End of Year Standard Review

State Constitutions Between 1777 and 1781, seven states developed new constitutions that included some type of general declaration of rights. In addition, several states included protection of the rights to assemble, free exercise of religion, and freedom of the press within the general body of their state constitutions.

Which statement best reflects the goal of the states?

• To create a strong central government.
• To balance the power between business owners and farmers.
• To break down the wall between church and state.
• To protect the civil liberties of their citizens.

ARTICLE I. The legislative, executive, and judiciary departments shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercise the powers properly belonging to
the other.—Constitution of Georgia, 1777

What principle of American government is bestillustrated by this excerpt?

• A strong executive is necessary for effective government.
• The court system should answer to the people through elections.
• Government works best when powers are divided among multiple branches.
• Property owners should hold the most power within state governments.

. . . proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence . . . unless he profess [declare] or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which, in common with his fellow citizens, he has a natural right. . . .
—Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1786

Which Constitutional principle is based on this belief?

• right to due process
• separation of church and state
• independence of the judicial branch
• establishment of an executive branch

Which democratic principle of U.S. government is expressed in the excerpt?

• federalismstanding army.
• popular sovereignty
• checks and balances
• separation of powers

Why was it difficult for the U.S. government to respond to Shays’ Rebellion?

• The national government had no standing army.
• The state governor supported the actions of the rebels.
• U.S. citizens had a right to armed protest protected by the Bill of Rights.
• The U.S. court system denied the government any authority in the western territories.

The Committee are already receiving urgent appeals from women all over the United States to send them our publications. . . . a large printing fund will therefore be needed by the Committee, and we appeal first to the men of this country, who control so large a part of its wealth, to make liberal donations toward this great educational work. We also ask every thoughtful woman to send her name to the Secretary to be inserted in the Pledge Book, and if she is able, one dollar.
National Woman Suffrage and Educational Committee, “An Appeal to the Women of the United States,” 1871 
According to the excerpt, how did supporters of women’s suffrage campaign for change?

• They created pamphlets to bring awareness to women’s voting rights.
• They relied on female representatives in the legislature to promote the issue.
• They waited for the United States to pass the Nineteenth Amendment.
• They appealed only to wealthy women for financial and political support.

Which of the following ideas is not reflected in the Declaration of Independence?

• natural rights
• natural rights
• equal rights
• abolition of slavery

Which phrase from the Declaration of Independence describes the source of government’s authority?

• “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
• “These united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.”
• “Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.”
• “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

A Declaration of Rights made by the Representatives of the Freemen of the State of North Carolina.
Section I. That all political power is vested in and derived from the People only.
Section II. That the people of this State ought to have the sole and exclusive Right of regulating the internal Government and Police thereof.
 N.C. Constitution, Declaration of Rights, 1776
Courtesy of Documenting the American South, UNC Library

Which democratic ideal summarizes this excerpt from North Carolina’s original constitution?

• federalism
• rule of law
• separation of powers
• popular sovereignty

Louisiana adopted a law in 1890 that required railroad companies to provide racially segregated accommodations. In 1892, the state of Louisiana prosecuted Plessy, a man who was seventh-eights Caucasian and one-eighth Black, for refusing to leave a passenger car designated for whites. The Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Justice Brown, upheld the Louisiana law, reasoning that the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution was designated to enforce the political equality of blacks and whites but not intended to abolish social inequality. Thus, the Fourteenth Amendment did not encompass segregation, and states could permissibly exercise their police power to enforce segregation as a matter of public policy. 
What was the effect of the Supreme Court ruling in Plessyv. Ferguson (1896) on civil rights in the United States?

• Segregation was declared constitutional, and African Americans were given full access to civil rights.
• Segregation was declared unconstitutional, and African Americans were given full civil rights.
• Segregation was declared constitutional, preventing African Americans from gaining full civil rights.
• Segregation was declared unconstitutional, and African Americans were prevented from gaining full civil rights.