American Government

1

The Bill of Rights was added after the Constitution was ratified because of the concerns of the Anti-Federalists.

	True
	False

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2

The words “All men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…” are from the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution.

	True
	False

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3

An open primary is one in which all voters can vote for any candidate.

	True
	False

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4

An enumerated power of the presidency includes the power to declare war.

	True
	False

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5

The Internal Revenue Service prepares the President’s annual budget.

	True
	False

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6

A term used interchangeably with representative democracy is

	direct democracy.
	theocracy.
	monarchy.
	republic.

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7

When one party controls the Congress and another controls the Presidency, the government is said to be

	a lame duck government.
	realigned.
	a divided government.
	transitional.

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8

The distribution of constitutional authority among the three branches of the national government is known as

	separation of powers.
	divided government.
	checks and balances.
	veto power.

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9

Compromise(s) agreed upon at the Constitutional Convention included which of the following?

	The Great Compromise or bicameral legislature
	The Three-Fifths Compromise
	The Electoral College
	All of the above

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10

The political system in which those who have governmental authority get and retain authority directly or indirectly because of winning free elections is called

	a republic.
	an authoritarian system.
	a direct democracy.
	a representative democracy.

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11

In a system of checks and balances,

	a majority of voters can win control over all parts of government at one time.
	each branch is politically dependent upon the other.
	all branches of government must be elected at the same time.
	each branch has some authority over the others.

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12

The Supreme Court’s power of judicial review was established in the case of

	Roe v. Wade.
	McCullough v. Maryland.
	Marbury v. Madison.
	Gibbons v. Ogden.

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13

The Constitution reflects the Founders’ respect for __________ law, which implies a universal sense of right and wrong.

	federal
	natural
	corporal
	formal

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14

The assigning by Congress of congressional seats after each census is called

	gerrymandering.
	redistricting.
	reapportionment.
	none of the above.

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15

The Federal Administrative System’s main goal is to ________________________.

	implement the laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the President
	be as independent as possible from the executive branch
	create a huge bureaucracy to ensure that government jobs are always available for everyone
	police the other branches of government

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16

The ___________ were the first governing document of the confederated states.

	Bill of Rights
	Amendments
	Articles of Confederation
	The Federalist Papers

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17

All of the following are considerations in choosing a Supreme Court Justice except

	judicial philosophy.
	political experience.
	ideological beliefs.
	gender or ethnicity.

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18

A___________ is a form of government in which a constitution distributes powers between a central government and sub-divisional governments.

	Confederation
	Unitary system or Union
	National supremacy
	Federal system

Question

19

With the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act in effect, _________.

	party contributions to candidates are no longer allowed
	soft money contributions to the national committees are banned
	individual contributions to candidates are unlimited
	contributions to parties for buildings are limited to $10,000 per election cycle

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20

The United States’ electoral system can be described as a _________.

	proportional representation system
	coalition system
	winner-take-all system
	majority vote system

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21

The constitutional provision that ensures that state courts enforce civil judgments of the courts of other states as valid is found in the

	commerce clause.
	full faith and credit clause.
	privileges and immunities clause.
	due process clause.

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22

A formal petition used to appeal a case to the Supreme Court is known as a(n)

	writ of certiorari.
	writ of habeas corpus.
	writ of mandamus.
	appeal.

Question

23

Under the federal Hatch Act (as revised in 1993), federal employees are allowed to do all of the following except

	vote in elections.
	run for political or partisan office while holding a federal job.
	hold positions in political parties.
	participate in political campaigns during non-working hours.

Question

24

The membership of the House of Representatives is determined by

	apportionment.
	gerrymandering.
	districting.
	constituents.

Question

25

Which of the following is true regarding U.S. Senators?

	Senators are elected to 2 year terms.
	Senators can approve executive agreements.
	Each state has two Senators.
	Senators must be 25 years old.