Chapter 1 - The history and nature of the Constitution

Question 1

What did James Otis declare?

Answer 1

‘Taxation without representation is tyranny!’

Question 2

When was the American War of Independence?

Answer 2

1775-1783

Question 3

When was the Declaration of Independence signed?

Answer 3

1776

Question 4

When were the Articles of Confederation signed?

Answer 4

March 1781

Question 5

What did the confederation not have?

Answer 5

An executive or a judiciary.

Question 6

When was the Philadelphia Convention held?

Answer 6

1787

Question 7

What was the Philadelphia Convention?

Answer 7

Where 55 delegates from 12 of the 13 states met to create a new constitution.

Question 8

Who drafted the New Jersey Plan?

Answer 8

William Patterson

Question 9

Who drafted the Virginia Plan?

Answer 9

James Madison

Question 10

What did the New Jersey Plan propose?

Answer 10

A congress of one chamber based on equal representation.

Question 11

What did the Virginia Plan propose?

Answer 11

A congress of two chambers with proportional representation.

Question 12

Who drafted the Connecticut Compromise?

Answer 12

Roger Sherman

Question 13

What did the Connecticut Compromise propose?

Answer 13

Two chambers of congress with both proportional and equal representation.

Question 14

When was the new constitution finished?

Answer 14

17 September 1787

Question 15

Which article is the legislature?

Answer 15

Article I

Question 16

Which article is the executive?

Answer 16

Article II

Question 17

Which article is the judiciary?

Answer 17

Article III

Question 18

Where is the supremacy clause found?

Answer 18

Article VI: ‘the supreme law of the land’

Question 19

What are enumerated powers?

Answer 19

Powers given to the federal government under the Constitution.

Question 20

What is the elastic clause?

Answer 20

Article I, Section 8, that allows Congress to make all laws ‘necessary and proper’.

Question 21

Give an example of the elastic clause in action?

Answer 21

McCulloch v Maryland 1819, when the Supreme Court ruled Congress had the power to create a national bank.

Question 22

When was the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review found?

Answer 22

Marbury v Madison 1803

Question 23

What are the enumerated powers of the president?

Answer 23

• Head of the executive branch.
• Nominate officers to the executive branch.
• Grant pardons.
• Commander-in-chief.
• Propose legislation.
• Veto legislation.

Question 24

What are reserved powers?

Answer 24

Powers not delegated to the federal government that are reserved for the states or the people.

Question 25

Where can the reserved powers be found?

Answer 25

Tenth Amendment

Question 26

What are concurrent powers?

Answer 26

Powers possessed by the federal and state governments.

Question 27

What does entrenchment mean?

Answer 27

The Constitution is difficult to amend.

Question 28

What is Article V?

Answer 28

Amendment process

Question 29

What does the vagueness of the Constitution allow?

Answer 29

For it to evolve over time and adapt to an ever changing world.

Question 30

Why is the Constitution hard to amend?

Answer 30

To prevent it being changed frequently on the whim of circumstance.

Question 31

How many amendments have their been?

Answer 31

27

Question 32

How can constitutional amendments be proposed?

Answer 32

• By 2/3 of both chambers of Congress.

- By a national constitutional convention called at the request of 2/3 of state legislatures.

Question 33

How many national constitutional conventions have been called?

Answer 33

None have ever been called, all amendments have been proposed by Congress.

Question 34

Once an amendment has been proposed, what happens next?

Answer 34

It must be ratified by 3/4 of state legislatures or state constitutional conventions.

Question 35

Have many amendments have been passed to the states for ratification?

Answer 35

33

Question 36

When was the last amendment made to the Constitution?

Answer 36

1992

Question 37

When was the Bill of Rights ratified?

Answer 37

1791

Question 38

What is the first amendment?

Answer 38

Freedom of religion, speech, the press, and assembly

Question 39

Second amendment?

Answer 39

Right to keep and bear arms

Question 40

Sixth amendment?

Answer 40

Rights of trial

Question 41

Eighth amendment?

Answer 41

Prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment

Question 42

Tenth amendment?

Answer 42

Reserved powers

Question 43

Thirteenth - Fifteenth amendment?

Answer 43

Abolition of slavery - “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude…shall exist within the United States”

Question 44

Sixteenth amendment?

Answer 44

Allowed the federal government to impose income tax

Question 45

Seventeenth amendment?

Answer 45

Made the Senate an elected chamber

Question 46

Nineteenth amendment?

Answer 46

Gave women the right to vote

Question 47

When was the nineteenth amendment passed?

Answer 47

1920

Question 48

Twenty-Second Amendment?

Answer 48

Limited the president to two terms in office

Question 49

Twenty-First amendment?

Answer 49

Repealed the eighteenth amendment

Question 50

What are the four reason why the Constitution has rarely been amended?

Answer 50

• Founding Fathers made it so to prevent ill-thought-out amendments.
• Emergence of parties and polarisation.
• Vagueness has allowed it to evolve.
• Supreme Court’s power of judicial review, making interpretive amendments.

Question 51

How many amendments have been proposed overall?

Answer 51

Over 12,000

Question 52

What are the advantages of the amendment process?

Answer 52

• Protects the Constitution.
• Upholds federalism.
• Requires broad support.
• Prevents ill-thought-out amendments.

Question 53

What are the disadvantages of the amendment process?

Answer 53

• Difficult to change outdated provisions.
• Goes against majoritarian democracy.
• Enhances the power of the unelected Supreme Court.

Question 54

When was the Equal Rights Amendment passed to the states for ratification?

Answer 54

1972

Question 55

When was a woman’s right to an abortion decided?

Answer 55

Roe v Wade 1973

Question 56

What is unique about the Sixteenth Amendment?

Answer 56

It is the only time an amendment has been passed to overturn a Supreme Court ruling.

Question 57

When was the Sixteenth Amendment passed?

Answer 57

1913