Study Guide - Chapter 2 The Living Constitution
Name___________________________________
MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.
1) The branch of government most likely to have dominated the framers’ opinion was the
A) judicial.
B) bureaucracy.
C) legislative.
D) executive.
E) presidency.
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2) How many states did the ERA lack regarding final ratification?
A) three
B) one
C) twelve
D) four
2)
E) seven
3) Law that is higher than human law is dubbed ________ law.
A) constitutional
B) natural
C) statutory
D) universal
E) supreme
3)
4) With one exception, ratification of constitutional amendments has been by action of
A) the Supreme Court.
B) the president.
C) state conventions.
D) state legislatures.
E) national conventions.
4)
5) The legislative branch can
A) override presidential vetoes.
B) pardon persons convicted of federal crimes.
C) pass ex post facto laws.
D) go public.
E) nominate individuals to serve as federal justices.
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6) Throughout history the federal government has left college education to the
A) individual colleges.
B) Department of Education.
C) Department of the Interior.
D) individual and the states.
E) county governments.
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7) Which of the following has served to concentrate more power in the executive branch?
A) global warming
B) impeachment
C) the Internet
D) poverty
E) foreign and economic crises
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8) To date, how many individuals have been impeached by Congress?
A) 45
B) 17
C) 2
D) 89
8)
E) 0
9) Which of the following is considered our most influential Supreme Court justice?
A) John Marshall
B) John Q. Adams
C) William Rehnquist
D) Ruth Bader Ginsburg
E) Clarence Thomas
9)
10) The framers of the Constitution depended heavily on which of the following assumptions
about human behavior?
A) Most people want to do the right thing.
B) People are normally apathetic.
C) No good deed goes unpunished.
D) Human savagery always lurks below the thin veneer of civilization.
E) Ambition will serve to check ambition.
10)
11) The Founding Fathers created a system that
A) emphasized prompt, decisive government action.
B) encouraged participatory democracy.
C) rewarded hard work.
D) restricted decision making by popular majority.
E) favored the popular majority.
11)
12) The British democratic system differs from the American system in that
A) ethnic minorities yield disproportionate power.
B) government authority is concentrated in Parliament.
C) the High Court exercises judicial review.
D) Parliament has only one house.
E) the queen reigns but doesn’t rule.
12)
13) The original checks and balances system has been modified by
A) the demise of political parties.
B) giving representatives a four-year term.
C) the abolition of all regulatory agencies.
D) severe restrictions on use of the impeachment power.
E) the direct election of senators.
13)
14) As originally drafted, the Constitution was expected to
A) reduce state governments to an administrative arm of the federal government.
B) cover all foreseeable situations.
C) be a legal code, combining the framework of government and specific laws.
D) be a general framework of government.
E) be a philosophical statement of the relationships among individuals.
14)
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15) The term separation of powers refers to the
A) belief that the federal government should be subservient to the state governments.
B) allocation of power among the three branches of government.
C) separation of the Congress into the House and the Senate.
D) separation of powers between the federal government and the state governments.
E) individual powers of a president are separated among his cabinet secretaries.
15)
16) The Constitution of the United States has been altered without formal amendment by all but
one of the following methods:
A) custom and usage.
B) presidential practice.
C) Supreme Court decisions.
D) interposition by states.
E) congressional elaboration.
16)
17) Compared to many state constitutions, the national constitution is more
A) verbose.
B) complicated.
C) flexible.
D) recent.
E) specific.
17)
18) The major tool of the courts in checking the power of other government branches has been
A) habeas corpus.
B) judicial review.
C) common law.
D) impeachment.
E) writs of mandamus.
18)
19) The constitutional arrangement that limits the power of American officials is known as
A) separation of powers.
B) sharing of powers.
C) prohibitions on authority.
D) enumerated powers.
E) implied powers.
19)
20) During the Revolutionary period, legislatures
A) were dissolved to protect the identity of the officeholders.
B) were curbed by the checks and balances system.
C) suffered from a steady decrease in power.
D) governed firmly and wisely.
E) became the dominant branch of government.
20)
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21) When one party controls the legislative branch and another party the executive branch, this is
known as
A) bicameralism.
B) divided government.
C) executive action.
D) a split ticket.
E) an executive agreement.
21)
22) The electoral college
A) selects the Supreme Court justices.
B) determines which presidential candidate received the most popular votes.
C) determines which Americans are eligible to vote.
D) elects the president.
E) elects the senate.
22)
23) The power of the executive branch has been expanded by
A) executive orders.
B) the frequent use of the presidential pardon.
C) new technologies.
D) direct primaries.
E) the president’s war powers.
23)
TRUE/FALSE. Write 'T' if the statement is true and 'F' if the statement is false.
24) The case of Marbury v. Madison established judicial review.
24)
25) Charges of impeachment are brought by the Senate.
25)
26) An informal constitution is based on custom.
26)
27) An example of checks and balances would be the president signing congressional bills.
27)
28) Shared powers refers to independent branches of government that are interdependent.
28)
29) Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall argued for the view of a strict reading of the
Constitution, a document to remain fixed as the framers intended.
29)
30) The Bill of Rights is considered the Articles of the Constitution.
30)
SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.
31) Define separation of powers and explain how it works in the United States.
31)
32) What was the subject of the Marbury v. Madison case and what was the case's most
significant effect?
32)
33) Explain Thurgood Marshall's notion of the "living Constitution."
33)
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34) Identify potential problems with Congress calling for a constitutional convention as
provided for in Article V of the Constitution.
34)
35) Identify the ways in which constitutional amendments have increased or decreased
the authority of the national government.
35)
36) Define the originalist approach to constitutional interpretation and its implications for
the authority of the judiciary.
36)
37) Define the Equal Rights Amendment and identify what happened to it.
37)
38) Define writ of mandamus and explain its relation to the Marbury v. Madison case.
38)
ESSAY. Write your answer in the space provided or on a separate sheet of paper.
39) Describe the process for amending the Constitution and evaluate its difficulty.
40) Describe and evaluate the process for removing a president from office.
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Answer Key
Testname: CH 02 STUDY GUIDE
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