The Constitution stipulated that slaves should be counted as three-fifths of a person for
representation purposes.
Texas enacted the 1869 Constitution in response to additional requirements placed on
the state for readmission to the union by congressional Reconstruction, including a
provision for universal adult male suffrage.
One official tool the Fed might choose to use to stimulate the economy would be to
purchase securities from member banks.
In Texas, capital murder convictions are automatically reviewed by the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals, bypassing an appeal to a regional court of appeals.
Mayors in most cities essentially have the same types of powers.
The Executive Office of the President is a building next door to the White House.
Newt Gingrich was a particularly powerful Speaker of the House.
The Board of Governors is a bipartisan subcommittee of the National Governors’
Association.
If you are fourteen years old and commit a violent crime in Texas, you can be tried in
the criminal justice system as an adult.
The Texas Constitution expressly forbids most deficit financing by the state
government.
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on
Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
In recent years, Texas counties have increased their reliance on fees to finance county
government.
On Christmas Day 2009, a man unsuccessfully ignited explosives concealed within his
shoes.
President Ronald Reagan was a major proponent of returning power to the states.
Modern-day field trips with school groups may in part be attributed to the theories of
John Dewey.
Martin Luther King Jr. would likely have supported the riots that occurred after his
assassination.
Relatively few states elect all or some of their judges in partisan elections.
Mutual assured destruction was the foreign policy of the United States and Soviet
Union in the 1950s and 1960s.
The number of government contractors in the United States is unknown because most
of them have top secret clearance.
The Senate and Electoral College both fulfill the principle of equal representation.
The power of most presidents rests on their ability to use their formal powers
effectively.
The lieutenant governor, who is the constitutional president of the Texas Senate, is a
member of the Senate with full voting privileges.
President Barack Obama does not need congressional approval to send troops into
combat for a week to keep a terrorist group from overthrowing the Somali government.
More Americans than ever are joining groups like the Elks Club.
The Thirteenth Amendment banned slavery.
The U.S. Constitution has been interpreted to allow some groups to keep their
membership lists private.
Slavery was a major cause of the Civil War.
The federal Medicaid program relies in part on funding from the states.
The tax system in Texas is more regressive than the systems found in most other states.
The Texas Constitution of 1876 relieved the Texas Supreme Court of all criminal
jurisdiction, giving it to a new Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
The Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is elected by a vote of the full
House at the start of each new legislative session.
Despite Hawaii validating his birth, President Barack Obama has been repeatedly
accused of having a doctored birth certificate.
527 political committees are tax-exempt organizations created to influence the
nomination, election, or appointment of political candidates, which are not subject to
FEC disclosure rules.
The state’s greatest population and economic growth is in a core area called the Texas
urban triangle and is anchored by
A) Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, and Houston.
B) Texarkana, Houston, and Dallas-Fort Worth
C) San Antonio, El Paso, and Dallas-Fort Worth
D) Austin, Houston, and Galveston
E) Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio.
In some states, taxes levied from lotteries can only be used toward the funding of
education. This is an example of
A) progressive taxation.
B) regressive taxation.
C) a flat tax.
D) segregated funding.
E) an illegal act.
The Sixteenth Amendment made the ________ possible.
A) national sales tax
B) national import tax
C) state sales tax
D) state income tax
E) national income tax
North Carolina is spending most of their higher education federal stimulus dollars on
A) hiring professors.
B) hiring or retaining the jobs of researchers.
C) offsetting deep budget deficits.
D) developing North Carolina State University.
E) funding community colleges.
Which of the following public policies would social conservatives be most likely to
support?
A) Overturning Roe v. Wade
B) Decreasing defense spending
C) Prohibiting any references to God or religion on money or government buildings
D) Universal healthcare provided by the government
E) Regulating the banking and financial sectors
The Missouri Compromise of 1820
A) provided that all new states would be admitted in pairs: one free state and one slave
state.
B) prohibited slave trading but allowed slavery to continue in existing areas.
C) was found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
D) eliminated tensions over the slavery issue.
E) was followed shortly thereafter by passage of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Among proposals to increase voter turnout are ones to
A) make it more difficult to get absentee ballots.
B) make Election Day a holiday.
C) weaken political parties.
D) pay citizens to vote.
E) expand the electorate.
Congress’s authority to check the president’s judicial appointment power is a concept
that can be attributed largely to the ideas of
A) Thomas Hobbes.
B) Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
C) John Locke.
D) Charles-Louis, the Second Baron of Montesquieu.
E) St. Thomas Aquinas.
Why was the period of American history after World War I similar to that of the early
19th century?
A) The U.S. saw a dramatic decrease in immigration.
B) Great Britain attempted to invade the United States.
C) The United States increased their involvement in foreign economies.
D) Many Americans supported isolationist policies.
E) The U.S. economy went into a recession.
Recall elections are sometimes called
A) “Take Back the House” races.
B) de-elections.
C) referenda.
D) interim races.
E) second chance elections.
The United States Supreme Court found that the Fourteenth Amendment applied to
those of Chinese descent in
A) Yick Wo v. Hopkins.
B) Korematsu v. U.S.
C) California v. Chinese Laundry Association.
D) Ozawa v. U.S.
E) Nguyen v. U.S.
Why are clientele agencies subject to intense outside lobbying?
A) Interest groups want to influence the officials who regulate the policies to which the
interest groups specifically cater.
B) There is less regulation of these agencies.
C) Other agencies do not regulate sectors around which interest groups form.
D) Lobbyists feel they can have greater influence over these agencies, as they are
generally seen as weak entities.
E) Clientele agencies are actually not subject to much lobbying whatsoever.
The primary function of presidential debates among candidates is to
A) catch candidates in “gotcha” moments.
B) increase voter knowledge about candidates’ issue positions.
C) give free face time to the top three candidates.
D) create unscripted confrontations between the two opposing candidates.
E) start off the campaign season with a highly-publicized event.
The difference between civil liberties and civil rights has often been simplified to
A) “freedom to” and “freedom from.”
B) a carrot and a stick.
C) make them synonymous.
D) “freedom of” and “freedom for.”
E) equality and equity.
Which of the following was NOT demonstrated from Hurricane Ike and its aftermath?
A) The importance of the role of local governments in emergency planning and
management
B) The need for increased control over and regulation of private sector industries along
the Texas coast
C) Local governments could disagree about how best to spend limited funds to protect
the heavily populated and industrialized areas along the coast from future hurricane
damage.
D) Local governments are often the first governments people turn to in times of
emergency.
E) Local governments likely have the most direct effect on most citizens’ lives not only
in normal times but in times of emergency as well.
The set of educational reforms signed into law in 2002 is the ____________ Act.
A) Childhood Education Reform
B) Improving American Education
C) No Child Left Behind
D) Securing America’s Future
E) Students are the Key to Tomorrow
The first time Congress overrode a presidential veto occurred with the
A) Civil Rights Act of 1866.
B) Missouri Compromise.
C) Black Codes.
D) Emancipation Proclamation.
E) Jim Crow laws.
Eighteen to 21-year-olds received the right to vote with ratification of the
A) Constitution.
B) Bill of Rights.
C) Twenty-Sixth Amendment.
D) Nineteenth Amendment.
E) Twenty-Fifth Amendment.
Which of the following is an example of a president using the bully pulpit to influence
public opinion?
A) Bringing together Israeli and Palestinian leaders for a peace summit
B) Publicly ridiculing political opponents by emphasizing their weaknesses
C) Signing a controversial bill into law
D) Attending an Earth Day rally
E) Speaking at an EMILY’s List function
State governments have traditionally had primary responsibility for
A) international diplomacy.
B) homeland security.
C) transportation and economic development.
D) taxation.
E) military affairs.
In ________, Congress set the size of the Supreme Court at nine.
A) the Constitution
B) 1789
C) 1869
D) 1937
E) 1981
The president directly appoints nearly ________ people.
A) 300
B) 3,500
C) 6,500
D) 10,000
E) 15,500
The changing list of issues that officials believe they should address is called the
A) policy agenda.
B) governmental agenda.
C) systematic agenda.
D) legislative agenda.
E) policy addendum.
The term of office of the Governor of Texas
A) used to be two years but is currently four years.
B) used to be four years but is currently two years.
C) used to be six years but is currently two years.
D) used to be six years but is currently four years.
E) has been four years since Texas as an independent republic.
In 1997, lawmakers dedicated lottery revenue to
A) the general fund.
B) public education.
C) services for those with addictions.
D) children’s health insurance.
E) health and human services.
The passage of the Social Security Act in 1935 represented a return to laissez-faire
economic policy in America.
Which of the following hypothetical interest groups would have likely been established
in the 1830s, when interest groups initially emerged?
A) American Better Citizens Bureau
B) Education Association of America
C) Association for the Betterment of Women, African Americans, and Children
D) Offensive Military Strategy Organization
E) Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Questioning Alliance
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is better known as
A) the current president of Afghanistan.
B) the planner of the September 11 attacks.
C) the failed underwear bomber.
D) an Iraqi nationalist.
E) a Russian secret agent using a Muslim name.
Hobbes would most likely argue for which of the following forms of government?
A) Totalitarianism
B) Republicanism
C) Aristocracy
D) Democracy
E) Anarchy
Reasons why some Americans oppose affirmative action include
I. it is wrong to use labels to help particular groups.
II. laws should be neutral or colorblind.
III. compensatory governmental actions to help previously discriminated groups are
constitutional.
IV. quota systems are necessary to remedy past discrimination.
A) I and II
B) II and IV
C) I and III
D) I, II, and III
E) II, III, and IV
A bill that has been given final approval on the third reading in the chamber where the
bill originated is considered to be
A) approved for transmission to the governor for signature or veto.
B) an engrossed bill.
C) germane.
D) an enrolled bill.
E) a local bill.
_______________ is the process of altering existing policy proposals or creating new
proposals within an issue area the government has previously addressed.
A) Analogous formulation
B) Creative formulation
C) Routine formulation
D) Historical formulation
E) Problem formulation
Many voters vote ______, meaning they vote for candidates based on past performance
on a particular issue.
A) retrospectively
B) prospectively
C) retroactively
D) proactively
E) instinctively
The Electoral College system created by the Framers was designed to give
A) federal government the preeminent role in choosing the president.
B) states a key role in choosing the president.
C) average voters the decisive power in choosing the president.
D) electors the power to choose members of Congress.
E) the Supreme Court a role in choosing the president.