Am Gov Ch 4- the Legislative Branch

What is the best summary of this quotation?

“Congress has a split personality. On the one hand, it is a lawmaking institution and makes policy for the entire nation. In this capacity, all the members are expected to set aside their personal ambitions and perhaps even the concerns of their constituencies. Yet Congress is also a representative assembly, made up of 535 elected officials who serve as links between their constituents and the National Government. The dual roles of making laws and responding to constituents’ demands forces members to balance national concerns against the specific interests of their States or districts."

—James M. Burns, et al., Government by the People

• Representatives and senators should spend most of their time drafting and passing new laws.

• Members of Congress must balance the interests of their constituencies along with national concerns.

• The primary purpose of Congress is to serve the interests of the American people.

• It is impossible for representatives and senators to balance their roles at work along with their home lives.

Read the chart. Then choose the answer that best completes the statement.

Based on this chart, a senator’s role as a politician might interfere with his or her role as

• a servant, because it could prevent her from drafting a bill that her constituents support.

• a legislator, because it could prevent him from reviewing bills for the entire chamber to vote on.

• a representative, because it could prevent her from supporting bills that would benefit her State.

• a committee member, because it could prevent him from visiting constituents and attending functions.

Which statement best explains the oversight function of congressional committees?

• It protects the President from overreach by the Senate and the House.

• It is one of the checks the legislative branch holds over the executive branch.

• It prevents members of the majority party from steamrolling members of the minority party.

• It ensures that the judicial branch interprets laws as the members of Congress intended.

Choose the answer that best completes the sentence.

This political cartoon from the past probably comments on problems caused by

• congressional terms.

• reapportionment.

• off-year elections.

• .gerrymandering.

This graph compares the number of congressional members from the first Congress to 2012.

Which statement is most likely supported by the graph?

• The number of senators rose from 1900 to 2012 as several States were added to the Union.

• The number of representatives rose from the First Congress to 1800 as a result of the passing of the Reapportionment Act.

• The number of senators rose from 1850 to 1900 because of the number of immigrants who came to the United States.

• The number of representatives rose from 1850 to 1900 as a result of the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment.

Read this quotation from President Wilson and then answer the question.

“'It is indispensable that besides the House of Representatives which runs on all fours with popular sentiment, we should have a body like the Senate which may refuse to run with it at all when it seems to be wrong—a body which has time and security enough to keep its head, if only now and then and but for a little while, till other people have had time to think."—Woodrow Wilson, Congressional Government

According to President Wilson, how should the Senate function?

• The Senate should be more measured in its thinking than the House.

• The Senate should be swayed by the immediate impact of current events.

• The Senate should always stand in opposition to the concerns of House members.

• The Senate should primarily work to address the short-term concerns of constituents.

How does the commerce power differ from the currency power?

• The commerce power relates to trade, both interstate and international, while the currency power relates to creating laws about bankruptcy.

• The commerce power relates to trade, both interstate and international, while the currency power relates to providing a stable monetary system.

• The commerce power relates to the ability to borrow money against the credit of the United States, while the currency power relates to creating laws about bankruptcy.

• The commerce power relates to the ability to borrow money against the credit of the United States, while the currency power relates to providing a stable monetary system.

Read this excerpt from the United States Constitution.

“To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;” —Article I, Section 8

This section of the Constitution relates to

• the implied powers of the executive branch.

• the expressed powers of the executive branch.

• the implied powers of the legislative branch.

• the expressed powers of the legislative branch.

Read this excerpt from the text about foreign policy in the United States.

“The Constitution gives the President primary responsibility for the conduct of American foreign policy. As the Supreme Court put that point in a leading case, United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. in 1936, the Chief Executive is ‘the sole organ of the Federal Government in the field of international relations.'"

The Constitution provides the President with this power because

• the executive branch best understands how to handle foreign policy.

• the fifty States are not sovereign and, therefore, have no standing in international law.

• it is nearly impossible to gain consensus in Congress in matters related to foreign affairs.

• senators and representatives are too focused on domestic issues to address international policy.

Read this excerpt from the text.

“The Framers of the Constitution intended to create a new and stronger National Government. The ratification of their plan was opposed by many, and that opposition was not stilled by the adoption of the Constitution. Rather, the conflict between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists continued into the early years of the Republic.”

What was the ultimate resolution of this conflict in the McCulloch v. Maryland case?

• The strict constructionists prevailed and the implied powers of the Federal Government were cemented and have grown ever since.

• The strict constructionists prevailed and the implied powers of the Federal Government were curtailed and have lessened ever since.

• The liberal constructionists prevailed and the implied powers of the Federal Government were cemented and have grown ever since.

• The liberal constructionists prevailed and the implied powers of the Federal Government were curtailed and have lessened ever since.