Separation of powers mandates that the judiciary is the least dangerous branch.
Congressional Reconstruction required the former states of the Confederacy to ratify
the Fourteenth Amendment in order to be readmitted to the union.
The U.S. courts of appeals have no original jurisdiction.
Gerrymandering is a form of redistricting.
The Articles of Confederation provided for a strong national government.
Under the Articles of Confederation, the executive branch was quite weak.
Women were granted the right to vote at the same time as African Americans.
The Federal Reserve has recently begun take a big-picture financial system approach to
regulation as opposed to focusing on individual banks.
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna led the Texas revolution and became its first president.
Campaign consultants first appeared in the 1960s.
Containment was a policy designed to develop the U.S. economy through high tariffs
and other barriers to free trade.
The idea behind home rule is that city leaders need tools to address their local
problems.
The George W. Bush administration ended the “Don”t Ask, Don”t Tell” Policy.
Texas’s public policies reflect the common values of Texans.
The majority of U.S. states have some kind of Cabinet system of executive government.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1950 as a regional
defense alliance and was the first peacetime military alliance made by the United
States.
If you become an American citizen by the time you turn twenty-one, you are eligible to
become president once you reach the age requirement.
Most large American cities have weak mayors.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration joined forces with the
Environmental Protection Agency to oversee the cleanup efforts of the oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico.
During the 1990s, when the U.S. economy saw tremendous job growth, low
unemployment, and increased technological development, Americans were living in a
period of economic stability.
California has the right to make and implement foreign policy.
The Hatch Act stopped corporations from making direct contributions to campaigns.
Iowa likely has the nation’s most visible presidential caucus.
Texas law defines lobbying exclusively as efforts to influence the legislature when it is
in session.
In 1995, the federal government was forced to shut down because Congress had not
approved a budget.
In many ways, county governments serve as the administrative arm of the state
government.
Presidents usually enjoy their highest popularity ratings at the start of their
administration.
Texas governors are not allocated a staff, but can pay for one using private funding. .
The Help America Vote Act was passed in response to complaints about obsolete or
malfunctioning voting equipment.
The trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund estimate that, under current policy rules,
payments to beneficiaries will exceed revenues collected from employees in 2050.
The No Child Left Behind Act is an example of a redistributive policy.
Both statutory and constitutional county judges must be licensed attorneys.
The Supreme Court generally was supportive of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s early
attempts to deal with the Great Depression.
Generally, the platforms of prominent third parties are folded into the platforms of the
parties with which they share similar ideologies.
The frontier era in Texas lasted for four decades and involved battles with Mexico,
conflicts with the Native American population, and struggles to conquer a difficult land.
In general, what kind of influence and authority do states have over their formal
relationships with American Indian tribes?
A) Very limited
B) Strong statutory relationship based on direct legal authority
C) Authority based on the Mayflower Compact
D) Authority authorized by the Northwest Ordinance
E) Absolute
Which of the following countries owns the greatest percentage of American debt?
A) Russia
B) Great Britain
C) Canada
D) China
E) Japan
Griswold v. Connecticut involved the issue of
A) gay marriage.
B) availability of over-the-counter methods of birth control.
C) married couples’ access to birth control.
D) abortion.
E) sodomy.
Many American ideals, including hard work and personal responsibility, are rooted in
our nation’s
A) ethnic diversity.
B) political parties.
C) belief in pure capitalism.
D) Protestant heritage.
E) ideas toward welfare.
If you are a lobbyist representing a client who benefits from the existing Texas
Constitution, all of the below arguments strengthen your position not to reform the
Constitution EXCEPT:
A) Citizens aren”t likely to participate in special elections
B) Most groups agree there are few flaws in the Texas Constitution
C) Texans look to the Constitution to protect them from government infringement, not
to address citizens’ needs
D) Legislators are mostly focused on other priorities
E) Citizens prefer tinkering with the Constitution through amendments rather than
overhauling it
Which of the following countries were part of the “inner six” that joined together in
1951 to form the European Coal and Steel Community?
I. Belgium
II. West Germany
III. United Kingdom
IV. Spain
D) I and IV
A) I and II
B) II and III
C) I, II, and IV
E) I, II, III, and IV
Leading the effort to secure the right to vote for women, the ________ engaged in a
variety of tactics such as protesting in front of the White House.
A) National Woman Suffrage Association.
B) American Woman Suffrage Association
C) National American Woman Suffrage Association
D) National Woman’s Party
E) Women’s Christian Temperance Union
Since legislators do not have the resources or time personally to do all the work
necessary to conceive, develop, track, and pass legislation, they rely heavily for
information and assistance on
A) precedent.
B) staff.
C) journalists.
D) town-hall meetings with constituents.
E) Congress.
President ________ incurred the wrath of many veterans’ groups by granting
unconditional amnesty to roughly 10,000 men who had fled the United States or gone
into hiding to avoid military service in the Vietnam War.
A) Lyndon B. Johnson
B) Richard M. Nixon
C) Gerald R. Ford
D) Jimmy Carter
E) Ronald Reagan
In The Price of Federalism, political scientist Paul E. Peterson considered how
governments should best divide policymaking responsibility, focusing mainly on
_______ policies.
A) redistributive and developmental
B) constructive and international
C) state and local
D) international and regulatory
E) environmental and health care
The electorate consists of
A) all citizens.
B) the people who vote in an election.
C) citizens eligible to vote.
D) citizens over the age of eighteen.
E) people who live in a defined region.
The First Continental Congress was called to
A) iron out differences with the king.
B) author a Declaration of Independence.
C) respond to taxes levied by the Stamp Act.
D) address the fighting at Lexington and Concord.
E) respond to the Boston Massacre.
The local county trial court for minor criminal offenses (less serious misdemeanors) and
civil suits involving small claims is the
A) justice of the peace court.
B) municipal court.
C) statutory county court.
D) superior court.
E) district court.
Various levels of government worked together in a layer cake fashion after Hurricane
Katrina.
Prior to its independence, Texas was governed as
A) a colony of Spain.
B) Protectorate of the King of England.
C) a part of Mexico under the Mexican Constitution of 1824.
D) a territory of the United States.
E) an exclusive administrative territory for Native Americans.
Which of the following best explains why tuition at Texas’s public universities has
increased so much since 2003?
A) The legislature passed a law that allowed university governing boards to set their
own tuition.
B) Inflation
C) An increase in professors’ salaries
D) The rising cost of health care
E) Smaller class sizes required hiring more professors.
The Gallup organization predicted Barack Obama’s victory in the 2008 presidential
election within a margin of about ________ percent.
A) two
B) five
C) seven
D) ten
E) fifteen
In a criminal trial in a state district court in Texas, how many jurors must agree in order
to render a verdict?
A) A unanimous vote of the twelve jurors
B) A vote of ten of the twelve jurors
C) A vote of no less than six jurors
D) A vote of six or more jurors
E) A vote of seven or more jurors
The textbook describes three types of political cultureindividualistic, traditionalistic,
and moralistic. Which best describes political culture in Texas?
A) Moralistic
B) A mixture of moralistic and traditionalistic
C) A mixture of moralistic, traditionalistic, and individualistic
D) A mixture of traditionalistic and individualistic
E) Individualistic
The NAACP began its litigation strategy to end segregation by challenging segregation
in
A) public accommodations.
B) elementary schools.
C) private housing projects.
D) employment.
E) law and graduate schools.
State legislatures lost their control over the selection of senators when the ________
Amendment was ratified in 1913.
A) Fifteenth
B) Seventeenth
C) Nineteenth
D) Twenty-First
E) Twenty-Third
Committees generally reflect the partisan makeup of the House EXCEPT the
________Committee, which has two-thirds Republican members in the 112th Congress.
A) Rules
B) Ways and Means
C) Appropriations
D) Ethics
E) Budget
Of the more than 2.7 million federal employees, nearly ____ percent work for the U.S.
Postal Service.
A) 20
B) 30
C) 40
D) 50
E) 55
Which judges must have at least 10 years of experience and be at least 35 years of age?
A) Appellate judges
B) District judges
C) County court at law judges
D) Justices of the peace
E) Municipal judges
A shifting of party coalitions in the electorate that remain in place for several elections
is called
A) a realignment.
B) a misalignment.
C) a transition.
D) an electoral shift.
E) a temporary mandate.
The Texas judicial system incorporates ____ levels of courts.
A) two
B) three
C) four
D) five
E) six
In McCulloch v. Maryland, the Supreme Court ruled that
A) the necessary and proper clause gave Congress the power to charter a bank.
B) states had the power to tax the federal government.
C) the commerce clause expressly allowed Congress to charter a bank.
D) the supremacy clause did not apply.
E) it lacked the jurisdiction over the specifics of the case.
An executive order
A) has the power to create policy.
B) may be directly contrary to a law passed by Congress.
C) has no legal consequence.
D) is the same as an executive agreement.
E) is a rule or regulation rarely considered by presidents.
The Committee on Unfinished Portions was tasked with ironing out problems
concerning
A) judicial powers.
B) the slave trade.
C) election of the legislature.
D) the executive branch.
E) small-state representation in the Senate.
According to tradition, the __________ is the chief executive branch department
responsible for the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign policy.
A) Department of Homeland Security
B) Federal Emergency Management Agency
C) Department of Defense
D) Department of Agriculture
E) Department of State
In the Ruiz v. Estelle (1980) decision related to Texas prisons, the U.S. district court
generally sided with
A) the state of Texas.
B) the superintendent of prisons.
C) the prisoners.
D) victims’ rights activists.
E) the taxpayers.
Which of the following best describes how the legislature has approached the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality in recent years?
A) It has sought to dramatically expand the authority of the commission to regulate air
pollution.
B) It has worked to protect the environment by keeping oil and gas production at a
minimum.
C) It has allowed the commission to regulate the rates utility companies in Texas charge
for generating and selling power in the state.
D) It has frequently attempted to scale back environmental regulations.
E) It has frequently increased the income tax rate in order to protect the environment.
Convicted felons are allowed to vote
A) by constitutional mandate.
B) only in certain states.
C) never.
D) ten years after leaving prison.
E) as long as they did not commit murder.
Liberalism as an ideology in Texas is traceable to the effects of
A) high taxation of industry and the subornation of fraud by limiting capital expansion.
B) the use of governmental authority to protect traditional values.
C) individualism as a course of action which undermines societal cohesion and order.
D) industrialization and the economic and social dislocations associated with it.
E) the infiltration of governmental bodies by socialists and communists.