American Government

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American Government

• 100 Concepts
• Final Exam Preparation
• Fall Semester

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THE 100 CONCEPTS
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Number 1

• QUESTION
• What is government?

ANSWER Institution through which a society makes
and enforces its public policy
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Number 2

• QUESTION
• What is public policy?

ANSWER all of the goals a government sets and
the various courses of action it pursues as it
attempts to realize these goals
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Number 3

• QUESTION
• What is legislative power?

ANSWER power to make law and to frame public
policies
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Number 4

• QUESTION
• What is executive power?

ANSWER power to execute, enforce, and administer
law
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Number 5

• QUESTION
• What is judicial power?

ANSWER power to interpret laws, to determine
their meaning, and to settle disputes that arise
within the society
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Number 6

• QUESTION
• What is the body of fundamental laws setting out
  the principles, structures, and processes of
  government?

ANSWER A constitution
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Number 7

• QUESTION
• What is a form of government in which the leader
  has absolute power and authority?

ANSWER A dictatorship
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Number 8

• QUESTION
• What is a form of government in which the supreme
  authority rests with the people?

ANSWER A democracy
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Number 9

• QUESTION
• What is a body of people living in a defined
  territory who have a government with the power to
  make and enforce law without the consent of any
  higher authority?

ANSWER A state
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Number 10

• QUESTION
• What is defined as having supreme power within
  its own territory neither subordinate nor
  responsible to any other authority?

ANSWER sovereignty
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Number 11

• QUESTION
• What did Thomas Hobbes believe about man?

ANSWER government is necessary to prevent "the
war of every man against every man." (man is
inherently evil)
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Number 12

• QUESTION
• What did John Locke believe about man?

ANSWER We give up certain rights and freedoms to
promote the safety and well-being of all (man is
naturally good)
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Number 13

• QUESTION
• Which theory of the origins of government claims
  that states form when one person or group forces
  others under their control?

ANSWER The Force Theory
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Number 14

• QUESTION
• Which theory of the origins of government claims
  that states developed naturally out of the early
  family?

ANSWER The Evolution Theory
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Number 15

• QUESTION
• Which theory of the origins of government claims
  that God created the state and gave those of
  royal birth a right to rule?

ANSWER The Divine Right Theory
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Number 16

• QUESTION
• Which theory of the origins of government claims
  that people within an area gave up power to the
  state to promote safety of all?

ANSWER The Social Contract Theory
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Number 17

• QUESTION
• In which type of government does a single person
  hold unlimited political power?

ANSWER An autocracy
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Number 18

• QUESTION
• In which type of government is the power to rule
  held by a small, usually self-appointed elite?

ANSWER An oligarchy
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Number 19

• QUESTION
• In which type of government do all members of
  society vote on all issues?

ANSWER A direct democracy
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Number 20

• QUESTION
• In which type of government must members meet
  specific criteria in order to be eligible to
  vote?

ANSWER A republic
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Number 21

• QUESTION
• Which type of government elects individual
  members to make decisions for the whole?

ANSWER A representative democracy
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Number 22

• QUESTION
• Which type of government has a centralized
  government in which all powers belong to a
  single, central agency?

ANSWER A unitary government
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Number 23

• QUESTION
• Which type of government divides powers between a
  central government and several local governments?

ANSWER A federal government
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Number 24

• QUESTION
• What term refers to governmental powers being
  divided on a geographic basis?

ANSWER Division of powers
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Number 25

• QUESTION
• Which government is an alliance of independent
  states with a weak central government?

ANSWER A confederation
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Number 26

• QUESTION
• Which government has executive and legislative
  branches that are separate, independent, and
  coequal?

ANSWER Presidential government
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Number 27

• QUESTION
• Which government has an executive that is made up
  of the prime minister and that official's
  cabinet?

ANSWER Parliamentary government
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Number 28

• QUESTION
• Which characteristic of democracy states that
  each person, no matter what his or her station in
  life, is a separate and distinct being?

ANSWER Worth of individuals
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Number 29

• QUESTION
• Which characteristic of democracy states that all
  are entitled to equality of opportunity and
  equality before the law?

ANSWER Equality of persons
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Number 30

• QUESTION
• Which characteristic of democracy states that the
  largest group of people is generally right, but
  cannot ignore small groups?

ANSWER Majority rule, minority rights
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Number 31

• QUESTION
• Which characteristic of democracy states that
  democracy can only exist when parties work to
  find the most acceptable position?

ANSWER Necessity of compromise
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Number 32

• QUESTION
• Which characteristic of democracy states that
  each individual is as free to do as he or she
  pleases as far as the freedom of all will allow?

ANSWER Individual freedom
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Number 33

• QUESTION
• What economic system is characterized by the
  private ownership of capital goods?

ANSWER Free enterprise system
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Number 34

• QUESTION
• What economic law states that when supplies of
  goods and services become plentiful, prices tend
  to drop?

ANSWER Law of supply and demand
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Number 35

• QUESTION
• What economic system consists of private
  enterprise with a considerable amount of
  government regulation?

ANSWER Mixed economy
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Number 36

• QUESTION
• What type of government is restricted in what it
  may do, and each individual has certain rights
  that government cannot take away?

ANSWER Limited government
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Number 37

• QUESTION
• What is a system of government in which public
  policies are made by officials selected by the
  voters and held accountable in periodic
  elections?

ANSWER Representative government
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Number 38

• QUESTION
• Which document, also known as the Great Charter,
  was forced upon King John of England and
  established that the power of the monarchy was
  not absolute?

ANSWER The Magna Carta
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Number 39

• QUESTION
• Which document, prepared by Parliament and signed
  by King Charles I of England in 1628, challenged
  the idea of the divine right of kings and
  declared that even the monarch was subject to the
  laws of the land?

ANSWER Petition of Right
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Number 40

• QUESTION
• Which document was written by Parliament and
  agreed on by William and Mary of England in 1689,
  designed to prevent abuse of power by English
  monarchs and served as the basis for American
  politics?

ANSWER English Bill of Rights
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Number 41

• QUESTION
• What is a bicameral legislature?

ANSWER A legislature composed of two houses
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Number 42

• QUESTION
• What is a unicameral legislature?

ANSWER A legislature composed of one house
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Number 43

• QUESTION
• Which group served as the nations first national
  government?

ANSWER The 2nd Continental Congress
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Number 44

• QUESTION
• What is another term for recalling an act of
  government?

ANSWER repeal
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Number 45

• QUESTION
• What document was signed on July 4, 1776, listing
  grievances against England?

ANSWER Declaration of Independence
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Number 46

• QUESTION
• What basic principle of American government
  asserts that the people are the source of any and
  all power, and government can exist only with the
  consent of the governed?

ANSWER Popular sovereignty
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Number 47

• QUESTION
• What plan of government was adopted by the
  Continental Congress after the American
  Revolution, establishing a "firm league of
  friendship" among the States?

ANSWER Articles of Confederation
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Number 48

• QUESTION
• What is the formal approval of a constitution,
  constitutional amendment, or treaty?

ANSWER ratification
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Number 49

• QUESTION
• What is the name given to the group of delegates
  who drafted the Constitution?

ANSWER The Framers
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Number 50

• QUESTION
• What proposal called for a three-branch
  government with a bicameral legislature in which
  each State's membership would be determined by
  its population or its financial support for the
  central government?

ANSWER The Virginia Plan
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Number 51

• QUESTION
• Which proposal was presented as an alternative to
  the Virginia Plan and called for a unicameral
  legislature in which each state would be equally
  represented?

ANSWER The New Jersey Plan
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Number 52

• QUESTION
• Which plan was a compromise that formed our final
  system of government?

ANSWER The Connecticut Compromise
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Number 53

• QUESTION
• What was the Three-Fifths Compromise?

ANSWER Agreement at the Constitutional
Convention to count a slave as three-fifths of a
person when determining the population of a State.
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Number 54

• QUESTION
• What was the Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise?

ANSWER Agreement during the Constitutional
Convention protecting slave holders. It denied
Congress the power to tax the export of goods
from any State, and, for 20 years, the power to
act on the slave trade.
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Number 55

• QUESTION
• What name was given to those who supported the
  ratification of the Constitution?

ANSWER Federalists
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Number 56

• QUESTION
• What name was given to those who opposed
  ratification of the Constitution?

ANSWER Anti-federalists
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Number 57

• QUESTION
• Which Constitutional concept and basic principle
  of government states that those who govern must
  obey the law?

ANSWER Constitutionalism
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Number 58

• QUESTION
• Which Constitutional concept states that
  government and its officers are always subject to
  the law?

ANSWER Rule of law
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Number 59

• QUESTION
• Which Constitutional concept provides that powers
  are divided among three independent and coequal
  branches?

ANSWER Separation of powers
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Number 60

• QUESTION
• Which Constitutional concept provides a system of
  overlapping powers to permit each branch to check
  the others?

ANSWER Checks and balances
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Number 61

• QUESTION
• Which Constitutional concept gives power to the
  court to determine the constitutionality of a
  governmental action?

ANSWER Judicial review
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Number 62

• QUESTION
• Which word means declare a government provision
  illegal, null, and void?

ANSWER unconstitutional
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Number 63

• QUESTION
• Which Constitutional concept provides for a
  division of power between a central government
  and regional governments?

ANSWER federalism
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Number 64

• QUESTION
• What is a change in the written language of the
  Constitution?

ANSWER Formal amendment
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Number 65

• QUESTION
• What is a change made by experience, not the
  actual words of the Constitution?

ANSWER Informal amendment
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Number 66

• QUESTION
• What is another name for the first 10 Amendments
  to the Constitution?

ANSWER The Bill of Rights
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Number 67

• QUESTION
• What is a pact between the President and head of
  a foreign state?

ANSWER An executive agreement
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Number 68

• QUESTION
• What is a formal agreement between two or more
  sovereign states?

ANSWER Treaty
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Number 69

• QUESTION
• What is the Presidential advisory body (the heads
  of the executive departments)?

ANSWER cabinet
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Number 70

• QUESTION
• Which are all powers granted to the National
  Government by the Constitution?

ANSWER Delegated powers
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Number 71

• QUESTION
• Which are the powers of the National Government
  that are spelled out in the Constitution?

ANSWER Expressed powers
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Number 72

• QUESTION
• Which powers of the National Government that are
  suggested as "necessary and proper"?

ANSWER Implied powers
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Number 73

• QUESTION
• Which are the powers the National Government has
  as government of a sovereign state?

ANSWER Inherent powers
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Number 74

• QUESTION
• Which are the powers not granted to the National
  Government nor denied to the States?

ANSWER Reserved powers
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Number 75

• QUESTION
• Which are the powers that both the National
  Government and the States possess and execute?

ANSWER Concurrent powers
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Number 76

• QUESTION
• What clause states that the Constitution stands
  above all other forms of law?

ANSWER The Supremacy Clause
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Number 77

• QUESTION
• What is a group that seeks to control government
  through winning of elections and the holding
  public office?

ANSWER Political party
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Number 78

• QUESTION
• What is government action based on firm
  allegiance to a political party called?

ANSWER partisanship
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Number 79

• QUESTION
• What is the party that controls the executive
  branch called?

ANSWER Party in power
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Number 80

• QUESTION
• What word describes any government action that is
  supported by two parties?

ANSWER bipartisan
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Number 81

• QUESTION
• What is the current office holder called?

ANSWER incumbent
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Number 82

• QUESTION
• What is the right to vote?

ANSWER suffrage
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Number 83

• QUESTION
• Who are the people entitled to vote in a given
  election?

ANSWER electorate
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Number 84

• QUESTION
• In the United States, the list included
  citizenship, residence, and age.

ANSWER Voter qualifications
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Number 85

• QUESTION
• What is a Congressional election that occurs
  between presidential election years?

ANSWER Off-year election
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Number 86

• QUESTION
• Divided between personal characteristics (age,
  race, etc) and group affiliation (family,
  co-workers, friends, etc.).

ANSWER Factors effecting voting
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Number 87

• QUESTION
• What is the practice of voting for candidates of
  only one party in an election?

ANSWER Straight-ticket voting
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Number 88

• QUESTION
• What is the practice of voting for candidates of
  different parties for different offices?

ANSWER Split-ticket voting
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Number 89

• QUESTION
• What is the nominating device composed of a group
  of like-minded people?

ANSWER caucus
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Number 90

• QUESTION
• What is the date of national elections?

ANSWER Tuesday-after-the-first Monday in November
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Number 91

• QUESTION
• What is the effect when a strong candidate at the
  top of a ballot helping attract voters to lower
  offices?

ANSWER Coattail effect
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Number 92

• QUESTION
• What is the smallest unit of election
  administration?

ANSWER precinct
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Number 93

• QUESTION
• What is the political extension of
  special-interest groups?

ANSWER Political action committee (PAC)
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Number 94

• QUESTION
• What is the complex collection of the opinions of
  many different people?

ANSWER Public opinion
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Number 95

• QUESTION
• What are those means of communication that reach
  large audiences (TV, radio, etc.)?

ANSWER Mass media
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Number 96

• QUESTION
• What are the instructions or commands a
  constituency gives to its elected officials?

ANSWER mandate
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Number 97

• QUESTION
• What is a private organization whose members
  share certain views and work to shape public
  policy?

ANSWER Interest group
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Number 98

• QUESTION
• What is a technique of persuasion aimed at
  influencing individual or group behaviors to
  create a particular belief, regardless of its
  validity?

ANSWER propaganda
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Number 99

• QUESTION
• What are those activities by which group
  pressures are brought to bear on legislators, the
  legislative process, and all aspects of the
  public policy-making process?

ANSWER lobbying
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Number 100

• QUESTION
• What term refers to issues, beliefs, or pressures
  that arise from the average voters?

ANSWER Grass roots
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Score and Graph