United States Political Institutions
Exam Materials
Course Introduction
This course provides an in-depth exploration of the foundational structures, processes, and dynamics that define the political system of the United States. Students will examine the Constitution, the three branches of government, federalism, and the mechanisms of checks and balances. The course also covers the role of political parties, interest groups, the electoral process, and the influence of public opinion and media. Through the analysis of historical and contemporary case studies, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of how U.S. political institutions shape policy-making and governance at the federal, state, and local levels.
Recommended Textbook
We The People An Introduction to American Government 10th Edition by Thomas Patterson
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17 Chapters
963 Verified Questions
963 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Political Thinking and Political Culture: Becoming a Responsible
Citizen
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45 Verified Questions
45 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the major barrier to political thinking?
A) unwillingness of citizens to make the effort
B) lack of access to governmental institutions
C) elite control of political power resources
D) failure of politicians and government institutions to communicate policy details to the public
E) lack of access to news media sources outside sensationalist television or Internet content
Answer: A
Q2) The Bill of Rights added to the Constitution,among other things,
A) a guarantee of freedom of speech.
B) a division of governmental authority into three branches.
C) checks and balances among the three branches of government.
D) restrictions against the power of corporations to influence the election process.
E) term limits for elected officials to reduce their power.
Answer: A
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Constitutional Democracy: Promoting Liberty and Self-Government
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Sample Questions
Q1) ________ was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.
A) John Locke
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) James Madison
D) George Washington
E) Alexander Hamilton
Answer: B
Q2) Discuss constitutional democracy as conceived by the framers.Include a brief discussion of Edmund Burke's philosophy.
Answer: According to the framers,a representative democracy would guard against chaos and civil unrest by incorporating the principle of majority rule along with built-in protection against excessive majoritarianism.The objective was a government sensitive to the majority's immediate concern that was also able to promote long-term societal interests.This objective is in line with Burke's concept of public trustees,which argued that representatives should use their best judgment of what is good for society rather than blindly following the desires of the voting public.
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Federalism: Forging a Nation
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to ________,a large republic is less likely to have an all-powerful faction.
A) Patrick Henry
B) George Mason
C) James Madison
D) John C. Calhoun
E) John Marshall Harlan
Answer: C
Q2) A public policy program on which national,state,and local policymakers collaborate is an example of
A) dual federalism.
B) cooperative federalism.
C) unitary federalism.
D) confederal federalism.
E) cosponsor federalism.
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties: Protecting Individual Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from A) any search conducted without a warrant.
B) unreasonable searches.
C) unreasonable searches conducted only by federal officers.
D) all searches conducted by state officers.
E) searches conducted only by local officers.
Q2) The individual right that is widely regarded as the most basic of individual rights is
A) the right to an attorney.
B) freedom of expression.
C) the right to a jury trial.
D) the right to an adequate education.
E) protection against illegal searches and seizures.
Q3) According to the Supreme Court,prayer in public schools violates
A) the free exercise clause.
B) the establishment clause.
C) the exclusionary rule.
D) procedural due process.
E) the clear and present danger test.
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Chapter 5: Equal Rights: Struggling Toward Fairness
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which region of the world has the highest proportion of women serving in its national legislatures?
A) Scandinavia
B) Latin America
C) North America
D) East Asia
E) Central Europe
Q2) The central issue in the Bakke case was
A) school desegregation.
B) sexual harassment.
C) affirmative action.
D) Native Americans' civil rights.
E) comparable worth.
Q3) Equality of result policies are primarily directed at ________ discriminatory effects.
A) de jure
B) de facto
C) religious
D) gender
E) due process
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Page 7
Chapter 6: Public Opinion and Political Socialization:
Shaping the Peoples
Voice
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Sample Questions
Q1) To accurately poll the citizens of the United States as opposed to the citizens of a single state,
A) a much larger sample size will be required.
B) the sample requirements will be nearly the same.
C) a smaller sample size will be required.
D) less randomization will be needed because the sample size will be larger.
E) a larger sampling error can be accepted.
Q2) All of the following ideological types are prevalent in the United States EXCEPT A) liberals.
B) conservatives.
C) populists.
D) libertarians.
E) communists.
Q3) How informed is American public opinion? Explain.
Q4) In terms of party identification,about two-thirds of adults call themselves
A) liberals.
B) Republicans or Democrats.
C) Republicans.
D) Independents.
E) Democrats.
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Chapter 7: Political Participation: Activating the Popular Will
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Sample Questions
Q1) The citizens of ________ are most likely to participate as campaign volunteers during an election.
A) the Netherlands
B) Great Britain
C) the United States
D) Germany
E) France
Q2) Historically speaking,which region has the lowest turnout rate in the nation?
A) South
B) Midwest
C) Northeast
D) Pacific Coast
E) Great Plains
Q3) Should elections be held on weekends or perhaps as national holidays? Why or why not?
Q4) Describe three systemic reasons why Americans vote at a lower rate than Western Europeans.
Q5) Why are people of higher income and education levels more likely to be politically active?
Q6) Give three reasons why some Americans vote regularly while others do not.
Page 9
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Defining the Voters Choice
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Sample Questions
Q1) All of the following use top-two primaries EXCEPT
A) Oregon.
B) Washington.
C) California.
D) Nebraska.
E) Louisiana.
Q2) Abraham Lincoln was first elected in 1860 with ________ percent of the popular vote.
A) 20
B) 40
C) 50
D) 60
E) 80
Q3) The issue of slavery gave birth to the ________ party as a major political party.
A) Federalist
B) Democratic
C) Republican
D) Whig
E) Populist
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Interest Groups: Organizing for Influence
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Sample Questions
Q1) Most lobbyists receive support from elected officials in direct exchange for A) money.
B) information.
C) bribery.
D) coercion.
E) deception.
Q2) Effective inside lobbying is based upon
A) countering the aims of other groups.
B) providing useful and persuasive information to key officials.
C) mobilizing the group's members.
D) bribing or threatening officials.
E) using the media to exert pressure.
Q3) Economic groups have an advantage over noneconomic groups because
A) they nearly always have larger memberships.
B) they are organized primarily for political purposes.
C) they have better leadership.
D) they have greater access to financial resources.
E) their members are committed to their causes.
Q4) Compare outside lobbying and inside lobbying.
Q5) Compare iron triangles and issue networks.
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Chapter 10: The News Media: Communicating Political Images
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Sample Questions
Q1) Identify the factors that account for the relative uniformity in news reporting among major American news institutions.
Q2) Which of the following characteristics does the Internet have that traditional media lack?
A) the ability to take partisan viewpoints
B) the ability to allow readers to interact with news reporting
C) the ability to exercise rights of the First Amendment
D) the ability to report instantaneously on news items
E) All these answers are correct.
Q3) In the 1960s,presidential candidates
A) received more negative coverage than they do today.
B) were largely ignored by the media.
C) were hounded by the media incessantly.
D) had longer sound bites, on average, in broadcast television newscasts.
E) None of these answers is correct.
Q4) Explain the four functions of the modern media.
Q5) How do the motivations of the press differ and often lead to a greater coverage of crime stories than the political process or world events?
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Q6) Identify the term partisan press.Why was it superseded by the objective press?
Chapter 11: Congress: Balancing National Goals and Local
Interests
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Sample Questions
Q1) There are currently ________ voting members of the U.S.House of Representatives and ________ voting members of the U.S.Senate.
A) 535; 100
B) 435; 100
C) 150; 31
D) 300; 100
E) 600; 300
Q2) In the 1970s,roll-call votes
A) generally demonstrated the power of incumbents.
B) generally demonstrated an increase in party loyalty.
C) generally did not pit most Republicans against most Democrats.
D) were less common than voice votes.
E) were generally not used to record each member's vote.
Q3) The trading of votes between members of Congress so that each gets the legislation he or she wants is called
A) gerrymandering.
B) pandering.
C) logrolling.
D) pork-barreling.
E) cloturing.
Page 13
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Chapter 12: The Presidency: Leading the Nation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is a reason that the nation did not routinely need a strong president during most of the nineteenth century?
A) the small policymaking role of the federal government
B) the sectional nature of the nation's major issues
C) the U.S. government's small role in world affairs
D) all of these factors: the small policymaking role of the federal government; the sectional nature of the nation's major issues; and the U.S. government's small role in world affairs
E) None of these answers is correct.
Q2) Explain the difference between the Whig theory of the presidency and the stewardship theory.Which is the norm today?
Q3) Discuss the circumstances that contribute to the success or failure of presidential influence on national policy.
Q4) The Executive Office of the President (EOP)was created in ________.
A) 1789
B) 1804
C) 1865
D) 1888
E) 1939
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Chapter 13: The Federal Bureaucracy: Administering the Government
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Sample Questions
Q1) Identify the major ways that the bureaucracy is held accountable by Congress.
Q2) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)are
A) all agencies within cabinet departments.
B) all independent agencies.
C) respectively, an independent agency, an agency within a cabinet department, and a regulatory agency.
D) two cabinet departments and a regulatory agency.
E) respectively, an agency within a cabinet department, an independent agency, and a regulatory agency.
Q3) What is the "agency point of view"? Why is it important?
Q4) At the start of the annual budget cycle,the OMB assigns each agency a budget limit based on
A) the president's directives.
B) its own projections of what is affordable.
C) the Justice Department's instructions.
D) Congressional guidelines.
E) the guidelines of the Commerce Department.
Q5) What is the federal bureaucracy's main function?
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Chapter 14: The Federal Judicial System: Applying the Law
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Sample Questions
Q1) The judiciary's status as an independent branch of national government depends on judicial review,which grants the judiciary the authority to
A) make political decisions; judges can overturn any congressional or presidential decision they personally dislike.
B) decide which laws apply to a particular case.
C) ignore public opinion when making decisions.
D) invalidate the actions of other institutions when judges believe they have acted unconstitutionally.
E) strike down certain sections of the Constitution.
Q2) Compared to Supreme Court nominations,those for the lower federal courts
A) are, although much greater in number, irrelevant to a president's policy agenda.
B) are not subject to partisan consideration.
C) have typically involved nominees who held elective office, particularly a seat in the U.S. Senate.
D) are not subject to senatorial courtesy.
E) None of these answers is correct.
Q3) Discuss the doctrines of judicial restraint and judicial activism.
Q4) Describe the relationship between the federal and the state court systems.
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Page 16
Chapter 15: Economic and Environmental Policy:
Contributing to Prosperity
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Sample Questions
Q1) A fiscal policy solution to inflation would be to
A) increase government spending.
B) lower tariffs and other barriers to trade.
C) increase the tax rate.
D) raise the discount rate.
E) decrease the tax rate.
Q2) Which of the following is correct about environmental policy?
A) The national parks are subject to a dual use policy of preservation, recreation, and exploitation of the rich natural resources.
B) The Environmental Protection Agency was elevated to cabinet status in 1998 by President Clinton and the Republican Congress.
C) Environmental regulation has done little to improve air and water quality.
D) Policymakers always give more consideration to environmental protection than to economic development when the two conflict.
E) None of these answers is correct.
Q3) Describe Adam Smith's laissez-faire model of economics.
Q4) Define the term monetary policy,and describe two ways the Fed implements monetary policy.
Page 17
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Chapter 16: Welfare and Education Policy: Providing for
Personal Security and Need
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss what is meant by a social insurance program and provide examples.
Q2) Social insurance programs have high levels of public support because
A) of their self-financing feature.
B) they are based on an equality principle-all citizens are eligible for the benefits and all recipients receive the same level of benefits.
C) their cost is consistently below the spending level for public assistance programs.
D) of the necessity of increased taxes to fund them.
E) None of these answers is correct.
Q3) The Supreme Court has ruled that
A) the federal government must provide at least half the cost of educating each child through public education systems.
B) the federal government is responsible for ensuring that each state provides an adequate education for each child.
C) states have no official responsibilities in the field of education.
D) states are obliged to give all children an education that is "equal" across communities.
E) states are obliged to give all children an "adequate" education.
Q4) Discuss what is meant by a public assistance program,and provide examples.
Page 18
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Chapter 17: Foreign Policy: Protecting the American Way
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Sample Questions
Q1) The phrase that best describes the shift in America's world position from the pre- to the post-World War II eras is
A) internationalism to isolationism.
B) isolationism to internationalism.
C) containment to isolationism.
D) interventionism to isolationism.
E) None of these answers is correct.
Q2) The term that most accurately describes the international economy today is
A) unilateralism.
B) isolationism.
C) interdependence.
D) protectionism.
E) insurgency.
Q3) Which of the following is a true statement regarding the cold war?
A) It never became an actual shooting war between the United States and the Soviet Union.
B) The U.S. pursued a policy of containment.
C) It included U.S. support for governments being threatened by communism.
D) The global power structure was bipolar.
E) All these answers are correct.
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