United States Constitution
Test Preparation
Course Introduction
This course offers a comprehensive exploration of the United States Constitution, examining its historical context, foundational principles, key clauses, and enduring impact on American governance and society. Students will analyze the structure of the federal government, the separation of powers, federalism, and the Bill of Rights, as well as significant Supreme Court interpretations that have shaped constitutional law. The course also considers the Constitutions evolution through amendments and its role in addressing contemporary legal and political issues. Through critical reading and discussion, students will gain a deeper understanding of constitutional doctrine and its relevance in modern civic life.
Recommended Textbook
The Struggle for Democracy 9th Edition by Edward S. Greenberg
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19 Chapters
4836 Verified Questions
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Democracy and American Politics
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210 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) The less political participation, the ______ the democracy.
A) weaker
B) stronger
C) more representative
D) more racist
E) more direct
Answer: A
Q2) The framework advanced by the authors to aid our understanding of American politics suggests that every political actor, institution, and process can be located in one of four categories. Which of the following is NOT one of those sectors?
A) system
B) government
C) political linkage
D) structure
E) government action
Answer: A
Q3) Define "Jim Crow."
Answer: Popular term for the system of legally sanctioned racial segregation that existed in the American South until the middle of the twentieth century.
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Page 3
Chapter 2: The Constitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) What kind of government did the Constitution create?
A) confederal
B) direct democracy
C) parliamentary
D) unicameral
E) republican
Answer: E
Q2) The divine right of kings
A) is a philosophy of government that still reigns.
B) is consistent with the notion of democracy.
C) is plausible under a republican form of government.
D) was dominant in the late eighteenth century.
E) none of the above
Answer: D
Q3) Judicial review is clearly outlined in Article II of the US Constitution.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) Freedom of assembly is guaranteed in the ________ Amendment.
Answer: First
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Chapter 3: Federalism States and Nations
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution declares that powers not delegated to the United States, nor prohibited by it to the states, are
A) reserved to the national government.
B) reserved to U.S. cities.
C) delegated to the federal government.
D) reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
E) delegated to U.S. counties.
Answer: D
Q2) Concurrent powers
A) are also known as reserve powers.
B) are shared powers between the states and federal government.
C) grant supremacy to the national government.
D) are granted to the states, except when associated with the elastic clause.
E) are examples of horizontal federalism.
Answer: B
Q3) ________ on aid require that states spend federal money in certain restricted ways.
Answer: Conditions
Q4) In a unitary system, all power resides in the ________ government.
Answer: central
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Chapter 4: Structural Foundations of the American Government
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Sample Questions
Q1) Americans are among the richest people in the world on a per capita basis.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Sun Belt voters helped ________ gain seats in Congress during the 1990s.
A) Republicans
B) independents
C) liberals
D) democratic
E) third parties
Q3) According to the authors of Struggle for Democracy, material inequality in America may undermine political equality.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The ending of the Cold War
A) led to the immediate decline of U.S. military power in the world.
B) did not change the nature of American domestic politics.
C) left the U.S. as the last military "superpower."
D) was not important to the outcome of the 1992 presidential election.
E) pushed the US into a period of severe economic decline.
Q5) In the 1990s, the U.S. economy experienced a ________.
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Chapter 5: Public Opinion
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265 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In recent years, there has been a decline in the proportion of people who identify with either one of the two major political parties.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Substantial evidence shows that a majority of adult Americans have abandoned the political party of their parents.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Typically, even when public opinion changes substantially, government policy still does not follow.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Discussion of a "culture war" typically involves divisions between A) voters and nonvoters.
B) Christians and Muslims.
C) those who support life and those who support death.
D) the least and the most religiously observant.
E) labor and free-trade interests.
Q5) Define "rational public."
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Chapter 6: News Media
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Sample Questions
Q1) Under the ________ Acts of 1798, Anti-Federalist newspaper editors were jailed for criticizing the Adams administration.
Q2) Which statement best describes American news coverage of foreign affairs?
A) News coverage tends to be highly critical of American foreign policy.
B) Official enemies of the U.S. are usually given negative treatment.
C) The press is always skeptical of official versions of foreign events.
D) News coverage of foreign governments is fairly consistent, even when events change the relationships among countries.
E) It takes on a balanced international-American perspective.
Q3) Nearly all media in the United States are family-owned businesses.
A)True
B)False
Q4) That government officials are sometimes able to control what journalists report and how they report it is known as A)objective journalism.
B) beat coverage.
C) spin.
D) investigative journalism.
E) bias.
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Chapter 7: Interest Groups and Business Corporations
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Sample Questions
Q1) Service workers are the fastest growing segment in the U.S. economy.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In what way are the largest corporations NOT ahead of their competitors in terms of their ability to shape public policy?
A)They are never affected by scandals or economic downturns.
B) They have significantly more lobbyists in their employ.
C) They profit from the high regard in which business is held in American society.
D) They have greater ease of access to government officials.
E) They have more funds available to shape public perception through advertising and think tanks.
Q3) Unitary governments are more likely to encourage the formation of interest groups than other forms of government.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A ________ benefit is available to members of a group but not to nonmembers.
Q5) The American Medical Association is an example of a(n) ________ interest group.
Q6) Describe Madison's attitude toward interest groups in The Federalist, No. 10.
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Chapter 8: Social Movements
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Sample Questions
Q1) All of these were key structural factors in the development of the women's movement EXCEPT that
A) women did not have the right to vote.
B) women were not being paid as much as men for doing the same work.
C) women faced open discrimination in the hiring process.
D) women who tried to advance in their careers often found the process blocked by a "glass ceiling."
E) increasing numbers of women were entering the job market.
Q2) Social movements are generally
A) the ordinary process of lobbying the government.
B) any set of people who demonstrate against the status quo.
C) primarily concerned with passing sweeping legislation in the United States.
D) the political instruments of excluded groups or political outsiders.
E) the political participation of minority interests.
Q3) The highly decentralized and fragmented nature of our political system helps sustain a sense of political efficacy.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What are the necessary conditions for a social movement to arise?
Q5) What role did Rosa Parks play in the Civil Rights movement?
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) One major way that the Democratic and Republican parties differ is
A) in how they are perceived by the people.
B) that one party believes in civil liberties and the other does not.
C) that all Democrats are liberals.
D) that one party believes in civil rights and the other does not.
E) that one party is more receptive to minority concerns.
Q2) What are the governing bodies of the United States' political parties?
A) the national conventions
B) the primary elections
C) the electoral college
D) the national party committees
E) the congressional campaign committees
Q3) America's major parties have never experienced breakaway factions forming splinter parties.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Elections organized on a "winner-take-all," single-member-district basis are more likely to result in multiparty systems than are two-party systems.
A)True
B)False
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Participation Voting, and Elections
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Sample Questions
Q1) In recent years, presidents have been elected largely from the ranks of ________, vice-presidents, and senators.
Q2) Which of the following problems besets not only the responsible party model and the electoral competition model, but also the electoral reward and punishment model?
A) The campaign strategies of the candidates involved in the election are considered to be less important than their party affiliation.
B) All the models assume that all citizens will participate in the voting process.
C) All the models require that ballots be disqualified if they contain errors.
D) All the models assume that the party leadership can make decisions that affect all levels of the party.
E) Voters select candidates who have the best "pork barrel" proposals.
Q3) Political participation refers to
A) political activity by individual citizens.
B) campaign strategies of candidates.
C) roll-call voting in Congress.
D) activities by foreign governments.
E) a sense of political culture or duty among voters.
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Chapter 11: Congress
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Sample
Questions
Q1) If Senators are generally more inclined than House members to adopt the "trustee" role, it is probably due to the
A) size of their constituency.
B) fact that they are elected statewide.
C) fact that they have six-year terms.
D) fact that they are older.
E) fact that they are more responsible for issues of national security.
Q2) How many members of the Senate are up for election every two years?
A) one-fourth
B) one-third
C) half
D) two-thirds
E) all
Q3) Powers of the federal government specifically mentioned in the Constitution are known as
A) elastic powers.
B) reserve powers.
C) supremacy powers.
D) powers of federalism.
E) enumerated powers.
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Chapter 12: The President
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Sample Questions
Q1) How do the authors of Struggle for Democracy characterize the relationship between the president and Congress?
Q2) With which president is the "New Freedom" legislative policy program associated?
A)John F. Kennedy
B) Harry S. Truman
C) Franklin Roosevelt
D) Theodore Roosevelt
E) Woodrow Wilson
Q3) When creating the role of chief executive, the framers never intended it to be a democratic office.
A)True
B)False
Q4) President Reagan helped push
A) labor interests.
B) a liberal agenda.
C) a conservative agenda.
D) the regulation of business.
E) domestic spending increases.
Q5) Name three of the most prominent organizations in the Executive Office of the President.
Page 14
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Chapter 13: The Executive Branch
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements is true about the Constitution and federal bureaucracy?
A)The Constitution neither specifies the number and kinds of departments to be established nor describes other bureaucratic agencies.
B) The Constitution is clear that the number of federal departments must be created in proportion to the overall population of the United States.
C) The Constitution is clear that the number of federal departments must be created relative to the different populations of the several states.
D) The framers did not intend to leave questions about the bureaucracy to the discretion of the executive and legislative branches of government.
E) none of the above
Q2) To many Americans, the word bureaucracy implies red tape, inefficiency, and nonresponsiveness.
A)True
B)False
Q3) ________ refers to the inefficiencies of bureaucracy.
Q4) What is patronage? Do we still have it?
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15
Chapter 14: The Courts
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Sample
Questions
Q1) What does the story of the gang of 14 tell us about the impact of politics on judicial decision-making? Are actions like these likely to affect judicial independence, as envisioned by the Framers? Why do you think so?
Q2) What does Article III of the Constitution tell us about the national judiciary?
Q3) Who, or what, determines how many judges sit on the Supreme Court?
A) The number is specified in Article III of the Constitution.
B) The number is based on population in the U.S.
C) Congress decides.
D) The president decides.
E) The judges decide, based on workload.
Q4) A justice's ideological predilections
A) should be subservient to legal precedent.
B) are the most important factor in predicting how a Supreme Court justice will vote.
C) are irrelevant to the selection of justices for nomination to the Court.
D) are typically moderate, so as not to upset the balance of the Court.
E) none of the above
Q5) How specific is the Constitution regarding the judicial branch?
Q6) What do presidents take into account when choosing a Supreme Court nominee?
Q7) "Friends of the court" briefs are also called ________ briefs.
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Chapter 15: Freedom: the Struggle for Civil Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) That government may not interfere with religious beliefs is related to
A) the free exercise clause.
B) the establishment clause.
C) limits on state action, only.
D) limits on federal action, only.
E) not specifically developed over the recent history of constitutional law.
Q2) The Supreme Court ruled in the early twentieth century that ________ speech may be controlled by the government.
A) all
B) no political
C) critical
D) dangerous
E) symbolic
Q3) Public display of the Ten Commandments
A) is unconstitutional.
B) is never allowed in courthouses.
C) may be constitutional if the display serves a mixed but not primarily religious purpose.
D) is fine, so long as it emphasizes the Christian religion.
E) None of the above
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Chapter 16: Civil Rights: the Struggle for Political Equality
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Sample Questions
Q1) In which case did the Court rule that only affirmative action programs that are narrowly tailored to redress specific violations will be upheld?
A) Richmond v. Croson
B) Adarand v. Pena
C) Miller v. Johnson
D) Bakke v. California
E) Grutter v. Bollinger
Q2) What does the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967) prevent?
A) It prohibits employers from discriminating against employees over the age of 40 in pay, benefits, promotions, and working conditions.
B) It prohibits employers from requiring retirement at the age of 65.
C) It prohibits employers from firing anyone over 40 or reducing their benefits.
D) It prohibits employers from denying health benefits to anyone due to their age.
E) All of the above are correct.
Q3) The Supreme Court has ruled that civil unions for gays and lesbians are identical to marriage.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 17: The Budget and Economic Policies
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Sample Questions
Q1) _____________ include all public officials and institutions (Congress, the president, the federal bureaucracy, and the Supreme Court) that have formal, legal responsibilities for making public policy for the United States.
A) Political factors
B) Political linkage factors
C) Structural factors
D) Government factors
E) Electoral factors
Q2) What was the result of the successes of the consumer, environmental, and civil rights movements from the late 1960s to the late 1970s?
A) A substantial increase in the federal government's regulation of business.
B) A substantial increase in the national debt.
C) The reduction of the national debt to zero.
D) A substantial increase in unemployment.
E) A substantial decrease in unemployment.
Q3) Fiscal policy is controlled by Congress, monetary policy is made by the ________.
Q4) What is the main goal of macroeconomic policy?
Q5) The ________ is the interest rate that the Federal Reserve charges member banks.
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Chapter 18: Social Safety Nets
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Sample Questions
Q1) What are entitlement programs?
Q2) Public assistance or welfare programs
A) are funded and administered exclusively by the federal government.
B) receive a larger share of the federal budget than any other program except defense.
C) are funded by a special payroll tax on employees and employers.
D) account for only a small part of the annual federal budget.
E) None of the above
Q3) The lion's share of social welfare spending is for ________.
Q4) Figure 18.3 shows that
A) the percentage of those who think their health care system should be rebuilt increases as spending on health care decreases.
B) the percentage of those who think their health care system should be rebuilt increases as spending on health care increases.
C) Germany spends the most on health care.
D) the United States spends the least on health care.
E) None of the above
Q5) Does high spending in the United States translate into widespread public support for the U.S. health care system?
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Chapter 19: Foreign Policy and National Defense
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Sample Questions
Q1) The spread of nuclear weapons is also called
A) nuclear armament.
B) a nuclear freeze.
C) nuclear proliferation.
D) weapons of mass destruction.
E) a hegemon.
Q2) Which president promised a form of foreign aid called Millennium Challenge Accounts
A) Bush
B) Clinton
C) Reagan
D) Carter
E) Nixon
Q3) The Constitution gives ________ the power to declare war.
Q4) Many Americans believe companies ought to provide drugs for AIDS and malaria at low prices or allow poor countries to find or produce generic substitutes despite the patent protections of Western pharmaceutical companies.
A)True
B)False
Q5) How long did the Cold War last and what was its primary focus of attention?
Page 21
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