Modern American Democracy Practice Exam
Course Introduction
Modern American Democracy explores the development and functioning of democratic institutions, political parties, and public policy in the United States from the twentieth century to the present. The course examines the evolution of constitutional principles, the impact of social movements, electoral processes, and key political figures shaping contemporary governance. Students analyze challenges facing American democracy, such as polarization, campaign finance, media influence, and civil rights debates, fostering a deeper understanding of the complexities and resilience of democratic practices in modern America.
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Politics in America 2014 Elections and Updates Edition 10th Edition by Thomas R. Dye
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Politics: Who Gets What,When and How 1
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Q1) What is one of the principles that make up the definition of democracy?
A)decision making by tyranny of the majority
B)equal protection under the law for every individual
C)opportunity for chosen representatives to participate in public decisions
D)the promise of equal outcomes for all
Answer: B
Q2) Majority __________ means that all persons have an equal say in decisions affecting them.
Answer: rule
Q3) What is the gross domestic product (GDP)of a nation?
A)the dollar sum of all the goods and services produced in a nation in a year
B)the amount of goods and services that private markets cannot readily furnish in a year
C)the defense spending of a nation in a year
D)the taxes collected by a nation in a year
Answer: A
Q4) Totalitarianism appears to be somewhat less oppressive than authoritarianism.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Page 3
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Chapter 2: Political Culture: Ideas in Conflict
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Q1) __________ was the most influential political ideology in the founding of the United States.
A)Classical liberalism
B)Conservatism
C)Populism
D)Socialism
Answer: A
Q2) The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 granted __________ to illegal aliens who had lived in the Unites States since 1982.
Answer: amnesty
Q3) Classical liberalism and capitalism overlap in one major area: the right to property.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) __________ is an economic system asserting an individual's right to own private property and to buy,sell,rent,and trade that property in a free market.
Answer: Capitalism
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Chapter 3: The Constitution: Limiting Governmental Power
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Q1) The original Constitution placed most of the tax burden on Americans in the form of
A)tariffs on imported goods
B)an income tax
C)a national sales tax
D)property taxes
Answer: A
Q2) According to the Constitution,the __________ has the power to approve all treaties the United States enters into with other nations.
A)Senate
B)House of Representatives
C)Supreme Court
D)president
Answer: A
Q3) Which of the following debated and adopted the Declaration of Independence?
A)Constitutional Congress
B)First Continental Congress
C)Revolutionary Congress
D)Second Continental Congress
Answer: D
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Chapter 4: Federalism: Dividing Governmental Power
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Q1) Centralized federalism is characterized by the federal government assuming primary responsibility for __________.
A)running local elections
B)returning power to the states
C)bypassing state regulations
D)determining national goals
Q2) Prior to the ratification of the Constitution,the United States was governed by the Articles of __________.
A)Confederation
B)Union
C)Federalism
D)Independence
Q3) Which of the following is an implied power of the federal government?
A)admitting new states
B)establishing a national speed limit
C)declaring war
D)establishing federal courts
Q4) __________ occurs when a national law or regulation takes precedence over a conflicting state or local law or regulation.
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Chapter 5: Opinion and Participation: Thinking and Acting in Politics
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Q1) If a public opinion poll finds that voters in New Jersey only slightly favor new gun-control legislation that is currently being debated in the state legislature,it can be correctly assumed that the issue was not salient to any individual voter whose opinion was sampled.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following groups of people has the least influence on elected officials when those officials are considering specific changes to government policies?
A)commentators
B)reporters
C)interest groups
D)the public
Q3) Discuss the ways in which diffuse support for the American political system is built.
Q4) Which constitutional amendment gave 18-year-olds the right to vote?
A)23rd Amendment
B)24th Amendment
C)25th Amendment
D)26th Amendment
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Mass Media: Setting the Political Agenda
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Q1) During election campaigns,the media require candidates to stage media events.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The Sullivan rule relates to slander and libel.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Campaigning for president begins in earnest about how long before the November presidential election?
A)six months
B)one year
C)eighteen months
D)two years
Q4) Which of these explains Rupert Murdoch's introduction of a "fair and balanced" Fox News network?
A)financial opportunity
B)personal bias
C)a sense of mission
D)FCC requirements
Q5) How does political polarization of the media impact our political system?
Q6) Public awareness of a candidate is often referred to as __________ recognition.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Political Parties: Organizing Politics
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Q1) The electorate becoming less partisan than in the past is a key indicator of
A)dealignment
B)issue evolution
C)patronage
D)realignment
Q2) The official party __________ is ratified by delegates and leaders at the national party convention every four years,but given little serious attention.
A)article
B)constitution
C)platform
D)procedure
Q3) Progressive movement reforms gave voters the power to choose a party's nominees directly.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A(n)__________ is a delegate to the Democratic Party national convention selected because of his/her position in the government or party and not pledged to any specific candidate.
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Chapter 8: Campaigns and Elections: Deciding Who
Governs
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Sample Questions
Q1) Incumbents begin a campaign with greater ___________ than their challengers.
A)voter turnout
B)voter support
C)name recognition
D)mobilization
Q2) Which campaign activity occupies more of a candidate's time than any other?
A)giving speeches
B)raising funds
C)meeting with campaign staff
D)appearing on television
Q3) When voters support professional office holders,they are also supporting
A)democracy
B)proficiency
C)careerism
D)expertise
Q4) Would elimination of the Electoral College change American elections? Would the change be positive?
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Q5) __________ voting is based on which party or candidate offers the best promises for the future.
Chapter 9: Interest Groups: Getting Their Share and More
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Q1) Which of the following is an example of bribery?
A)a politician granting a meeting with one of his or her PAC contributors
B)a lobbyist offering payments to a member of Congress to insert a tax break into a bill
C)an interest group offering political support to members of Congress who vote a particular way on a bill
D)a lobbyist offering members of Congress free meals at expensive restaurants
Q2) Research has shown that business/economic interest groups outnumber all other types of organizations in terms of their lobbying presence in Washington,D.C.Why do some scholars view this as problematic for the functioning of our political system? Could it be argued that this is not a problem at all?
Q3) According to the theory of pluralism,political power is distributed across a wide range of diverse and competing interest groups.
A)True
B)False
Q4) As shown in Figure 9.1,membership in labor unions has increased over the last several decades.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: Congress: Politics on Capitol Hill
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Q1) How are committee chairs selected in the majority-party caucus?
A)a subject knowledge test
B)interviews to determine party loyalty
C)joint decision of the majority and minority leaders
D)seniority within the party
Q2) The __________ decides how a bill will be debated on the floor following subcommittee review and markup.
A)Senate Judiciary Committee
B)House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
C)Senate Standing Committee
D)House Rules Committee
Q3) A rise in party unity is indicative of __________.
A)cooperation across party lines
B)cooperation between Congress and the executive branch
C)decreasing party polarization
D)low bipartisanship levels
Q4) The congressional elections of 2000 reflected the close partisan division of the nation.
A)True
B)False
Page 12
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Chapter 11: The President: White House Politics
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Q1) Which of these became an official presidential qualification in 1951?
A)natural born citizen
B)at least 35 years old
C)resident of the United States for two years
D)a maximum of two terms
Q2) If you were a citizen living in the United States during George Washington's presidency,it would have been possible for your president to take on a third term.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What does the Twenty-Second Amendment do?
A)requires that presidents are natural born citizens
B)requires that presidents serve only two terms
C)requires the president to be a resident of the United States for two years
D)requires the president to be at least thirty-five years old
Q4) Describe how the president's powers as commander in chief expanded over time and give reasons why these changes occurred.Do you think this expansion is a positive one for the office of the president?
Q5) According to the Constitution,__________ should be reserved for serious criminal offenses,not political conflicts.
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Chapter 12: The Bureaucracy: Bureaucratic Politics
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Q1) Which circumstance creates a challenge to the implementation of federal laws?
A)when Congress passes a law that contains ambiguity
B)when Congress calls agency heads to testify at formal hearings
C)when functions are transferred to the private sector
D)when each chamber of Congress is controlled by a different party
Q2) Which of Max Weber's characteristics of bureaucracy is illustrated by a government agency in which the greatest authority resides with the agency head?
A)administrative discretion
B)the merit principle
C)division of labor/task specialization
D)hierarchy/chain of command
Q3) When a federal agency adjudicates,or issues quasi-judicial decisions about legal disputes,the agency's decisions can be appealed in a federal court.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Compare the spoils system to the federal civil service system in terms of how each has influenced the performance of the federal bureaucracy.
Q5) The president appoints,but cannot dismiss,officials who serve on __________.
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Chapter 13: Courts Judicial Politics
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Q1) Following oral arguments,the justices gather for a __________,during which they discuss the case and cast preliminary votes.
A)conference
B)meeting
C)hearing
D)review
Q2) Of all the federal courts,only the __________ is established by the Constitution.
Q3) To "grant certiorari," the Supreme Court relies on its __________.
A)judicial implementation
B)rule of execution
C)amicus curiae
D)rule of four
Q4) The president,with the __________ and __________ of the Senate,appoints all federal judges.
Q5) How many justices currently serve on the Supreme Court?
A)five
B)six
C)twelve
D)nine
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Chapter 14: Politics and Personal Liberty
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Q1) The taking of property under eminent domain is valid only if it is for __________.
A)a government building or structure
B)commercial use
C)private use
D)public use
Q2) Profanity,obscenity,and threats are examples of which of the following?
A)hate speech
B)prior restraints
C)fighting words
D)free speech
Q3) Eminent domain is considered lawful under the __________ clause.
A)takings
B)privileges or immunities
C)due process
D)establishment
Q4) One prong of the Lemon test for determining whether a particular law violates the 1?? amendment is that the law has a(n)__________ purpose.
Q5) How did Miranda v.Arizona change the way law enforcement treated criminal defendants?
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Chapter 15: Politics and Civil Rights
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Q1) __________ programs are designed to help remedy continued inequality by giving special treatment to members of previously discriminated-against groups.
Q2) 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
Q3) What precipitated the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
A)the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech
B)the Greensboro,N.C.,lunch counter sit-in
C)the arrest of Rosa Parks in Montgomery,Ala.
D)the Supreme Court's decision in Plessy v.Ferguson
Q4) The __________ declared that public treaties between the United States government and the independent Native nations would be the only legal means of obtaining Indian land.
A)Northwest Ordinance of 1787
B)Voting Rights Act
C)Five Civilized Tribes Act
D)Intercourse Act of 1790
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Chapter 16: Politics and the Economy
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Q1) The size of the national debt is __________.
A)declining
B)rising
C)marginal
D)stagnating
Q2) 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.
Q3) Monetary economic policy uses the money supply to affect growth in the U.S.economy.
A)True
B)False
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Page 18
Chapter 17: Politics and Social Welfare
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Q1) According to the "Who's Getting What? Who Are the Poor?" feature box,which group has the highest percentage living below the poverty line?
A)Whites
B)African Americans
C)female heads of households
D)those under age 18
Q2) If an individual receives government benefits due to his or her level of income,they are considered to be what?
A)transfer payments
B)a pension
C)means-tested spending
D)redistributed income
Q3) Temporary Assistance to Needy Families replaced the federal program
Q4) According to the text,what percentage of the U.S.population was not covered by insurance prior to the Affordable Care Act?
A)15
B)18
C)25
D)34
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Chapter 18: Politics and National Security
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Q1) Terrorism is a technique used to effect political change by instilling __________ among the general public.
Q2) During the height of the Cold War,what would the United States likely have done if it had discovered that the Soviet Union was secretly installing nuclear missiles in another country close to the United States?
A)allowed the missiles to be delivered and then sent in military forces to confiscate them
B)engaged in a direct military conflict with the Soviet Union
C)blocked the transport of the missiles while finding a way to negotiate an agreement with the Soviet Union
D)withdrawn from NATO and unilaterally attacked the Soviet Union
Q3) The American people might be suspicious of future U.S.military involvement after the war in Iraq like they were after the Vietnam War because it is not clear that the outcome of the war justified the costs in both resources and lives.
A)True
B)False
Q4) __________ has the constitutional power to declare war.
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