In 1964, a full decade after Brown v. Board of Education, ________ percent of African
American children in the South attended integrated schools.
A) fewer than 1
B) 10
C) 25
D) approximately 50
E) more than 90
If a person is convicted of the death penalty in Texas, his or her conviction is
automatically appealed to the
A) United States Supreme Court.
B) Texas Supreme Court.
C) Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
D) Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
E) court of appeals for the region in which the district court that decided the case is
located.
D.C. v. Heller
A) made all gun bans in the United States unconstitutional.
B) was the first Supreme Court ruling on the Fifth Amendment.
C) forced the District of Columbia to lift its gun ban.
D) limited free speech at political rallies.
E) protected politicians from libel law.
Changes in party identifications have caused party coalitions in Texas to become
A) more like their national counterparts.
B) less like their national counterparts.
C) more like party coalitions found in Texas during the 1800s.
D) more like party coalitions found in Texas during the early 1900s.
E) extremely fragmented.
By the early 1760s, all colonies had
A) drafted their own constitutions.
B) abolished religious freedom.
C) grown closer to the Crown in spite of the distance.
D) begun to enforce feudal craft systems.
E) continued the British practice of compulsory tithing.
________, which was founded in 1968, borrowed many of its tactics from the black
civil rights movement.
A) The National Council of La Raza
B) The United Farm Workers Union
C) Hispanic Women United
D) The Hispanic American Legal Defense and Education Fund
E) The League of Cuban American Citizens
Over time, Americans’ expectations of government have generally
A) increased.
B) remained the same.
C) decreased.
D) been eliminated.
E) not been measured.
The pluralist interest group theorists argued that
A) political power is distributed among a wide array of competing interest groups.
B) political power is narrowly concentrated in a few political elites.
C) in order to have more varied political representation, citizens should act individually
rather than in groups.
D) interest groups need to carve out niches in the political environment.
E) interest group growth is bounded by the carrying capacity of the political
environment.
In order to address new problems that arise, a county must be granted authority by
A) the governor.
B) the commissioners court.
C) the Texas Supreme Court.
D) the state legislature or a constitutional amendment.
E) the voters of the county.
The theme of Senator John McCain’s 2008 campaign was
A) “Change.”
B) “Liberty and Justice for All.”
C) “Country First.”
D) “America, the Beautiful.”
E) “Hope.”
The original purpose of the Constitutional Convention was to
A) elevate George Washington to president.
B) revise the Articles of Confederation.
C) write a new constitution.
D) add additional states to the new nation.
E) resolve trade disputes among the states.
Which of the following is NOT an example of a primary responsibility of state
governments?
A) Establishing court systems
B) Keeping the highway system functioning properly
C) Stimulating local economic growth
D) Funding elementary school construction
E) Electing governors
In general, ________ are more supportive of affirmative action policies than any other
group.
A) Hispanics
B) non-Hispanic Whites
C) African Americans
D) Asian Americans
E) senior citizens
In a series of cases concerning the scope of Congress’s authority under the commerce
clause in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the U.S. Supreme Court
A) made a series of inconsistent decisions.
B) consistently upheld congressional authority under the commerce clause.
C) refused to allow Congress to regulate monopolies.
D) allowed states to tax federal vehicles.
E) denied the federal government control over new technologies, such as the telegraph.
Who among the following does NOT serve on the Sunset Advisory Commission?
A) Five state senators
B) One member appointed by the governor
C) Five state representatives
D) One member appointed by the lieutenant governor
E) One member appointed by the Speaker of the House
In general, the United States government exhibited which of the following behaviors
when granting American Indians autonomy and rights?
A) Progressive and supportive
B) Diminishing rights with time
C) Somewhat constant trend of granting rights
D) Flip-flopping
E) Always granting full autonomy
What was the central issue in Edgewood v. Kirby?
A) School financing
B) Teachers’ unions
C) Racial and ethnic disparities in standardized test scores
D) Affirmative action in Texas public universities
E) The curriculum in high school science courses as it related to evolution and
creationism
A person being tried for armed robbery is left for an entire day in an interrogation room
and is not given any food or beverages. The police in this case are most likely violating
the ______ Amendment.
A) Fourth
B) Fifth
C) Sixth
D) Seventh
E) Eighth
Which of the following is a traditional program in the Department of Agriculture?
A) Monitoring the accuracy of weights and measures
B) Regulating the safety of grain warehouses
C) Ensuring compliance with pest-control regulations
D) Ensuring compliance with seed-labeling requirements
E) All of the above
The Texas Constitution of 1845 (drafted and adopted when the Republic of Texas
agreed to be annexed by the United States) has been described as
A) one of the most archaic and difficult to read of its time.
B) voluminous, complex, and among the worst state constitutions of its time.
C) straightforward, simple, and among the best of all state constitutions of its time.
D) wordy and tedious.
E) fostering economic and political egalitarianism.
Over time, Congress has added _________ to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
I. pregnancy
II. sexual orientation
III. disability
IV. educational attainment
A) I only
B) II and III
C) I and III
D) I, II, and III
E) I, II, III, and IV
Tracking polls were first used in
A) 1936.
B) 1952.
C) 1992.
D) 1996.
E) 2004.
The program instituted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to overcome the Great
Depression was the
A) War on Poverty.
B) Federal Relief Policy.
C) New Deal.
D) Fair Deal.
E) Great Society.
According to political scientist James David Barber’s presidential typologies, President
John F. Kennedy was
A) active/positive.
B) active/negative.
C) passive/positive
D) passive/negative.
E) active/neutral.
The Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010
A) expands Stafford loans.
B) expands Pell grants.
C) eliminates tuition increases until 2012.
D) caps public school tuition increases to 5 percent annually.
E) makes the government responsible for interest payments on student loans.
Aristotle attempted to devise a way to classify governments. Critical to his analyses was
knowledge of
A) if the government was a monarchy.
B) how many people ruled in an oligarchy.
C) how democracies could be ruled by the few.
D) whom citizens were ruled by and in whose interest.
E) if governments were ruled by wise leaders.
The responsibilities of the Office of Management and Budget include
I. preparing the president’s budget.
II. reviewing the budget proposals of executive departments.
III. supplying economic forecasts.
IV. acting as a liaison with Congress and the federal judiciary.
A) I
B) II
C) I and II
D) I, II, and III
E) I, II, and IV
The Fair Labor Standard Act of 1938 established
A) a federal minimum wage.
B) limits on the number of hours citizens could work.
C) anti-trust regulations.
D) unions.
E) the minimum age at which a person could work.
In an effort to reduce massive budget shortfalls, some states have
A) eliminated legislative positions.
B) auctioned off government office buildings.
C) given the national government power over public schools.
D) dissolved their National Guard units.
E) increased taxes by as much as 15 percent.
In the context of the legislative process, pork refers to
A) the appropriations for members’ pet projects that can help them be reelected.
B) the vote trading that goes on when members agree to fund each other’s favorite
projects.
C) subsidies for the U.S. meat industry.
D) regulations implemented by the Food and Drug Administration concerning the
content of hot dogs.
E) pet programs favored by the president.
Only ____ presidents have laid in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.
A) two
B) five
C) seven
D) ten
E) eleven