Chapter 12 Notes

Question 1

What is the primary purpose of Congress?

Answer 1

To make laws

Question 2

Specific powers given in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution are what?

Answer 2

enumerated powers (aka listed powers)

Question 3

The first clause of Article I, Section 8 deals with taxes and gives the reasons for them:

Answer 3

“to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States.”

Question 4

What is a duty?

Answer 4

A tax on an import

Question 5

What is an excise tax?

Answer 5

Tax on the sale of goods produced within the United States

Question 6

Amendment that created income taxes

Answer 6

Sixteenth Amendment

Question 7

What is fiat money?

Answer 7

paper money whose value depends only on the trustworthiness of the government that issues it

Question 8

Clause 6 gives Congress the obvious authority to do what?

Answer 8

to punish those who make counterfeit money

Question 9

What events set in motion the move to convene the Constitutional Convention?

Answer 9

The inability of the Articles of Confederation to regulate trade among the states

Question 10

Which case gave broad power to Congress to regulate interstate commerce (between or among the states)?

Answer 10

Gibbons v. Ogden

Question 11

Which case had the Supreme Court rule that even economic activity that wasn’t “commerce” (a farmer keeping his wheat for personal consumption, not selling it) still affected commerce because its absence in the market affected prices and market conditions?

Answer 11

Wickard v. Filburn

Question 12

What is granted automatically to those born in the United States?

Answer 12

Citizenship

Question 13

What year was citizenship given to Native Americans?

Answer 13

1887

Question 14

How many of civilian employees of the federal government worked for the postal service?

Answer 14

One-third

Question 15

Why is there a time limit on patents and copyrights?

Answer 15

To avoid monopolies

Question 16

How many people are on the Supreme Court?

Answer 16

9

Question 17

In 1790 Congress established the district with land ceded from Maryland and Virginia; however, in 1846 Virginia’s land was returned to the state.

Answer 17

True

Question 18

Which amendment gave the district three electoral votes so that the citizens there could participate in presidential elections?

Answer 18

Twenty-third Amendment

Question 19

What are implied powers?

Answer 19

National government powers derived from the powers expressly given by the Constitution
Aka inherent powers

Question 20

What are resolutions?

Answer 20

declarations that do not have the authority of law, but rather express congressional opinion.

Question 21

The power to elect the president if no candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes on what two occasions?

Answer 21

the 1800 election of Thomas Jefferson and the 1824 election of John Quincy Adams

Question 22

Which two presidents have ever been impeached by the House?

Answer 22

Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998

Question 23

What are reserved powers?

Answer 23

Constitutional powers are not withheld from the states, but are withheld from national government

Question 24

Which states that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or the people”?

Answer 24

The Tenth Amendment

Question 25

According to the First Amendment, Congress cannot restrict what?

Answer 25

religious freedom
freedoms of speech and the press
the rights to assemble and petition the government

Question 26

List the types of backdoor spending.

Answer 26

entitlement, borrowing power, and guaranteed loans

Question 27

Citizens need to hold members of Congress accountable and demand the highest ethical standards

Answer 27

T

Question 28

What are pork-barrel politics?

Answer 28

Big spending projects that are designed to help a member of Congress get reelected

Question 29

What is log-rolling?

Answer 29

The practice in Congress of one member supporting a colleague’s spending project in return for supporting his or her own pork-barrel project

Question 30

To what event was the War Powers Act of 1973 a reaction?

Answer 30

The aftermath of the Vietnam War

Question 31

What are entitlements?

Answer 31

Government compensation programs that Congress has protected by law

Question 32

What is a subpoena?

Answer 32

A document that requires a person to testify before a congressional committee

Question 33

ESSAY

What are the financial powers of Congress?

Answer 33

• Power to tax
• Raise income tax
• Raising duties
• Imposts and excises
• Coin and print money
• Create a national bank and Federal Reserve system

Question 34

Discuss the primary military powers of Congress.

Answer 34

• In Clause 10 Congress has the power “to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas and offenses against the law of nations.” This clause authorizes Congress to legislate in the area of international law.
• Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, constitutes the “war power” of the national government. This war power is perhaps the single greatest authority given to our national government. Some constitutional scholars argue that the power would exist even if it had not been mentioned in the Constitution, because it is a basic right of government.
• Clause 11 mentions two technical matters related to military action. A letter of marque (not used for over a century and a half) is a license granted by a nation to a private citizen to capture a merchant ship of another nation. Reprisal is retaliation by one nation against another when provoked; it may involve seizing property or people. The final portion of this clause gives Congress power to deal with the issue of prisoners of war.