Principles of American Government Exam Bank
Course Introduction
Principles of American Government explores the foundational concepts, structures, and functions that define the political system of the United States. This course examines the Constitution, federalism, the separation of powers, checks and balances, and the roles of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Students will analyze the philosophical underpinnings of American democracy, civil liberties and rights, and the processes of policy-making at both national and state levels. The course also evaluates the influence of political parties, interest groups, media, and public opinion in shaping government actions, preparing students to understand and engage with contemporary political issues.
Recommended Textbook
Government by the People 2011 National Edition 24th Edition by David B. Magleby
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28 Chapters
3979 Verified Questions
3979 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Constitutional Democracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Antifederalists opposed ratification of the proposed Constitution because A)it included a bill of rights.
B)they felt the national government was not given enough power.
C)they believed that state governments should be abolished.
D)they were concerned that it did not do enough to ensure frequent rotation of elected officials.
E)they opposed direct election of members of the House of Representatives.
Answer: D
Q2) Under the three-fifths compromise slaves would NOT be counted toward a state's population for determining representation in the House of Representatives.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) There is no disagreement in the United States over what is meant by equality of opportunity.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 2: Constitutional Foundations
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Sample Questions
Q1) The idea that government must be able to control itself is expressed by James Madison in The Federalist
A)No.51.
B)No.10.
C)No.18.
D)No.72.
E)No.3.
Answer: A
Q2) In creating a national government with a system of checks and balances, the framers of the Constitution sought to
A)eliminate any role for the judicial branch.
B)limit the ability of any branch of the national government from becoming too powerful. C)ensure that governmental accountability to the public was impossible to achieve.
D)make sure that the president was the nation's true leader who would get the final say about everything.
E)guarantee the supremacy of the states over the national government.
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: American Federalism
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Sample Questions
Q1) Chief Justice John Marshall set forth the doctrine of national supremacy.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) This is a form of government in which a constitution distributes authority and powers between a central government and smaller regional governments.
A)Anarchism
B)Libertarianism
C)Democracy
D)Federalism
E)Unitary system
Answer: D
Q3) Centralism favors state action over national action.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) Centralists favor state or local action rather than national action.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Page 5
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Chapter 4: Political Culture and Ideology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Before President Franklin D.Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s there was
A)no Social Security.
B)no FDIC insurance on bank deposits.
C)no unemployment compensation.
D)Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s there was
E) All of the above
Q2) Natural rights are the rights of all people to dignity and worth.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The major criticism of liberals is that they
A)will destroy individual initiative and thereby economic growth.
B)are naïve.
C)are better at diagnosing problems than providing substantial policies and programs. D)are misinformed.
E)are nonreligious.
Q4) The gap between rich and poor in the United States has grown in recent years.
A)True
B)False
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Page 6
Chapter 5: The US political Landscape
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, passed in 2007, did all of the following EXCEPT
A)set stricter limits on lobbyist activities.
B)require senators to wait two years before lobbying.
C)require staff to wait one year before lobbying any senate office.
D)require the President to wait three years before lobbying any senate office.
E)require more disclosure of employment history of lobbyists.
Q2) According to the text, there is no guarantee that money produces a payoff in legislation.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A characteristic of individuals that predicts their political behavior is called
A)political predisposition.
B)political socialization.
C)reinforcing cleavages.
D)ethnocentrism.
E)demography.
Q4) Reinforcing cleavages tend to make political conflict more intense.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) Members of the congressional majority party always control
A)the chairships of all standing committees.
B)who serves as staff of the minority party.
C)cabinet appointments.
D)White House appointments.
E)the presidency.
Q2) The American political party system is largely candidate-centered.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In the twentieth century, no third party candidate has come close to winning a presidential election.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Franklin Roosevelt's promise of a "new deal" for the people became the basis for making government expenditures to stimulate economic growth.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Public Opinion, Participation, and Voting
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Sample Questions
Q1) When a large portion of opposing sides feels intensely about an issue (such as the Vietnam War), opinion is said to be
A)uninformed.
B)distinct.
C)undemocratic.
D)polarized.
E)consensual.
Q2) Which of the following is true?
A)Opinion on abortion tends to be highly unstable.
B)The percentage of people with favorable opinions of President Bush changed over his time in office.
C)Pro-choice opinions rose dramatically in the 1980s.
D)President Bush was more popular in office than was President Clinton.
E)None of the above
Q3) Compared to most other democracies, turnout in American elections
A)is about the same.
B)is significantly higher.
C)is impossible to measure.
D)is lower.
E)is a little bit higher.
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Chapter 9: Campaigns and Elections
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Sample Questions
Q1) Members of Congress have fixed terms, meaning the length of a term in office is specified, NOT indefinite.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Most delegates to the national nominating convention are chosen by primary elections.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In which midterm elections did the president's party gain seats?
A)1946 and 1954
B)1962 and 1966
C)1970 and 1974
D)1986 and 1990
E)1998 and 2002
Q4) In all of the midterm elections between 1942 and 1998, the party controlling the White House lost seats in the House of Representatives.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: The Media and US politics
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Sample Questions
Q1) Campaign advertising has recently taken on a much more positive tone with regard to the opposing candidate.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The role media played in the Watergate scandal is a good example of investigatory journalism.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Most campaign consultants believe that negative advertising works.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Those who opposed U.S.intervention in Bosnia tried to portray such action as another Vietnam is an example of issue framing.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Exaggeration and sensationalism are often associated with yellow journalism.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 11: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) The sole power to try an impeachment case is given to the A)House of Representatives.
B)Senate.
C)Supreme Court.
D)justices of the various federal district courts.
E)grand jury.
Q2) The Senate has the authority to charge, or impeach, the president.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Logrolling refers to the practice of mutual aid and vote trading among legislators.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following is NOT an enumerated power of Congress?
A)The power to tax and borrow money
B)The power to regulate interstate commerce
C)The power to create federal courts below the Supreme Court
D)The power to declare war
E)The power to rule state laws are unconstitutional
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Chapter 12: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) Overriding a presidential veto requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The line item veto has been ruled to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Encouraging aides to work together toward a common position is known as the ____________ approach to managing the White House staff.
A)collegial
B)adversarial
C)competitive
D)hierarchical
E)friendly
Q4) Modern presidents have used ____________________ to enhance their own power
A)Supreme Court rulings
B)direct appeals to Congress
C)the constitutional amendment process
D)direct appeals to the public
E)All of the above
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Chapter 13: The Federal Bureaucracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) A landmark law creating a merit system of civil service was the congressional act named for its sponsor
A)Garfield.
B)Pendleton.
C)Sedman.
D)Hatch.
E)Menendez.
Q2) The president also appoints another _____ U.S.marshals, U.S.attorneys, and ambassadors to foreign nations, but usually makes these appointments on a nonpolitical basis.
A)500
B)1000
C)1500
D)2000
E)2500
Q3) The portion of the federal budget that is spent on programs, such as Social Security, that the president and Congress are unwilling to cut is called uncontrollable spending.
A)True
B)False
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Page 14
Chapter 14: The Judiciary
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Sample Questions
Q1) One thing that differentiates judicial activists from those who practice judicial restraint is the degree to which they are willing to depart from the literal meaning of the Constitution.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A philosophy proposing that judges should strike down the actions of the elected branches only if they clearly violate the literal meaning of the Constitution is known as A)judicial activism.
B)a priori resistance.
C)judicial restraint.
D)striking activism.
E)violable activism.
Q3) A court order requiring explanation to a judge why a prisoner is being held in custody is referred to as
A)a solicitor.
B)a defender.
C)an appeal.
D)a precedent.
E)a writ of habeas corpus.
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Page 15
Chapter 15: Civil Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) The process by which provisions of the Bill of Rights are brought within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment and so applied to state and local government is known as A)blanket incorporation.
B)retroactive incorporation.
C)proactive incorporation.
D)selective incorporation.
E)prescript incorporation.
Q2) Regarding the issue of obscenity, since the 1970s the Supreme Court has ruled all the following EXCEPT
A)obscenity is a form of expression that cannot be restricted.
B)obscenity must be judged by contemporary community standards.
C)it is a crime for people to possess pornographic photographs of children in their own home.
D)cable channel operators cannot censor content on public access channels made available at no charge to community groups.
E)All of the above have been ruled
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Chapter 16: Civil Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) In what case did the Supreme Court rule the California plan unconstitutional because it created a quota-a set number of admissions from which whites were excluded solely because of race?
A)University of California Regents v.Bakke
B)Plessy v.Ferguson
C)Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka
D)Romer v.California
E)Griswold v.Connecticut
Q2) Mechanisms to keep blacks from voting that are now illegal included A)literacy tests.
B)poll taxes.
C)white primaries.
D)unfair registration requirements.
E)all of the above
Q3) One of the strongest arguments against affirmative action comes from individuals who believe that affirmative action discriminates against white females.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 17: Public Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is an organization composed of scholars who study public policy known as?
A)Lobbies
B)Think tanks
C)Zero-sum games
D)Issue networks
E)None of the above
Q2) The federal government has a commitment to cover losses for many borrowers, such as students, farmers, and small businesses, if they fail to repay their loans.This is an example of what type of policy tool?
A)Monetary policy
B)Federal spending
C)Providing goods and services directly
D)Providing protection against risk
E)Using taxes to regulate the economy and encourage certain behaviors
Q3) Social Security, air traffic control, national defense, and education spending are examples of distributive policy.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 18: Making Economic Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The economic theory that opposes governmental interference in economic affairs beyond what is necessary to protect life and property is known as laissez-faire economics.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Domination of an industry by a single company is known as corporatism.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In its simplest terms, monetary policy involves managing the
A)supply of money.
B)federal deficit.
C)relationship between taxation and spending.
D)balance of trade.
E)All of the above
Q4) Which of the following is an example of mandatory spending?
A)Defense spending
B)Spending on Social Security
C)Foreign aid
D)Infrastructure projects
E)Research on renewable energy sources
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Chapter 19: Making Social Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The federal government also provides what some critics label corporate welfare to favored industries such as agriculture and corporate bailouts to businesses like investment banks.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Most scholars trace the federal government's effort to protect citizens against economic and personal hard times to
A)the 1840s.
B)the 1880s.
C)the 1930s.
D)the 1950s.
E)the 1960s.
Q3) The most visible health care official in government is the surveyor general.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The nation has still NOT answered the basic question of whether the national government has a role in providing basic social services to its citizens.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 20: Making Foreign Defense Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The usage of chemical weapons was outlawed after World War I.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Soft power is a reliance on diplomacy and negotiations to solve international conflict.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Economic sanctions is an example of
A)soft power.
B)hard power.
C)defensive power.
D)offensive power.
E)isolationism.
Q4) Shortly before ____________________ ended, Congress replaced the draft with an all-volunteer force.
A)the Vietnam War
B)World War II
C)the Korean War
D)the Persian Gulf War
E)World War I
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Chapter 21: State and Local Politics
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Sample Questions
Q1) State and local governments have custody over what percent of the country's 2.4 million prison and jail inmates?
A)23%
B)11%
C)52%
D)5%
E)91%
Q2) Interest groups may have greater influence in states and localities than at the national level because
A)groups may represent social and economic majorities in an area more easily than at the national level.
B) more groups are active in any given locality on a specific issue than at the national level.
C)groups are not organized at the national level.
D)federal law prohibits interest groups from lobbying members of Congress.
E)All of the above
Q3) More than 50% of the local population usually participates in town meetings.
A)True
B)False
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Page 22
Chapter 22: State Constitutions
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Sample Questions
Q1) A revision commission is
A)a group of voters who join together to suggest revisions to a proposed state constitutional amendment.
B)a state commission, appointed by the legislature, to make recommendations for a change to the state constitution.
C)a group of legislators, selected by the governor, that writes up an initial draft of a proposed constitutional amendment.
D)a group of state leaders, selected by legislative committee, that makes suggestions for any number of proposed state constitutional amendments.
E)a combined group of members of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of state government, voting as representatives of each branch, which makes suggestions for revisions to proposed state constitutional amendments.
Q2) The most common method for proposing amendments to a state constitution is
A)creating a petition to be signed by a majority of state residents.
B)having a formal proposal submitted by the governor.
C)honoring a request from the U.S.Supreme Court.
D)taking action by state legislatures.
E)requesting constitutional reconsideration by a state's secretary of state.
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Page 23
Chapter 23: Parties and Elections in the States
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Sample Questions
Q1) Support for nonpartisan local elections originated with A)corrupt political machines.
B)political parties.
C)reformers during the first half of the twentieth century.
D)state legislatures.
E)party bosses.
Q2) The U.S.Constitution provides general guidelines to the states for the regulation of elections in
A)Article I.
B)Article II.
C)Article III.
D)Article IV.
E)Article V.
Q3) Elections in which actual officeholders are chosen are called
elections.
A)primary
B)recall
C)general
D)petition
E)retention
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Chapter 24: State Legislatures
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Sample Questions
Q1) Unlike the U.S.Congress, most state legislatures do NOT use a committee system.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A legislative district created to include a majority of minority voters is called an affirmative action district.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A governor can allow a bill to become law by simply not signing it; it does not require a signature.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In about how many states is the party caucus NOT a principal instrument for legislative decision making?
A)5
B)15
C)25
D)35
E)45
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Page 25
Chapter 25: State Governors
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Sample Questions
Q1) In early 2010, 16% of governors, U.S.senators, and U.S.congressional representatives were women.What percentage of state legislators were women?
A)16%
B)18%
C)20%
D)22%
E)24%
Q2) From 1970 to 2004, approximately 74% of incumbent governors seeking reelection were victorious.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In general, control over state administrative agencies is a function of the A)department head.
B)governor's office.
C)legislature.
D)courts.
E)commission on state agencies.
Q4) Executive orders must be approved by state legislatures to go into effect. A)True
B)False
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Chapter 26: Judges and Justice in the States
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Q1) Half of the states operate some sort of arbitration program as part of their court system.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A court may to refuse to enforce a law or a government regulation that, in the opinion of the judge, conflicts with the U.S.Constitution (or, in a state court, the state constitution).
A)True
B)False
Q3) The major argument of those who favor the elective method of selecting judges is that
A)it saves time and money.
B)the selection of judges by the governor is invariably partisan.
C)judges should be directly accountable to the people.
D)the Bar Association has too much power in American society.
E)the judiciary is nonpartisan.
Q4) Court watchers are conservative groups that monitor courts to see that judges are not too easy on defendants.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 27: Local Governments and Metropolitics
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Q1) Which of the following is a method of selecting city council members?
A)Primary elections
B)At-large elections
C)State elections
D)Appointment by the governor
E)None of the above
Q2) A mayor will often develop a city council plan.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Our basic pattern of local government is imported from A)France.
B)Germany.
C)England.
D)Canada.
E)Rome.
Q4) With the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, limits were put in place to keep state governments out of the education system.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 28: Making State and Local Policy
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Q1) Which of the following is NOT covered by federal regulations regarding elementary and secondary education?
A)School lunch programs
B)Employment practices
C)Admissions
D)Textbook selection
E)Record keeping
Q2) States pay what percentage of federal environmental programs?
A)50%
B)70%
C)80%
D)40%
E)60%
Q3) The state is the basic unit responsible for public elementary and secondary education in the U.S.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The federal government has supported highway construction since 1916.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 29: Staffing and Financing State and Local Governments
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Q1) Critics complained that merit systems were overly
A)centralized and regulated.
B)centralized.
C)regulated.
D)decentralized and deregulated.
E)complex and restrictive.
Q2) The argument has been made that __________ tend(s) to fall on those that are least able to pay.
A)property tax
B)sales tax
C)value-added tax
D)individual income tax
E)user fees
Q3) Many state governments have increasingly regulated aspects of their personnel systems, especially since the early 1990s.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Alaska does NOT rely heavily on severance tax like Wyoming does.
A)True
B)False
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