Civics Final

The Declaration of Independence

• States that the purpose of government is to protect human rights
• Explains the reasons the thirteen colonies separated from Great Britain
• Was not meant to provide a government for the new United States
• All answer choices

Which description best defines a confederation?

• a government in which there is a single, all-powerful ruler
• a system in which a national government and state governments share power equally
• a government in which all citizens vote on all major issues and the majority rules
• a system in which states agree to form a national government, but maintain their sovereignty

Read the passage from John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings, capable of laws, where there is no law there is no freedom. The quotation supports Locke’s belief in

• the need for absolute rule to keep people in control.
• the social contract between people and government.
• the need to keep the church separate from the state.
• the desire for three different branches of government.

Which statement best characterizes the ideas of Thomas Hobbes?

• People are naturally reasonable.
• People are naturally selfish and violent.
• Governments create unequal societies.
• Government should be separate from religion.

Which statement best describes the Enlightenment?

• The Enlightenment was a movement that grew out of unrest in the colonies.
• The Enlightenment was a European movement that the colonists rejected.
• The Enlightenment was a movement that Thomas Jefferson started.
• The Enlightenment was a European movement that spread to the colonies.

The concept of natural rights, which was later used in the Declaration of Independence, was first proposed by

• Thomas Jefferson.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
• James Otis.
• John Locke.

The Enlightenment thinker Baron de Montesquieu came up with the idea of

• the natural rights of all people.
• using a revolution to obtain citizens’ rights.
• the separation of the government’s powers.
• a social contract between government and people.

Under the Articles of Confederation, why didn’t the national government enforce the laws?

• The states had the power to enforce the national laws.
• The executive branch was ineffective in enforcing the laws.
• The national police force had no power to enforce the laws.
• The president was just a figurehead and could not enforce laws.

The US federal system of government was established

• Magna Carta
• The Constitution
• The Article of Confederation
• The English Bill of Rights

How did the Great Compromise resolve the dispute about representation?

• It completely supported the creation of a unicameral legislature.
• It favored representation for the larger states over the smaller states.
• It created balance by blending the Virginia and New Jersey plans.
• It gave every state the same number of state representatives.