Constitutional Foundations of the United States Test Bank
Course Introduction
This course explores the historical, philosophical, and legal foundations of the United States Constitution. It examines the development of constitutional principles from colonial antecedents to the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, analyzing the influences of Enlightenment thought, British legal traditions, and early American political experiences. Key topics include federalism, the separation of powers, checks and balances, and the Bill of Rights. The course also considers debates over constitutional interpretation and the enduring impact of these foundational concepts on American government and society.
Recommended Textbook
American Government Power and Purpose 15th Edition by Stephen Ansolabehere
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17 Chapters
2398 Verified Questions
2398 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Five Principles of Politics
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128 Verified Questions
128 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) States and tribal councils are examples of which institutions and procedures through which a land and its people are ruled?
A)governments
B)legislative bodies
C)democracy
D)bureaucracies
Answer: A
Q2) When France was ruled by King Louis XVI, Napoleon Bonaparte, and then Louis XVIII, it exemplified the governmental system known as
A)an autocracy.
B)an oligarchy.
C)totalitarianism.
D)a democracy.
Answer: A
Q3) Another term for agenda power is veto power.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 2: Constructing a Government: The Founding and the Constitution
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145 Verified Questions
145 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the absence of an amendment, any power not specifically enumerated in the Constitution is conceived to be reserved to the national government.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) The First Amendment to the Constitution was specifically concerned with limits on the
A)courts.
B)Congress.
C)president.
D)citizens. Answer: B
Q3) No principle was more widely shared among the framers of the American Constitution than the principle espoused by Baron de Montesquieu that
A)the citizen must serve the state.
B)power must be divided among different actors.
C)the accused are innocent until proven guilty.
D)national powers must be delegated to the states.
Answer: B
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Federalism and the Separation of Powers
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134 Verified Questions
134 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the late nineteenth century, when the national government sought to use its power to regulate the economy rather than merely promote economic development, the Supreme Court's interpretation of the concept of interstate commerce began to operate more as a
A)catalyst for change.
B)restraint on state and federal regulation.
C)point of leverage.
D)source of national power.
Answer: B
Q2) The system of supportive relations among national, state, and local governments since the 1930s is often referred to as
A)friendly federalism.
B)associative federalism.
C)exhortative intergovernmental relations.
D)cooperative federalism.
Answer: D
Q3) State governments have the power to define private property.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
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122 Verified Questions
122 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Within five years of ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court was making decisions as though it had never been adopted.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The Supreme Court upheld a state law that allowed doctors to use drugs to facilitate the deaths of terminally ill patients who requested such assistance in A)Bowers v. Hardwick.
B)Texas v. Johnson.
C)Lawrence v. Texas.
D)Gonzales v. Oregon.
Q3) The basis for the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade was the evolving right to A)privacy.
B)equal protection.
C)freedom of religion.
D)freedom of speech.
Q4) Explain due process and the constitutional rights protected under due process.
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Page 6
Chapter 5: Civil Rights
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105 Verified Questions
105 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Title IX of which law forbids gender discrimination in higher education, including stronger enforcement against sexual harassment and equitable allocation of resources and wages along gender lines?
A)the Volstead Act of 1993
B)the Voting Rights Act of 1965
C)the Equal Rights Amendment Enforcement Act of 1982
D)the 1972 Education Act
Q2) Which of the following types of cases would be afforded the intermediate scrutiny standard?
A)a black man who was denied employment
B)a woman who was paid less than a man with the same experience for doing the same job
C)a Jehovah's Witness who was denied employment because of religion
D)a 70-year-old who was denied employment because of age
Q3) Congress passed an equal rights amendment, but it fell short on the number of states needed for ratification.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Should affirmative action be continued? Why or why not?
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Chapter 6: Congress: The First Branch
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154 Verified Questions
154 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The power to impeach and remove from office is vested in A)Congress.
B)the Senate.
C)the Supreme Court.
D)the Electoral College.
Q2) How many members are in the U.S. House of Representatives?
A)100
B)350
C)435
D)535
Q3) A representative who voted to limit greenhouse gas emissions because she thought it was in the best interest of the country even though her constituency did not support that action exemplifies a __________ style of representation.
A)trustee
B)delegate
C)plebiscitary
D)jurisprudential
Q4) The incumbency advantage tends to preserve the status quo in Congress.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: The Presidency As an Institution
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160 Verified Questions
160 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the United States, presidents are dominated by their Cabinets.
A)True
B)False
Q2) With hundreds of members and a multitude of staff assistance, Congress is able to initiate decisive action more frequently than the president.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The American president exercises a measure of judicial authority through the power to
A)offer paroles and probations.
B)give atonements and expiations.
C)grant reprieves and pardons.
D)mandate subpoenas, writs of habeas corpus, and warrants of indemnity.
Q4) In 1998, the Supreme Court upheld the president's authority to exercise the line-item veto.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are the primary administrative tools that presidents use to shape policy? How can Congress respond to these tactics?
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Chapter 8: The Executive Branch: Bureaucracy in a Democracy
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147 Verified Questions
147 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Are fears about unrestrained bureaucratic growth justified? What methods have been used to reduce the size and the role of the federal bureaucracy? Analyze the effectiveness of these efforts.
Q2) The application of rules and precedents to specific cases to settle disputes with regulated parties is
A)oversight.
B)rule making.
C)administrative adjudication.
D)civilian law.
Q3) Do bureaucratic agencies make public policies, or do they simply implement executive orders and laws made by Congress? Explain your answer.
Q4) The 1921 Budget and Accounting Act transferred agenda-setting power over the budget from the president to Congress.
A)True
B)False
Q5) All government agencies are part of cabinet departments.
A)True
B)False
Q6) What motivates bureaucratic behavior?
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Chapter 9: The Federal Courts
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157 Verified Questions
157 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the president's most direct influence on the Supreme Court?
A)limiting or expanding the Court's appellate jurisdiction
B)nominating justices whom he or she believes are close to the administration's policy preferences
C)selecting a White House counsel to direct the president's legal strategy
D)lobbying sitting justices in special White House meetings
Q2) How do the jurisdictions of federal and state courts differ?
Q3) Federal judges are nominated by the A)president.
B)Supreme Court.
C)Senate Judiciary Committee.
D)chief justice.
Q4) Rarely in American history have presidents been disappointed by the judges they have named to the bench.
A)True
B)False
Q5) How has the power of the Supreme Court expanded beyond the limited role established by the Constitution?
Q6) In the United States, how do the courts work as political institutions?
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Q7) Explain the various stages in the decision-making process of the Supreme Court.
Chapter 10: Public Opinion
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143 Verified Questions
143 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Preferences and beliefs are synonymous.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Membership in a social group rarely affects an individual's political orientation.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The distinctive pattern of voting behavior reflecting the differences in views between men and women is termed the A)gender gap.
B)masculine rift.
C)feminine mystique.
D)Mars/Venus syndrome.
Q4) The average American exhibits a great deal of knowledge of political institutions, processes, leaders, and policy debates.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are some of the problems associated with measuring public opinion? How valid are criticisms of opinion polling?
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Chapter 11: Elections
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163 Verified Questions
163 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) An electoral system in which the candidate who gets the most votes wins the election is called a majority rule system.
A)True
B)False
Q2) An issue for which a range of possible options or policies can be ordered is called a
A)multidimensional issue.
B)spatial issue.
C)valence issue.
D)range issue.
Q3) Who was the most recent president to win an Electoral College majority while receiving a smaller vote share than another candidate?
A)This is impossible, as the Electoral College simply affirms the plurality vote.
B)Jimmy Carter
C)George Bush
D)Donald Trump
Q4) Explain some of the challenges in comparing election turnout rates across different countries.
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Chapter 12: Political Parties
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153 Verified Questions
153 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Republican Party gained the votes it needed to end Democratic dominance of the political process through Richard Nixon's
A)southern strategy.
B)evangelical appeal.
C)peace with honor plan.
D)pro-civil rights agenda.
Q2) The Reconstruction program collapsed in the 1870s primarily as a result of A)divisions within the Democratic Party.
B)economic resistance by northern industries.
C)violent resistance by the newly freed slaves.
D)violent resistance by southern whites and divisions among congressional Republicans.
Q3) Political parties organize with the goal of serving the national interest.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In 2016, Hilary Clinton received more votes than Donald Trump among white (non-Hispanic) women.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What specific functions do political parties perform?
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Chapter 13: Groups and Interests
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140 Verified Questions
140 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Someone who sees a possible benefit for cooperation that is currently not being enjoyed and organizes a group to take advantage of it is considered to be a(n)
A)collective actor.
B)political entrepreneur.
C)political opportunist.
D)economic opportunist.
Q2) The 1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act requires all organizations employing lobbyists to register with Congress and to disclose whom they represent.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Interest group politics tend to reflect the bias of A)religious activists.
B)low-wage service employees.
C)well-educated, upper-income professionals.
D)unionized workers.
Q4) Many businesses bring lawsuits to influence government policy.
A)True
B)False
Q5) To what extent are interest groups effective at influencing political outcomes?
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Chapter 14: The Media
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136 Verified Questions
136 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The print media provide more detailed and complete information and offer a better context for analysis than the broadcast media.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Individuals who are personally attacked on a broadcast program must be given the opportunity to respond.
A)True B)False
Q3) Most radio stations devote about half of their time to news coverage. A)True B)False
Q4) In the United States, the print media are heavily regulated by the government. A)True B)False
Q5) The areas of media content that appeal most to an upscale audience are those of A)finance and crime.
B)celebrities and entertainment.
C)local events and drama.
D)news and public affairs.
Q6) How do the media select its agenda of issues and topics?
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Economic Policy
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144 Verified Questions
144 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The collapse of a major bubble almost always leads to A)decreases in the price of gold.
B)calls for freedom from government regulation.
C)demands for government intervention.
D)a secondary bubble in the same market.
Q2) The Federal Reserve only truly had a mandate to reduce inflation beginning in the A)Great Depression.
B)Korean War.
C)peacetime inflation of the late 1970s.
D)Great Recession of 2008.
Q3) The amount by which government spending exceeds revenues in a fiscal year is called the
A)gross domestic product.
B)trade shortfall.
C)gross national product.
D)budget deficit.
Q4) What is deregulation? Why did it emerge, and what do you see as its future?
Q5) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of regressive and progressive tax policies. Which one would you recommend and why?
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Chapter 16: Social Policy
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125 Verified Questions
125 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) To receive food stamps (or SNAP benefits), one must have low income and few financial assets.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Presidential initiative is most important when the policy at issue is
A)regulatory.
B)monetary.
C)promotional.
D)redistributive.
Q3) What is the single largest tax expenditure in the federal tax code?
A)the American Opportunity Tax Credit
B)alimony income exclusion
C)the employer health insurance deduction
D)the earned income tax credit
Q4) The U.S. Treasury regularly borrows from the Social Security Trust Fund and leaves IOUs in their place.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Contrast contributory programs with public assistance programs. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Page 18
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Chapter 17: Foreign Policy
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142 Verified Questions
142 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) An example of a regional trade agreement designed to promote free trade is the A)WTO.
B)NAFTA.
C)GATT.
D)IMF.
Q2) The IMF makes loans that promote the interests of the A)world community.
B)European Union, its primary sponsor.
C)United Nations, its parent government.
D)United States, Europe, and Japan, its leading shareholders.
Q3) Has the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war made the world a safer place?
Q4) Which choice best defines sanctions?
A)a cash incentive to provide economic aid
B)permission to engage in international commerce
C)a type of treaty
D)an economic punishment
Q5) Who are the key players within the American government that help the president make foreign policy decisions, and what specific perspective does each one offer?
Q6) Is there a substitute for war?
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