Introduction to American Government Chapter Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Introduction to American Government explores the foundational principles, structures, and functions of the United States government. The course covers key topics such as the Constitution, federalism, the three branches of government, civil rights and liberties, and the electoral process. Students will examine the historical development of American political institutions, analyze how public policy is formulated and implemented, and discuss the role of citizens and political parties in shaping government decisions. Through a combination of lectures, readings, and discussions, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of how American government operates within a democratic framework and its impact on everyday life.
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Politics in America 2014 Elections and Updates Edition 10th Edition by Thomas R. Dye
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Chapter 1: Politics: Who Gets What,When and How 1
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Q1) People living in a democracy have a greater moral obligation to obey the law than people living in a dictatorship because __________.
A)they have the opportunity to change unjust laws by working within the system
B)the social contract prohibits demonstrating against unpopular laws
C)laws passed in a democracy are always right and just
D)laws in a democracy are passed by the majority,and majority rules
Answer: A
Q2) Political science usually limits its attention to __________.
A)foreign policy affairs
B)union politics
C)politics in government
D)domestic politics
Answer: C
Q3) Legitimacy in governing comes from popular consent.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) The __________ of democracy is the potential for conflict between individual freedom and majority rule.
Answer: paradox
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Chapter 2: Political Culture: Ideas in Conflict
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Q1) American immigration policy is a responsibility of the __________.
A)individual county governments
B)United Nations
C)national government
D)international community
Answer: C
Q2) If you wanted to measure the well-being of a nation,which of these would be most useful?
A)average age of retirement
B)average income
C)distribution of income
D)gross domestic product
Answer: C
Q3) Great income inequality would be typified by a large percentage of all households in the highest and lowest income brackets.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) Shared ideas about what is good and desirable are called __________.
Answer: values
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Chapter 3: The Constitution: Limiting Governmental Power
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Q1) The __________ Amendment protects freedom of assembly.
Answer: First
Q2) As depicted in Figure 3.2,Confidence in the Three Branches of Government,the American people believe which branch of government is the most trustworthy?
A)all branches are equally trustworthy
B)the presidency
C)the Supreme Court
D)Congress
Answer: C
Q3) What is the name given to the law that governed people before governments existed?
A)original law
B)Biblical law
C)natural law
D)universal law
Answer: C
Q4) The __________ favored a weak national government and strong state governments.
Answer: Anti-Federalists
Q5) __________ Rebellion exposed the problems under the Articles of Confederation. Answer: Shays's
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Chapter 4: Federalism: Dividing Governmental Power
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Q1) The Defense of Marriage Act potentially violates which clause of the Constitution?
A)Commerce
B)Full Faith and Credit
C)Supremacy
D)Due Process
Q2) The box "The Game,the Rules,the Players," discusses how the U.S.Supreme Court has consistently rejected the Compact Theory of Union holding that __________.
A)a state legislature can determine whether a national law violates the Constitution
B)a state can impede the implementation of a law in its borders
C)the Constitution finds its authority in the people,rather than in the states
D)the Constitution finds its authority in the states,rather than in the people
Q3) Which clause in the Constitution ensures that judicial decrees and contracts made in one state will be binding and enforceable in another?
A)Commerce
B)Due Process
C)Equal Protection
D)Full Faith and Credit
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Chapter 5: Opinion and Participation: Thinking and Acting in Politics
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Q1) Because Jeremiah favors minimal voter registration requirements,he is more likely than other members of the county's election board,who all have concerns about voter fraud,to oppose registration by mail.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Approximately 85 percent of registered voters turn out for a presidential election,but this figure represents only about 50 percent of the voting-age population.What does this discrepancy suggest?
A)that voters prefer to look at the voting returns on television later in the evening
B)that the "rational" model does not explain voter turnout
C)that people exercise their right to vote out of a sense of duty
D)that registration is a significant barrier to participation
Q3) Hispanics tend toward conservatism on economic issues and liberalism on social issues.
A)True B)False
Q4) Discuss the ways in which diffuse support for the American political system is built.
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Chapter 6: Mass Media: Setting the Political Agenda
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Q1) How would you change existing legislation in order to find an acceptable compromise between the freedoms of the press and issues such as safeguarding national security and prosecuting illegal activities?
Q2) It can be argued that in spite of critiques about "fluff" on television,this medium
A)is by far the most accurate in its presentation of news
B)is still the preferred news source for young viewers
C)best represents the tastes and wishes of most Americans
D)is the most respected by today's politicians
Q3) When journalists choose to cover election fraud from the point of view of voting officials,they are newsmaking.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In Reno v.American Civil Liberties Union,the Supreme Court gave __________ the task of filtering Internet content for those under the age of eighteen.
A)the FTC
B)parents
C)the FCC
D)Internet providers
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Chapter 7: Political Parties: Organizing Politics
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Q1) Which of the following groups did not belong to the so-called Reagan Coalition?
A)African Americans
B)religious fundamentalists
C)internationalists and anticommunists
D)businesspeople
Q2) Strictly disciplined party organizations,called __________,are headed by a boss and rely on material rewards-including patronage jobs-to control politics.
A)machines
B)caucuses
C)cabinets
D)parties
Q3) Following the Revolutionary War,defenders of the Constitution were known as
A)Whigs
B)Federalists
C)Democrat-Republicans
D)Anti-Federalists
Q4) Assess whether dealignment in the American party system has actually occurred.
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Chapter 8: Campaigns and Elections: Deciding Who
Governs
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Q1) Candidates who win the presidency automatically have a policy mandate from the voters.
A)True
B)False
Q2) How many electoral votes are needed to win the presidency?
A)225
B)256
C)270
D)300
Q3) What was the effect of the Supreme Court's ruling in the Citizens United case?
A)Candidates are now free to spend any amount of their own personal funds on a campaign.
B)Corporations and unions must create separate PACs to solicit funds from stockholders or union members for political purposes.
C)Soft-money contributions to federal candidates are strictly limited.
D)Corporations and unions can now spend money directly for political purposes.
Q4) In terms of the 2012 presidential election,why did President Obama retain office? What factors contributed to his victory,and what contributed to his challenger Mitt Romney's loss?
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Chapter 9: Interest Groups: Getting Their Share and More
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Q1) What is lobbying?
A)communicating with government officials to persuade them to support a particular policy position
B)conducting surveys to gauge public opinion on a policy issue
C)convincing potential members to join an interest group by offering them material benefits
D)fundraising for political candidates
Q2) What is an amicus curiae brief?
A)a written argument submitted to a court in support of one side of a case
B)a petition to remove a judge from a court case
C)a petition submitted to Congress in support of or opposition to a judicial nominee
D)a petition submitted to an executive branch agency,requesting a review of the agency's decision
Q3) The __________ problem occurs when people fail to join a group because they can receive the benefits the group offers without contributing to the group's efforts.
Q4) Organizational __________ occurs when the political system provides so many special benefits to interest groups that everyone's standard of living is lowered.
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Chapter 10: Congress: Politics on Capitol Hill
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Q1) A special joint committee created to reconcile differences in bills passed by the House and Senate is called a(n)__________ committee.
A)arbitration
B)conference
C)joint
D)select/special
Q2) A lesser punishment in the Congress than expulsion is official __________.
Q3) The __________ is where congressional members of each party gather to select their leadership at the beginning of each term.
A)conference committee
B)electoral college
C)leadership conference
D)party caucus
Q4) __________ is a vote to end debate which requires a three-fifths vote of the entire membership of the Senate.
Q5) The congressional elections of 2000 reflected the close partisan division of the nation.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 11: The President: White House Politics
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Q1) The president can approve covert actions without obtaining congressional approval.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Constitutionally,what is the only role given to the vice president?
A)preside over the House of Representatives
B)preside over the Senate
C)implement executive orders
D)formulate foreign policy
Q3) In which capacity is a modern vice president particularly influential in American politics?
A)as an advisor in the policy-making process
B)as a leader of the Cabinet
C)as a lead negotiator for executive agreements
D)as a fund-raiser for the president during reelection
Q4) Historically,vice-presidential candidates are chosen to __________.
A)help set the president's agenda
B)mentor the president
C)politically balance the ticket
D)succeed the president in the next election
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Chapter 12: The Bureaucracy: Bureaucratic Politics
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Q1) How did the Pendleton Act reform the system of hiring federal employees?
A)It required hiring decisions to be based on partisan loyalty rather than merit.
B)It required hiring decisions to be based on merit rather than partisan loyalty.
C)It continued to allow hiring on the basis of partisan loyalty,but made firing federal employees easier.
D)It continued to allow hiring on the basis of partisan loyalty,but made firing federal employees more difficult.
Q2) The federal bureaucracy consists of the departments,agencies,and offices within the __________ that perform the functions of government.
A)Senate
B)executive branch
C)Cabinet
D)legislative branch
Q3) Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the current budgetary process.In your opinion,do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages,or do you see a need for reform in the budgetary process?
Q4) The president appoints,but cannot dismiss,officials who serve on __________.
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Chapter 13: Courts Judicial Politics
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Q1) What do presidents look for in selecting a Supreme Court justice?
Q2) The doctrine of original intent states that the Constitution should be interpreted in light of modern values.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following can modify a decision of the Supreme Court?
A)executive order
B)federal statute
C)lower court decision
D)constitutional amendment
Q4) If a judge believes that she should only strike down laws that clearly violate the Constitution,she likely believes in which of the following?
A)judicial activism
B)judicial conservatism
C)judicial originalism
D)judicial restraint
Q5) Explain the historical development of the independent counsel (or special prosecutor).Do you believe that the special prosecutor should still exist? Why or why not?
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Chapter 14: Politics and Personal Liberty
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Q1) Why are the establishment and free exercise clauses necessary to maintain the separation of church and state?
Q2) The First Amendment requires that an indictment be issued by a grand jury before a person may be brought to trial on a felony offense.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Opponents of the death penalty have argued that it violates which amendment to the Constitution?
A)Second
B)Fifth
C)Eighth
D)Tenth
Q4) Commercial speech is constitutionally protected.
A)True
B)False
Q5) How did Miranda v.Arizona change the way law enforcement treated criminal defendants?
Q6) In the 1970s,the Supreme Court ended __________ because it was being imposed arbitrarily,but it was later reinstated.
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Chapter 15: Politics and Civil Rights
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Q1) In Windsor v.United States the Supreme Court reviewed DOMA.This case arose from a challenge to __________ that deny equal treatment to same-sex marriages.
A)federal estate tax laws
B)federal health care policies
C)federal payroll tax laws
D)state health care policies
Q2) Jim Crow laws required __________ of African Americans and whites.
Q3) The Equal Rights Amendment __________.
A)fundamentally restructured the American family
B)guaranteed African Americans full citizenship rights
C)was never ratified
D)successfully eliminated all gender differences in the law
Q4) Which of the following strategies for expanding civil rights would the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.have been most likely to support?
A)sabotaging the electricity supply to the homes of segregationist leaders
B)intimidating elderly whites to discourage them from supporting Jim Crow laws
C)boycotting stores that enforced segregationist policies
D)boycotting elections to underscore the problem of African American disenfranchisement
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Chapter 16: Politics and the Economy
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Q1) Which of the following helps explain the difficulty in solving the long-term debt problem in the United States?
A)The decline in the strength of American political parties in recent years has made compromise in this area highly unlikely.
B)The decline in social spending has reduced the level of economic growth in the United States.
C)The Democratic Party has been captured by special interest groups that benefit from high levels of debt.
D)The rise of extreme partisanship in recent years has made compromise in this area highly unlikely.
Q2) The primary purpose of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)was to
A)bail out the auto industry
B)bail out the banking sector
C)reduce the annual budget deficit
D)reduce the public/national debt
Q3) Discuss the differences in philosophy,key actors,and tools of fiscal and monetary policy.Should the federal government give preference to one to the other? Why or why not?
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Chapter 17: Politics and Social Welfare
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Q1) People __________ has put a strain on the Social Security system.
A)tending to be underweight
B)working later in life
C)tending to be obese
D)living longer
Q2) Beginning in 2014,the __________ is responsible for issuing fines for those Americans who fail to purchase health insurance.
Q3) Which of the following is true of Social Security over time?
A)Both the number of recipients of Social Security and the number of contributing workers per recipient have increased.
B)Recipients of Social Security have increased and the number of contributing workers per recipient has declined.
C)Recipients of Social Security have decreased and the number of contributing workers per recipient has increased.
D)Both the number of recipients of Social Security and the number of contributing workers per recipient have decreased.
Q4) The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program issues coupons that are known as
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Chapter 18: Politics and National Security
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Q1) Which of the following would the president be most likely to rely on for defense if North Korea were to launch a missile at the United States today?
A)the ballistic missile defense (BMD)system
B)stealth bombers to fly airstrikes into North Korea
C)special forces units to perform covert operations in Korea
D)SCUD missiles
Q2) The notion behind the League of Nations was collective security,while the notion behind NATO was __________.
Q3) __________ has the constitutional power to declare war.
Q4) Which of the following was a fundamental part of the George W.Bush administration's case for the 2003 war in Iraq?
A)Iraq attacked Israel in 2002 with SCUD missiles and was threatening to do so again.
B)Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
C)Saddam Hussein had provided considerable funding to Osama bin Laden.
D)Saddam Hussein had provided al-Qaeda with military intelligence and training.
Q5) U.S.involvement in Vietnam was largely driven by the philosophy of containment.
A)True
B)False
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