Civics Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Civics is the study of the theoretical, political, and practical aspects of citizenship, government, and individual rights and responsibilities in society. This course explores the structure and functions of government at local, national, and global levels, the rule of law, and the roles of citizens in political and civic life. Topics include constitutional principles, civic engagement, public policy, and contemporary social issues, with an emphasis on critical thinking, informed participation, and the importance of active citizenship for a functioning democracy. Students will develop an understanding of their rights and responsibilities, and learn how to effectively contribute to their communities.
Recommended Textbook
Keeping the Republic Power and Citizenship in American Politics THE ESSENTIALS 8th Edition by Christine
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1389 Verified Questions
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Chapter 1: Politics: Who Gets What, and How?
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Sample Questions
Q1) ______ can be thought of as the "how" in the definition "who gets what,and how." They are directives that determine how resources are allocated,and they determine how we try to get the things we want.
Answer: Rules
Q2) The role of citizens is limited to choosing among competing leaders in the ______ theory of democracy.
A) pluralist
B) elite
C) participatory
D) economic
E) hierarchical
Answer: B
Q3) A political system in which the state holds all power over the social order is ______.
A) an Athenian-like democracy
B) a republic
C) authoritarian government
D) a theocracy
E) a social monarchy
Answer: C
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Page 3
Chapter 2: American Citizens and Political Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) Individuals who come to the United States seeking asylum are known as _______.
A) illegal aliens
B) de facto citizens
C) immigrants
D) international personae non grata
E) refugees
Answer: E
Q2) According to the text,the Bill of Rights clearly shows Americans' commitment to ______ freedom.
A) economic
B) procedural
C) libertarian
D) democratic
E) republican
Answer: B
Q3) Americans who favor a strong substantive government role in the economy and the social order to realize their vision of a community of equals are referred to as ______.
Answer: communitarians
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Chapter 3: Politics of the American Founding
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70 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The British government imposed taxes that the colonists resented in order to ______.
A) pay for the debt created by the French and Indian War
B) punish the colonists for acts of rebellion
C) pay for slaves England was shipping to the colonies
D) pay for the lavish lifestyles of the English nobility
E) shift the burden of the European wars from the people at home to the colonists
Answer: A
Q2) The Great Compromise ______.
A) provided strong powers to the state governments
B) established slaves as equal to three-fifths of a person when totaling populations for both representation and taxation
C) established a legislature with equal representation for each state in the Senate and representation by state population in the House
D) limited the importation of slaves for twenty years
E) created a confederate system of government
Answer: C
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Federalism and the USConstitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) The theory that defines the state and national governments as essentially separate from each other and carrying out independent functions is ______.
A) cooperative federalism
B) dual federalism
C) separation-of-powers federalism
D) federalism
E) independent federalism
Q2) The constitutional safeguard that places legislative,executive,and judicial powers in different hands is called separation of church and state.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The powers of the president include all of the following EXCEPT this:
A) The president is commander in chief of the armed forces.
B) The president appoints, with confirmation by the Senate, members of the judiciary.
C) The president negotiates treaties.
D) The president can call Congress into session under extraordinary circumstances.
E) The president can declare war.
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Chapter 5: Fundamental American Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) As Americans,we take pride in the many rights that we have.Often it is not clear what happens when rights conflict with one another.What are rights? What are the two ways that rights conflict? Provide two examples of each of the ways that rights conflict,and explain them.Where do we turn for help when our rights have conflicted?
Q2) The example provided in the textbook concerning the response to the September 11 attacks demonstrates that ______.
A) "the ends justify the means"
B) the liberty of the people is always more important than the security needs of the nation
C) it may be hard to protect both liberty and security
D) liberties are far more likely to come into conflict with each other than is liberty to come into conflict with security
E) liberty and security are never really in conflict
Q3) Written defamation of character is known as ______.
Q4) According to the textbook,we value ______ because they lead to collective benefits.
Q5) What have been the two major legal controversies surrounding the use of the death penalty?
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Chapter 6: The Struggle for Equal Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain the various standards used by the courts when laws treat people differently.What are the three legal classifications,and what groups fall under each of those classifications? What standard of review does the court apply for each classification? What question does the court ask when reviewing whether a law is constitutional for each classification? Why is a group's legal classification so important?
Q2) Korematsu v.United States _______.
A) held that the poll tax violated the Fourteenth Amendment
B) limited the civil rights of Japanese Americans in the interest of national security
C) granted voting rights to Japanese Americans
D) ended the doctrine of "separate but equal"
E) declared immigration restrictions on Japanese Americans to be unconstitutional
Q3) ______ discrimination is discrimination in fact.
A) De facto
B) De solis
C) Ad hoc
D) De jure
E) Ex post facto
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8
Chapter 7: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain the process of how a bill becomes a law.Specifically,highlight the many places where a bill may be sidetracked,fundamentally changed,or killed.How does this process fit with the founders' intent concerning Congress?
Q2) The two major roles of members of Congress are ______.
A) agenda setting and lawmaking
B) policy making and agenda setting
C) representation and lawmaking
D) constituency service and budget approval
E) budget approval and policy making
Q3) Congress finds it difficult to make policy that solves national problems because ______.
A) constituents reward them for taking care of their individual interests
B) they are in debt to special interests
C) government is inefficient
D) they are too interested in scoring political points
E) they do not want the president to get credit for solving problems
Q4) Explain the role of the parties in Congress.How does party leadership differ between the two chambers and why? Explain recent trends in party leadership strength over time as well as the reasons for changing strength.
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Chapter 8: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) Many observers have concluded that impeachment is not an effective check on presidents because ______.
A) it is too easy for presidents to rally public opinion against the process
B) members of Congress will not use the process
C) the Supreme Court would probably overturn a president's conviction
D) the process is too crippling for the government because Congress and the president would be consumed with the impeachment and trial
E) presidents are never likely to commit an impeachable offense
Q2) In most advanced industrial democracies,the role of head of government is performed by the prime minister.
A)True
B)False
Q3) There is a gap between the powers of the presidency and what the public expects the president to do.
A)True
B)False
Q4) To pass their legislative agendas,presidents must ______ members of Congress to support their proposals.
Q5) Explain the qualifications and conditions of office for the presidency.
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Chapter 9: The Bureaucracy
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80 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) The particular context in which internal bureaucratic politics is shaped is called ______,which refers to the accepted values and procedures of an organization.
Q2) The bureaucratic culture has all of the following effects EXCEPT this one:
A) It facilitates ease of movement by individuals from one agency to another during their careers.
B) It holds the bureaucracy together.
C) It creates power through the concentration of expertise.
D) It fosters a commitment to the mission of the agency.
E) It creates divisions of mission and knowledge that makes coordination between agencies difficult.
Q3) The primary source of power for a member of the bureaucracy is ______.
Q4) Which of the following is NOT an example of a government corporation?
A) Amtrak
B) the U.S. Postal Service
C) the Tennessee Valley Authority
D) Bonneville Power Administration
E) the Food and Drug Administration
Q5) What are the key distinctions between the logic of the iron triangle and issue networks?
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Chapter 10: The American Legal System and the Courts
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Sample Questions
Q1) Judicial activism has become an important political issue because ______.
A) it shows that judges are influenced by public opinion
B) when judges engage in judicial activism, it is an indication that they are above politics
C) conservatives have argued that judges are acting as legislators on issues such as same-sex marriage
D) only liberals have engaged in judicial activism
E) when judges engage in judicial activism, the rights of the minority are rarely protected
Q2) Laws or regulations established by bureaucratic agencies on behalf of Congress are known as ______ laws or regulations.
A) administrative
B) criminal
C) regulatory
D) statutory
E) civil
Q3) The power of the courts to determine the constitutionality of laws is called judicial
Q4) Define the doctrines of judicial activism and judicial restraint.
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Chapter 11: Public Opinion
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Sample Questions
Q1) The authors of the textbook argue that Americans behave as ideal citizens as ______,although as ______ they do not.
A) a group; individuals
B) individuals; a group
C) voters; individuals
D) individuals; voters
E) subjects of public opinion polls; voters
Q2) ______ are instrumental in designing campaign strategy.
Q3) Which of the following statements concerning the relationship between age and opinions is NOT true?
A) People tend to become more politically engaged as they become middle aged and older.
B) Groups of citizens of the same age can be shaped by the same political events.
C) People tend to become more conservative as they age.
D) Young people are more likely to be influenced by current political trends.
E) As older generations die, overall opinions in the population change.
Q4) The portion of the population selected to participate in a poll is known as the ______.
Q5) Why is sample bias problematic?
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Chapter 12: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of the responsible party model?
A) Each party should present a coherent set of programs to the voters, consistent with its ideology and clearly different from those of the other party.
B) The candidates for each party should pledge to support their party's platform and to implement their party's program if elected.
C) Voters should make their choices based on which party's program most closely reflects their own ideas and hold the parties responsible for unkept promises by voting their members out of office.
D) While governing, each party should exercise control over its elected officials to ensure that party officials are promoting and voting for its programs, thereby providing accountability to the voters.
E) Each party should act in a polarized fashion to such an extent that their behavior impedes government functions.
Q2) An election signaling a significant change in popular allegiance from one party to another is a(n)______ election.
Q3) The party activity of governing involves ______ and enacting the party's policy agenda.
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Page 14
Chapter 13: Interest Groups
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Sample Questions
Q1) An interest group ______ is an effective leader who is likely to have organized an interest group and can effectively promote its interests.
A) manager and chief executive officer
B) oligarch
C) entrepreneur
D) activist
E) advisor
Q2) What are the different types of interest groups? Which types of interest groups are the most susceptible to the free rider problem?
Q3) The ______ role of interest groups is reflected in MADD's attempts to increase public awareness of problems related to drunk driving and to direct legislative attention to the issue.
A) agenda-building
B) electioneering
C) representative
D) educational
E) program-monitoring
Q4) What is indirect lobbying,and what are some examples of it?
Q5) Compare and contrast grassroots and astroturf lobbying.
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Chapter 14: Voting, Campaigns, and Elections
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Sample Questions
Q1) Party identification is the single most important predictor of how people decide to vote because ______.
A) voters are too unsophisticated to vote in any other fashion
B) it leads people toward prospective issue voting
C) as a benefit, being a partisan means the voter does not need to register to vote, which counteracts one of the costs of voting
D) it directly influences one's vote and indirectly colors the partisan's perceptions of issues and candidates
E) it leads people toward retrospective issue voting
Q2) Modern campaigns are run by professional staff because ______.
A) the party campaign committee cannot provide the technical services needed in the modern campaign
B) the party political committees cannot be trusted
C) the party organization is too busy trying to win state and local elections
D) presidential candidates believe a professional staff reflects better on their credentials for the presidency
E) party political committees would drive away independent voters
Q3) Most states use the ______ election today.
Q4) ______ are people who have not made up their minds at the start of the campaign.
Page 16
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Chapter 15: The Media
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements is NOT true regarding journalists?
A) American journalists do not mirror American society.
B) Journalists are predominantly male.
C) A plurality of journalists identify with the Democratic Party.
D) Journalists are overwhelmingly white.
E) A majority of journalists are older than 35
Q2) Most of America's journalists are male,white,and ______.
Q3) What are the four roles played by journalists?
Q4) The impact of the deregulation of broadcast journalism by the 1996 Telecommunications Act has been to ______.
A) increase competition in the news media
B) increase the quality of news coverage
C) free the Internet from unnecessary restrictions
D) increase newspaper circulation
E) increase the possibilities of media monopoly
Q5) A 2003 study looking at misperceptions about the Iraq war concluded that the frequency with which those beliefs were held varied dramatically depending on the primary source of the person's news.
A)True
B)False
17
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Chapter 16: Social and Environmental Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Distributive policies are popular because ______.
A) their costs are not noticed because they are spread amongst all taxpayers, but their benefits go to a specific group who knows they are benefitting
B) their costs are low
C) the projects supported by such spending are rarely of questionable value
D) they benefit the needy
E) they benefit everyone
Q2) If nothing changes in the Social Security program,retirees will begin to take more money out of the Social Security Trust Fund than workers put into the fund in ______,and the fund will run out of money in ______.
Q3) Government agencies have their largest role in policy evaluation.
A)True
B)False
Q4) An example of a redistributive policy is ______.
A) Medicaid
B) trade policy
C) corporate welfare
D) environmental policy
E) farm subsidies
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Chapter 17: Economic Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Deregulation is the imposition of trade barriers,especially tariffs,to make trading conditions favorable to domestic producers.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What are the two theories of trade policy?
Q3) In 2012,President Barack Obama called for taxpayers making more than $1 million a year to pay a 30 percent minimum tax-a proposal dubbed the Buffet Rule.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following is NOT an argument made in favor of free trade?
A) Free trade helps promote peace.
B) Free trade discourages socialism.
C) Free trade limits retaliatory trade policies.
D) Free trade leads to more jobs.
E) Free trade leads to lower prices.
Q5) The ______ is a twelve-bank body established in 1913 to oversee monetary policy by controlling the amount of money banks and other institutions have available to lend.
Q6) Explain the laws of supply and demand.
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Chapter 18: Foreign Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) ______ is an example of using economic sanctions as a foreign-policy tool.
Q2) Terrorism is violence aimed specifically at ______ in order to produce ______ that will lead to policy change.
Q3) Nuclear,chemical,and biological weapons are sometimes grouped together and called ______.
Q4) The popular uprisings across much of the Arab world that began in 2010 are called the ______.
A) Arab Street
B) Arab Spring
C) Sunni Awakening
D) Arab Freedom Movement
E) Arab Revolutions
Q5) The European Union is ______.
A) the new coalition of former Soviet-bloc nations of Eastern Europe
B) a European trading bloc consisting of twenty-eight members
C) a defense treaty among major Western European nations
D) a proposal to make a United States of Europe
E) the new NATO after the end of the Cold War
Q6) What is the difference between compellence and deterrence? Give an example of each.
Page 20
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