Chapter 2: The Constitution

Question 1

The Constitution defines the structure of the national government, as well as doing which of the following?
a. Restricting the power of county/parish governments
b. Outlining the nomination process for selecting the executive officer
c. Regulating the relationship between government and each individual citizen
d. Restricting the power of the individual citizen
e. Promoting the formation of a confederation of states

Answer 1

Regulating the relationship between government and each individual citizen

Question 2

The Mayflower Compact was written in order to ensure that American colonists lived under which of the following?
a. Rule by the Crown
b. Rule by Parliament
c. Rule of law based on the consent of the governed
d. Roberts’ Rules of Order
e. Judeo-Christian ethics

Answer 2

Rule of law based on the consent of the governed

Question 3

Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense advocated which of the following?
a. The formation of a new government still loyal to the king
b. The formation of a new government that would limit further immigration
c. An end of hostilities with Great Britain
d. The repeal of all taxes, including those imposed on themselves
e. The formation of the country’s own government as a way to gain independence

Answer 3

The formation of the country’s own government as a way to gain independence

Question 4

The first draft of the Declaration of Independence was written by whom?
a. Benjamin Franklin
b. John Locke
c. John Adams
d. Thomas Jefferson
e. George Washington

Answer 4

Thomas Jefferson

Question 5

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal” are the first words of which of the following documents?
a. The Constitution of the United States of America
b. The Declaration of Independence
c. The Magna Carta
d. The United Nations Charter
e. The Bill of Rights

Answer 5

The Declaration of Independence

Question 6

The most basic weakness of the Articles of Confederation was which of the following?
a. Tax levels that were too high for most Americans
b. An overpowering executive
c. Congress’s lack of power to conduct foreign affairs
d. Congress’s lack of power to declare war
e. The inability of Congress to raise funds

Answer 6

The inability of Congress to raise funds

Question 7

The Virginia Plan included which of the following?
a. It called for a bicameral legislature.
b. It worked to the advantage of the small states.
c. It provided for the direct election of the president by the people.
d. It settled all of the controversies.
e. It called for Supreme Court justices to select the president.

Answer 7

It called for a bicameral legislature.

Question 8

The assertion that national law has primacy over state law is in the Constitution in which of the following clauses?
a. The equal protection clause
b. The due process clause
c. The establishment clause
d. The supremacy clause
e. The free exercise clause

Answer 8

The supremacy clause

Question 9

Which of the following is true with regard to the Great Compromise?
a. It was advanced by delegates from Georgia.
b. It proposed a bicameral legislature with equal representation in the Senate.
c. It was presented too late to be considered.
d. It was proposed by Delaware.
e. It proposed a unicameral legislature in which each state would have one vote.

Answer 9

It proposed a bicameral legislature with equal representation in the Senate.

Question 10

Shays’ Rebellion plays an important role in American history for which of the following reasons?
a. It represents the first major battle to occur in the southern colonies during the American Revolution.
b. It anticipated the states’ rights battle.
c. It was the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.
d. It made obvious the weaknesses of the government under the Articles of Confederation.
e. It enabled the colonists to reorganize and gain the upper hand against the British in the Revolutionary War.

Answer 10

It made obvious the weaknesses of the government under the Articles of Confederation.

Question 11

States were granted extra representation based on the number of slaves they held under which of the following?
a. The slavery population clause
b. The equal population clause
c. The three-fifths compromise
d. The five-eighths compromise
e. The census clause

Answer 11

The three-fifths compromise

Question 12

The Constitution vests all judicial authority of the United States in which of the following, as well as in other inferior courts?
a. The Appeals Courts
b. The Supreme Court
c. The Chief Justice
d. The District Courts
e. The Constitutional Courts

Answer 12

The Supreme Court

Question 13

Originally, the Constitutional Convention’s purpose was to do which of the following?
a. Adopt a new constitution
b. File a formal tax protest with Great Britain
c. Raise money for a national army to stop Shays’ Rebellion
d. Revise the Articles of Confederation
e. Overturn articles amended by the Second Continental Congress

Answer 13

Revise the Articles of Confederation

Question 14

During the constitutional deliberations, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, to sway public opinion, wrote 85 essays known as which of the following?
a. The Antifederalist Papers
b. Common Sense
c. The Federalist Papers
d. The Mayflower Compact
e. The Pluralist Papers

Answer 14

The Federalist Papers

Question 15

The Constitution would not have been ratified in several important states if the Federalists had not assured the states of which of the following?
a. A ban on the importation of slaves would be a focus of the first Congress.
b. Amendments to the Constitution would be passed to protect individual liberties against incursions by the national government.
c. Amendments to the Constitution would be passed to protect the rights of states against incursions by the national government.
d. An amendment to prohibit the manufacture, sale, and consumption of liquor would be passed.
e. Slaves that had escaped to free states would not have to be returned to their owners in slave states.

Answer 15

Amendments to the Constitution would be passed to protect individual liberties against incursions by the national government.

Question 16

The Bill of Rights limits the power of which of the following?
a. The government over the rights and liberties of individuals
b. The national government over the rights of the states
c. State governments over the inherent powers of the national government
d. National and state governments to tax individuals
e. State governments to tax the national government

Answer 16

The government over the rights and liberties of individuals

Question 17

The Supreme Court first declared that the courts have the power to overturn government acts that conflict with the Constitution in which of the following cases?
a. Marbury v. Madison
b. McCullough v. Maryland
c. Gideon v. Wainwright
d. Dred Scott v. Sandford
e. Hamilton v. Burr

Answer 17

Marbury v. Madison

Question 18

A constitutional amendment can be proposed in which of the following formats?
a. A national convention called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures
b. A two-thirds vote in each chamber of Congress
c. The legislatures in two-thirds of the states
d. A majority vote in both houses of Congress, provided the amendment is not vetoed by the president
e. A national convention called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures and/or a two-thirds vote in each chamber of Congress

Answer 18

A national convention called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures and/or a two-thirds vote in each chamber of Congress

Question 19

The power of the Supreme Court to declare actions of the other branches of government to be unconstitutional is known as which of the following?
a. Judicial review
b. Judicial activism
c. Legislative ratification
d. The supremacy doctrine
e. The Madisonian model

Answer 19

Judicial review

Question 20

The Supreme Court adapts the Constitution to modern situations through which of the following?
a. Formal amendment methods
b. Stare decisis
c. Natural law
d. Judicial review
e. Bills of attainder

Answer 20

Judicial review

Question 21

According to Samuel Eliot Morison, this agreement proved the determination of the English immigrants to live under the rule of law, based on the consent of the people. What was that compact called?
a. Mayflower Compact
b. Virginia Compact
c. Massachusetts Compact
d. New England Compact
e. Albany Compact

Answer 21

Mayflower Compact

Question 22

The assumption that people have natural rights (“unalienable Rights”), including the rights to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” was a revolutionary concept at that time. Its use by Jefferson reveals the influence of what English philosopher in his Two Treatises on Government, published in 1690?
a. Thomas Hobbes
b. Voltaire
c. Denis Diderot
d. John Locke
e. Immanuel Kant

Answer 22

John Locke

Question 23

What was the most fundamental weakness of the Articles of Confederation, and the most basic cause of its eventual replacement by the Constitution?
a. The ability to declare war
b. The ability to conduct foreign policy
c. The ability to create a postal system
d. The ability to regulate Indian affairs.
e. The lack of power to raise funds for the militia

Answer 23

The lack of power to raise funds for the militia

Question 24

On the question of congressional representation, Roger Sherman proposed a solution that gave power to both the small states and the large states. By what name is this compromise known?
a. Virginia Compromise
b. Connecticut Compromise
c. New Jersey Compromise
d. Georgia Compromise
e. New York Compromise

Answer 24

Connecticut Compromise

Question 25

According to Madison in Federalist #51, “the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others.” About what was he speaking?
a. The branches of government would be independent of the others, sharing the power to govern.
b. The branches of government would be dependent on the others, sharing the power to govern.
c. The legislative branch would be the most powerful.
d. The executive branch would be the most powerful.
e. The judicial branch would be the most powerful.

Answer 25

The branches of government would be independent of the others, sharing the power to govern.

Question 26

Alexander Hamilton switched to the pseudonym (pen name) Publius to write the Federalist Papers. But he alone was not the sole author of those commentaries. Who were the other two involved in this venture?
a. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson
b. John Jay and James Madison
c. William Penn and Patrick Henry
d. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
e. James Madison and George Washington

Answer 26

John Jay and James Madison

Question 27

What statement about the Bill of Rights is true?
a. It was the last act of the Constitutional Convention before adjourning in September 1787.
b. It was not appended to the Constitution until just before the Civil War.
c. It is the first ten Amendments to the Constitution.
d. It includes the Eleventh through Twentieth Amendments.
e. It is a document separate from the Constitution and cherished by all Americans.

Answer 27

It is the first ten Amendments to the Constitution.

Question 28

The U.S. Constitution consists of 7,000 words and is shorter than any state constitution except that of which state, whose constitution has 6,880 words?
a. Rhode Island
b. Virginia
c. Georgia
d. Vermont
e. South Carolina

Answer 28

Vermont