Political Institutions in the United States Exam Review
Course Introduction
This course explores the structure, function, and evolution of political institutions in the United States, including Congress, the Presidency, the federal judiciary, and various bureaucratic agencies. Students will examine how these institutions interact within the framework of the U.S. Constitution, influence policy-making processes, balance power, and respond to both historical and contemporary challenges. The course also considers the impact of federalism, political parties, interest groups, and public opinion on institutional behavior, offering a comprehensive understanding of American governance and its foundational systems.
Recommended Textbook Government in America People Politics and Policy Brief Edition 11th Edition by George C. Edwards
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17 Chapters
2189 Verified Questions
2189 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Introducing Government in America
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108 Verified Questions
108 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What unites Americans more than anything else according to your textbook?
A)The president
B)Their political culture
C)Participation in elections
D)A belief in group politics
E)Liberal attitudes toward immigration
Answer: B
Q2) Young people are more likely to be politically informed than are older Americans.
A)True
B)False Answer: False
Q3) According to Seymour Martin Lipset,the American creed includes a commitment to laissez-faire economics.
A)True
B)False Answer: True
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Page 3
Chapter 2: The Constitution
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129 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The New Jersey Plan called for equal representation of each state in Congress regardless of the state's population.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) The Lockean phrase "life,liberty,and property" captures Locke's belief in
A)consent of the governed and government's obligation to protect property.
B)government's obligation to spread property equally among citizens.
C)the notion that happiness was secondary to the right to own land.
D)laissez-faire economics.
E)the state of nature as the locale of human happiness.
Answer: A
Q3) The British government stepped up its control over the American colonies with new taxes and stronger commerce right after A)King Philip's War.
B)the assassination of the Duke of Windsor.
C)King George's War.
D)the Civil War.
E)the French and Indian War.
Answer: E
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Chapter 3: Federalism
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118 Verified Questions
118 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The principle of the supremacy of federal law over state law was affirmed in A)Marbury v. Madison.
B)the Tenth Amendment.
C)United States v. Darby.
D)McCulloch v. Maryland.
E)the presidential election of 1804.
Answer: D
Q2) Funding for the interstate highway system is an example of A)dual federalism.
B)cooperative federalism.
C)tripartite federalism.
D)a unitary system of government.
E)national federalism.
Answer: B
Q3) In the early part of American history,cooperative federalism characterized intergovernmental relations; the course of the twentieth century,in contrast,is primarily characterized by dual federalism.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties and Public Policy
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135 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Obtaining evidence in a haphazard or random manner,in violation of the Fourth Amendment,is known as
A)bounty hunting.
B)unreasonable search and seizure.
C)a violation of privacy.
D)cruel and unusual punishment.
E)an Ariel search.
Q2) In Planned Parenthood v.Casey (1992)the Supreme Court loosened its standard for evaluating restrictions on abortion.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The great freedoms of speech,press,religion,and assembly are contained in the A)First,Second,Third,and Fourth Amendments.
B)Fourth Amendment.
C)Second Amendment.
D)Third Amendment.
E)First Amendment.
Q4) It is unconstitutional to pray in school.
A)True
B)False
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights and Public Policy
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121 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Nineteenth Amendment
A)gave women the constitutional right to vote.
B)outlawed the poll tax in federal elections.
C)repealed Prohibition.
D)gave African Americans the constitutional right to vote.
E)ended slavery.
Q2) Which of the following statements about Native Americans is FALSE?
A)Native Americans are the oldest minority group in the United States.
B)Native Americans are guaranteed access to the polls,housing,and to jobs.
C)Native Americans were made citizens of the United States long before African Americans received the same status.
D)The Indian Claims Act of 1946 established a means to settle financial disputes arising from lands taken from the Native Americans.
E)Native Americans are the poorest minority group in the United States.
Q3) Explain how civil rights laws expand both the scope and power of government,citing specific court decisions and federal laws as evidence.
Q4) The original Constitution is silent on the question of equality.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Public Opinion and Political Action
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126 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Martin Luther King,Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" is a classic defense of
A)protest.
B)violence.
C)civil disobedience.
D)law and order.
E)antiwar philosophy.
Q2) Which of the following statements about Americans' political ideology is FALSE?
A)More Americans choose the ideological label of conservative over liberal.
B)Among people under the age of 30,there are just as many liberals as conservatives.
C)The younger the individual,the more likely that person is to be conservative.
D)More Americans identify as moderates than identify as liberals.
E)Groups with political clout tend to be more conservative than those who lack access to political power.
Q3) How might we explain the fact that many Americans are ideological conservatives but operational liberals? What are the consequences of this fact for democracy,public opinion,and political action?
Q4) The U.S.Census is conducted every 20 years.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: The Mass Media and the Political Agenda
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125 Verified Questions
125 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The overriding bias in the news is toward stories that
A)include talking heads.
B)are triangular.
C)are liberal.
D)draw large audiences.
E)target specific audiences.
Q2) How do news organizations get most of their news? What role do beats,trial balloons,and leaks play? Is the process of news gathering fair and logical? Explain.
Q3) In what ways has the relationship between the media and politicians changed in the time since Ronald Reagan was president? In what ways does President Obama face a different media than did Reagan? What are the consequences of these changes for presidential leadership?
Q4) Should broadcast stations be required to provide free airtime to political candidates? What are the arguments for and against this idea? Do you support free airtime? Why or why not?
Q5) Describe how the media shape public opinion.What are the consequences of the media's influence on public opinion?
Q6) Do the news media shape public opinion?
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Chapter 8: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) In 2008,according to the National Election Studies,a large majority of Americans identified as Democrats,while only a small minority identified as Republicans.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In 2000,Green Party candidate Ralph Nader forced more attention on
issues and drew away a small percentage of votes from Al Gore.
A)budgetary
B)environmental
C)health
D)national security welfare
E)None of the above is true.
Q3) A Blue Dog Democrat refers to a group of socially conservative Democrats drawn from the northeast.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is divided government? What is the connection between divided government and party dealignment? How does this affect the way the government functions?
Q5) What was the importance of the election of 1896?
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Chapter 9: Campaigns and Voting Behavior
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156 Verified Questions
156 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) It is possible for the Electoral College to choose a president who did not win a majority of the popular vote.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Most delegates to the Democratic and Republican conventions are selected in presidential primaries.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The reform impulse that led to the creation of the primaries was an antidemocratic impulse.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Describe who votes in United States elections and who stays home.Which groups have the highest turnout rates? Which have the lowest? Explain why you think some groups are more,and some less,likely to vote.
Q5) What are matching funds? Where do they come from? Why have recent candidates,including John McCain and Barack Obama in 2008,forgone matching funds?
Q6) What is meant by "soft money" in a political campaign,and why is it important?
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Chapter 10: Interest Groups
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135 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the importance of amicus curiae briefs and class action lawsuits to the efforts of interest groups to influence policy?
Q2) All subgovernments have the same goal of
A)protecting the public interest.
B)attacking the government head-on.
C)protecting their self-interest.
D)electing the most qualified people to office.
E)joining the main government.
Q3) Which of the following statements about pluralism is TRUE?
A)Pluralist theory rests on many centers of power in American politics.
B)Groups serve as a key linkage institution in pluralist theory.
C)Pluralists assume that no single group will become too powerful.
D)The extensive organization of competing groups provides evidence that power is widely dispersed among them.
E)All of the above are true.
Q4) Describe the differences between the pluralist,hyperpluralist,and elite theories in regard to the role played by interest groups in American society.
Q5) Describe and evaluate the methods interest groups use in pursuing their policy goals.
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Chapter 11: Congress
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140 Verified Questions
140 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the Constitution,revenue bills must originate in the A)Internal Revenue Service.
B)Federal Reserve System.
C)House.
D)Senate.
E)Treasury Department.
Q2) Most of the business of Congress takes place
A)in congressional districts.
B)on the floor of the House and Senate.
C)in committees and subcommittees.
D)during evening social functions.
E)in the Rules Committee.
Q3) The most powerful person in the Senate is the A)majority leader.
B)vice president of the United States,who serves as president of the Senate.
C)chair of the Rules Committee.
D)Speaker.
E)president of the United States.
Q4) What is constituency service and how is it important to the job of members of Congress?
Page 13
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Chapter 12: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) The main job of the vice president is to serve as the president's chief of staff.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which amendment limits presidents to two terms?
A)Nineteenth
B)Twentieth
C)Twenty-first
D)Twenty-second
E)Twenty-third
Q3) The principal intermediary between the president and the public is the
A)Congress.
B)vice president.
C)media.
D)First Lady.
E)Executive Office of the President.
Q4) Describe what is meant by the president as the "chief legislator."
Q5) What duties does the president's press secretary have? How does the press secretary's role shape the relationship between the presidency and the press?
Q6) What is the role of the president as the nation's chief diplomat?
Page 14
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Chapter 13: The Federal Bureaucracy
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125 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) One way that Congress attempts to control the bureaucracy is by influencing the appointment of agency heads.
A)True
B)False
Q2) All regulations contain each of the following elements EXCEPT
A)a grant of power and set of directions from Congress.
B)some means of enforcing compliance with congressional goals and agency regulations.
C)presidential oversight and control of enforcement.
D)a set of rules and guidelines by the regulatory agency itself.
E)None of these; all are elements of the regulatory process.
Q3) Federal government employment accounts for about ___ percent of all civilian jobs.
A)2
B)10
C)15
D)20
E)30
Q4) What means do presidents and Congress each use to control the bureaucracy? List and explain these tools.
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Chapter 14: The Federal Courts
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Sample Questions
Q1) President Obama's first nominee to the Supreme Court in 2009 was _________,who became the first __________.
A)Samuel Alito; Italian American justice.
B)Sonia Sotomayor; Latino justice.
C)Sandra Day O'Connor; female justice.
D)Ruth Bader Ginsberg; female justice.
E)John Roberts; chief justice not appointed from among the sitting justices.
Q2) The requirement that plaintiffs have a serious interest in a case,depending on whether they have sustained or are likely to sustain a direct and substantial injury from another party or from an action of government,is called
A)standing to sue.
B)a justiciable dispute.
C)original jurisdiction.
D)appellate jurisdiction.
E)stare decisis.
Q3) In what ways do interest groups try to influence the courts?
Q4) Explain the organization of the federal court system.What types of cases are heard in each of the different courts?
Q5) What is a per curiam decision? Why is it significant?
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Politics of Taxing and Spending
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Sample Questions
Q1) Entitlements are
A)increases in funding for specific individuals or groups like farmers or small business owners.
B)policies for which Congress has obligated itself to pay X level of benefits to Y number of recipients.
C)special rights granted to elderly Americans.
D)government efforts to redistribute and equalize wealth.
E)budget items,the funding of which fluctuates greatly from year to year.
Q2) The Supreme Court ruled the federal sales tax unconstitutional in the case of Pollock v.Farmer's Loan and Trust Co.
A)True B)False
Q3) How is tax policy and spending in the United States different from other Western nations?
Q4) Tax exemptions are revenue losses that result from special exclusions or deductions on federal taxes.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What was the purpose of the Sixteenth Amendment? Why was it necessary?
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Chapter 16: Social Welfare Policymaking
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Sample Questions
Q1) A major study by Charles Murray argued that
A)although the Great Society did not eliminate poverty,it did reduce the number of poor.
B)not only did the social programs of the Great Society fail to curb the advance of poverty,they actually made the situation worse.
C)macroeconomic cycles were responsible for much of the movement into and out of poverty during the post-1965 period.
D)although the Great Society was able to reduce poverty in America,it had no effect on racial discrimination.
E)there is a "new poverty" in America that is largely the result of deindustrialization,foreign competition,the exploitation of part-time workers,and stagnation of the minimum wage.
Q2) Describe the major features of the welfare reform bill signed by President Clinton in 1996.What issues relating to the scope of government did the welfare bill raise? How democratic was it?
Q3) Social welfare policies have fueled the growth of government since the 1930s.
A)True
B)False
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Page 18
Chapter 17: National Security Policymaking
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Sample Questions
Q1) The idea that war is "the continuation of politics by other means" helps to capture
A)the way Democrats and Republicans differ over the war in Iraq.
B)the way political parties fight with each other.
C)the idea that governments use their military to help pursue policy goals.
D)the notion that economic instruments are ineffective weapons of foreign policy.
E)diplomacy is the quietest instrument of influence in global politics.
Q2) Which of the following countries is not among those who have declared that they have nuclear weapons?
A)Russia
B)Britain
C)France
D)China
E)Israel
Q3) To counter NATO,the Soviet Union and its Eastern European allies formed the Warsaw Pact.
A)True
B)False
Q4) How have multinational corporations influenced American foreign policy?
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Page 19