Introduction to American Government
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Course Introduction
Introduction to American Government provides a comprehensive overview of the foundational principles, structures, and functions of the United States government. Students will explore the origins of the Constitution, the framework of federalism, and the roles and responsibilities of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The course also examines the processes of policy-making, civil rights and liberties, political parties, elections, and the influence of the media and interest groups on American politics. Through analysis of historical documents, landmark Supreme Court cases, and current events, students gain a deeper understanding of how American government operates and its impact on daily life.
Recommended Textbook
We the People 10th Edition by Benjamin Ginsberg
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Chapter 1: American Political Culture
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Q1) The ________ was the key group in Europe that pushed for limited government.
A) bourgeoisie
B) gendarmes
C) libertarian group
D) peasantry
E) socialist party
Answer: A
Q2) Which of the following statements is true?
A) Americans express mixed views about government.
B) Americans have always given all people political equality.
C) Americans are highly engaged in public affairs.
D) both b and c
E) none of the above
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: The Founding and the Constitution
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Q1) The expressed powers of Congress are listed in ________ of the U.S. Constitution.
A) Article I, Section 8
B) Article II, Section 1
C) Article III, Section 2
D) Article IV
E) Article VI
Answer: A
Q2) Shays's Rebellion was significant because it
A) convinced many observers that the government under the Articles of Confederation had become dangerously inefficient and indecisive.
B) helped to make the Philadelphia Convention successful.
C) both a and b
D) convinced Congress to approve the Louisiana Purchase.
E) led to the admission of Vermont into the Union.
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: Federalism
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Q1) Which of the following economic policies was the national government allowed to implement during the nineteenth century?
A) establishing a series of national banks
B) regulating the health and safety of the workplace
C) regulating the use of child labor
D) preventing the production of impure goods
E) prohibiting fraud
Answer: A
Q2) In 1996, ________ carried a copy of the Tenth Amendment in his pocket as he campaigned for the presidency.
A) Bill Clinton
B) Ross Perot
C) Ralph Nader
D) Bob Dole
E) George W. Bush
Answer: D
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
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Q1) Freedom of speech and of the press have a special place in American democracy because
A) free and open debate is an essential mechanism for determining the quality and validity of competing ideas.
B) they are the only liberties explicitly mentioned in the Bill of Rights.
C) they were the last provisions in the Bill of Rights to be incorporated through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
D) they have never been restricted by any law in the history of the United States.
E) they were the only liberties explicitly mentioned in Article I of the Constitution.
Q2) The first and most famous test for determining when the government could intervene to suppress political speech was called the ________.
A) speech plus test
B) clear and present danger test
C) strict scrutiny test
D) Lemon test
E) imminent lawless action test
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights
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Q1) Suffragists called the Statue of Liberty "the greatest hypocrisy of the nineteenth century" because
A) it was in New York-a state that had prohibited women from owning property throughout its history.
B) it was a gift from France and French women were frequently abused by their husbands during the time.
C) "liberty" had historically been represented as a male figure, not a female figure.
D) it was supposed to represent "liberty," yet women could not vote in the United States.
E) the statue did not wear clothes that were appropriate for women during the time.
Q2) ________ inaugurated government affirmative action programs.
A) Franklin Roosevelt
B) Dwight Eisenhower
C) Lyndon Johnson
D) Richard Nixon
E) Ronald Reagan
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Chapter 6: Public Opinion
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Q1) Which of the following terms describe America's fundamental political values?
A) liberal and conservative
B) Republican and Democrat
C) internationalist and isolationist
D) independent and moderate
E) liberty, equality of opportunity, and democracy
Q2) Liberalism and conservatism are good examples of
A) public opinions.
B) political attitudes.
C) political ideologies.
D) political interests.
E) political preferences.
Q3) A wealthy businessperson who is very liberal is an example of A) the fact that group memberships always fully explain all of an individual's political views.
B) the fact that group memberships never fully explain all of an individual's political views.
C) the power of the bandwagon effect.
D) the negative consequences of the power of the mass media.
E) the impact of political correctness on political attitudes.
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Chapter 7: The Media
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Q1) Which group has had great popularity on radio talk shows?
A) conservatives
B) liberals
C) socialists
D) communists
E) racial and ethnic minorities
Q2) The penny press
A) was created in the nineteenth century.
B) facilitated widespread literacy.
C) both a and b
D) was created in the twentieth century.
E) led to the demise of newspapers.
Q3) When journalists focus on a candidate's relative standing in the polls instead of substantive issues they are demonstrating ________ coverage.
A) bandwagon
B) horse race
C) momentum
D) lame duck
E) dog show
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Chapter 8: Political Participation and Voting
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Q1) Women are disadvantaged as candidates for office because
A) too many women run in elections every year.
B) women only run in elections as candidates from the Democratic Party.
C) male voters almost never support female candidates.
D) male candidates are more likely to have the advantage of incumbency in office.
E) there are still many state laws that prevent women from running in elections.
Q2) ________is the single most important political act for most Americans.
A) Peaceful protest
B) Writing a letter to the editor
C) Contributing to political campaigns
D) Voting
E) Canvassing
Q3) An example of the phenomenon called the gender gap would be that
A) more women than men vote for Democrats.
B) more women than men vote for Republicans.
C) more men than women turn out to vote.
D) in families, it is usually women who determine how the family votes.
E) more men than women have had their ballots invalidated.
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Chapter 9: Political Parties
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Q1) ________ develops when the winner of an electoral race obtains more votes than any other candidate.
A) The majority system
B) The plurality system
C) Proportional representation
D) The winner-take-all system
E) The spoils system
Q2) 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
Q3) An individual's psychological attachment to one party or another is called a party
A) ideology
B) opinion
C) identification
D) tradition
E) value system
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Chapter 10: Campaigns and Elections
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Q1) Which of the following statements is FALSE?
A) Most voters in America use paper ballots.
B) The butterfly ballot caused some people to vote for candidates that they did not support in 2000.
C) Some of the electoral devices that are used in the United States are prone to error.
D) Legislative districts in the United States must conform to the principle of "one person, one vote."
E) none of the above
Q2) Plurality and majority systems tend to
A) increase the number of political parties.
B) decrease the number of political parties.
C) evolve into single-party systems.
D) devolve into anarchy.
E) make political parties illegal.
Q3) Describe the steps involved in running a campaign for political office. How is support for a candidate organized? What roles are played by campaign managers, media consultants, and pollsters? How does a candidate win a party's nomination?
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Chapter 11: Groups and Interests
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Q1) Describe some of the different strategies that interest group representatives may employ to gain influence on public policy. Describe the different approaches taken by various interest group officials in pursuit of their policy agenda.
Q2) James Madison called an interest group a ________.
A) mob
B) faction
C) plutocracy
D) corporation
E) social movement
Q3) Organized interest groups enhance American democracy by
A) fielding large numbers of electable candidates.
B) financing large numbers of election campaigns.
C) empowering less potent segments of society.
D) representing the interests of large numbers of people and encouraging political participation.
E) placing initiatives on the ballot.
Q4) What has been the effect of interest groups on political parties? Describe some of the differences between those who join interest groups and those who participate in political party organizations.
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Chapter 12: Congress
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Q1) The larger, more heterogeneous constituencies and longer terms of senators means that they are more
A) attuned to the needs of groups and interests organized on a city or countywide basis.
B) likely to consider new ideas and are better able to act as the agents for groups and interests organized on a statewide or national basis.
C) likely to serve existing interests than to bring together new coalitions of interests.
D) likely to spend their time thinking about and running for re-election.
E) concerned about reapportionment than members of the House.
Q2) Pork-barrel legislation
A) deals with specific projects and their location within a particular congressional district.
B) deals with specific agricultural subsidies.
C) funds efforts to increase the levels of America's meat exports.
D) grants a special privilege to a person named in the bill.
E) orders state governments to implement a program without providing funding for doing so.
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Chapter 13: The Presidency
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Q1) Which of the following attributes did the framers intend for the office of the president to possess?
A) popularity
B) energy
C) extensive flexibility
D) unrestrained power
E) high level of formal education
Q2) The Environmental Protection Agency
A) was created by President Richard Nixon's executive order in 1970.
B) was created in pursuance of congressional legislation designed to improve air and water quality in the United States.
C) is responsible for establishing and enforcing air and water quality standards.
D) is an agency of the executive bureaucracy.
E) all of the above
Q3) Many scholars argue that a president's greatest powers are informal. Explain how the president uses informal powers. What has the White House done to increase the president's popularity? What is the role of political parties? Explain.
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Chapter 14: Bureaucracy in a Democracy
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Q1) Which of the following is NOT a type of federal agency?
A) public welfare
B) internal national security
C) state and local oversight
D) economic security
E) external national security
Q2) Which of the following statements best characterizes the government's spending on federal contracts in recent years?
A) The amount of spending on federal contracts has remained the same since 2000.
B) The amount of spending on federal contracts has decreased steadily since 2000.
C) The amount of spending on federal contracts has increased significantly overall since 2000, but for the first time in 13 years, spending on outside contractors declined in 2011.
D) The amount spent on federal contracts declined between 2000 and 2005 but has dramatically increased since 2005.
E) The amount spent on federal contracts increased between 2000 and 2005 but has dramatically decreased since 2005.
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Chapter 15: The Federal Courts
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Q1) Which of the following statements about Congress's delegation of power to the executive is most accurate?
A) The Constitution prevents Congress from delegating any power to the executive branch.
B) The courts have refused to hear any cases regarding congressional delegation of power to the executive branch since the start of the New Deal.
C) Since the New Deal, the courts have not struck down any congressional delegation of power to the executive branch as impermissibly broad.
D) Since the New Deal, the courts have frequently struck down congressional attempts to delegate powers to the executive branch as impermissibly broad.
E) The courts do not have the jurisdiction to rule on congressional delegation of power to the executive branch.
Q2) The process of confirming federal court appointments has recently become very contentious. Describe the steps to becoming a federal judge. Why has this process become so controversial in recent years? Provide some examples of this conflict in the confirmation process.
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Chapter 16: Government and the Economy
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Q1) During the New Deal, ________ theory that a government could boost employment by stimulating demand became quite influential.
A) Adam Smith's
B) Milton Friedman's
C) Friedrich Hayek's
D) John Maynard Keynes's
E) David Stockman's
Q2) Which of the following is NOT a power of the Federal Reserve Board?
A) the power to increase or decrease the interest rate it charges on the loans it extends to member banks
B) the power to control the reserve requirement
C) the power to buy and sell government securities in order to increase or decrease the supply of money in the economy
D) the power to manipulate the interest rate charge by one bank to another on loans in the federal funds market
E) the power to enforce the federal government's antitrust policies
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Chapter 17: Social Policy
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Q1) The periodic adjustment of benefits or wages that takes into account the increased cost of living is called ________.
A) means testing
B) indexing
C) graphing
D) economic tabulating
E) inflation
Q2) President ________ vowed "to end welfare as we know it."
A) Richard Nixon
B) Ronald Reagan
C) George H. W. Bush
D) George W. Bush
E) Bill Clinton
Q3) Social Security was established in ________.
A) 1897
B) 1929
C) 1930
D) 1935
E) 1965
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Chapter 18: Foreign Policy and Democracy
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Q1) Foreign aid is an economic ________; sanctions are an economic ________.
A) liability; asset
B) asset; liability
C) carrot; stick
D) stick; carrot
E) policy; regulation
Q2) The policy of striking a nation that you fear might be contemplating hostile actions is called ________.
A) diplomacy
B) appeasement
C) détente
D) prevention
E) deterrence
Q3) ________ is NOT a member of NATO.
A) Canada
B) Mexico
C) Poland
D) The Czech Republic
E) Hungary
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