Final Exam Review

Question Who follows the vice-president in the line of succession to the presidency?

Answer The Speaker of the House

Question What is the maximum number of years a person may serve as president?

Answer 10 years

Question Why is the Electoral College called a winner-take-all system?

Answer All of a states electoral votes go to the candidate who receives the most votes in that state.

Question This group of presidential appointees is selected for their experience in selected areas of governmental activity.

Answer The president’s cabinet

Question Who is the commander of the national armed forces?

Answer The president

Question What Constitutionally required address does the president give to Congress annually?

Answer The State of the Union message

Question What amendment addresses presidential succession?

Answer The Twenty-Fifth Amendment

Question Who is the presiding officer of the United States Senate?

Answer The vice president

Question By what method is the president of the United States selected?

Answer The Electoral College

Question What group of advises helps the president make decisions on military and foreign policy?

Answer National Security Council

Question Who is the head of the executive branch?

Answer The president

Question What powers does Congress have over the president?

Answer Congressional override (reverse a veto) Impeachment Power to confirm all presidential appointments

Question Who is the head of state in the United States?

Answer The president

Question What power does the Constitution give Congress over a presidential veto?

Answer Congressional override

Question What are rules created by the executive branch and signed by the president that have the force of law?

Answer Executive orders

Question What is the term used to describe a formal agreement between the governments of two or more nations?

Answer A treaty

Question What can the president use to back up his foreign policy decisions?

Answer Military forces

Question What is the practice of victorious politicians rewarding their followers with government jobs called?

Answer The spoils system

Question What courts derive their power from the Constitution and federal laws?

Answer Federal courts

Question What type of jurisdiction does a trial court have?

Answer Original jurisdiction

Question What court hears most of the cases in the federal judiciary system?

Answer District court

Question What is the court of last resort in all questions of federal law or the Constitution?

Answer The Supreme Court

Question These courts derive their power from the state constitutions and laws.

Answer State courts

Question What type of jurisdiction does a court of appeals have?

Answer Appellate jurisdiction

Question The national government or a state may not take a person’s life, liberty, or property without this?

Answer Due process

Question Where do the majority of the cases the Supreme Court hears come from?

Answer From lowers courts as appeals

Question What is the topic of most of the cases heard by the Supreme Court?

Answer Civil liberties

Question Who has the Constitution power to confirm appointments to the Supreme Court?

Answer The Senate

Question Who determines the number of justices that side on the Supreme Court?

Answer Congress

Question What is the Senate’s check on the authority of the Supreme Court?

Answer Confirmation power

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

Answer A democracy

Question A plan that provides the rules for government is called a ____________.

Answer constitution

Question What economic system emphasizes freedom of choice?

Answer capitalism

Question Who wrote the original draft of the Declaration of Independence?

Answer Thomas Jefferson

Question What are the congressional enumerated powers?

Answer Declare war Establish post office Coin money Raise an army and navy Make laws regarding bankruptcy Regulate commerce Make laws for patents and copyrighted materials

Question How can a decision of the Supreme Court be overturned?

Answer The court can overturn its decision. Constitutional amendment

Question How can the Constitution be adapted for the future?

Answer Constitutional amendment

Answer What Amendment protects freedom of speech?

Answer First amendment

Question What are the qualifications for election to the Senate?

Answer At least 30 years old Legal resident of state of election A citizen for 9 years

Question What are the qualifications for election to the House of Representatives?

Answer At least 25 years old A citizen for 7 years Legal resident of state of election

Question What is the process of setting up new congressional districts after reapportionment called?

Answer redistricting

Question The people in a state or district represented in Congress are called ___________.

Answer constituents

Question Who is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives?

Answer The Speaker

Question In Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, these powers of Congress are described.

Answer Expressed powers

Question What implies that Congress has powers beyond those expressed in the first 17 clauses of Article I, Section 8?

Answer Necessary and proper clause (elastic clause)

Question How many times has the Constitution been amended?

Answer Twenty-seven

Question Which branch of government interprets the law?

Answer judicial

Question Under the Constitution, Congress has what war making power?

Answer Power to declare war

Question Who would have been MOST threatened by the social contract theory?

Answer Divine right advocates

Question The court that first hears a case is said to have this type of jurisdiction.

Answer Original jurisdiction

Question A system of government that divides power between a central government and local governments.

Answer Federal system

Question What are the purposes of government outlined in the Preamble to the Constitution?

Answer Defending the nation against foreign enemies Insuring order and domestic tranquility Promoting the general welfare of the citizens

Question What branch of government was the only one set up under the Articles of Confederation?

Answer Legislative branch

Question What proposal at the Constitutional Convention became the basis for the new plan of government?

Answer Virginia Plan

Question Why was the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution?

Answer Because of the controversy over the ratification of Constitution

Question What does the Bill of Rights protect?

Answer The amendments guarantee such basic rights as freedom of expression and fair and equal treatment before the law.

Question Which amendments make up the Bill of Rights?

Answer The first ten amendments of the Constitution.

Question Where were the basic constitutional rights of the people FIRST enumerated?

Answer Bill of Rights

Question The President’s power to veto an act of Congress is an example of this basic principle of government.

Answer Checks and balances

Question What are the basic checks that the president has on the power of Congress?

Answer Veto legislation Call a special session of Congress Command of the military

Question What are the basic checks that Congress has on the power of the president?

Answer Impeach Approve appointments Override vetoes

Question What checks does the Supreme Court have on Congress?

Answer Declare a law passed by Congress unconstitutional

Question Powers that may be exercised simultaneously by the National and the State governments are called ___________.

Answer Concurrent powers

Question What are expressed powers?

Answer Those powers that are listed in the Constitution.

Question What is federalism?

Answer It divides power between a National Government and State governments.

Question What was the ruling of the Supreme Court rule in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland based upon?

Answer Supremacy Clause

Question Why is gerrymandering considered to be unfair?

Answer It creates voting district boundaries to decrease the voting strength of one of the two major political parties.

Question How many Senators represent each state?

Answer two

Question How many members of the House of Representatives is each state guaranteed?

Answer One seat in the House

Question What is the term of office for the United States Senate?

Answer Six years

Question Who has the sole power to impeach the president or other government officials?

Answer The House of Representatives

Question What is the result of the Federal Government spending more money than it takes in?

Answer Deficit financing (deficit spending)

Question What is the largest source of federal government tax revenues?

Answer Income taxes

Question What is the difference between a treaty and an executive agreement?

Answer The Senate must approve a treaty, but does not have a approve an executive agreement.

Question What are the formal qualifications to be president of the United States?

Answer Must be at least 35 years old Must be a “natural born Citizen” of the United States Must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years

Question What is the term of office for judges appointed to constitutional courts?

Answer For life

Question What did the Supreme Court’s decision in Marbury v. Madison establish?

Answer Judicial review

Question Who selects federal judges?

Answer The President

Question What is the legislative branches check on the President’s power to appoint federal judges?

Answer The Senate must confirm these nominations.

Question What federal court has both original and appellate jurisdiction?

Answer The Supreme Court

Question What case did the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka overturn?

Answer Plessy v. Ferguson

Question What was the holding in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka?

Answer It held that segregation by race in public education is unconstitutional. It struck down the separate-but-equal doctrine in education

Question What does the 4th Amendment prohibit?

Answer Unreasonable searches and seizures

Question What is double jeopardy?

Answer Protects a person from being tried twice for the same crime.

Question What are the basic trial guarantees for person who is accused of a crime?

Answer Trial within a reasonable time. Trial by jury Adequate defense

Question What is the purpose of a filibuster?

Answer To prevent action on a bill

Question How can the president prevent a bill passed by Congress from becoming law?

Answer Refuse to sign it and attach a veto message

Question Who decides how and when bills reach the floor of the House of Representatives?

Answer Rules Committee

Question What is the main reason that Congress created committees?

Answer To divide the workload

Question Why did the Framers include the Necessary and Proper Clause in the Constitution?

Answer To empower Congress to pass laws needed to carry out the expressed(enumerated) powers

Question Treaties must be approved by a two-thirds vote of __________.

Answer The Senate