Unit I III Multiple Choice Coordinator

Team White Rice J

Created in 2011 by:

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·  Central Organizer:

Felicia Kriner

·  Unit I – III Multiple Choice coordinator:

Ching Lai

·  Unit IV – VI Multiple Choice coordinator:

Damon Spivey

·  Short Answer Questions coordinator:

Emily Bourne

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UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Section I

Time – 55 minutes

60 Multiple Choice Questions

Directions: Each of the questions or incomplete statements below is followed by five suggested answers or completions. Select the one that is best in each case and then place the letter of your choice in corresponding box on the answer sheet.

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1.  Party conventions emerged during the Jacksonian era as a means of

a.  Giving some measure of local control to the presidential nominating process

b.  Involving Congress in the process of nominating presidential candidates

c.  Allowing national election to be held by direct primary rather than by legislative caucus4

d.  Ratifying the nomination of the party’s candidate for president

e.  Providing the party with a stronger base of support among Protestants

2.  Which of the following were major issues in the three clearest cases of critical or realigning periods?

a.  Slavery and economics

b.  Crime and war

c.  Suffrage and state’s rights

d.  The electoral college and war debt

e.  The federal income tax and immigration

3.  The structure of the Democratic Party today can best be described as ______, while that of the Republican Party can best be described as ______.

a.  Conservative/ liberal

b.  Homogeneous/ heterogeneous

c.  Organizational/ representational

d.  Unified/ loosely organized

e.  Factional/ bureaucratic

4.  The difference between de facto and de jure segregation is that

a.  The former results from private choices, the latter from public law

b.  The former results from public law, the latter from private choices

c.  The former existed in the past, the latter continues in the present

d.  The former continues in the present, the latter continues in the past

e.  The former deals with perceptions, the latter deals with verified facts

5.  A political ______deals with what a government should do, while a political ______deals with how government should operate.

a.  Constitution/ administration

b.  Administration/ constitution

c.  Culture/ ideology

d.  Ideology/ culture

e.  Culture/ administration

6.  Americans seem to agree that the exercise of political at any level is legitimate only if, in some sense, it is

a.  Systematic

b.  Democratic

c.  Bipartisan

d.  Partisan

e.  Traditional

7.  Which of the following is a basic tenet of representative democracy?

a.  Individuals should acquire power through competition for the people’s vote.

b.  It is unreasonable to expect people to choose among competing leadership groups.

c.  Government officials should represent the true interests of their clients.

d.  The middle class gains representation at the expense of the poor and minorities.

e.  Public elections should be held on every issue directly affecting the lives of voters.

8.  In the Marxist view government is a reflection of underlying ______forces.

a.  Economic

b.  Political

c.  Ideological

d.  Social

e.  Teleological

9.  The term bicameral used to describe the U.S. legislature means that the legislature

a.  Has two chambers, or legislative bodies.

b.  Is elected every two years.

c.  Consists of both committees and a main body.

d.  Is based on a system of checks and balances.

e.  Is apportioned once every ten years.

10.  The general trend in power distribution and decision-making throughout the evolution of Congress has been toward

a.  Centralization… more power for leadership

b.  Decentralization… more power for leadership

c.  Centralization… more power for individual members

d.  Decentralization… more power for individual members

e.  Centralization… more power for ideologues

11.  The Senate, not the House, became the crucial forum for debating the issue of slavery because

a.  The Senate had no rule limiting debate

b.  The House at the time was dominated by the executive branch

c.  The Senate had the larger black representation

d.  House representatives were picked by the state legislature

e.  The House was too decentralized

12.  As a member of Congress, you vote for a dairy-support bill because you are a liberal Democrat and the Democratic Study Group supports this position. Political scientists would describe your vote as:

a.  Attitudinal

b.  Organizational

c.  Representational

d.  Deliberative

e.  Relational

13.  The numerical superiority of House representatives over senators carries with it the implication that the:

a.  House holds more power than the Senate

b.  Senate holds more power than the House

c.  Senate leadership has more control than the House leadership

d.  House leadership has more control than the Senate leadership

e.  House is less partisan than the Senate

14.  A bill that has many nongermane amendments tacked on is called a

a.  Christmas-tree bill

b.  Pork-barrel bill

c.  Dirkson Special bill

d.  Full-House rider

e.  Golden shovel bill

15.  In the Senate, a filibuster can be ended by involving

a.  A rider

b.  A quorum

c.  Mark-up

d.  Cloture

e.  A meeting of the whole

16.  The first plan suggested at the Convention called for the president to be chosen by

a.  A state legislatures

b.  The Supreme Court

c.  Popular election

d.  The Electoral College

e.  Congress

17.  The Framers assumed that, under the Electoral College system, most presidential elections would be decided in the House. Why did this not turn out to be the case?

a.  Because most elections were not close enough to give state delegations the power to decide the outcome

b.  Because the first Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the electoral college system for selecting a president

c.  Because political parties ended up playing a major role in producing nationwide support for a slate of national candidates

d.  Because the Senate quickly usurped the delegate powers of the House

e.  Because the Supreme Court narrowly interpreted the powers of the legislative branch

18.  Andrew Jackson established the president that a president’s veto can be used

a.  Only on constitutional grounds

b.  Without first having a law declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court

c.  Even when Congress is still in session

d.  On policy grounds even where a bill may appear to be unconstitutional

e.  Without the advice and consent of the Senate

19.  The rule of propinquity states that

a.  Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely

b.  Power tends to be shared most evenly when leadership is weakest

c.  Power tends to be wielded by the people who are in the room where a decision is made

d.  Power is greatest when legitimacy is strongest

e.  Power is rarely distinguished from wealth and fame.

20.  Member of Congress pay attention to the personality of a president because

a.  The president may be called on to campaign for them

b.  The president may campaign against them in a primary

c.  Many members of Congress have aspirations to be presidency.

d.  Politicians to rise and fall together

e.  Interest group contributions often depend on perceptions of proximity with popular presidents

21.  A bill is passed to the president for action while Congress still in session. After ten days he has still not approved it. What happens to the bill?

a.  It is returned to Congress

b.  It is vetoed

c.  It becomes law

d.  Nothing. The president has thirty days to act on a bill.

e.  Nothing. The president has ninety days to act on a bill.

22.  In recent decades, the two key issues that presidents have focused on is planning and developing new programs have been

a.  Military spending and social-welfare programs

b.  Inflation and the environment

c.  Military spending and the environment

d.  Taxes and the federal budget deficit

e.  The economy and foreign affairs

23.  The shift in the role of the federal bureaucracy that occurred in between 1861 and 1901 was from:

a.  Economic regulations to tax regulation

b.  Regulation to service

c.  Commerce to regulation

d.  Federal service to state services

e.  Federal services to commerce

24.  The Whistle-blower Protection Act of 1989 is designed to protect

a.  Agencies that are being undermined by their employees

b.  Agencies that are being undermined by Congress

c.  Agency heads who fire employees for misconduct

d.  Bureaucrats who tell on their bosses

e.  Bureaucrats who are not career employees

25.  The relationship among an agency, a committee, and an interest group was described in the past as:

a.  Red tape

b.  An issue network

c.  An iron-triangle

d.  Laissez-faire

e.  A flexible triumvirate

26.  Policies aimed at improving the economy as a whole are example of

a.  Majoritarian politics

b.  Interest group politics

c.  Client politics

d.  Entrepreneurial politics

e.  Reciprocal politics

27.  The term sequester refers to

a.  Those budget items, such as Social Security, that are largely uncontrollable

b.  The process of protecting certain items from budgetary review

c.  Freezing budget items at previous

d.  A limit set on the percentage of uncontrollable expenses that the budget can contain

e.  Automatic, across-the-board percentage cuts in the budget

28.  The two kinds of programs include in the Social Security Act of 1935 were

a.  Loans and insurance

b.  Assistance and loans

c.  Loans and tax breaks

d.  Tax breaks and insurance

e.  Insurance and assistance

29.  Medicaid differs from Medicare because it provides

a.  A medical assistance to the age

b.  Medical assistance to the general public

c.  Medical assistance to the poor

d.  Catastrophic medical coverage

e.  Catastrophic medical coverage to veterans

30.  Which of the following is true of most people who are sympathetic the aims of a mass-membership interest group?

a.  They do not join it

b.  They join it but do not pay dues

c.  They join it, pay, dues, but do not participate in its activities

d.  They join it, pay dues, and participate in its activities

e.  They join it, but participate without paying dues

31.  Forbidding the use of federal funds to pay for abortions is the intent of the

a.  Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

b.  Profile Amendment

c.  “stop-ERA” campaign of Phyllis Schlafly

d.  Buckley-Will Amendment

e.  Hyde Amendment

32.  The proper conduct of foreign affairs requires precisely those qualities least likely to be present in democratic nations according to

a.  Tocqueville

b.  Metternich

c.  Talleyrand

d.  Franklin

e.  Hegel

33.  The term revolving door is used in the text to mean

a.  Entry-level jobs requiring little experience

b.  Agencies frequently reflect the view of interest groups which lobby them directly

c.  Administration in which senior cabinet members serve very short terms

d.  Lobbyists waiting inside the door to speak to officials

e.  A departing government official joining a firm with which he/she had been doing business

34.  In the era of the party press, readers consisted of

a.  Citizens from all walks of life

b.  Farmers

c.  Government employees and officials

d.  Immigrants

e.  A small number of well-educated people

35.  Until it was abolished in 1987, what obliged broadcasters to present contrasting sides of controversial public issues?

a.  The right of reply rule

b.  The Communication Act of 1974

c.  The fairness doctrine

d.  The equal time rule

e.  The respondent superior doctrine

36.  Conflicts in civil liberties often arise because

a.  Majoritarian politics is ineffective in revolving crises

b.  The U.S. Constitution is vague on issues of individual rights

c.  The Bill of Rights lists several competing rights

d.  Policy entrepreneurs rarely operate in the civil rights area

e.  The Supreme Court has refused to play a leading role in the interpretation of the First Amendment

37.  Which act made it a crime to write, utter, or publish “any false, scandalous, and malicious material” aimed at the government with the intent to defame it?

a.  The Sedition Act of 1798

b.  The Espionage Act of 1917

c.  The Smith Act of 1940

d.  The Internal Control Act of 1960

e.  The F.O.L.E. Act of 1975

38.  The colonists fought to protect liberties that they believed were

a.  Discoverable in nature and history

b.  Based on a “higher law”

c.  Essential to human progress

d.  Ordained by God

e.  All of the above

39.  The Articles of Confederation attempted to create

a.  A league of friendship among the states

b.  A centralized government

c.  A strong state commitment to the national government

d.  Weak state government

e.  None of the above

40.  The landmark case McCulloch v. Maryland determined that

a.  A state had the power to tax the federal government

b.  The federal government had the power to tax a state

c.  Congress did not have the power to set up a national bank

d.  The “necessary and proper clause” allowed the creation of a bank

e.  The Constitution was established by the states

41.  Which procedure allows voters to reject a measure adopted by the legislature?

a.  Referendum

b.  Initiative

c.  Recall

d.  Roll back

e.  Addendum

42.  Block grants and revenue sharing were efforts to

a.  Ensure that state spending was sensitive to federal policies and goals

b.  Reverse trends by allowing states and localities freedom to spend money as they wished

c.  Increase the dependency of state governments on federal money

d.  Accelerate states spending in areas long ignored by Congress

e.  Increase “strings” on money given to state and local officials

43.  The validity of public opinion polls may be affected by several factors, including

a.  Poll overrepresentation of the views of a political elite

b.  The fact that public opinions tends to be relatively stable over time

c.  The wording of questions on a poll

d.  Poll overrepresentation of political culture factors such as liberty and civic duty

e.  Excessive polling in certain parts of the country