After handing down Brown v. Board of Education, the federal courts did not play a role
in enforcing the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was the first successful nonviolent protest for civil rights
in the 1950s.
Originally, electors did not vote for the president and vice president separately.
Good lobbyists have to lie.
The War of 1812 was fought against Spanish Mexico.
Shays’s Rebellion was the first battle of the Revolutionary War.
The struggle for civil rights is not limited to the court system.
The Roberts Court has shown a willingness to expand abortion rights.
The Civil War and the Great Depression were two of the historical incidents that
resulted in increased national powers at the expense of state powers.
The Ninth Amendment guarantees states extra protections under the Constitution.
In 1922, the Supreme Court ruled that Asian-Pacific Americans were not white and
therefore were not entitled to full citizenship rights.
In 2008, Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment that combined the Texas
Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals into one court that has final
jurisdiction in all criminal and civil matters.
The Senate confirmation process of federal judges can be used as a weapon against a
sitting president.
The U.S. Supreme Court is referred to by the name of the oldest judge serving on the
Court.
If you are a Texas Anglo you are likely to have a higher per capita income than a Texas
African American or a Texas Hispanic.
The so-called “right to work” provision contributed to the demise of the 1974
comprehensive constitutional reform effort.
Congress can limit bureaucratic implementation efforts by not appropriating funds.
Under Spanish and Mexican government, few people lived in Texas and there were no
settlements of any significant size.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower was closely allied with the Republican Party.
Most of the delegates to the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1875 were merchants.
According to the authors of the textbook, Texas will enact a personal income tax only
when local property taxes are no longer able to support equitable public education
financing across school districts.
The national government’s implied powers are derived from its enumerated powers.
One of the most significant difficulties for Asian-Pacific Americans has been finding a
Pan-Asian identity.
The War Powers Act limits Congress’s authority over the military.
The Watergate scandal led to stricter regulations of campaign financing.
The Seventeenth Amendment enhanced the power of the national government at the
expense of the states.
African Americans played an integral role in the political and legislative process in
Texas during Reconstruction.
Laws in Germany favor interest group influence.
The Kyoto Protocol, a treaty among several industrialized nations to protect the
environment, was finally signed by the United States in 2001.
Americans likely have stronger opinions about the war in Afghanistan than they do on
health care reform.
Most of the former Confederate states passed Black Codes to restrict opportunities for
newly freed slaves.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s success during the 2008 Republican
primary was largely limited to Evangelical voters.
What does the Constitution say about political parties?
A) It establishes a two-party system.
B) It mandates that political parties use primaries to select their candidates.
C) It prohibits the major political parties from hindering the “natural development of
Third Parties.”
D) The Constitution does not mention political parties.
E) It specifically mentions parties while also acknowledging their direct link to
democracy.
Which of the following is an obstacle to major revisions of the Texas Constitution?
A) The increased use of the death penalty in Texas
B) Many interests benefit from the existing Constitution.
C) Existing voter registration requirements
D) The unpopularity of the existing initiative process
E) Provisions in the Texas Constitution prohibit any changes to several of the most
important and substantive sections of the document.
The Court formulated the clear and present danger test in
A) Schenck v. U.S.
B) Brandenburg v. Ohio.
C) Roth v. U.S.
D) Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District.
E) Lemon v. Kurtzman.
Which of the following decisions struck down major components of the Bipartisan
Campaign Finance Reform Act in 2010?
A) Buckley v. Valeo
B) Bush v. Gore
C) Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
D) BCRA v. United States
E) McConnell v. Federal Election Commission
National crises
A) expose weaknesses in government.
B) rarely necessitate government involvement.
C) are times of elevated trust in government.
D) are only occasionally the impetus for political reform.
E) happen so infrequently as to have little effect on government.
All bills must be introduced by
A) members of Congress.
B) the president.
C) interest groups.
D) staffers.
E) the president’s Cabinet.
If President Obama were to use his executive power to invade China and Congress did
not approve, how might they best go about circumventing his decision?
A) Hold a vote against the military invasion
B) Stage a protest in front of the White House
C) Refuse to appropriate funds
D) Hold impeachment hearings
E) Lead a coup and overthrow the administration
A party organization that recruits its members with tangible incentives, such as jobs,
and is characterized by a high degree of control over member activity, is called a
A) mob.
B) machine.
C) patron.
D) convention.
E) club.
The legal right to adopt ordinances covering a wide array of subject areas is known as
A) constitutional ordinance-making authority.
B) general ordinance-making authority.
C) home rule authority.
D) legal redistricting authority.
E) home-rule incorporation.
The length of campaigns influences which of the following in a campaign?
I. Structure of the campaign
II. How, when, and where campaigns spend money
III. Who candidates meet on the campaign trail
IV. Advertising strategy
A) I and IV
B) I and II
C) I, II, and IV
D) I, II, and III
E) I, II, III, and IV
According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Thirteenth Amendment
A) prohibits slavery.
B) prohibits slavery and forced student volunteerism.
C) prohibits slavery, peonage, and the coolie system of labor.
D) prohibits slavery, sex discrimination, and human trafficking.
E) guarantees suffrage for women.
An important voting trend from the 1950s to 1990 is
A) ticket-splitting.
B) anti-incumbency voting.
C) straight-ticket voting.
D) party-line voting
E) midterm election turnout surpassing turnout in presidential elections.
The chief elected executive of a city is called a
A) manager.
B) mayor.
C) governor.
D) pro-tempore.
E) alderman.
Most first-year college students identify themselves as
A) conservative.
B) middle-of-the-road.
C) liberal.
D) libertarian.
E) radicals.
The clause of the Constitution that ensures that judicial decrees and contracts made in
one state will be binding and enforceable in another is called the ________ clause.
A) privileges and immunities
B) full faith and credit
C) equal protection
D) supremacy
E) elastic
The ________ was formed in 1895 with the goal of promoting business interests.
A) Business Roundtable
B) Chamber of Commerce
C) American Federation of Labor
D) Niagara Movement
E) National Association of Manufacturers
Other than municipal court judges, most Texas judges are
A) appointed by the governor and approved by the Senate.
B) appointed by the governor and approved by the legislature.
C) elected in partisan elections.
D) elected in nonpartisan elections.
E) appointed by an independent commission established by the State Bar of Texas.
________ and ________ were the only nonelected president and vice president.
A) Lyndon B. Johnson/Hubert Humphrey
B) John F. Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson
C) Gerald R. Ford/Nelson Rockefeller
D) Gerald R. Ford/Spiro T. Agnew
E) Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale
What was the legislature called during the Republic of Texas?
A) The Texas Legislature
B) The Texas Parliament
C) The Texas Congress
D) The Texas Assembly
E) The Texas Caucus
At a basic level, a party
A) seeks to control the power of interest groups.
B) does not identify with a group label.
C) includes only office holders and candidates.
D) seeks to educate all voters on the issues of the day.
E) seeks to win office so as to exercise political power.
The era of one-party dominance in Texas by the Democratic Party lasted
A) about 110 years, from the end of Reconstruction to the 1980s.
B) about 165 years, from the creation of the Republic until today.
C) about 50 years, from the end of Reconstruction until the end of World War I.
D) from the start of the oil boom in the early 1900s until the beginning of the
twenty-first century.
E) from the landslide election of Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 until
the landslide re-election of Republican President Richard Nixon in 1972.
How has the Internet affected citizen journalism?
A) It limits the news outlets for these journalists.
B) The accessibility of the Internet makes it harder to prove or disprove stories.
C) The number of citizen journalists has increased in recent years.
D) Traditional news outlets have limited the use of citizen journalists in the field.
E) The work of citizen journalists has garnered little attention.
The World Trade Organization evolved from the
A) League of Nations.
B) Embargo Act.
C) Monroe Doctrine.
D) General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
E) Marshall Plan.
In which year was there a realigning election?
A) 1820
B) 1860
C) 1868
D) 1936
E) 1952
Which of the following is NOT an accurate predictor of vote choice?
A) Age
B) Party identification
C) Gender
D) Race
E) Incumbency
The Earned Income Tax Credit and Supplementary Security Income have what in
common?
A) Individuals receiving benefits must have children.
B) Benefits are only distributed to those who earn less than a pre-determined income
amount.
C) Individuals enrolled in each program must be over the age of 65.
D) Individuals enrolled in each program must be disabled.
E) Only individuals in certain states can receive benefits from these programs.
The Boston Tea Party was a
A) celebration conducted after the end of the Revolutionary War.
B) colonial response to the Intolerable Acts.
C) response to the Tea Act, which lowered the price of tea for loyalists in the southern
states.
D) response to the Tea Act, which penalized many colonial merchants.
E) meeting of reconciliation between the crown and colonial leaders.
Presidential popularity generally
A) stays constant.
B) follows a cyclical pattern.
C) increases throughout a president’s term.
D) responds only to crises.
E) drops at the very beginning of a president’s first term.
According to the text, royal governors were similar to modern U.S. presidents in that
they
A) had the pardon power.
B) served four-year terms.
C) were at the top of a hierarchical structure.
D) enjoyed relatively high approval ratings.
E) were elected officials.
The franking privilege is
A) the ability of a member of Congress to speak bluntly on the floor without fear of
public ridicule.
B) the ability of a member of Congress to speak on television for free during campaign
season.
C) the ability of a member of Congress to send mail for free by using their signature
instead of a stamp.
D) another term for redistricting.
E) illegal, as a result of a 1978 Supreme Court decision.
The principal purpose of county or senatorial district conventions is to
A) select delegates to the party’s state convention.
B) select candidates who would run in the national election.
C) determine the basis for vote allocation
D) select members of the state electoral commission
E) prepare a roster of public policy recommendations to submit to the county
commissioners court.
A cozy relationship between a state executive agency, a legislative committee, and an
interest group describes
A) a policy triathlon.
B) an iron triangle.
C) an issue network.
D) a logroll.
E) gerrymandering.
Media consolidation has
A) led to fewer owners in the media sphere.
B) not been allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
C) led networks to refrain from biased coverage.
D) led to more news and less entertainment.
E) promoted both monopolies and greater media competition.
The Texas judicial system developed from roots in the
A) English legal system, although some vestiges of the Spanish legal tradition remain
as well.
B) Spanish legal tradition exclusively, due to its genesis under the rule of Mexico.
C) English common law system exclusively, as this was the basis of the legal system of
the United States.
D) traditions of French canon law.
E) Mexican and Coahuilan legal systems.
A proposed law is known officially as a
A) proposal.
B) suggestion.
C) bill.
D) apportion.
E) affidavit.