AP Government Mr. Messinger EXAM: Constitutional Underpinnings 2 INSTRUCTIONS: Mark all answers on your Scantron. Do not write on the test. Good luck!! 1. In the Constitution as originally ratified in 1788, the provisions regarding which of the following most closely approximate popular, majoritarian democracy? a) Election of members of the Senate b) Election of the President c) Election of members of the House of Representatives d) Ratification of treaties e) Confirmation of presidential appointments 2. The importance of Shays Rebellion to the development of the United States Constitution was that it a) indicated that a strong, constitutionally designed national government was needed to protect property and maintain order b) revealed the necessity of both adding the Bill of Rights to the Constitution and creating a new system of checks and balances c) demonstrated the intensity of antiratification sentiment within the thirteen states d) convinced the delegates attending the Constitutional Convention to accept the Connecticut Plan e) reinforced the idea that slavery should be outlawed in the new Constitution 3. In a federal system of government, political power is primarily a) vested in local governments b) vested in the regional governments c) vested in the central government d) divided between the central government and regional governments e) divided between regional governments and local governments 4. Diversity of public policy throughout the United States is primarily a consequence of a) federalism b) separation of powers c) innovation within bureaucratic agencies d) decentralization in the Senate e) lack of party discipline in the House
5. Which of the following is one of the central concerns of the First Amendment? a) The supremacy of the national over the state governments b) The right of citizens to bear arms c) The division of powers among the three branches of government d) The right of citizens to petition the government for redress of grievances e) The protection of the rights of those accused of committing a crime 6. In The Federalist No. 10, James Madison argued that factions in a republic are a) a more serious threat if the republic is large b) not likely to occur if people are honest c) natural but controllable by institutions d) prevented by majority rule e) prevented by free elections 7. Which of the following was the most important effect of replacing the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution in 1787? a) The protection of free speech b) the guarantee of states rights c) The establishment of direct democracy d) The creation of a strong national government e) The establishment of judicial review 8. Which of the following is an example of checks and balances, as established by the Constitution? a) A requirement that states lower their legal drinking age to eighteen as a condition of receiving funds through federal highway grant programs b) Media criticism of public officials during an election campaign period c) The Supreme Court s ability to overturn a lower court decision d) The election of the President by the electoral college rather than by direct election e) The requirement that presidential appointments to the Supreme Court be approved by the Senate 9. Individuals have power when they are able to a) get elected to office b) be present at behind-the-scenes political meetings c) serve their fellow human beings d) get others to do what they want e) vote without being influenced by outside forces 10. The primary source of legitimate political authority in the United States is the a) Bill of Rights b) will of the people c) United States Constitution d) concept of civil liberty e) notion of civil rights 11. At the time of the Constitutional Convention, the view that a democratic government was desirable was a) already waning b) close to unanimous c) beyond debate d) far from unanimous e) held only by the elite
12. Of the following, the most important role in the political socialization of children is played by a) their peer groups b) their places of worship c) the family d) the media e) the school 13. Of the following, the best example of a participatory democracy is a) a Cuban village b) Sweden and Norway c) the Democratic National Convention d) The U.S. House of Representatives e) a New England town meeting 14. Representative democracy allows individuals to gain political power through a) media campaigns b) quadrennial elections c) nonpartisan elections d) reciprocal elections e) competitive elections 15. The majority of the Framers of the United States Constitution favored a) direct democracy b) representative democracy c) monarchy d) oligarchy e) participatory democracy 16. Those who possess a disproportionate share of political power are defined as a) capitalists b) majoritarians c) a political elite d) office holders e) centralists 17. Marxists claim that, in modern society, the two major classes contending for power are the a) city dwellers and farmers b) industrialists and capitalists c) government and proletariat d) intelligentsia and bourgeoisie e) capitalists and workers 18. The founder of the elitist school of thought in contemporary America was a) Auguste Comte b) Max Weber c) C. Wright Mills d) William F. Buckley, Jr. e) Ralph Abernathy
19. One of the elites discussed in the book the Power Elite was the a) Military elite b) Republican elite c) Federalist elite d) Liberal elite e) Conservative elite 20. The Three-fifths Compromise at the Constitutional Convention was intended primarily to solve disputes between a) Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton b) Britain and the United States c) East and West d) North and South e) merchants and farmers (Questions 21 and 22 refer to the quote below): But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government... 21. The quotation is found in a) Article I of the Constitution b) The 1st Amendment c) Federalist #10 d) the Declaration of Independence e) Common Sense 22. The quotation reflects acceptance of John Locke s principle of a) equality in the state of nature b) federalism c) the social contract d) separation of powers e) majoritarianism 23. What type of political system by its definition divides policy-making powers between the central government and sub-units? a) representative democracy b) direct democracy c) unitary system d) confederation e) federal system 24. The liberties that the colonists fought to protect were based on a) the language of the individual state constitutions b) the rights proclaimed originally by the king of Great Britain c) a historical understanding of the essentials of human progress d) colonial charters e) natural rights
25. The list of essential rights demanded by the colonists included life, liberty, and a) trading rights b) property c) the right to own slaves d) the pursuit of truth e) fraternity 26. The original purpose of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was to a) prepare a new constitution b) revise the Articles of Confederation c) draft a Declaration of Independence d) adopt a common state constitution e) prepare for a second Revolution 27. The central issue in the framing of the US Constitution was that of a) how strong to make the central government b) how best to divide powers among the branches of government c) how best to break with Great Britain d) how to adopt liberty but still allow slaveholding e) how to create a truly independent judiciary 28. The Founders did not include an explicit statement of state powers in the US Constitution, but added it later in the a) Second Amendment b) Seventh Amendment c) Nineteenth Amendment d) Tenth Amendment e) Fourteenth Amendment 29. The Supreme Court case that established national supremacy was a) U.S. v. Wilson b) United States v. Virginia c) Brown v. Maryland d) McCulloch v. Maryland e) Marbury v. Madison 30. The procedure in effect in about one-third of the states that permits voters to remove an elected official from office is known as a) initiative b) referendum c) logrolling d) rollback e) recall 31. Under their powers, states can enact and enforce all of the following, except: a) police criminal codes b) require children to attend school c) restrict the activities of drug dealers d) set standards for DUI convictions e) regulate interstate commerce
32. That a comparatively tiny group of individuals holds the greatest political power could be argued by both a) Alexis de Tocqueville and Joseph Schumpeter b) Joseph Schumpeter and C. Wright Mills c) C. Wright Mills and Karl Marx d) Karl Marx and Alexis de Tocqueville e) James Madison and Charles Beard 33. James Madison believed that the latent causes of factions were rooted in a) the two-party system b) capitalist society c) religious conflict d) an improperly designed constitution e) the nature of man 34. Federalism involves two levels of government, both of which are a) dependent b) democratic c) representative d) bicameral e) sovereign 35. Which of the following is NOT a core value of United States political culture? a) Legal equality b) Political equality c) Economic equality d) Freedom of speech e) Freedom of religion 36. New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman calls your generation a) very lazy b) Generation X c) truly educated and inspirational d) Generation Q e) the group of people least likely to read the fifth choice 37. Which of the following statements about the US democratic republic is true? a) It has never been tried elsewhere b) It thrived in the United States despite the existence of a feudal aristocracy c) It thrived in the United States despite the large number of legal restraints d) It emphasizes social equality over personal liberty e) It has been tried without great success by many other countries 38. A fat man should not try to be a ballet dancer. This quote is by a) Cornell West regarding the unique characteristics of race b) Tommy Thompson regarding the need for states to address their unique problems c) Walter Lippman regarding the lack of voter turnout d) James Madison regarding the danger of factions e) Tommy Thompson regarding the funding of the arts by Congress
39. All of the following statements reflect the beliefs held by the majority of framers of the Constitution EXCEPT a) they favored representative democracy over direct democracy b) they believed that most citizens did not have the time, information, and expertise to make informed choices c) they believed that government decisions should mirror popular viewpoints d) they recognized that representative democracy would proceed slowly e) they insisted on the protection of civil rights and civil liberties 40. Citizens who believe they can influence political events and trust the system to respond to their needs have a high sense of political a) effectiveness b) culture c) efficacy d) socialization e) legitimacy