Short Essay about Government

power to make law and frame public policies

deliberate plan of action designed to guide governmental decisions

a political unit or body of people living within a specific territory under one federal government

none of the 50 states in the U.S. represent examples of a "state" because they lack this basic characteristic:

Which of the following statements about soverign states is NOT true?

Which of the following would be most threatened by the social contract theory?

John Locke is associated with this major political theory of government

Of the four major theories of government, only this one focuses on protecting the rights of the governed

The goals of the Founding Fathers for the new government, under the U.

S. constitution, are contained in the

What is the theory used in the United States that involves people giving their freedom to the government in order to protect life, liberty, and person property?

This is NOT one of Aristotle's classifications of government

Any system of government in which rule is by the people is called

Totalitarian dictatorship is a form of this type of government

requirement of democracy

Which of the following is among the purposes of government outlined in the Preamble of the Constitution?

A Supreme Court case in which minority rights were ignored was

All of the following are characteristics of democracy EXCEPT

What are the two types of democracies?

What are the "soils" of democracy?

Which of the following illustrates the concept of equal opportunity?

The theory underlying modern democracies was developed to challenge the idea that

When supplies of goods and services become plentiful, prices tend to rise

What would be the most likely result of a direct democracy at the national level

In order to get laws passed, this is an absolute necessity

This state had a successful experience with Internet voting in 2000

One of the problems with Internet voting is

Citizens of the United States can vote when they turn this age

system in which elected officials act in the interest of the people

Parliament first limited the power of the Crown under the

The concept of a limited government comes from this theory of government

The right to trial by jury has its roots in the Magna Carta and is contained in these two amendments in the U.S. Constitution

The Magna Carta had this specific effect on the monarchy

The Petition of Right forbids the mandatory quartering of troops in private homes, this is part of the U.S.

Bill of Rights in this amendment

All of the English colonies had a bi-cameral legislation except

Of the three types of English colonies, this one was the most independent

Who gives the authority to colonize in a charter colony?

The landmark English document that guarenteed due process is

The Constitution is based on the concept of

The Founders created a Constitution that could be adapted for the future through

If the Supreme Court rules a law unconstitutional, under which principle would the court be exercising its authority?

This section of the Constitution is responsive to the needs of a changing nation

The President can check Congress by this power

Article I of the Constitution

Article II of the Constitution

Article III of the Constitution

The full faith and credit clause, allowing states to recognize legal procedures such as marriage, is contained in this article

The framers created Article 5 to ensure that

The Supreme Court would have original jurisdiction over which of the following cases

The "necessary and proper" clause, which gives Congress broad power in lawkmaking, is also known as the

The judicial branch of government received the majority of its structure and power from

The federal agency known as the CIA is most likely under the ____ branch of government

The legislative branch is the only branch that is

Why would the framers want Congress to be more powerful than the executive branch?

The executive branch has expanded its power through what

The Equal Rights Amendment caused questions because

appeal to Congress

agreement between nations

amendment approval

All of the following are powers of the President except

All formal constitutional amendments must be proposed by Congress

The 25th amendment became a formal amendment that dealt with this informal amendment involving the presidency. Name the issue

How are informal changes made to the constitution?

An example of congressional enumerated power is

There are two ways to propose an amendment, one is by receiving two-thirds votes from Congress, the second is by a

13th, 14th, and 15th amendments make up the

This is asked for when a defendant cannot receive an impartial trial in the original location

The 24th amendment helped African Americans to vote by

First Amendment

protects individual liberties

How did the 12th amendment change the electoral process?

Why was the 24th amendment important to voters?

The national government's control of immigration is an example of

develop space program, conduct draft, regulate nuclear power plants

For a territory to be admitted to the Union, the first step was for Congress to pass

contributing monies to help pay for national elections

power directly granted to the national government by the Constitution

supports federalism by helping create state policy and enforcing national policy

has the power to dispatch federal troops to restore order to or provide protection to the states

The President admits new states and Congress sets the conditions

The power of the national government to declare war is most likely this specific power

As the US was growing at the end of the 19th century how were the states' admissions controlled?

the dominant political parties in the United States

In the United States, a political party is made up of a group of people who

Which of the following is not a major function of either of the two major parties in the United States?

Membership in either of the two major parties is

The functions of the major parties in the United States politics include

The United States has this number of major political parties

Which of the following is not an official function of political parties

If you are partisan to the Democratic Party you

Which of the following is not a function of a political party?

A political party also serves as a watchdog of government. Who are they watching?

Congress and the State legislatures are often organized on party lines and conduct much of their business based on

the people eligible to vote in any given election

The era of one-party domination that began in 1968 was different from past eras of one-party domination because

The year ___ marked the beginning of the shortest period of time in which a major political party held the presidential office

This was a major complaint of the Anti-Federalists during the ratification (period) of the constitution

By 1800, the Federalist party was one of the major political parties and this party was the other one

Which of the following is not one of the major eras of one party domination in American history?

What is the most probable trend in future party domination of the US presidency?

Who was the first incumbent to lose the presidency?

Which of the following do political parties and the news media have in common?

Any party that has less support than one of the major political parties in the United sates is a(n)

If inflation is low, jobs are plentiful, and the Republican and Democrats each enjoy strong support, which type of minor party would be least likely to attract voters?

The era of the Republican party began in 1860 with this election

The lack of success of minor parties to be the "party in power" or to be a "major player" has actually allowed them to take a clearer cut stand on specific issues

Ideological parties are generally associated with this person

All of the following are examples of ideological parties except

Which of the political parties forms as a result of a split from the major party

Ross Perot was often called the spoiler.

What is a spoiler in a presidential election?

Which of the following is not a long-term trend marking the expansion of suffrage in the United States

Which of the following statments about suffrage is true?

The early history of franchise rights in the United States were very limited and included a relatively small number

By the 1970s voters still had to pay a poll tax

All of the following mean the same thing except

All of the following voting prerequisites were eliminated by the states in the early 1800s except

After 1920, with the passage of the 19th amendment, this group was given the franchise

All of the following improved voting rights in the 1960s ecept

In the 1960s these people gained the franchise

Why did the suffrage groups in the 1920s fight so hard for the right to vote?

The expansion of suffrage to African Americans took place in two stages, one that granted suffrage in ____ and one that accomplished suffrage in ____

a person's ability to read or write that is no longer used to qualify someone to vote

The fact that the western States allowed aliens who had applied for naturalization to vote in order to attract settlers makes a clear statement about how

Voter turnout among 18 year-olds

Literacy requirements were usually aimed at

Which of the following is not a voting requirement mandated by all 50 states

The passage of this constitutional amendment eliminated poll taxes as a prerequisite to vote in federal elections

Which of the following is not a major reason for voter registration?

How was the poll tax discriminatory?

Literacy tests worked to deny the right to vote to African Americans primarily because

dividing electoral districts to limit the voting strength of a particular group is known as

The Voting Right Act of 1965 that no new election laws could be enacted in any state without ____ from the Department of Justice

All of the following have been used to keep African Americans from voting except

This group of people is least likely to be given voting rights

The 15th amendment extended the right to vote to eligible

This is a method of limiting voting strength by the manner in which voting districts are drawn up

This act established the U.S. Civil Rights commission

people who do not believe their actions can affect politics have no sense of

people with no sense of political efficacy

The term political socialization can be defined as the

In general, more of the electorate votes

The single most significant predictor or a person's partison voting behavior is his or her

As party identification has weakened,

The reason that the 15th amendment, passed in 1870, was partially unsuccessful was

A non-voter may be motivated by

Petitions to nominate candidates

in a closed primary

a primary in which candidates are not labeled by party is known as

Which of the following processes is considered the least democratic when a candidate is being nominated

Compared with the caucus and convention methods, the number of people who can participate in choosing candidates through the direct primary is

The critical first step in running for public office is conducting a fact finding campaign.

The primary election process is really just a way of reducing the number of people who will run in the general election

In the election process, the critical first step is:

Who can vote in a Republican closed primary election

Why is the closed primary harmful to minor parties?

In the ___, the two top vote getters in a direct primary face one another, with the winner receiving the nomination

A ___ is where voters who live in a particular precinct actually go to vote

Voters are asked to complete election ballots in all of the following ways except

If a Republican candidate for governor is proving to be especially popular, which of the following is most likely to benefit

For providing optimum security, the best voting device is considered by many to be

Some states conduct elections by allowing vote-by-mail

Ineffectiveness at the polling place on voting day leads to

In order to increase voter turnout many states have implemented which of the following

Which of the following is not a basis on which a candidate can mount a protest to an online election

The ____ is a party nominating election in which any qualified voter can participate.

All of the following are loopholes in the current federal election laws except

The biggest drawback of the need for large amounts of money to campaign is that

Other than giving money directly to candidates, what other legal avenues do PACs have to influence elections

In 2000, George W. Bush could legally spend more than the FEC limit of $40.5 million in the preconvention period because

A large percentage of the money spent on political campaigns during the 1980s and 1990s came from

This ballot has such an enormous amount of information on it that it might be difficult to understand

Political Action Committees (PACs) donate money to campaigns and they are associated with

The ___ acts as the political arm of the special interest groups

An ____ is a person who has more than the average influence on public opinion

Because so many people were listening to the poet's political verses, he had became an___

Attitudes held by a significant number of people concerning governmental and political questions are known as

The most reliable measure of public opinion is

Politicians want to have accurate informatino about public opinion because they can

Which of the following is the earliest and one of the most significant agents in the political socialization process

On the issue of federal tax cuts, which of the following factors would be most likely to influence a person's opinion

Even though the President is a public figure his opinion affects very few peoples opinions

How is family important in forming public opinion

The creation of MySpace pages by candidates in the 2008 Presidential Election is an example of the use of ____ to influence public opinion

Public opinion includes only those views that relate to

A sample constructed to represent the major characteristics of the universe

The senator decided to check the result of a ____ to obtain a sound indicator of how her constituency felt about the issue

Which of the following steps in a scientific polling comes first

Newspaper mail-in ballots hope to predict election outcomes with some success by hearing from

The manner in which a question is asked can influence the outcome of a poll

Which of the following is not a step in the polling process

Polls that seek to read the public's mind simply by asking the same question of a large number of people is an example of a

When evaluating a poll, what is the most important aspect to look at

This includes all the means for communicating information to the general public

This is a major focus of the mass media

What television network was created specifically to broadcast the floor proceedings of the House and Senate

A ___ involves the news media questioning high ranking officials

often the focus of mass media

visually interesting event

early leader in a presidential campaign

This is a ready made story that is supplied to the press

The generals use news briefings often as a way to

The 2008 election of Barack Obama is said to have ushered in the era of the "Internet Presidency," enduing the era of the

Why would an interest group send a telegram to the speaker

Federalists, such as James Madison, believed that interest groups were

Public affairs are those events and issues

Interest groups perform positive functions for which of the following groups

Which of the following would address one of the criticisms of interest groups

If a person is a physician, he or she is probably going to support the interest group known as the American Medical Association

Interest groups in general are a positive aspect of American society because they stimulate interest in public affairs

The scope of political parties is

Which of the following statements is true of interest groups?

How can a special interest group have a positive role in politics

Although interest groups do not try to attract large numbers of voters, they do try to attract

Interest groups are also called pressure groups mainly because

Unlike the major political parties, interest groups

The American Medical Association and the American Bar Associaton are examples of

Interest groups

Which of the following is true of both interest groups and minor parties?

What is the purpose of a public interest group?

Which of theh following is an example of a public interest group?

Because of ____ and separation of powers, there exist many different centers in which important decisions are made

Unlike the major political parties, interest groups

A labor union is an organization of workers who

All of the following are propoganda techniques except

Single-interest groups try to affect elections based on

Lobbyists today are people who generally

The term grass roots refers to

Political parties try not to alienate large numbers of voters. Interest groups try not to alienate

Public policy is

Pressure groups (interest groups) received the name lobbyist by trying to influence legislators in those legislation hotel lobbies

Why would lobbyists need regulation

The presiding officer at the House of Representatives is the

The power to write the rules in Congress is controlled by the

Responsibilities: schedules bills for action, refers bills to proper house, appoints some committees members

Before both houses of Congress pass it and the president signs it, a proposed law is a

House "traffic officer"

voters represented by an elected official

presiding officer of the House

Speaker's top assistant

assist the floor leader

How many members are included in the House of Representatives

This is required for a legislative body to take official action

The president of the Senate is

Lake Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina once stood in front of Congress speaking for 24 hours and 18 minutes performing a

A filibuster can be stopped when three-fifths of the Senate votes for

In the absence of the Vice President, the president ___ presides over the Senate

In the Senate the rules are designed to make sure that all senators

president of the Senate

unlimited speaking time

Why is the atmosphere so informal in the Senate

In the Senate the rules are designed to make sure that all senators

The standing committees of each house are controlled by

This group specializes in a subcategory of its standing committee's responsibility

This has guided the selection of committee chairpersons

The House of Committee on Appropriations sets the expenditures of money for the US government.

Energy and Water Development and Defense are just two examples of standing _____ within the Committee on Appropriations

The Senate ____ Committee on Ethics met between 2007 and 2008 and was responsible for developing new guidelines for ethics training of all Senate employees

A Republican Senator from Mississippi and a Democratic House Representative from California are both members of the ____ Committee on the Library

Committees can be found in which of the following

someone seeking to limit the powers of Cnogress to its expressed powers and only the most vital implied powers

The powers of Congress are affected by all of the following except what the

Since 1789, the expansion power of the National Government has been caused by all of the following except

This simply means a general agreement

These are powers "necessary and proper" to carry out powers specifically stated within the Constitution

A nation is considered sovereign if it does not have to ask the authority of any other nation before making decisions

____ advocated strict constructionism in government

Which of the following is not a power of congress

Which of the following powers gives congress more creative avenues for expanding their powers

Thomas Jefferson was what type of constructionist

The powers of Congress are affected by all of the following except what the

Since 1789, the expansion of power of the National Government has been caused by all of the following except

Witnesses who do not tell the truth can be prosecuted for

In the landmark case, Wakins v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled

This action was found unconstitutional because it violated the separation of powers

A good example of the constitutional principle of checks and balances is

a witness lying under oath

When Congress passed the Ethics in Government Act in the 1970s they created this position

What was the outcome of Wakins v. United States

These were created by Congress as part of the Ethics in Government Act and were put in place to ensure government officials receive a fair investigation

provision attached to an important bill

enables members to force a bill that has been in committee for 30 days onto the floor for consideration

Proposed measures that apply to specific individuals or places are

Bills that originate in either house of Congress may be

If the lawmaking process is compared to an obstacle course, which of the following would constitute an obstacle

One possible reason that a discharge petition is seldom successful is that

In the House of Representatives all public bills use this calendar

After a bill leaves a standing committee but before it goes to the floor it must visit this committee

Which committee could cause a bill to never be voted on

If a bill proceeds past the Rules Committee then the next step is what

The title of ____ describes the President's role as head of the US Federal Government

Which of the following is not a formal qualification for the presidency

According to the 22nd amendment, a President can serve no more than ___ 4-year terms in office

Which of the following is eligible to run for the presidency: a 45-year old banker who was born and raised in Wyoming or a 30 year-old State legislator who was born in Virginia, lived abroad for 10 years, then returned to Virginia?

If a successor to the presidency has served three years of the predecessor's term, how many more years is he eligible to serve as President in his own right

A President of the United States may serve a maximum of ___ in office

Which of the following is not a role of the president

Which of the following is not a requirement needed in order to become president

Which Presidential role sets the overall congresional agenda

How long does the President have to pass his political agenda through congress

the mass of people who actually cast votes in an election

Typically, the wrench in the gears of the electoral college that causes the election to be thrown into the House is

The majority of the proposed reforms to the current electoral college

Which of the following statements is not an argument for direct popular election of the President

The Electoral College voting results for the Presidential election are considered to be official on which day

The electoral college is an example of ___

The ____ does not require an ____ to vote for the candidate favored by the _____ vote in his/her state

Defenders of the electoral college argue that

Informal sources of presidential power: personal exercise of power, immediate needs of the nation, and ___

Limits on presidential power: federal courts, bureaucracy, public opinion

This item represents one of the greatest sources of power for a president

All of the following are examples of informal sources of power except

All of the following are examples of the "checks and balance system" limiting Presidential Power except

Article II of the Constitution specifically lists the role of ___ as a Presidential Power

Sometimes Presidents use major events to enhance their power, for instance Lincoln did this during the Civl War

When Nixon fired the Special Prosecutor investigating Watergate, four million telegrams were sent to Congress calling for his impeachment, this is an example of this type of informal check on presidential power

Under which article can a President expand their powers in times of national crisis

Which Nixon veto did congress override

President of the United States: Commander in Chief, Chief Legislator, Party Leader, Chief Executive, Economic Planner, Chief Diplomat

A formal agreement between the governments of two or more countries is called

The president receives intelligence from four agencies to help him manage foreign-policy issues. Identify the agency missing (Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Department, National Security Council, ___)

The president's refusal to allow a federal department to spend money Congress has appointed is called

The power to reject part of a bill is called

The President has the power of reprieve, this means

What is the leadership role the president takes on while addressing foreign relations

What group is responsible for studying the economy and preparing the economic report

Which of the following statements about the Supreme Court is false

The Supreme Court adheres closely to the 30-minute oral arguments rule mostly because

Dissenting opinions accomplish all of the following except

The U.

S. Supreme Court will hear case arguments for two months and then recess to adjudicate (discuss and decide) those cases for two months in conference.

In the history of the Supreme Court, only two women have held the title of Chief Justice

The Chief Justice of the U.S.

Supreme Court assigns the writing of all court opinions

Currently about two-thirds of the cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court are done by unanimous decision

What was the first court case that set the precedent of judicial review

The Supreme Court would have original jurisdiction in ____

Justices who disagree with the Court's decision write a ___ opinion

The majority of the cases the Supreme Court hears come

In order to make it to the Supreme Court, a case must meet certain requirements or adhere to a complex set of standards and procedures.

Identify the three main routs by which a case makes it before the highest court in the land (original jurisdiction, appeal, ____)

A friend of the court is

A brief unsigned statement of the Court's decision is a

After the Supreme Court accepts a case, the case goes through a strict set of procedurs. (lawyers from each side submit briefs, ____, justices debate the cases in conference, Supreme Court issues an opinion)

Four kinds of opinions issued by the Supreme Court (unanimous, majority, ____, dissenting)

This is a written statement setting forth the legal arguments

One or more justices who agree with the majority's conclusions about a case, but do so for different reasons, write a

Some cases reach the Supreme Court through ____, meaning that it has been requested that the Supreme Court review the ruling of lower state and federal courts

What is the first step in the higher court trying to decide if they should hear a lower case