US Constitution

Question 1

Which article of the constitution mentions the word “federalism”?

Answer 1

None - it’s not mentioned at all.

Question 2

What does Article One deal with?

Answer 2

Congress.

Question 3

What does Article Two deal with?

Answer 3

The Executive.

Question 4

What does Article Three deal with?

Answer 4

The Supreme Court.

Question 5

What are the four key principles of the Constitution?

Answer 5

federalism; limited government; separation of powers and checks and balances; bipartisanship.

Question 6

Why were the Founding Fathers so keen to ensure limited government?

Answer 6

Because they had only just thrown off British rule.

Question 7

What did the Connecticut Compromise agree?

Answer 7

To a bicameral chamber: a Senate and a House of Representatives.

Question 8

How many members of the Senate are there, and how many per state?

Answer 8

100; 2.

Question 9

How many members of the House are there, and how are they allocated?

Answer 9

435; by population.

Question 10

How many members of the electoral college are there, and why is that the number?

Answer 10

538. One for every House and Senate member (535) and three for District of Columbia which has no representation.

Question 11

Article 1 s8 lists what, and embodies which of the principles of Constitution?

Answer 11

The enumerated powers; limited government.

Question 12

What and where in the Constitution is the “elastic” clause, and what is its more proper name?

Answer 12

Article 1 s8 clause 18; it allows Congress to “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” for executing the enumerated powers. Its more proper name is the necessary and proper clause.

Question 13

What is the collective name for the powers conferred by the 10th Amendment, and to whom are they conferred?

Answer 13

Reserved powers; they are given to the states.

Question 14

Which part of the Constitution makes the President Commmander-in-Chief?

Answer 14

Article 2 section 2.

Question 15

“There is nothing more likely than that the enumeration of powers is defective.” So said:

Answer 15

Thomas Jefferson.

Question 16

According to Motesquieu, “When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person…”

Answer 16

“…there can be no liberty.”

Question 17

According to Professor Richard Neustadt, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 created not a government of separated powers, but instead:

Answer 17

separated institutions sharing powers.

Question 18

According to Professor Stephen Finer, the legislative and executive are like:

Answer 18

two halves of a bank note: each useless without the other.

Question 19

How did James Madison describe checks and balances?

Answer 19

Ambition counter-checking ambition.

Question 20

What is the name given to the first ten amendments to the Constitution, which were all proposed together and accepted in 1791?

Answer 20

The Bill of Rights.

Question 21

Where are constitutional rights outlined?

Answer 21

In the Bill of Rights and other amendments.

Question 22

Which amendment protects free speech?

Answer 22

The First.

Question 23

Which amendment protects the right to bear arms?

Answer 23

The Second.

Question 24

Which amendment ensures the right to silence?

Answer 24

The Fifth.

Question 25

Which amendment provides for the removal of the President should they become unfit to hold the office?

Answer 25

The Twenty-Fifth.

Question 26

Give two ways in which the President can check the Judiciary.

Answer 26

The appointment of federal justices and the power of pardon.

Question 27

In his final three weeks in office, Obama pardoned how many people?

Answer 27

142.

Question 28

Give two ways in which the Executive can check the Legislature.

Answer 28

The State of the Union address, and the power of veto.

Question 29

Who has to ratify treaties, and by what majority?

Answer 29

Senate, 2/3.

Question 30

How many times was Obama’s veto overriden, what was the issue and when did it happen?

Answer 30

Once; in 2016 over the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.

Question 31

Who confirms appointments to the executive?

Answer 31

The Senate.

Question 32

What is the impeachment process in Congress?

Answer 32

A simple majority in the House and then a trial in the Senate, with a 2/3 majority required.

Question 33

Which two US presidents have been impeached (though both were ultimately found not guilty in the Senate)?

Answer 33

Andrew Johnson 1868, Bill Clinton 1998.

Question 34

Give an example of the power of judicial review.

Answer 34

2013 US v Windsor: the Supreme Court declared the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional.

Question 35

NLRB v Noel Canning (2014) is an example of what?

Answer 35

The judiciary checking the executive. The Supreme Court ruled that Obama had acted unconstitutionally when making appointments to the National Labour Relations Board during a recess.