GOVT 2305 - Exam 1

Question 1

1)	Which of the following is NOT among the frameworks used in political science? 
	A)   institutional analysis	
	B)   behavioral studies
	C)   rational choice theory
	D)   historical reasoning
	E)   liberalism

Answer 1

E

Question 2

2)	The first plan of government for the United States was a 
	A)   confederation.	
	B)   federalist system.
	C)   unitary form of government.
	D)   monarchy.
	E)   theocracy.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

3) The Three-Fifths Compromise was a response to
A) apportionment in the U.S. Senate.
B) the Electoral College.
C) the demands of large states.
D) the concerns of small states.
E) conflict over the institution of slavery.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

4) The writers of the Constitution established a federal system of government, in part because
A) few states in history had successfully established unitary governments.
B) the states already existed as established entities and had to be preserved.
C) the states would be valuable sources of revenue for a federal government.
D) Locke and Montesquieu had concluded it was superior to other systems of government.
E) the British political system was based on the federal principle.

Answer 4

B

Question 5

5)	Which of the following has most recently proven to serve as a significant obstacle to critical thinking? 
	A)   newspapers	
	B)   changes in the media landscape
	C)   the coastal elites
	D)   television
	E)   political partisanship

Answer 5

B

Question 6

6) In America today, public education is primarily the responsibility of
A) the National Education Association (NEA).
B) the U.S. Department of Education.
C) the national government.
D) the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
E) state and local governments.

Answer 6

E

Question 7

7)	What type of government suppresses individuality, forcing people to think and act in prescribed ways or risk punishment? 
	A)   socialist	
	B)   communist
	C)   republican
	D)   egalitarian
	E)   authoritarian

Answer 7

E

Question 8

8) Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress had the power to
A) tax individual states.
B) regulate commerce between states and foreign countries.
C) amend the Articles of Confederation.
D) regulate commerce between states.
E) tax individual citizens.

Answer 8

C

Question 9

9)	The European philosopher whose concept of natural rights had a great impact on American politics is 
	A)   Locke.	
	B)   Aristotle.
	C)   Montesquieu.
	D)   Hobbes.
	E)   Burke.

Answer 9

A

Question 10

10)	Which choice describes the American change in governmental structure in 1787? 
	A)   confederal to unitary	
	B)   confederal to federal
	C)   unitary to confederal
	D)   federal to unitary
E)   federal to confederal

Answer 10

B

Question 11

11) Which of the following chronologies correctly lists events from first to last?
A) Boston Tea Party; First Continental Congress; beginning of the American Revolution
B) the Three-Fifths Compromise; Declaration of Independence; The Federalist Papers
C) Declaration of Independence; Articles of Confederation; ratification of the Constitution; Federalist No. 48
D) Shays’ Rebellion; Annapolis Convention; Declaration of Independence
E) Declaration of Independence; Stamp Act; constitutional convention in Philadelphia

Answer 11

A

Question 12

12) Shays’ Rebellion
A) convinced many political leaders that the national government was too weak.
B) was a successful revolt.
C) occurred after the Philadelphia convention of 1787.
D) reinforced public support for the Articles of Confederation.
E) convinced many political leaders that the national government was too powerful.

Answer 12

A

Question 13

13)	Which of the following states had the lowest percentage of African Americans in 1790? 
	A)   North Carolina	
	B)   Georgia
	C)   Pennsylvania
	D)   South Carolina
	E)   Virginia

Answer 13

C

Question 14

14)	\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ opposed the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. 
	A)   Patrick Henry	
	B)   Benjamin Franklin
	C)   James Madison
	D)   John Adams
	E)   George Washington

Answer 14

A

Question 15

15)	Which of the following is a concurrent power held by both the national government and state governments? 
	A)   issuing currency	
	B)   chartering local governments
	C)   foreign affairs
	D)   national defense
	E)   taxation

Answer 15

E

Question 16

16) The words of the Declaration of Independence reflected
A) Montesquieu’s view of constitutionalism.
B) Madison’s view of factions.
C) Locke’s philosophy of inalienable rights.
D) Hobbes’s idea of the state of nature.
E) Aristotle’s conception of democracy.

Answer 16

C

Question 17

17)	Which of the following is NOT one of the core values of American political culture? 
	A)   self-government	
	B)   liberty
	C)   equality
	D)   individualism
	E)   cooperation

Answer 17

E

Question 18

18) Early Americans’ preference for limited government was strengthened by
A) their exposure to life under the British Parliament and some of the “rights of Englishmen.”
B) taxation without representation.
C) All these answers are correct.
D) Lockean philosophy.
E) Britain’s treatment of the colonies after the French and Indian War.

Answer 18

C

Question 19

19) Which of the following was NOT provided for by the Articles of Confederation?
A) unanimous approval by the states to amend the Articles
B) each state having one vote in Congress
C) a federal government subordinate to the states
D) a national Congress
E) an independent federal executive

Answer 19

E

Question 20

20) Which of the following statements about the Tenth Amendment is accurate?
A) Because it defines state powers too narrowly, it has not proved a strong protection against the growth of federal power at the expense of the states.
B) Because it cannot define the federal government’s lawful power, it has not proved a strong protection against the growth of federal power at the expense of the states.
C) Because of its ambiguous nature, it has proved incompatible with the American federal system.
D) It has vastly exceeded the Anti-Federalists’ intent in first proposing the amendment.
E) It has proven to be a strong force and preventive against the “nationalization” of the federal system.

Answer 20

B

Question 21

21) The 2010 Affordable Care Act
A) increased the control that states had over health insurance.
B) None of these answers are correct.
C) was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2012.
D) was passed by strong bipartisan majorities.
E) was enacted as a voluntary program with no penalties for nonparticipation.

Answer 21

B

Question 22

22) Which of the following is an example of politicians’ deliberate slanting of facts?
A) the insistence that President Barack Obama is a citizen and born in Hawaii
B) the claim that free trade is the cause for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs
C) debates over immigration policy and amnesty for current undocumented immigrants
D) calls for tax increases to fund infrastructure
E) the claim that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections

Answer 22

B

Question 23

23) A federal system is one where
A) constitutional authority is unlimited.
B) constitutional authority is centralized in a national government.
C) constitutional authority is decentralized, only residing in state governments.
D) constitutional authority is divided among multiple branches of the national government.
E) constitutional authority is divided between a national government and state governments.

Answer 23

E

Question 24

24)	In order for the Constitution to go into effect, at least \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ states would need to ratify it. 
	A)   11	
	B)   7
	C)   9
	D)   5
	E)   13

Answer 24

C

Question 25

25) Which of the following best describes Americans’ “unalienable rights,” as described in the Declaration of Independence?
A) freedom from government interference in any aspect of life
B) freedoms belonging to every citizen that cannot be legally taken away by the government
C) the freedoms necessary to become “a perfect nation”
D) freedom from religious persecution
E) “God-given” rights that all people possess from birth

Answer 25

B

Question 26

26)	In 1787, most countries in the world had a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ form of government. 
	A)   federal	
	B)   theocratic
	C)   unitary
	D)   confederal
	E)   democratic

Answer 26

C

Question 27

27)	According to \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, a large republic is less likely to have an all-powerful faction. 
	A)   Patrick Henry	
	B)   John C. Calhoun
	C)   George Mason
	D)   John Marshall Harlan
	E)   James Madison

Answer 27

E

Question 28

28) Which of the following was an argument in favor of federalism at the time of the writing of the Constitution?
A) Federalism will provide for a stronger national government than existed under the Articles of Confederation.
B) Federalism will moderate the power of government.
C) Federalism will protect liberty.
D) Federalism will be less likely to produce an all-dominant faction.
E) All these answers are correct.

Answer 28

E

Question 29

29) In recent years,
A) our politics has become more divisive and heated, leaders have lied more readily, and we have come to tolerate it more.
B) American politics has become more heated and divisive.
C) Americans have become more tolerant of leaders slanting facts.
D) Americans have embraced more truthful politicians.
E) American leaders have become more willing to lie.

Answer 29

A

Question 30

30)	Which of the following is a national power only? 
	A)   law enforcement	
	B)   borrowing money
	C)   transportation
	D)   intrastate commerce
	E)   national defense

Answer 30

E

Question 31

31)	Who among the following was the chief architect of the U.S. Constitution and also one of America's top political scientists? 
	A)   John Adams	
	B)   Andrew Jackson
	C)   James Madison
	D)   Woodrow Wilson
	E)   Benjamin Franklin

Answer 31

C

Question 32

32)	The idea that government should be restricted in its lawful uses of power and hence in its ability to deprive people of their liberty is expressed by the term 
	A)   federalism.	
	B)   natural rights.
	C)   limited government.
	D)   self-government.
	E)   judicial review.

Answer 32

C

Question 33

33)	The Constitution allows states to 
	A)   govern intrastate commerce.	
	B)   govern interstate commerce.
	C)   make commercial agreements with other states without the consent of Congress.
	D)   raise an army in peacetime.
	E)   print money.

Answer 33

A

Question 34

34) Which of the following statements about cultural or political beliefs in America is FALSE?
A) Americans generally believe that the people are the ultimate source of governing authority.
B) Americans reject European notions of aristocratic privilege.
C) Americans believe that individuals should be free to act and think as they choose.
D) America’s origins as a wilderness society led to the belief that government is responsible for providing material assistance to its citizens.
E) America has a strongly individualistic culture.

Answer 34

D

Question 35

35) Critical thinking is best described as
A) the process of forming an opinion after weighing the relevant facts.
B) discounting the news from ordinary media outlets.
C) rejecting the accounts of bureaucrats and finding alternative versions online.
D) trusting your instincts on the way the world works.
E) assuming that all news are lies until alternative truths present themselves.

Answer 35

A

Question 36

36)	Under the New Jersey Plan, each state would have \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ vote(s) in Congress. 
	A)   four	
	B)   five
	C)   two
	D)   three
	E)   one

Answer 36

E

Question 37

37) Under the Virginia Plan
A) the new Constitution would be only marginally stronger than the Articles of Confederation.
B) two of the northern states would have no representatives at all in Congress.
C) Congress could not regulate either interstate trade or international trade.
D) slaves would count as four-fifths of a person when apportioning legislative representatives.
E) large states would have more representatives in both chambers of Congress.

Answer 37

E

Question 38

38)	What do behavioral scientists Gordon Pennycook and David Rand call the habit of judging the accuracy of a claim on the basis of who's saying it or whether we've heard it before? 
	A)   "cognitive laziness"	
	B)   "cognitive bias"
	C)   "cognitive dissonance"
	D)   "cognitive disconnect"
	E)   "the cult of personality"

Answer 38

A

Question 39

39)	Which important aspect of European thought had the greatest impact on the formation of the political culture of America? 
	A)   Rationalism	
	B)   the Renaissance
	C)   Romanticism
	D)   the Reformation
	E)   the Enlightenment

Answer 39

E

Question 40

40)	Which of the following is almost exclusively a state power? 
	A)   registering voters	
	B)   chartering banks
	C)   delivering mail
	D)   loaning money
	E)   law enforcement

Answer 40

A

Question 41

41) Sovereignty refers to
A) None of these answers are correct.
B) subnational (state) governments.
C) a division of authority between the national government and the states.
D) a government headed by a king.
E) supreme and final governing authority.

Answer 41

E

Question 42

42) The Annapolis Convention
A) was a crucial step that led to the United States declaring independence from Britain.
B) officially ratified the Bill of Rights.
C) was attended by less than half the thirteen states.
D) produced several amendments to the Articles of Confederation.
E) was convened to fix problems that arose with the United States Constitution.

Answer 42

C

Question 43

43)	Approximately what share of Americans refuses to believe that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections? 
	A)   6 percent	
	B)   33 percent
	C)   25 percent
	D)   13 percent
	E)   60 percent

Answer 43

C

Question 44

44)	The Constitution was ratified by 
	A)   the Continental Congress.	
	B)   the states.
	C)   the Supreme Court.
	D)   the people.
	E)   local referendums.

Answer 44

B

Question 45

45)	\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. 
	A)   George Washington	
	B)   John Locke
	C)   Alexander Hamilton
	D)   Thomas Jefferson
	E)   James Madison

Answer 45

D

Question 46

46)	Under the original Constitution, Congress could not ban the slave trade until \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. 
	A)   1828	
	B)   1887
	C)   1865
	D)   1848
	E)   1808

Answer 46

E

Question 47

47) Which of the following best characterizes Americans’ knowledge of public affairs today?
A) Americans are consistently shown to be among the most well-informedcitizens when compared to other democracies.
B) Baby boomers have been shown to be the most well-informed generation, while younger generations know little about public affairs.
C) Millennialsare better informed than older generations by a wide margin.
D) Most Americans today are far better informed than previous generations, though knowledge levels are still rather low.
E) Misinformation is now at its highest level in the history of polling.

Answer 47

E

Question 48

48) According to John Locke, inalienable rights in a social contract
A) belong to individuals but can be denied by government.
B) are no longer as important to the individual as in a state of nature.
C) belong to individuals and cannot be denied by government.
D) belong to the government only.
E) cannot be guaranteed by any governmental body.

Answer 48

C

Question 49

49)	What is the likely result of spending hours listening to partisan talk shows? 
	A)   well-rounded political views	
	B)   misinformation
	C)   a distaste for politics
	D)   liberalism
	E)   pragmatism

Answer 49

B

Question 50

50) The inalienable rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence are
A) life and property.
B) life, liberty, and property.
C) life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
D) equality and liberty.
E) liberty, equality, and fraternity.

Answer 50

C