Government Final (Questions) Flashcards
What is Government?
Government is an organization that exercises authority and performs functions for a political unit, such as a country or community. It creates laws, collects taxes, and provides public services.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” — U.S. Constitution, Preamble
Which statement BEST expresses the concerns of the founders of the American government?
Their focus was to create a government that protected all aspects of the nation and its people.
The colonists built their governments based on customs and ideas borrowed from England and early civilizations, including unwritten, judge-made law developed over centuries. This type of law is known as…
Common Law
Which of the following is MOST directly related to the idea that the government should be restricted in what it can do?
Limited Government
The Magna Carta established the idea that…
People could have freedom and the right to not have power exercised upon them. And also that liberty and freedom should be protected by the law.
Which of the constitutional principles listed was Madison describing and defending in the quotation below? “In the compound republic of America, the power . . . is first divided between two distinct governments. . . . The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” —James Madison, Federalist No. 51, 1788
Federalism
The Necessary and Proper Clause, shown below, is used to justify what category of government powers in our federal system? [Congress has the power] “to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.” —Article I, Section 8
Implied Powers
What argument was Oliver Wendell Holmes making in this quotation about how our federal system works?“I do not think the United States would come to an end if we [the Court] lost our power to declare an Act of Congress void. I do think the Union would be imperiled if we could not make that declaration as to the laws of the several States.”—Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
The supreme court needs to be able to settle disputes between the states and the Federal Government by reviewing the constitutionality of State laws.
Which of the following powers is a concurrent power shared by both the Federal Government and the State governments?
Levy and Collect taxes, borrow money, establish courts, define crimes and set punishments, claim private property for public use, establish a police force.
The Framers included the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution for the purpose of…
To be able to settle disputes between the states and so the government would have the authority in those situations.
How much support is needed to pass a bill in the Legislature?
more than 50% in both houses
How can a bill gain support in Congress?
It can include clauses to gain more votes, holding hearings to learn about the same issue so that the bill can be stronger.
What happens when a bill that is ready to be signed comes before the president?
He can either veto it or accept it.
If Congress wants to pass a law that is not supported by the president, what can they do?
They can outvote him by a ⅔ majority vote.
True or False: Supreme Court justices use public opinion as their rulebook when judging laws.
False
