4th grade SS Government #1

First Name

Last Name

1. What was the first American government based upon?

• Bill of Rights
• Articles of Confederation
• Constitution
• Amendments to the Constitution

2. Why was the first government unsuccessful?

• It was too weak.
• It couldn't collect taxes to fund itself.
• It gave the states too much independence and power.
• All of the above.

3. What was the second (final) document that the American government was based upon?

• Declaration of Independence
• Articles of Confederation
• Constitution
• Bill of Rights

4. What is the name given to the introduction to the Constitution?

• amendments
• Bill of Rights
• Constitution
• Preamble

5. Which of the following BEST completes the diagram?

• Industrial states against agricultural states
• Slave states against free states
• Older states against newer states
• Eastern states against western states

6. Which of the following BEST explains the significance of the phrase "We the People" at the beginning of the U.S. Constitution?

• The people are able to rewrite the Constitution whenever they want.
• The Constitution only applies to people living in certain states.
• The people are able to choose the parts of the Constitution they want to follow.
• The powers of the government listed in the Constitution come from the people.

7. Who am I? *politician from Virginia who was at the Constitutional Convention *came up with the Virginia Plan and the three-branch federal system *wrote some of the Federalist Papers to convince people to ratify the Constitution

• Thomas Jefferson
• George Washington
• James Madison
• Benjamin Franklin

8. In the United States, there is a federal system of government. This means that:

• some of the more powerful states tell the other states what to do.
• the power of the government is shared by the national government and the states.
• national laws must be approved by all of the state governments.
• the fifty states have more power than the national government.