U. S. Government - Unit 3 Test Review, Part 1

The Founding Fathers chose to establish a federal system in order to —

• divide the powers of government between the national government and the states governments

• experiment with a new system of government

• concentrate government power at the national level

• concentrate government power at the state level

Which of these powers does the national and states share?

• Collect taxes

• declare war

• coin money

• make treaties with foreign nations

Which power is granted to the federal government, but not to state governments?

• Collecting taxes

• Issuing licenses

• Maintaining a army

• Providing fire protection for homes

Which of the following actions is a function of state governments, but not the federal government?

• Collecting income taxes

• Providing a postal system

• Selecting public school textbooks

• Constructing and maintaining roads

As Congress contemplates rewriting No Child Left Behind, President George W. Bush’s signature education law, legislators will tussle over a vision of how the federal government should hold states and schools accountable for students’ academic progress.

At a Senate education committee hearing on Thursday to discuss waivers to states on some provisions of the law, Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, forcefully urged the federal government to get out of the way.

“We only give you 10 percent of your money,” said Mr. Alexander, pressing John B. King Jr., the education commissioner for New York State. “Why do I have to come from the mountains of Tennessee to tell New York that’s good for you?”

Dr. King argued that the federal government needed to set “a few clear, bright-line parameters” to protect students, especially vulnerable groups among the poor, minorities and the disabled.

"Holding States and Schools Accountable", New York Times, February 2013

The excerpt above is an example of which issue that is often the center of most U.S. legislation?

• Debates over the role of the federal government

• Concerns related to declining educational standards

• Disputes about paying taxes to the federal government

• Reservations about providing social services to the needy

Late Friday, following a five-decade-long legal battle to desegregate schools in Cleveland, Mississippi, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi ordered the Cleveland School District to consolidate its secondary schools.  The court rejected as unconstitutional two alternatives proposed by the school district, agreeing with the Justice Department that the only way to achieve desegregation is by consolidating Cleveland’s high schools and middle schools. 

press release, Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, 2016

According to the press release, the federal courts have chosen at times to deal with local school districts by —

• intervening in local issues

• deferring to local officials

• protecting the rights of local districts

• negotiating with local school leaders

One way that the US constitutional republic differs from historic monarchies is that in the US constitutional republic political authority is given to —

• a king

• ambassadors

• political party officials

• representatives of the people

Which system of government has the advantage of keeping government leaders highly accountable to voters?

• Federalist

• Monarchy

• Presidential

• Parliamentary

Identify the following Functions.

• * Judge Cases on Moving Violations

• *Issue Marriage Licenses

• * Hear Misdemeanor Trials

• Functions of Federal Courts

• Functions of the U. S. Supreme Court

• Functions of State and Local Courts

• Functions of International Courts