Lyndon Johnson was able to get his Great Society programs through Congress because
a. most of the public favored the programs.
b. Democrats controlled both houses of Congress by large margins.
c. most Republicans worked with him on these issues.
d. he made an appeal to the public for his programs.
e. the federal government had surplus funds to be spent.
Democracy in the United States is distinguished from many European democracies by
the fact that in the United States,
a. many more offices are elective.
b. more campaign money comes from public sources.
c. more people participate in the electoral process.
d. the government plays a more active role in elections.
e. the government frequently changes hands.
The environmental movement was launched, in part, in reaction to
a. the appearance of dead whales on the West Coast.
b. the overpopulation of deer in Oregon.
c. an outbreak of diseases among birds in the Northeast.
d. an oil spill on the beaches of Santa Barbara, California.
e. a natural-gas eruption in Destin, Florida.
The text suggests that England, and other European nations, may be more successful at
abating pollution than America because environmental regulation is
a. more regional.
b. less centralized.
c. less adversarial.
d. less client centered.
e. less uniform.
The League of Women Voters is an example of a feminist organization whose
membership incentives are primarily
a. material.
b. purposive.
c. concurrent.
d. ideological.
e. solidary.
Compared with the rest of the population, voting specialists tend to be
a. younger and more educated.
b. younger and less educated.
c. older and more educated.
d. older and less educated.
e. middle-aged and highly educated.
During the battle over slavery, the case for nullification was forcefully presented by
a. William Jennings Randolph.
b. Robert E. Lee.
c. William Graham Sumner.
d. John C. Calhoun.
e. JEB Stuart.
The text suggests that we might expect to find more mandates in policy areas where the
government
a. spends less.
b. spends more.
c. wants the states to spend less.
d. has been involved a longer period of time.
e. cannot possibly enforce them.
Bureaucratic inefficiency might be desirable in that it might help
a. protect our liberties.
b. reduce spending.
c. increase trust in government.
d. create an environment of dependency.
e. restrict conflicts between the branches.
The Supreme Court ruled in the Bakke case that
a. explicit numerical quotas are illegal.
b. busing is a legitimate tool to achieve racial balance.
c. race should be taken into account when quotas are used.
d. affirmative action programs are unlawful.
e. affirmative action plans cannot include firings.
Under their police powers, states can enact and enforce all of the following except
a. criminal codes.
b. laws requiring children to attend school.
c. restrictions on the availability of pornographic materials.
d. standards for DUI convictions.
e. the regulation of interstate commerce.
During the 1960s, federal grants to states were increasingly based on
a. the demands of the individual states.
b. what state officials perceived to be important state needs.
c. the power of organized interest groups.
d. what federal officials perceived to be national needs.
e. the demands of coalitions of states.
Under the Articles of Confederation, amendments had to
a. be written in secret.
b. be submitted to the national judiciary for approval.
c. have the approval of half of the state governors.
d. be supported by all thirteen states.
e. All of the above are true.
Welfare policies in which nearly everyone benefits and nearly everyone pays are
characterized by
a. neo-institutional politics.
b. minoritarian politics.
c. client politics.
d. concurrency politics.
e. majoritarian politics.
How successful presidents are with legislation in Congress is difficult to gauge because
they
a. never reveal their position on noncontroversial bills.
b. can keep their victory score high by not taking a position on any controversial
measure.
c. do not have the power to veto bills passed by Congress.
d. do not have the ability to show their approval or disapproval, since they must not
sign bills before they can become law.
e. can never overcome the influence of interest-group money on congressional votes.
During the 1730s and 1740s, the political life of the American colonies were
transformed by
a. an economic depression.
b. war with France.
c. a religious revivalist movement, called the First Great Awakening.
d. a fight over trade between the north and south.
e. a call for political independence.
Which president ordered a U.S. invasion of Panama to depose the dictator Manuel
Noriega?
a. John F. Kennedy
b. Ronald Reagan
c. George H. W. Bush
d. Bill Clinton
e. George W. Bush
Religious diversity flourished in the United States due to the absence of a(n)
a. established religion.
b. strong state governments
c. strong central government.
d. established aristocracy.
e. charismatic religious leaders.
Which president was one of the first to argue for a presidential legislative program?
a. Harry Truman
b. Richard Nixon
c. Herbert Hoover
d. Franklin Roosevelt
e. Woodrow Wilson
The apportionment of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives is detailed in
a. Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution.
b. Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution.
c. Article IV, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution.
d. Article I, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution.
e. Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution.
A great change in the status of women took place when
a. many of them were successful on Wall Street in the 1930s.
b. they began to serve as presidents of several prestigious law schools.
c. they began to outperform men in civil service tests.
d. millions were hired in defense plants during World War II.
e. they formed a congressional caucus in the 1920s.
Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech was given in front of
a. the White House.
b. the Washington Monument.
c. the Capitol.
d. the Lincoln Memorial.
e. the Library of Congress.
George H.W. Bush signed affirmative action related legislation in 1991 that had the
effect of
a. removing incentives for employers to hire minorities.
b. giving special preference to quota systems that lay off workers.
c. shifting the burden of proof in discrimination claims to employers.
d. granting special status to state quota programs that are required by law.
e. discouraging the use of voluntary preference systems.
A central premise in Marshall’s analysis of federalism was that the government of the
United States was established by
a. the convention.
b. the states.
c. the people.
d. the Supreme Court.
e. both B and D.
The text notes a tendency for issues that once were _________ to become __________.
a. simple; complicated
b. public; secret
c. social; political
d. private; public
e. economic; social
In his analysis of public opinion concerning school vouchers, Terry M. Moe found that
citizens supplied with basic information can
a. have an in-depth understanding of the issue.
b. participate in a very knowledgeable debate regarding the issue.
c. adopt their positions for good substantive reasons.
d. fail to understand the issue.
e. become more trustful of the government.
In the United States, programs such as the interstate highway system and services to the
unemployed are most accurately considered
a. state functions that operate without any involvement on the part of the federal
government.
b. federal functions, although state governments pay some of the costs.
c. state functions that are designated under the Tenth Amendment.
d. federal functions that operate without any involvement on the part of state
governments.
e. state functions, although the federal government seeks to regulate them.
Lobbyists are restrained from misrepresenting facts or misleading legislators by
a. the 1984 Truth-in-Lobbying Law.
b. the open nature of the lobbying process.
c. governmental regulatory agencies such as the FTA.
d. the fear of losing legislators’ trust and confidence.
e. supervision of the federal courts.
Although the proportion of people who say they trust the government in Washington to
do the right thing has steadily declined since the 1950s, it should be remembered that
a. surveys on this particularly topic are notoriously unreliable.
b. the numbers were even lower in the 1920s.
c. more was expected of the government in the 1950s.
d. they are talking about government officials, not the system of government.
e. the proportion of people who trusted the government was never very high.
African Americans are more likely than whites to
a. support affirmative action.
b. think the criminal justice system is biased against them.
c. to oppose the use of military force.
d. to doubt that we should all be willing to fight for our country.
e. All of the above are true.
In 2005, the reporter Judith Miller of The New York Times spent 85 days in jail because
she would not reveal the name of the individual who told her the name of a CIA
employee. Why was the government able to hold her for so long?
a. There is no federal shield law that will protect journalist refusing to identify sources.
b. The state that she was in did not have a state shield law.
c. The issue was a matter of national security.
d. The reporter had written a libelous article.
e. The reporter leaked confidential information.
Explain why the use of self-identification in surveys on political ideology is somewhat
questionable.
Compare the presidency in the New System with the institution in the Old System.
Discuss the history of the presidential veto. In your discussion, acknowledge the role
that Andrew Jackson played in shaping how presidents use the veto. What percentage of
vetoes have been overridden by Congress?
Discuss how the Supreme Court has ruled on the issue of obscenity.
Discuss the facts of the case and the importance of the Supreme Court’s rule in in Mapp
v. Ohio.
Most of the money that candidates spend today is media related.
The Civil War led to large growth in the federal bureaucracy.
The American experience suggests that many of the Antifederalists’ primary concerns
were notunwarranted.
Identify the four developments that made it possible to break the deadlock between the
agenda-setting and coalition-building aspect of the civil rights movement.
Discuss the difference between deficit and debt.
Discuss how the Supreme Court’s interpreted the freedom of speech provision of the
Bill of Rights in Schenck v. United States.
Discuss John Locke’s view of liberty and compare it to the views of Thomas Jefferson
in the Declaration of Independence.
Studies suggest that staunch conservatives lean toward the Republican Party.
Discuss what early and later studies of public opinion and voting revealed about the
American public. Have the studies on specific issues identified a pattern?
The principal criterion by which voters choose among candidates is their party
identification or label.
Simple resolutions are used to make internal rules in either house.
Identify the most important changes in elections and, where relevant, indicate
associated constitutional amendments.