WorksheetsPres & VP + Exec Branch Review
Total questions: 62
Worksheet time: 40mins
How do you define a state?
An area with defined borders that has a sovereign government.
One of the provinces of a country, like the provinces in Canada.
A group of independent countries that join together in a sort of loose alliance.
A group of people that have a common ancestry, language, culture, and history.
Locke thought that people would naturally fight because resources are scarce. So they would need an all-powerful government to keep them from fighting.
True
False
Which philosopher is known for his idea that people are born with three major rights? (Life, liberty, property.)
Locke
Hobbes
Robespierre
Plato
Locke thought that people are born into a state of liberty and that nobody else should have power over them. Government is created to protect natural born rights.
True
False
A confederation is when the central government and the member states share power. It's a permanent structure.
True
False
The United States is a federation of states.
True
False
Choose the options that are present in a parliamentary system.
A President is elected by the people.
A Prime Minister is elected by Parliament,
There are many parties.
The Head of State and The Head of Government are the same person.
Parties often form coalitions to run the government.
Choose the options that are present in a federation.
The member states are totally sovereign and may leave.
There are two layers of government that share power.
The government is permanent.
The government is not permanent.
The member states give up some power to a central government.
Federalism is a system where the national government has all the power.
True
False
The "Great Compromise" was the agreement reached at the constitutional convention that decided that in the House each state would get two votes and in the Senate each state would get votes according to their population.
True
False
What was the Great Compromise?
In the Senate, each state gets two votes. In the House the number of votes is determined by population.
When they decided to count 2/3 of the slaves population.
Votes in Senate and House are determined by population.
When they decided they couldn't ban the slave trade for 20 years.
At the Constitutional Convention what was decided about the importation of slaves?
They banned slave importation.
They decided to allow the navy to assist in the importation of slaves.
The federal government could not ban slave importation for 20 years.
The federal government could not ban slave importation for 50 years.
What plan was proposed on the first day of the convention and served as the basic blueprint for the Constitution?
The Virginia Plan
The New Jersey Plan
The Schlieffen Plan
The Marshall Plan
Why is Madison considered the "Father of the Constitution?"
He wrote the basic framework for the Constitution and he wrote the Bill of Rights.
He wrote Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
He wrote the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.
He won the Revolutionary War.
In what year was the US Constitution written?
1787
1860
1776
1066
Why did George Mason refuse to sign the Constitution?
He wanted a committee instead of a president.
It was too weak.
It didn't have a bill of rights.
It didn't ban slavery.
Who was the “indispensable man” at the constitutional convention?
George Washington
James Madison
George Mason
Thomas Jefferson
Who wrote the Bill of Rights and is considered the “Father of the Constitution?”
George Washington
James Madison
George Mason
Thomas Jefferson
The Constitution allowed for the banning of the slave trade after what date?
1808
1900
1776
1787
1861
The political ideas of John Locke greatly influenced America's Founding Fathers.
True
False
John Locke believed that:
people are born with rights and the role of government is to protect those rights.
people will fight so they need to be controlled by government.
Why did Madison think a large republic would be better than a small republic?
In a large republic no single faction can take over.
He wanted a large tax base.
He wanted to abolish the states.
He wanted to keep his slaves.
The central government had the power to tax under the Articles of Confederation.
True
False
The United States had a president under the Articles of Confederation.
True
False
What were the Articles of Confederation?
The first government of the United States. It was weak.
The first government of the United States, it was too strong.
The constitution of the Confederates during the Civil War.
The technical name of our constitution today.
What was the issue over which the small states would have stayed out of the union?
Equal representation for the states in the Senate.
Proportional representation in the Senate.
1 state, 1 vote in the House of Representatives.
They demanded that there only be one president. Some states wanted three.
Why did they decide to count 3/5 of the slave population for purposes of representation in the House?
Slaves states wanted to count all the slaves, which would give them more power in the House of Representatives. Northern states didn't think that was fair, so they settled on 3/5.
They wanted to count none of the slaves because they were all racists, but decided it would look bad. So they just counted 3/5 of them.
The king forced them to count only 3/5.
If they counted them any more than 3/5 they would have to end slavery altogether.
What was the Virginia Plan?
The plan that Madison brought to the convention. It provided for 3 branches of government and a bicameral legislature. It became the basic framework for the Constitution.
It was the plan thought up by Patterson from New Jersey that only gave a few more powers to government.
It was the original constitution of the United States that was too weak.
It was the Articles of Confederation.
Madison wanted a stronger central government because he thought the states were corrupt and weren't governing their people fairly.
True
False
Who originally came up with the idea for proportional representation in the House and equal representation in the Senate?
Roger Sherman
George Washington
James Madison
Benjamin Franklin
What medieval event began the transition from feudalism to strong nation states led by powerful kings?
The plague.
The Hundred Years War.
The death of Charlemagne.
Columbus making it to America.
Towns helped kings gain more power because they could deal directly with one another instead of the king having to interact with his nobles to get taxes or troops.
True
False
Kings had more power under the feudal system than they did under the nation state.
True
False
What are the hallmarks of Enlightenment thinking?
Belief that reason can help us make a better world.
Belief that looking to religion and tradition will help us make a better world.
Belief that just as there are natural laws in science, there are natural laws for society.
Rejection of the divine right of kings.
Affirmation of the divine right of kings.
What was Montesquieu's main contribution to Enlightenment thought?
The idea that power should check power and that the executive, legislative and judicial powers should be separate.
Life, liberty, and property.
Social contract theory.
The Leviathan.
Since the beginning, American democracy has had built-in protections for those not in the majority. (those in the minority)
True
False
Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins?" What does that mean?
English settlers in the American colonies brought with them the ideas of limited government, individual rights, the rule of law, and representative government.
True
False
The Magna Carta established guaranteed certain rights of English people and established that the king’s power was not absolute.
True
False
Parts of our Constitution and Bill of Rights were inspired by the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights.
True
False
What was the most important issue that caused the American colonies to rebel against Great Britain?
The colonies refused to allow Parliament to run the internal affairs of the colonies.
The colonists hated high taxes.
The colonists wanted to move into the Ohio valley.
The colonists wanted to switch and become French colonies.
The Intolerable Acts were intended to punish and isolate Massachusetts after what event?
The Boston Tea Party
The Battle of Saratoga
The French and Indian War
The Seven Years War
Why were the Articles of Confederation weak?
States didn't want to give a lot of power to a central government.
Parliament wouldn't allow the states to create a strong national government.
They didn't need them to be strong, the king was strong.
They were in a hurry when they wrote it.
The first shot fired at Lexington and Concord came to be known as, "the shot heard round the world."
True
False
At first, Madison didn't think the Constitution needed a Bill of Rights.
True
False
Many opponents of the Constitution agreed to approve it as long as a Bill of Rights was inserted later.
True
False
The Founders thought religion was good for society, they just didn't want it to be a part of the government.
True
False
Define the civil society?
Why is the civil society important?
Who is the sovereign in the United States?
The people
The President
The Congress
The Supreme Court
Who is the sovereign in the United Kingdom?
The King
The people
The Parliament
The United Nations
Who created the first democracies?
The Greeks
The Romans
The Chinese
Australians
What does the word democracy mean?
something like people govern
something like the best people govern
something like he who is ordained of the gods governs
something like the richest people govern
Check the boxes that fit under the definition of a state.
An area with defined borders and population.
A government that is not subject to any other government.
A government that is subject to a government above it.
An area with defined borders, population not necessary.
The United States is founded on which theory?
The social contract theory.
The divine right of kings theory.
The theory of elite power.
The theory of papal supremacy.
The Enlightenment was a movement that sought to evaluate the world through...
reason
power
money
the supernatural
The United States is founded on the ideas of which Enlightenment philosopher?
Locke
Hobbes
Nietzche
Plato
Which form of government has one person in charge who rules through force and terror?
dictatorship
republic
monarchy
oligarchy
Which form of government is ruled by one person who inherits power from his/her parents?
monarchy
democracy
dictatorship
republic
What is legislative power?
the power to make laws/rules for society
the power to execute the laws
the power to settle disputes over the law.
What is executive power?
the power to make laws/rules for society
the power to execute the laws
the power to settle disputes over the law.
What is judicial power?
the power to make laws/rules for society
the power to execute the laws
the power to settle disputes over the law.
