U.S. Government and Politics
Exam Preparation Guide
Course Introduction
This course provides an in-depth examination of the foundations, institutions, and processes of the U.S. government and the American political system. Students will explore the Constitution, federalism, and the functions of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The course also covers the roles of political parties, interest groups, the media, and public opinion in shaping policy decisions. Emphasis is placed on the historical context of key political developments, the impact of landmark Supreme Court cases, civil rights and liberties, and the significance of elections and voting behavior. Through critical analysis and discussions, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the principles and challenges of democratic governance in the United States.
Recommended Textbook
We the People 10th Edition by Benjamin Ginsberg
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18 Chapters
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Page 2
Chapter 1: American Political Culture
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Q1) Which of the following statements about the role of money in American politics is NOT accurate?
A) Money often determines who runs for office.
B) Money can exert a significant influence on who wins and who loses elections.
C) Money can affect what politicians do once they are in office.
D) Money has become more important due to the decline of locally based political parties.
E) Money was not important in politics until the 1960s.
Answer: E
Q2) Which of the following is true regarding constitutional democracies in the world today?
A) Over 80 percent of the global population lives in a constitutional democracy.
B) Most people in the world experience democracy on a daily basis.
C) Over 80 percent of the global population lives in a dictatorship.
D) About 40 percent of the global population lives in a constitutional democracy.
E) none of the above
Answer: D
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Chapter 2: The Founding and the Constitution
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Q1) The supremacy clause
A) states that Congress is the most powerful branch of the government.
B) establishes that no branch of government is supreme over others.
C) announces that the Constitution and all laws made under it are superior to any state laws.
D) announces that state laws are superior to any federal laws.
E) declares that no European powers shall interfere in North America.
Answer: C
Q2) In order to signify that the enumerated powers were meant to be a source of strength to the national government and not a limitation on it, the framers of the federal Constitution
A) added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
B) included provisions for direct democracy in the Constitution.
C) included the full faith and credit clause in the Constitution.
D) included the elastic clause in the Constitution.
E) made it difficult to amend the Constitution.
Answer: D
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Chapter 3: Federalism
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Q1) The constitutional idea of states' rights was strongest during which historical period?
A) the years immediately preceding the Civil War
B) Reconstruction
C) the 1910s
D) the Great Depression
E) the 1960s
Answer: A
Q2) The federal system can be best defined as
A) a system of government where member nations meet in a multinational conference.
B) a system of government in which power is divided between a national government and lower levels of government.
C) a system in which the power of the central government is funded through taxation of the local government.
D) the sharing of legislative powers between an upper and lower house.
E) a system where governmental authority is divided into separate branches and each branch is given some power over the other branches.
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
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Q1) West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943) was significant because it A) endorsed the free exercise of religion even when it was offensive to the beliefs of the majority.
B) allowed the use of tax-supported vouchers for religious schools.
C) established a constitutional right to privacy.
D) prohibited suspicion-less searches of high school students.
E) banned prayers in public schools.
Q2) What is the right to privacy? How and under what circumstances have the Supreme Court justices articulated this right? Describe some of the forms that the right to privacy has taken.
Q3) ________ was largely responsible for getting a series of constitutional amendment proposals passed in the U.S. House of Representatives that would ultimately become known as the Bill of Rights.
A) Alexander Hamilton
B) James Madison
C) Patrick Henry
D) Benjamin Cardozo
E) Henry Clay
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights
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Q1) During the late nineteenth century, the equal protection clause was
A) used as a strong tool for engineering racial equality.
B) severely limited in scope by the Supreme Court.
C) ruled to be unconstitutional.
D) more strongly defended by individual states than by the federal government.
E) not implemented because of a lack of tax revenue.
Q2) Which amendments to the U.S. Constitution seemed to offer African Americans the most hope for achieving full citizenship rights in the United States?
A) the First, Second, and Third amendments
B) the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh amendments
C) the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth amendments
D) the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments
E) The Twentieth, Twenty-First, and Twenty-Second amendments
Q3) Which area was NOT covered by the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
A) employment
B) public accommodations
C) school desegregation
D) voting
E) military service
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Page 7
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) In public opinion surveys, a sample of the total population
A) must be at least 50 percent of the targeted population.
B) need be only 25 percent of the targeted population.
C) need be only 10 percent of the targeted population.
D) must be representative in that the views of those in the sample must accurately and proportionately reflect the views of the whole population.
E) must be based on all the registered voters in the targeted population.
Q3) Which of the following statements is true about the news media?
A) The mass media are neutral messengers for ideas.
B) The mass media have an enormous impact on public opinion.
C) National journalists tend to avoid investigating political scandals.
D) Journalists tend to provide negative coverage of a president during times of crises.
E) Journalists tend to avoid investigating political corruption.
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Page 8
Chapter 7: The Media
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Q1) Which of the following is regulated by the federal government?
A) newspapers
B) television
C) magazines
D) the Internet
E) satellite radio
Q2) "Marriage equality" is an illustration of ________.
A) horse race journalism
B) agenda setting
C) priming
D) framing
E) filtering
Q3) The most important selection bias in news is the ________.
A) ideology of the journalists
B) audience appeal of a story
C) newsworthiness of a story
D) economic interests of the media's owners
E) approval of government regulators
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Chapter 8: Political Participation and Voting
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Q1) Which of the following statements about voting rights is correct?
A) Many states have laws restricting the voting rights of persons convicted of felonies.
B) Laws passed by Congress prevent the abridgement of a felon's voting rights.
C) According to the Supreme Court, the Constitution prevents felons from having their right to vote limited due to their criminal status.
D) According to the Supreme Court, the Constitution requires that felons have their right to vote limited due to their criminal status.
E) Even though prison inmates cannot vote, federal law states that an ex-con's voting rights cannot be restricted.
Q2) About ________ percent of African Americans voted for Barack Obama in 2008.
A) 33
B) 50
C) 66
D) 80
E) 95
Q3) Why is turnout in the United States lower than in other Western democracies? What structural reforms might increase the level of turnout in the United States?
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Chapter 9: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) Reconstruction after the Civil War was led by the ________ Party.
A) Democratic
B) Republican
C) Whig
D) Populist
E) Free Soil
Q2) Which of the following statements about partisan identification in the United States is most accurate?
A) Party identification does not vary significantly by ideology.
B) Party identification varies significantly by gender but not by race.
C) Party identification varies significantly by income but not by ideology.
D) Party identification varies significantly by income, race, and gender.
E) Party identification does not vary by income, race, and gender.
Q3) ________ 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
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Chapter 10: Campaigns and Elections
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Q1) Most European nations utilize a ________.
A) majority system
B) plurality system
C) system of proportional representation
D) blanket primary
E) closed primary
Q2) The original gerrymander is attributed to ________.
A) Thomas Jefferson
B) James Madison
C) Alexander Hamilton
D) Elbridge Gerry
E) George Washington
Q3) The majority of political action committees represent ________.
A) single-issue advocacy groups
B) trial lawyers
C) business and professional groups
D) Republicans and Democrats
E) environmental groups and religious organizations
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Groups and Interests
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Sample Questions
Q1) The free-rider phenomenon
A) becomes increasingly problematic in very large groups.
B) becomes increasingly problematic in very small groups.
C) is not affected in any way by the size of the group in question.
D) is not related to groups in any way because it is an individual-level problem.
E) makes collective action considerably easier.
Q2) If citizens were motivated to join an environmental organization because they strongly believed in protecting the environment and supported the goals of the group, then we can conclude that they were motivated by ________.
A) pluralism
B) solidary benefits
C) purposive benefits
D) informational benefits
E) material benefits
Q3) What is an interest group? Describe some different types of interest groups active in American politics. What are some of the similarities these different types share in terms of organization and recruitment?
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13
Chapter 12: Congress
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Q1) Describe some of the different ways members of Congress can represent the American people. What are the principles behind sociological and agency representation? What are some examples of each type? Describe the difference between a trustee and a delegate. Which type of representation do you believe is the most optimum? Why? Explain.
Q2) Following the 2006 elections, ________ became speaker of the U.S. House.
A) Harry Reid
B) Dennis Hastert
C) Newt Gingrich
D) Nancy Pelosi
E) John Boehner
Q3) A ________ veto occurs when Congress adjourns during a ten-day period after presenting the president with a bill and he or she takes no action.
A) procrastination
B) pocket
C) line-item
D) silent
E) expiration
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Chapter 13: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) The technique of popular mobilization dates back to the ________ presidency.
A) Thomas Jefferson's
B) Ulysses Grant's
C) Theodore Roosevelt's
D) Franklin Roosevelt's
E) Ronald Reagan's
Q2) An informal group of advisers to the president is often called the ________.
A) kitchen cabinet
B) plumbers
C) round table
D) colloquium
E) good ole boys (despite the fact that many women have entered these ranks)
Q3) Describe some of the different individuals and institutions that advise the president. What is the role of the Cabinet? What is the job of the Executive Office of the President? What more informal networks do presidents maintain? Explain.
Q4) Describe the different constitutional powers of the president. What are some of the president's most important powers? What are some of the checks placed upon the president's powers? What was the framers' vision of the office of president?
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Page 15
Chapter 14: Bureaucracy in a Democracy
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Q1) ________ is when bureaucrats attempt to translate laws into specific rules and actions.
A) Adjudication
B) Regulation
C) Deregulation
D) Implementation
E) Rule making
Q2) The Obama administration's campaign to make government more transparent
A) was jeopardized by Edward Snowden's leak of sensitive national security documents in 2013.
B) resulted in the termination of the National Security Agency's global surveillance operations.
C) resulted in the passage of the Freedom of Information Act.
D) resulted in the repeal of the USA Patriot Act.
E) resulted in the closing of the base at Guantanamo Bay.
Q3) The different agencies of the executive branch can be grouped according to the different kinds of services they provide. Describe the three main categories of agencies. What kinds of services do they provide? Provide some examples of each.
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16
Chapter 15: The Federal Courts
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Q1) There are approximately ________ federal district court judges in the United States.
A) 9
B) 50
C) 145
D) 679
E) 2,500
Q2) What was the Supreme Court's ruling in 1948 regarding restrictive covenants?
A) It was illegal for homeowners to discriminate in sales contracts.
B) It was acceptable for private contracts to have discriminatory provisions.
C) Individuals had the right to discriminate in private contracts, but courts could not enforce these contracts.
D) Only state supreme courts had the authority to rule on the legality of restrictive covenants.
E) Only the U.S. Supreme Court had the authority to rule on the legality of restrictive covenants.
Q3) What are some of the different types of judicial philosophy in how to interpret the law? Outline the theories of judicial restraint and judicial activism. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of each theory? Explain.
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Chapter 16: Government and the Economy
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Q1) Most of the groundbreaking environmental laws were written in the ________.
A) 1950s
B) 1970s
C) 1980s
D) 1990s
E) 2000s
Q2) There is wide disagreement about the degree to which government should be involved in the economy and for what reasons. Describe the following competing theories about the proper role of government in the economy: laissez-faire, Keynesian, and supply-side economics. For each theory, explain what is perceived as the ideal role of government. What are some of the practical problems with each theory?
Q3) The Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act are examples of the federal government's attempt to
A) control discretionary spending.
B) deregulate the economy.
C) regulate large businesses that establish monopolies.
D) control mandatory spending.
E) close tax loopholes.
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18
Chapter 17: Social Policy
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Q1) Describe how government officials have attempted to redistribute resources more equitably in the United States. Which programs have been the most successful? Which have had less effective outcomes?
Q2) The goals of American social policy are
A) popular and receive wide support.
B) often controversial.
C) determined not by popular opinion but by the Constitution.
D) often changed drastically from administration to administration.
E) similar to those of social programs of other countries.
Q3) Social Security is a good example of ________.
A) outdoor relief
B) indoor relief
C) a contributory program
D) a noncontributory program
E) a means-tested program
Q4) Describe some of the earliest forms of welfare. Why has social welfare been so controversial for much of American history? What event did the most to transform American attitudes toward poverty relief, and why?
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Chapter 18: Foreign Policy and Democracy
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Q1) Which of the following is NOT descriptive of the United Nations?
A) It is a very large and unwieldy institution.
B) It has few powers.
C) It has no armed forces.
D) It lacks enforcement power to implement its rules and resolutions.
E) The United States never contributes to the United Nations' peacekeeping efforts.
Q2) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an example of ________.
A) mutually assured destruction
B) a bilateral treaty
C) a multilateral treaty
D) the domino theory
E) deterrence
Q3) Deterrence assumes the ________ of the U.S. response and the ________ of an adversary.
A) rationality; certainty
B) certainty; rationality
C) power; weakness
D) weakness; power
E) timeliness; delay
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Page 20