Constitution 201

Question 1

What are the three phases in American history?

Answer 1

The American Founding, the crisis of slavery and the Civil War, and the Progressive Era

Question 2

The Declaration of Independence refers to the “Laws of Nature and of _____.”

Answer 2

Nature’s God

Question 3

According to the Declaration of Independence, the primary purpose of government is _____.

Answer 3

To secure natural rights

Question 4

The three fundamental natural rights listed by the Declaration of Independence are _____.

Answer 4

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

Question 5

During the Civil War, the self-evident truth of _____ was at stake.

Answer 5

Equality

Question 6

What are the three key structures in the Constitution listed as grievances against the King in the Declaration of Independence?

Answer 6

Limited government, representation, and separation of powers

Question 7

True or False: The Progressives rejected the idea of a government limited in purpose to the security of individual rights.

Answer 7

True

Question 8

Which president also served as a university president?

Answer 8

Woodrow Wilson

Question 9

True or False: Many of the critiques of the King listed in the Declaration of Independence have become features of the modern bureaucratic state.

Answer 9

True

Question 10

Administrative government contradicts the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution because _____.

Answer 10

• It takes sovereignty away from the people
• It rejects the idea of limited government
• It ignores the doctrine of separation of powers

Question 11

True or False: Progressivism has some roots in the pro-slavery arguments of the pre-Civil War South, insofar as both believe that modern science renders the principles of the American Founding invalid.

Answer 11

True

Question 12

Woodrow Wilson rejected the Constitution’s separation of powers because it did not take into account the _____ growth of society.

Answer 12

Darwinian

Question 13

True or False: Progressives believe that the scientific guidance of government can improve, and even perfect, human nature.

Answer 13

True

Question 14

The president most successful in institutionalizing a Progressive administrative state was _____.

Answer 14

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Question 15

Progressives understand the word “equality” to mean that _____.

Answer 15

All human beings have the right to possess economic and material equality

Question 16

True or False: The American Founders and the Progressives would agree that their definitions of equality are mutually compatible.

Answer 16

False

Question 17

Progressivism is a philosophical movement intent on “progressing” or moving beyond the principles and practices of _____.

Answer 17

The American Founding

Question 18

The Progressives looked to the _____ of the late nineteenth century to argue that the principles of the American Founding were no longer operative or valid.

Answer 18

• Industrialization
• Immigration
• Economic conditions

Question 19

Prior to being elected president, Woodrow Wilson was governor of _____.

Answer 19

New Jersey

Question 20

True or False: Johns Hopkins University was the first American university founded on the German university model explicitly to promote Progressive principles.

Answer 20

True

Question 21

Before his political career, Woodrow Wilson was an academic, serving as president of _____.

Answer 21

Princeton

Question 22

True or False: Progressives believe that natural rights exist.

Answer 22

False

Question 23

Theodore Roosevelt led the _____ during the Election of 1912.

Answer 23

Progressive Party

Question 24

The core Progressive doctrine of “historical _____” means that there are no permanent or immutable principles, rather, truth is dependent upon the particular circumstances of history.

Answer 24

Contingency

Question 25

True or False: Progressive philosophy is predicated on the belief that human nature is changeable.

Answer 25

True

Question 26

In “What is Progress?” Woodrow Wilson states that the Founders’ conception of government and society is mechanistic and “Newtonian,” whereas the Progressive vision is evolutionary and “_____.”

Answer 26

Darwinian

Question 27

True or False: Woodrow Wilson believed that while the Constitution is insufficient, the principles of the Declaration of Independence remain valid.

Answer 27

False

Question 28

In “What is Progress?” Woodrow Wilson states, “Some citizens of this country have never got beyond the _____.”

Answer 28

Declaration of Independence

Question 29

True or False: Woodrow Wilson believed that checks and balances were irrelevant in the modern world because faction, as Publius called it in Federalist 10, was no longer a problem.

Answer 29

True

Question 30

Woodrow Wilson praised the _____ Constitution because of its lack of separation of powers.

Answer 30

British

Question 31

True or False: Woodrow Wilson states that each generation should define terms such as liberty, rights, and equality for itself, rather than referring to the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution.

Answer 31

True

Question 32

True or False: Woodrow Wilson believed that the separation of powers was a necessary feature of good government.

Answer 32

False

Question 33

Woodrow Wilson wrote of the separation of powers that “no living thing can have its organs offset against each other and _____.”

Answer 33

Live

Question 34

Woodrow Wilson referred to the Founders’ Constitution as “Newtonian” and the Progressive Constitution as _____.

Answer 34

• Living
• Darwinian
• Evolutionary

Question 35

True or False: The Progressives shared the Founders’ fear of direct democracy.

Answer 35

False

Question 36

True or False: The Progressives wanted government to respond quickly and efficiently to the people’s’ demands.

Answer 36

True

Question 37

The Progressives believed the old Constitution to be both “irresponsible” and “_____.”

Answer 37

Inefficient

Question 38

True or False: The Progressives argued that the unelected administrative state should be modified and/or otherwise affected by elections and politics.

Answer 38

False

Question 39

Woodrow Wilson wrote that public opinion should be “efficient” in establishing the administrative state, but must not be “_____.”

Answer 39

Meddlesome

Question 40

Woodrow Wilson praised the _____ system of government for its lack of separation of powers and responsiveness to the people’s needs.

Answer 40

British

Question 41

The American president who caused Woodrow Wilson to turn his attention from Congress to the executive branch as the best means of achieving Progressive policy goals is _____.

Answer 41

Theodore Roosevelt

Question 42

Woodrow Wilson argued that the president should be able to_______ his office and his power however he saw fit, without any meaningful constitutional limitations.

Answer 42

• Mold
• Shape
• Transform

Question 43

The Progressives saw the president as not just the leader of the party, but also as the leader of the _______.

Answer 43

Nation

Question 44

True or False: The concept of a presidential “mandate” arose from the Progressive understanding of the presidency.

Answer 44

True