) It eliminated most mortgage companies and forced potential homeowners to pay cash for their homes.
E) It increased property taxes to the point that many homeowners were forced to sell their homes.
Q2) Which of the following is a program of forced savings?
A) Medicaid
B) Medicare
C) Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
D) food stamps
E) Aid to Families with Dependent Children
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Page 19
Chapter 18: Foreign Policy and Democracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The representation of a government to other foreign governments is called
A) multilateralism
B) alliances
C) treaty
D) diplomacy
E) preemption
Q2) Currently, the United Nations has ________ member states.
A) 40
B) 192
C) 350
D) 435
E) 630
Q3) Why did the United States fight wars in Korea and Vietnam?
A) Vital interests for the United States were at stake.
B) They both involved humanitarian efforts.
C) Policy makers believed that if we did not fight, it would embolden the communists.
D) We had NATO obligations.
E) Vietnam and Korea had invaded our allied countries.
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Page 20