Foundations of American Government Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Foundations of American Government explores the historical, philosophical, and structural underpinnings of the United States political system. The course examines classical and Enlightenment influences, the creation and interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, federalism, the roles of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, and the evolution of civil liberties and civil rights. Emphasis is placed on key documents, landmark Supreme Court cases, and the continuing impact of foundational principles on American society and governance today.
Recommended Textbook
American Government and Politics Today Essentials 2015 2016 Edition 18th Edition by Barbara A.
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The Democratic Republic
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Sample Questions
Q1) The right to vote for all citizens has
A) always been out of reach.
B) expanded over time.
C) been championed by the rich.
D) always included undocumented immigrants.
E) always included women.
Answer: B
Q2) According to the Sixth Amendment, the accused
A) have a right to a speedy trial.
B) can be compelled to be a witness against himself.
C) have a right to a private trial.
D) have no right to due process.
E) Options B and C are true.
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: The Constitution
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Q1) The Jamestown colonists set a political precedent by A) allowing the governor 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: C
Q2) A unicameral legislature is one with A) only one body or house.
B) only one major political party.
C) the power to choose the chief executive.
D) no limits on its powers.
E) Both B and D are true.
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: Federalism
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Q1) A _____________ system of government is one in which the central government has ______________.
A) federal; almost all the power
B) confederal; equal power with the states/provinces
C) unitary; equal power with the states/provinces
D) federal; almost no real power
E) confederal; almost no real power
Answer: E
Q2) As a result of the Civil War crisis, the Supreme Court
A) was drastically reduced in influence.
B) voted exclusively against the Civil War.
C) gained additional power, along with the state governments.
D) ruled that the initial plan of Congress to reconstruct the South was unconstitutional.
E) None of the above is true.
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) The First Amendment prevents Congress from making any law that
A) abridges "the right of the people to peaceably assemble."
B) abridges the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
C) regulates the right to bear arms.
D) regulates criminal rights.
E) Options A and B are true.
Q2) The exclusionary rule is a policy that
A) forbids the admission of illegally seized evidence at trial.
B) prohibits the arresting officer from serving as a character witness at a hearing or trial.
C) prohibits the detention of a suspect for more than forty-eight hours without the suspect being charged.
D) is limited to the federal courts.
E) None of the above is true.
Q3) The Court has based the right to privacy on
A) the First Amendment.
B) the Third and Fourth Amendments.
C) the Fifth Amendment.
D) the Ninth Amendment.
E) All of the above are true.
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Page 6
Chapter 5: Civil Rights
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Q1) The civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was based on the philosophy of
A) non-violent civil disobedience.
B) divide and conquer.
C) "equality for all, through strong force when necessary."
D) equality of practice that did not have to exclude racial segregation.
E) equality "by any means necessary."
Q2) The use of __________ was instrumental in bringing about the integration of lunch counters, buses, and trains.
A) sit-ins
B) roadblocks at night in rural areas
C) court injunctions that prohibited interstate travel in areas threatened by violence
D) the threat of armed force
E) public demonstrations featuring violence against whites
Q3) Explain the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education and the impact it had on education and the new problems it created.
Q4) Explain the significance of the constitutional amendments enacted in the five years following the end of the Civil War.
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Chapter 6: Public Opinion and Political Socialization
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Q1) In presidential elections, manual laborers, factory workers, and union members are
A) more likely to vote for Republican candidates.
B) more likely to vote for Democratic candidates.
C) likely to split their vote between the two major parties.
D) more likely to vote for socialist candidates.
E) more likely to vote for communist libertarian candidates.
Q2) Public opinion affects the political process
A) because it is a source of power for elected officials who take positions supported by the people.
B) despite the fact that most candidates dismiss public opinion as an effective means of identifying issues of concern.
C) because it allows the media to control the government.
D) because it is more important than elections in bringing about change in the government.
E) despite the fact that public opinion polls hardly ever reflect public opinion accurately.
Q3) When conducting a public opinion poll, what things must be taken into consideration and what potential problems could affect its accuracy?
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Interest Groups
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Q1) Republicans tend to get support from interest groups like _________, while ___________ tend(s) to support Democrats.
A) the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Americans for Tax Reform
B) environmental groups; Americans for Tax Reform
C) Americans for Tax Reform; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
D) labor unions; environmental groups
E) the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; labor unions
Q2) Indirect techniques used by interest groups include
A) approaching officials personally to press a case.
B) strategies that use the general public or individuals to influence the government for the interest group.
C) illegal tactics such as bribes and payoffs.
D) paying members of Congress as consultants in return for favorable votes on issues important to the interest group.
E) testifying before congressional committees.
Q3) Explain the indirect techniques used by interest groups.
Q4) Explain the free rider problem faced by interest groups and how they combat this problem.
Q5) What would be the unintended consequences if lobbying was abolished?
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Chapter 8: Political Parties
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Q1) Which is (are) true of the New Deal period?
A) President Roosevelt's programs were open to whites and African Americans.
B) The Great Depression shattered working-class voters' confidence in the Republican Party.
C) Roosevelt's coalition of whites and blacks was large enough to establish the Democrats as the majority party.
D) Democrats made major interventions in the economy to combat the Great Depression.
E) All of the above are true.
Q2) Under Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic Party
A) rejected the policies of progressivism.
B) continued to adhere to the same basic policies that it did in the nineteenth century.
C) began a radical change by endorsing the idea that government should become involved in the economy.
D) shattered into three very distinct parties that were extraordinarily antagonistic toward each other.
E) adopted a policy of isolating the United States from the affairs of the rest of the world.
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Chapter 9: Campaigns and Elections
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Sample Questions
Q1) Reported voter turnout _________ as age __________.
A) increases; increases
B) increases; decreases
C) stabilizes; increases
D) stabilizes; decreases
E) decreases; increases
Q2) The manner in which members of the electoral college are selected within each state is currently governed by
A) state laws.
B) the Federal Electoral Selection Act.
C) Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
D) congressional oversight.
E) federal district court judges.
Q3) Which of the following are true of superdelegates?
A) A superdelegate is a party leader or elected official who is given the right to vote at the national convention.
B) Their votes are ceremonial and do not count in the delegate total.
C) They are members of the media who cover the national convention.
D) They are elected at the state level.
E) They participate as delegates to the state convention.
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Chapter 10: The Media
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Q1) The mass media perform all of the following functions <B>except</B>
A) funding media watchdog groups.
B) entertainment.
C) making profits.
D) socializing new generations.
E) reporting the news.
Q2) Discuss the principle of net neutrality and argue whether such a principle should or should not be enforced by law.
Q3) To become a critical news viewer, you must
A) develop a critical eye for stories given prominence at the top of newspaper websites.
B) visit the sites of publications with specific contrasting points of view.
C) investigate the source of information in blogs.
D) analyze news programs for time spent on news versus happy talk.
E) All of the above are true.
Q4) Contrast political advertisements with the efforts of campaigns to manage news coverage. What are the advantages and disadvantages of both of these campaign tactics?
Q5) What are the theories of media bias? Is there evidence to support the claims of media bias?
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Chapter 11: The Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the history of the term gerrymandering and how it has been used in practice.
Q2) The necessary and proper clause
A) has expanded the role of the national government relative to the states.
B) has increased the powers of the state governments at the expense of Congress's powers.
C) was in the original Constitution, but was eliminated as a consequence of the Twenty-Seventh Amendment.
D) has served to limit the expansion of national authority.
E) is located in the Constitution in the text of the Tenth Amendment.
Q3) The process of suspending the rules of the Senate, thus ending the threat of a filibuster
A) has always been favored by Democrats.
B) has always been favored by Republicans.
C) is known as the nuclear option.
D) is very popular with the public at large.
E) Both B and C.
Q4) Explain the different types of committees and their functions.
Q5) Compare and contrast the trustee and instructed-delegate theories of representation.
Page 13
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Chapter 12: The President
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Sample Questions
Q1) Informal advisors to the president are called
A) FOP, or Friends of the President.
B) the kitchen cabinet.
C) the Executive Counsel.
D) the cabinet.
E) the brain trust.
Q2) The Constitution gives the vice president
A) the job of presiding over the Senate and voting in case of a tie.
B) many responsibilities independent of presidential authority.
C) the job of chief of staff to the president.
D) the right to use the veto if he or she has the approval of the president.
E) Options A and D are true.
Q3) Staff members in the Executive Office of the President who oversee a particular policy area are commonly referred to as
A) emperors.
B) czars.
C) dictators.
D) autocrats.
E) aristocrats.
Q4) Analyze the president's functions as party chief and superpolitician.
Page 14
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Chapter 13: The Bureaucracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the manner(s) in which Congress attempts to control the bureaucracy.
Q2) Government employment grew rapidly until
A) the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan.
B) the Great Depression.
C) the 2000 election of George W. Bush.
D) World War I.
E) the Civil War.
Q3) The percentage of the total U.S. workforce that is employed by local, state, and federal governments is
A) 10 percent.
B) 25 percent.
C) 16 percent.
D) 50 percent.
E) 6 percent.
Q4) The Hatch Act, adopted by Congress in 1939, was created to
A) encourage federal employees to run for state but not federal government.
B) prohibit federal employees from switching political parties.
C) prohibit federal employees from active involvement in political campaigns.
D) increase federal employee participation in running voter registration drives.
E) establish a patronage system during the Great Depression.
Page 15
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Chapter 14: The Courts
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Q1) The doctrine of stare decisis
A) means to reverse the decision of a lower court.
B) says that the court does not have jurisdiction in a case.
C) allows the court to refer a case to the next highest court.
D) is the policy of following precedent established by past decisions to decide cases.
E) means strict interpretation.
Q2) Judicial activism means
A) the Supreme Court should accept as many cases for decision as it can.
B) the Supreme Court should actively check the other branches of government when they exceed their authority.
C) the Supreme Court should have the power of judicial review.
D) the courts should defer to decisions made by the elected representatives of the people whenever possible.
E) the members of the Supreme Court should deliver as many public speeches as possible, in an effort to engage and inform the American people.
Q3) Is it legitimate that the U.S. Supreme Court possesses the power of judicial review? Why, or why not?
Q4) Describe the sources of American law.
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Page 16
Chapter 15: Domestic and Economic Policy
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Q1) Which of the following statements regarding unemployment is true?
A) When unemployment is increasing, it is a sign of a recession.
B) Unemployment figures that estimate the number of unemployed are prepared by the U.S. Department of Labor.
C) The published unemployment numbers fail to reflect the number of discouraged workers and "hidden unemployed."
D) Unemployment is defined as the inability of those in the workforce to find a job.
E) All of the above are true.
Q2) Examine the federal budget deficit, why it occurred, and what measures should be taken to bring it down.
Q3) As a result of the Supreme Court's ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, all of the following are true <b>except</b>
A) the EPA has lost some authority to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases.
B) President Obama proposed EPA rules to cut emissions from existing plants by 30 percent.
C) the EPA ruled that greenhouse gases threaten public health.
D) the construction of coal-based powerplants became nearly impossible.
E) All of the above are true.
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17
Chapter 16: Foreign Policy
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Q1) The internationally recognized solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is that A) the Palestinians resettle in Jordan with full compensation.
B) Israel yields the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the Palestinians in return for security guarantees and Palestinian abandonment of any right of return to Israel proper.
C) both Israelis and Palestinians should be part of a single state in which all citizens have equal rights.
D) Israel yields the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the Palestinians; both Israelis and Palestinians may settle in either country.
E) Israel should yield up all territory not granted to it by the UN in 1948, including all of Jerusalem.
Q2) Describe the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and the efforts to bring peace to this troubled part of the world.
Q3) Describe U.S. efforts to handle international issues with diplomacy rather than armed force. In your examples, were these efforts largely successful or failures?
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