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Unit 1 Quiz

Total questions: 15

Worksheet time: 8mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

Which statement best describes why the Americans created a loose confederation of states in the Articles of Confederation?

a)

They wanted a central authority to rule over all the joined states.

b)

They wanted the states to have a choice about signing the Articles.

c)

They did not want Congress to have the power to declare war.

d)

They did not want a central authority like the British system

2.

Which line from the Declaration of Independence best represents the idea called the Social Contract?

a)

..they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights...life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

b)

...governments are instituted among men deriving their just power from the consent of the governed

c)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...

d)

..whenever government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to abolish it.

3.

What was the significance of the Virginia House of Burgesses?

a)

it was the first elected representative democracy

b)

it produced the first constitution written in America

c)

it drew up a plan for uniting all English colonies against France

d)

it declared the independence of the Jamestown colony from England

4.

Why did colonists oppose the taxes imposed on them by Parliament after the French and Indian War?

a)

colonists argued that they did not have any representation in Parliament and no voice in passing laws

b)

Parliament had ignored the colonies for many years and let them get away with violating laws

c)

since the colonists themselves did most of the fighting, they thought the taxes were a punishment

d)

the King had given them no reason for the taxes and they thought he was robbing them

5.

How did the 3/5 Compromise affect the early U.S.?

a)

it solved a dispute between Northern and Southern states about how to count the slave population

b)

it solved a dispute between the Federalists and Anti federalists about the wording of the Bill of Rights

c)

it solved a dispute between western farmers and eastern banker about interest rates on loans

d)

it solved a dispute about whether to use direct or indirect democracy

6.

What issue led directly to Shay's Rebellion?

a)

high taxes and war debt

b)

disapproval of the revolutionary war

c)

lack of currency and crop failure

d)

depletion of soil nutrients and lack of farm tools

7.

Which group would more likely support nationalized healthcare?

a)

Federalists

b)

Anti federalists

c)

Democratic-Republicans

d)

Whigs

8.

Which enlightenment thinker gave us the social contract theory?

a)

John Locke

b)

Montesquieu

c)

Adam Smith

d)

Hobbes

9.

Which best represents the first direct democracy in the U.S.?

a)

Mayflower Compact

b)

VA House of Burgess

c)

Magna Carta

d)

Maryland Toleration Act

10.

In his book, The Spirit of Laws, French philosopher Baron de Montesquieu wrote of a "tripartite system" of government in which the powers of government are separated and assigned to different bodies. How are Montesquieu's ideas applied in the US Constitution?

a)

three branches of government (legislative, judicial, executive)

b)

three levels of government (local, state, federal)

c)

three civil protections (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness)

d)

three levels of the judiciary (district, appellate, supreme courts)

11.

The Connecticut Compromise, also known as the Great Compromise, created a bicameral legislature in which representation in the House of Representatives was based proportionally on the number of people who lived in each state, while representation in the Senate was distributed equally among all states.

How did this plan ease tensions and contribute to the constitutional democracy that the United States maintains today?

a)

This plan was a compromise between small states and large states and ensured that the large states would not dictate all of the legislation in the nation, while still limiting the power of the smaller states.

b)

This plan was a compromise between the Federalists and Anti-federalists since the House of Representatives would give more power to the individual states and the Senate would give more power to the federal government.

c)

This plan was a compromise between those who wanted Congress to rule with a prime minister and those who wanted a more powerful president because it gave a significant amount of power to both a Congress and a president.

d)

This plan was a compromise between those who wanted to retain the structure of government created by the Articles of Confederation and those who wanted a completely new constitution since the Senate mirrored the former unicameral Congress.

12.

Which would be the most effective argument Anti-federalists might have used to justify their position during ratification debates?

a)

to protect individual liberties, limits must be placed on the power of the federal government

b)

average citizens cannot be trusted to control the complicated aspects of government

c)

the state governments and the national government should share power equally

d)

the national government needs final say when conflict occurs between federal and state governments

13.

Which theme is contained in The US Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights?

a)

The understanding that government's powers are limited

b)

the ability to maintain a national government

c)

the right of the US to enter into foreign alliances

d)

voting in a Presidential election

14.

Which of the following would be within a citizen's rights under the 1st amendment?

a)

chanting and carrying signs to promote an unpopular movement

b)

plotting to overthrow the government

c)

taking over a city hall building to make needed changes

d)

sending threatening emails to a member of Congress

15.

"If a man in the state of nature is free, and lord of his own possessions, why will he give up his freedom? The answer is the right in the state of nature are constantly exposed to attack by others. Hence each man joins in society to preserve his life, liberty, and property. Whenever the ruler endeavors to take away the property of the people, or reduce them to slavery....they are removed from any further obedience and left to...rise up with force and violence."


- John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government

The ideas expressed by Locke in this passage helped inspire which of the following events?

a)

American Revolution

b)

Theory of Divine Right

c)

Separation of church and state

d)

Industrial Revolution