Which of the following is NOT a duty or responsibility of the Speaker of the House?
A.appointing all committee members
B.acting as arbiter and interpreter of House rules
C.recognizing members who speak in the House
D.assigning bills to committees for consideration
E.censuring House members for disciplinary reasons
A hallmark of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s strategy to achieve equality was
A.the use of illegal marches.
B.civil disobedience.
C.working with women’s groups such as NOW.
D.creating leadership PACs.
E.justifiable homicide.
An interest group that typically focuses on one particular industry, with members of the
group being drawn exclusively from that industry, is referred to as
A.a trade association.
B.an employee association.
C.an economic association.
D.a fraternity.
E.a business and industry group.
The Fourteenth Amendment is a broadly worded and widely utilized law. Its original
intent, however, was
A.to protect freed slaves from discriminatory state laws.
B.to ensure that the needs of the state governments were protected.
C.to protect President Lincoln from impeachment during a time of war.
D.to give citizens powerful rights against the government.
E.to protect the government from overly aggressive citizens.
Which of the following refers to the doctrine of increasing the territory or economic
influence of one’s own country?
A.isolationism
B.expansionism
C.manifest destiny
D.pacifism
E.militarism
Which factor is the best predictor of how someone will vote?
A.location
B.religion
C.party identification
D.occupation
E.age
A survey that was conducted by walking up to people at a mall would be an example of
a
A.focus group.
B.exit poll.
C.scientific sample.
D.random sample.
E.straw poll.
Why did the Framers of the Constitution, such as James Madison, believe that a Bill of
Rights to guarantee individual rights was unnecessary at the federal level?
A.Madison believed that citizens should have faith and trust in their federal government
without requiring a legal document.
B.Madison believed that if the federal government wanted to violate rights it could
certainly do so with or without a Bill of Rights.
C.Madison believed that the federal government had only the powers it was explicitly
given so it had no power to infringe on rights in the first place, but should leave the
protection of individual rights to the states.
D.Madison believed that the federal government had no power to enforce such a Bill of
Rights.
E.Madison believed that the new Supreme Court would invalidate the Bill of Rights.
What role does the Senate play in the impeachment and/or removal of the president or
federal judges from office?
A.The Senate has sole power to initiate impeachment proceedings, but these do not
automatically remove the individual from office.
B.The Senate has the power to try and remove the individual from office after the
House has charged the person with an offense.
C.The Senate is the only chamber with power to impeach, try, and remove the official.
D.Both chambers of Congress have equal power in the impeachment process.
E.The Senate does not have a role in impeachment and/or removal proceedings.
Which of the following statements about the voting rights of felons is accurate?
A.The Supreme Court has ruled that felons cannot be deprived of the constitutional
right to vote once they have completed their sentences.
B.The Supreme Court has ruled that convicted felons are no longer U.S. citizens and,
therefore, are ineligible to vote.
C.Some states allow felons who have served their sentences to vote, while others do
not.
D.The recent trend is for increasingly strict restrictions on voting rights for felons.
E.Felons who are on probation can vote, but those who are on parole cannot vote.
During the first 30 years or so of the new constitutional democracy in the United States,
what was the relationship between the states and the new federal government?
A.This era saw a constant struggle between federal powers and those of the states.
Eventually the federal government became dominant.
B.The federal government had no powers at this time and was, in effect, non-existent.
C.During this era there was a unique and effective balance between the two
governments.
D.This era is often referred to as the period of state-centered federalism, in which the
states managed their own affairs with very little interference from the federal
government.
E.During this era the new federal government was dominant.
Which of the following is NOT a role of the president in the process of enacting a bill
into law?
A.The president may recommend legislation to members of Congress.
B.The president may attempt to strongly influence the votes of members of Congress.
C.The president may cast a vote to break a tie in either chamber of Congress.
D.The president may use the national media to lobby publicly for passage, or defeat, of
the bill.
E.The president may openly state great displeasure with the outcome of the bill.
Of the 10,000 or so bills introduced annually in Congress, ____ eventually become law.
A.less than 1 percent
B.2 to 3 percent
C.5 to 10 percent
D.about 22 percent
E.about 45 percent
A tactic that was legal until challenged late in the twentieth century that required
individual citizens to pay a fee before being allowed to vote was
A.the literacy tax.
B.the poll tax.
C.franchise payment.
D.revenue adjustment.
E.legal extortion.
How does criminal law differ from civil law with regard to charges and punishments?
A.Only criminal law allows for imprisonment as a punishment.
B.Criminal law does not allow for the use of fines as does civil law.
C.The two terms are interchangeable.
D.Civil law grants no authority for punishments.
E.An offender cannot be charged with both a criminal and a civil offense.
Who was the first president to use radio to communicate with constituents?
A.Abraham Lincoln in 1865
B.Theodore Roosevelt in 1901
C.Franklin Roosevelt in 1932
D.John Kennedy in 1960
E.Ronald Reagan in 1980
One of the most broad Civil War Amendments was the Fourteenth Amendment, which
provided
A.forgiveness for all Confederates.
B.an opportunity for freed slaves to sue the states in which they were enslaved.
C.full U.S. and state citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States
as well as guaranteed equal protection of the laws.
D.for segregation of the races but equal treatment of both.
E.restitution to the freed slaves.
Prior to about 1900 the federal government hired employees according to their political
affiliation and loyalty. “To the victor goes the spoils” was the credo. Such a system of
employee management is referred to as
A.civil service.
B.patronage.
C.employment security.
D.employee deregulation.
E.managed labor.
Which of the following is considered a positive role of political parties?
A.The constitutional role of political parties is to balance control of the legislative and
executive branches.
B.Political parties control the government, thereby keeping government power in check.
C.The major political parties play a central role in running government at all levels,
including organizing and providing context to voters.
D.Political parties stir dissent so that citizens do not trust their government too much.
E.Effective political parties successfully eliminate competition.
Following France’s defeat in the French and Indian War, the Treaty of Paris in 1763
settled the dispute by
A.ceding all lands west of the Appalachian Mountains to Spain.
B.forcing France to accept and pay all debts to the new territories that were gained by
England.
C.declaring a total truce and leaving all territories in the hands of those who held them
prior to the war.
D.awarding to England all of the territories between the Arctic Circle and the Gulf of
Mexico.
E.equally distributing territories between the nations of France and England.
Why did the Framers of the U.S. Constitution not anticipate the first phase of the
presidential elections?
A.In that period, two elections were illegal.
B.They did not anticipate that a two-party system would emerge.
C.There was not enough population to warrant an election.
D.The population was so low that it was possible to create a ballot with all names listed.
E.It was very likely an oversight on their part.