American Government and Civic Engagement
In which form of government does a small group of elite people hold political power?
Oligarchy
British colonists in North America in the late seventeenth century were greatly influenced by the political thought of ________.
John Locke
The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution because ________.
key states refused to ratify the Constitution unless it was added
A group of African American students believes a college admissions test that is used by a public university discriminates against them. What legal standard would the courts use in deciding their case?
strict scrutiny
The Supreme Court’s power of judicial review ________.
enables it to declare acts of the other branches unconstitutional
The elite theory of government maintains that ________.
wealthy, politically powerful people control government, and government has no interest in meeting the needs of ordinary people
The agreement that citizens will consent to be governed so long as government protects their natural rights is called ________.
the social contract
The Fourteenth Amendment was critically important for civil liberties because it ________.
helped start the process of selective incorporation of the Bill of Rights
The equal protection clause became part of the Constitution as a result of ________.
the Fourteenth Amendment
The Supreme Court most typically functions as ________.
an appeals court
Supporting the actions of the Democratic Party simply because one identifies oneself as a member of that party is an example of ________.
partisanship
According to the Great Compromise, how would representation in Congress be apportioned?
Representation in the House of Representatives would be based on each state’s population and every state would have two senators.
The Third Amendment can be thought of as ________.
forming part of a broader conception of privacy in the home that is also protected by the Second and Fourth Amendments
The Supreme Court decision ruling that “separate but equal” was constitutional and allowed racial segregation to take place was ________.
Plessy v. Ferguson
Besides the Supreme Court, there are lower courts in the national system called ________.
district and circuit courts
When a person is asked a question about a political issue that he or she has little interest in and has not thought much about, that person’s answer will likely reflect ________.
latent preferences
How did the delegates to the Constitutional Convention resolve their disagreement regarding slavery?
It was agreed that 60 percent of a state’s slave population would be counted for purposes of both representation and taxation.
The Fourth Amendment’s requirement for a warrant ________.
does not apply when there is a serious risk that evidence will be destroyed before a warrant can be issued
The 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march was an important milestone in the civil rights movement because it ________.
vividly illustrated the continued resistance to black civil rights in the Deep South
In standing by precedent, a judge relies on the principle of ________.
stare decisis
According to the pluralist theory of government, ________.
government policy is formed as a result of the competition between groups with different goals and interests
Why were The Federalist Papers written?
To encourage New York to ratify the Constitution.
The Supreme Court has decided that the death penalty ________.
may not be applied to those who were under 18 when they committed a crime
The doctrine that people who do jobs that require the same level of skill, training, or education are thus entitled to equal pay is known as ________.
comparable worth
Of all the court cases in the United States, the majority are handled ________.
at the state level