American Politics
Exam Solutions
Course Introduction
American Politics explores the foundational principles, institutions, and processes that shape the political landscape of the United States. This course examines the Constitution, federalism, the roles of Congress, the presidency, and the judiciary, as well as the influence of political parties, interest groups, and the media. Students will analyze how elections are conducted and how public opinion, civil rights, and civil liberties impact policymaking. Through historical context and contemporary case studies, the course provides insight into the challenges and dynamics of governance in a diverse democratic society.
Recommended Textbook
American Government Institutions and Policies 14th Edition by James Q. Wilson
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The Study of American Government
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Sample Questions
Q1) Identify the government institutions whose influence on agenda setting has become especially important. Explain.
Answer: -The courts can make decisions that force the hand of the other branches of government.
-The bureaucracy has acquired significance because it is now a source of political innovation. It has become a source of policy proposals as well as implementers of those that become law.
-In the 1960s the Senate became an incubator for developing new policies and building national constituencies.
Q2) The sociologist __________ argued that American democracy is dominated by a small "power elite."
A) C. Wright Mills
B) Karl Marx
C) David B. Truman
D) Max Weber
E) Samuel P. Huntington
Answer: A
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Page 3
Chapter 2: The Constitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss James Madison's view of liberty and the size of a republic. Answer: Liberty is most secure in a large (or "extended") republic because in a small republic, a dominant view can suffocate minority viewpoints. In a large republic, however, opinions and interests will multiply. As a result, it is much harder for a tyrannical majority to develop in a large republic. The coalitions necessary to form in order to gain power are likely to be more moderate in a large republic. Moreover, liberty is more likely to be respected, secure.
Q2) The Federalist Papers were written in order to mobilize support for the Constitution. A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Discuss the differences of opinion between Thomas Hobbes and John Locke regarding the nature of democracy.
Answer: In Leviathan, Hobbes argued that people live in a "war of all against all" and so an absolute, supreme ruler was essential to prevent civil war. Locke disagreed and argued that people can get along with one another if they have a decent government based on the consent of the governed and be managed by majority rule.
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Federalism
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is a member of the "Big 7"?
A) The National Governors Association
B) The National League of Cities
C) The National Conference of State Legislatures
D) None of the above is True.
E) Options A, B, C, and D are True.
Answer: E
Q2) In this decision, the Supreme Court, by a 5-4 majority, ruled that the individual mandate component of Obamacare was constitutional because the mandate was a tax and was one of the powers of Congress.
A) Baker v. Carr
B) U.S. v. Lopez
C) Printz v. U.S.
D) McCulloch v. Maryland
E) National Federation of Business v. Sebelius
Answer: E
Q3) A categorical grant is one made for a specific purpose defined by federal law.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 4: American Political Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) The relevance and potential impact of religion in American politics were evident in 2002 when a federal court issued a controversial ruling regarding
A) prayer in schools.
B) the use of the Bible in high school literature classes.
C) the Pledge of Allegiance.
D) the singing of "God Bless America."
E) religious-based student clubs.
Q2) In the 2000 presidential election, George Bush was the only candidate who extolled the virtues of religion and advocated the right of religious organizations that deliver social services to receive government funding.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What was the Swedish sociologist Gunnar Myrdal referring to when he spoke of "America's dilemma"?
A) Affluence
B) Race relations
C) Corporate dominance
D) Political ignorance
E) Economic disparities
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Page 6
Chapter 5: Civil Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) The First Amendment states that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the "free exercise" of religion. It may, however,
A) make laws that impose a special burden on religion.
B) bind religions to laws that bind all others.
C) insist that church and state remain separate.
D) make laws respecting the establishment of a religion.
E) declare an official religion for ceremonial purposes.
Q2) The purpose of the exclusionary rule, according to the Supreme Court, is to A) limit illegal immigration.
B) prevent crime by addressing its root causes.
C) limit the power of courts.
D) exclude religious activities by government employees.
E) control the behavior of the police.
Q3) How did the Court rule in two recent cases involving the Ten Commandments in Kentucky and Texas?
Q4) In the 1980s, Puerto Rican nationalists were changed with sedition.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Discuss five key provisions of the USA Patriot Act.
Q6) Discuss how the Supreme Court has ruled on the issue of obscenity.
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Civil Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) Laws cannot treat people differently.
A)True
B)False
Q2) On June 10, 1964, the Senate voted to invoke cloture and end a filibuster of the Civil Rights Act. This was
A) a key moment leading to the passage of the legislation.
B) the first time in history that a filibuster aimed at blocking civil rights legislation had been broken.
C) a victory for the civil rights movement.
D) None of the above is True.
E) Options A, B, C, and D are True.
Q3) Privacy is mentioned only once in the Constitution.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Findings from social science studies on the impact of segregation on black children influenced the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown.
A)True
B)False
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Public Opinion
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Sample Questions
Q1) Pollsters have to be concerned about ideological self-identification in polls because A) many Americans do not know what liberalism and conservatism mean.
B) many Americans do not feel the need to be ideologically consistent.
C) some respondents will hide what they think to be socially unacceptable self-identifications.
D) the desire to hide self-identifications might inflate responses of "don't know" or "moderate."
E) All of the above are True.
Q2) Public policy is invariably consistent with public opinion.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Increasingly, pollsters
A) do not even attempt to measure ideology.
B) measure political ideology by self-identification.
C) measure political ideology by looking for constraint.
D) see political ideology as irrelevant to politics.
E) research ideology in presidential, but not congressional, elections.
Q4) Explain why the use of self-identification in surveys on political ideology is somewhat questionable.
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Chapter 8: Political Participation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Blacks first voted in large numbers in the South
A) in the 1970s.
B) after the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
C) after World War II.
D) early in the twentieth century.
E) soon after the Civil War.
Q2) In 1993, Congress attempted to facilitate voter registration by linking it to processes related to
A) health insurance.
B) home mortgages.
C) student loans.
D) driver's licenses.
E) high school graduation.
Q3) Identify some of the ways that African-Americans were discouraged from participating in elections.
Q4) What view of history do scholars take that believe that there has been a real decline in voter turnout?
Q5) Identify the most important changes in elections and, where relevant, indicate associated constitutional amendments.
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Chapter 9: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) Eugene Debs of the Socialist Party won __________ of the vote in the presidential election of 1912.
A) 6 percent
B) 15 percent
C) 25 percent
D) 31 percent
E) 43 percent
Q2) The supporters of Thomas Jefferson called themselves Federalists, and the supporters of Alexander Hamilton referred to themselves as Republicans.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Jefferson formed the first political party when he organized opposition against the policies of Hamilton.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Discuss how political parties first formed in this nation.
Q5) In 1952, a total of 23 percent of the electorate identified as independents.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: Elections and Campaigns
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Sample Questions
Q1) In 1981, the Supreme Court ruled that _________ have the right to decide how delegates to national conventions are selected.
A) political parties
B) state legislatures
C) Congress
D) governors
E) secretaries of state
Q2) If you run for a seat in the House against the incumbent, the odds are very much against you.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The text suggests that the term campaigning has become a synonym for
A) calculating.
B) mobilizing.
C) communicating.
D) reflecting.
E) fundraising.
Q4) Compare and contrast presidential and congressional campaigns.
Q5) Identify and define the types of consultants hired to work on political campaigns.
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Chapter 11: Interest Groups
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Sample Questions
Q1) When the Civil Aeronautics Board regulated the air industry by setting airline rates and conferring air routes on various cities, most of those appearing at its hearings were
A) airline companies.
B) passenger representatives.
C) government officials.
D) members of the public.
E) airport employees.
Q2) Women's organizations that attract members with purposive incentives must take strong positions on divisive issues.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The text argues that most conflicts in U.S. politics are conflicts within the upper middle class.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Interest groups can legally supply money to public officials who are running for office.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 12: The Media
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain why some newspapers are said to have "national influence."
Q2) In 2005, the reporter Judith Miller of The New York Times spent 85 days in jail because she would not reveal the name of the individual who told her the name of a CIA employee. Why was the government able to hold her for so long?
A) There is no federal shield law that will protect journalist refusing to identify sources.
B) The state that she was in did not have a state shield law.
C) The issue was a matter of national security.
D) The reporter had written a libelous article.
E) The reporter leaked confidential information.
Q3) Which best describes individual privacy protections in newspaper articles.
A) Newspapers can print libelous stories due to the freedom of the press.
B) Newspapers can print an individual's name and picture without consent if they are part of a news story of some conceivable public interest.
C) Newspapers can print False statements about people.
D) Newspapers can print information without it being part of a story of some conceivable public interest.
E) All of the above are True.
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Page 14
Chapter 13: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) The conservative coalition in Congress consists of
A) southern Democrats and Republicans.
B) western Democrats and Republicans.
C) southern Republicans and Democrats.
D) western Republicans and Republicans.
E) northeastern Republicans and Democrats.
Q2) Congress was designed by the Founders in ways that almost inevitably make it
A) efficient
B) popular
C) unpopular
D) proactive
E) respected
Q3) In a parliamentary system, when members of the government's party vote against the parliament, the leadership must
A) form an alliance with the opposition.
B) appeal to the people to influence their representatives.
C) dissolve the parliament and form a new government.
D) resign and name someone from the opposing party to lead the government.
E) resign and join the opposing party.
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Chapter 14: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) Before 1824, this cabinet position was regarded as a stepping stone to the presidency.
A) Vice Presidency
B) Secretary of State
C) Secretary of War
D) Secretary of the Treasury
E) Governor
Q2) Abraham Lincoln received less than 40 percent of the popular vote in the election of 1860.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Identify the "three audiences" that Richard Neustadt describes in his book Presidential Power.
Q4) From the time of winning office to the time of leaving it, the popularity of most recent presidents
A) decreased steadily.
B) decreased except at election time.
C) increased steadily.
D) increased except at election time.
E) revealed no systematic trends and was impervious to elections and campaigns.
Page 16
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Chapter 15: The Bureaucracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) A particularly important constraint on bureaucratic power is the need to
A) carry out the policies of the president.
B) check congressional power.
C) obtain agreement from other parts of the bureaucracy.
D) obtain the approval of Congress.
E) restructure agencies with each new administration.
Q2) Under the Privacy Act of 1974, __________ must be kept confidential.
A) telephone conversations
B) government documents
C) court decrees
D) judicial orders
E) Social Security and tax records
Q3) Scholar Donald F. Kettl termed the "Mildred Paradox" to describe
A) how many average citizens receive costly federal government services over long periods of time without every directly interacting with civil servants.
B) how government-by-proxy is more flexible than traditional government.
C) how many average citizens understand the cost of government.
D) how unitary systems are affected by government-by-proxy.
E) None of the above is True.
Q4) Discuss some of the procedures to fire a federal bureaucrat.
Page 17
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Chapter 16: The Judiciary
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Constitution specifies that the number of justices on the Supreme Court should be between six and nine.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Sandra Day O'Connor are the only current female Supreme Court justices.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Among the current members of the U.S. Supreme Court there is (are) __________ woman (women).
A) no
B) one
C) three
D) four
E) five
Q4) Discuss two reasons why the principle of precedent is so important.
Q5) Congress was very supportive of Franklin Roosevelt's court-packing plan.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Carefully explain the background and the Court's ruling in Marbury v. Madison.
Page 18
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Chapter 17: Domestic Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The atmosphere now has less carbon monoxide than it once did.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The type of politics best illustrated by auto-emission-control regulations is
A) entrepreneurial politics.
B) majoritarian politics.
C) interest group politics.
D) client politics.
E) reciprocal politics.
Q3) Consumer and environmental protection laws are considered
A) majoritarian politics.
B) client politics.
C) interest-group politics.
D) entrepreneurial politics.
E) None of the above is True.
Q4) Medicare Part D is a voluntary prescription drug program for qualifying senior citizens.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Identify and discuss the four types of politics based on benefits and cost.
Page 19
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Chapter 18: Economic Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) This federal organization is primarily responsible for monetary policy.
A) Council of Economic Advisers.
B) Treasury Department.
C) Office of Management and Budget.
D) Federal Reserve Board (Fed).
E) National Security Agency.
Q2) Wage-price controls are most likely to be advocated by supply-side economists.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In 2010, Barack Obama became the first president since __________ to be reelected despite an unemployment rate on election day that was higher than the unemployment rate on the day of his first inaugural.
A) Herbert Hoover
B) Harry Truman
C) Jimmy Carter
D) Ronald Reagan
E) Franklin Roosevelt
Q4) What tools does the Fed use to implement its monetary policy?
Q5) Identify and summarize the central tenants of the four main theories about how to improve the economy.
Page 20
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Chapter 19: Foreign and Military Policy
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Q1) In this decision, the Supreme Court ruled that sending Japanese Americans to relocation centers during World War II was based on an acceptable military justification.
A) Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. v. United States
B) Korematsu v. United States
C) Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer
D) Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
E) Rasul v. Bush
Q2) U.S. tariffs on Japanese steel imports would be examples of __________ politics.
A) majoritarian.
B) interest group.
C) entrepreneurial.
D) client.
E) neo-institutional.
Q3) In a typical survey, who is more likely to support the use of military force?
A) Germans
B) the French
C) Russians
D) Italians
E) Americans
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Page 21
Chapter 20: American Democracy, Then and Now
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Q1) Today, the federal government is still only involved in a few areas of public policy.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following statements concerning the enormous expansion of the scope and goals of the federal government is incorrect?
A) It has not been random or unguided.
B) Power has been enlarged in some directions more than others.
C) Certain goals have been served more frequently than others.
D) The selection of goals has been shaped by our political culture.
E) None of the above is True.
Q3) What are four consequences of the enlarged scope of governmental action?
Q4) In the New System, the critical questions surrounding new proposals have focused on
A) legitimacy.
B) transparency.
C) duplication.
D) effectiveness.
E) justiciability.
Q5) Describe some of the primary features of the New System of American politics.
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