American Federal Government Exam 1 Review Guide PDF

American Federal Government Exam 1 Review Guide 1. What is the difference between a direct democracy and a representative democracy? 2. Two examples of direct democracy are initiative and referendum. What is the difference between these? Does the U.S. federal...

American Federal Government Exam 1 Review Guide 1. What is the difference between a direct democracy and a representative democracy? 2. Two examples of direct democracy are initiative and referendum. What is the difference between these? Does the U.S. federal government have either of these features? 3. What is a constitution? Must a government be democratic to be constitutional? 4. Identify the source of the following quote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Which political philosopher is being paraphrased in this quote? 5. What is the difference between a bicameral and unicameral legislature? 6. In the Articles of Confederation, how many branches of government were there? 7. In the Articles of Confederation, how many delegates did each state receive in Congress, and how many votes did each state receive? 8. In the Articles of Confederation, how many votes were necessary to pass laws? 9. In the Articles of Confederation, how many votes were necessary to amend the constitution? 10. In the Articles of Confederation, which powers did the government have, and which powers was the government denied? 11. Why were the Articles of Confederation replaced? 12. In the Constitution, which powers did the government gain that it did not have under the Articles of Confederation? 13. In the Constitution, how many branches of government are there? 14. In the Constitution, how many chambers does Congress have? 15. How did the “Great”/Connecticut Compromise settle a dispute over how the Constitution should be designed? 16. How are members of the House of Representatives selected in the Constitution? 17. Who did the Constitution allow to vote in elections for the House of Representatives? Which groups did the Constitution prohibit from voting? 18. How were senators selected in the original Constitution, and how was this changed in 1913? 19. How many seats does each state receive in the U.S. Senate? 20. How do we determine how many seats each state receives in the U.S. House of Representatives? 21. How many years do members of the House of Representatives serve in office before reelection? 22. How old must a person be to be elected to the House of Representatives? 23. How many years do members of the Senate serve in office before reelection? 24. What share of senators are up for reelection every two years? 25. How old must a person be to be elected to the Senate? 26. In comparison to the Articles of Confederation, how did the Constitution improve the relationship between the number of delegates a state receives and the number of votes those delegates have? 27. What share of the House of Representatives and/or the Senate must vote to pass laws in the Constitution? 28. What share of the House of Representatives and/or the Senate must vote to approve presidential appointments to executive offices or the federal courts? 29. What share of the House of Representatives and/or the Senate must vote to approve treaties? 30. If the president vetoes a law passed by Congress, what can Congress do to pass the law despite the president’s veto? 31. How can Congress impeach and remove members of the executive and judicial branches? 32. How is the president of the United States of America selected? How did the 12 th Amendment change this selection process? 33. How do we determine how many electoral college delegates each state receives? 34. Are states required by the Constitution to allow their residents to vote for the president? 35. What does it mean to assign electoral college votes “winner-take-all”? How many states assign electoral college votes this way? 36. How many electoral college votes must a candidate for president win to become president? If they fail to clear this threshold, how do we select the president? 37. How old must a person be to be eligible to be elected president of the United States? 38. For how long must a person have been a citizen of the United States to be elected to each of the following offices: House of Representatives, Senate, presidency? 39. How long does the president serve in office before reelection? 40. How many terms were members of the House of Representatives, Senators, and the president limited to in the original Constitution? How did the 22nd Amendment change term limits? 41. What are the powers of the vice president? 42. Who is the commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces? Who has the power to declare war? Who has the power to draft troops? 43. Who can override a presidential pardon? 44. How many seats does the Constitution create on the Supreme Court? 45. How are federal judges selected, and for how long do they serve? 46. What are the required qualifications to be selected as a federal judge? 47. What is the power of judicial review? 48. Which constitution gave states more power: the Articles of Confederation or the Constitution? 49. How does a federal system differ from a unitary system, and which system is used in the United States? 50. Define the full faith and credit clause and the privileges and immunities clause of the Constitution. 51. Which powers of government are reserved to the states, which are concurrent, and which are denied to the states? 52. How does the federal government use grants to influence states’ use of reserved powers, and do block grants differ from categorical grants? 53. In what ways did the original Constitution enshrine and protect the practice of slavery? 54. How has suffrage been expanded in the United States over time? Which group was the most recent to have their right to vote guaranteed in the Constitution? 55. How do civil rights differ from civil liberties? 56. Which individual liberties were guaranteed in the original Constitution? 57. How can the U.S. Constitution be amended? 58. What is the term for the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and what does each of these amendments add or change? 59. What is the difference between the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause? 60. Which amendments define due process, and what does this term mean? 61. Define selective incorporation. 62. In Federalist 10, how does James Madison argue a large republic will help to solve the problem of “faction”? 63. According to Robert Dahl, how does the U.S. Constitution compare to those of other nations? Which aspect of our system is the most unique when compared to other established democracies? 64. What does the Constitution say about political parties? 65. What is the difference between a plurality and a majority election system? 66. How does an election system with single-member districts and plurality voting limit the number of political parties? 67. Why do systems with proportional representation tend to have 5 or more political parties? 68. In a parliamentary system, who typically selects the head of government? 69. Why does Robert Dahl argue that the Senate does not give equal weight to voters’ votes in different states? 70. According to Robert Dahl, what are the most democratic and least democratic parts of the U.S. Constitution?