Civics Literacy Final Exam Review

Which purposes of government are involved?

• Maintaining order and protecting citizens’ rights

• Promoting Economic decisions and public service

• Protecting rights and economic decisions

• Providing National security and social order

A ruler seizes control of a country and demands total obedience. He allows some ownership of private property and participation in political activities as long as there is no threat to his power.

 

Which type of government is MOST likely being established in this country?

• Limited government

• Constitutional monarchy

• Oligarchy

• Authoritarian

Which constitutional amendment defines citizenship in the United States?

• 13th

• 14th

• 15th

• 16th

“Like so many others, these men and women met their responsibilities. They played by the rules. They have earned their citizenship.” 

--President Barack Obama, 2010

How did the group, referred to by the President, earn their citizenship?

• By voting in the last election

• By completing the naturalization process

• By paying income taxes in the United States

• By learning a trade needed in the United States

Which action is BEST defined as a civic duty?

• Attending a university

• Serving on a jury

• Volunteering at a charity

• Supporting community meetings

“Our Debts being unfunded and unprovided for, the Interest cannot be paid . . .. The United States have call’d for eight Million of Dollars early in November last, of which the first quarterly Payment was to have been made on the first Day of April. But I cannot find a single State has laid the Taxes . . . . [L]et the several States be ever so negligent, the Confederation has given no Power to compel [force]. While it confers on Congress the Privilege of asking everything, it has secured to each State the Prerogative of granting nothing.”

—Robert Morris, Secretary of the Treasury, to John Hanson, president of the Continental Congress, February 11, 1782

 

The author of this excerpt is expressing concern about what weakness in the Articles of Confederation?

• The national government had no executive branch

• The national government had no system of courts

• The national government had no army

• The national government had no power to tax

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

 

The Three-Fifths Compromise settled the argument about what?

• How the president of the nation would be determined

• How amendments can be added to the U.S. Constitution.

• How many representatives could be allowed in the Senate

• How the enslaved would be counted for representation in Congress

The entire legislature can perform no judiciary act, though by the joint act of two of its branches the judges may be removed from their offices...The entire legislature, again, can exercise no executive prerogative, though one of its branches...can try and condemn all the subordinate officers in the executive department. --James Madison, Federalist No. 47, 1788

 

 Which principle underlying the United States Constitution does James Madison explain in this passage?

• The Bill of Rights protects individuals’ due process rights

• Legitimate political authority comes from the people

• Representatives to Congress are determined through elections.

• Government powers are separated and balanced.

After a national census has been taken, changes in population distribution cause the changing of congressional seats among the states. This is called what?

• Gerrymandering.

• Congressional districting.

• Reapportionment

• Census allocation.

What legislative tool is used by the senate to slow the lawmaking process?

• Cloture

• Filibuster

• Hearing

• Veto override