American Government-Benchmark 3 CheckPoint 1-4

American Government > American Government | Posted by Cleveland on May 16, 2026

Question 1

Question:

Which of the following best characterizes Americans' knowledge of public affairs today?
Select one:
a.
Most Americans today are far better informed than previous generations, though knowledge levels are still rather low.
b.
Baby boomers have been shown to be the most well-informed generation, while younger generations know little about public affairs.
c.
Americans are consistently shown to be among the most well-informed when compared to people in other democracies.
d.
Misinformation is now at its highest level in the history of polling.
e.
Millennials are better informed than older generations by a wide margin.

Answer:

Most Americans today are far better informed than previous generations, though knowledge levels are still rather low.

Question 2

Question:

Which of the following is NOT among the frameworks used in political science?
Select one:
a.
rational choice theory
b.
historical reasoning
c.
institutional analysis
d.
liberalism
e.
behavioral studies

Answer:

d. liberalism

Question 3

Question:

As described in the text, is a defining characteristic of America politics.
Select one:
a.
a resistance to all forms of socialism
b.
the widespread sharing of power
c.
the supremacy of the elite
d.
an unequal distribution of power
e.
a continual striving for equality

Answer:

the widespread sharing of power

Question 4

Question:

Sociologist C. Wright Mills was a proponent of the theory of
Select one:
a.
pluralism.
b.
None of these answers are correct.
c.
elitism.
d.
bureaucratic rule.
e.
majoritarianism.

Answer:

Eliticism

Question 5

Question:

French philosopher Michel Foucault referred to politics as "."
Select one:
a.
like making sausage
b.
a necessary evil
c.
a means to an end
d.
the burden of the people
e.
war by other means

Answer:

war by other means

Question 6

Question:

Which of the following is an accurate description of the prevalence of college education in the United States?
Select one:
a.
Every U.S. state has at least 20 colleges or universities within its borders.
b.
Although the United States has a lower number of colleges and universities per capita than Europe, it has a much higher rate of college graduation per capita.
c.
Among adults 25 years of age and older, roughly half are college graduates.
d.
Among adults 25 years of age and older, nearly one in three is a college graduate.
e.
Despite having a much higher rate of colleges and universities per capita than European countries, the United States has a lower rate of college graduation per capita.

Answer:

Among adults 25 years of age and older, nearly one in three is a college graduate.

Question 7

Question:

What type of government suppresses individuality, forcing people to think and act in prescribed ways or risk punishment?
Select one:
a.
communist
b.
socialist
c.
egalitarian
d.
republican
e.
authoritarian

Answer:

authoritarian

Question 8

Question:

In an oligarchy,
Select one:
a.
control rests with a small group of popularly elected individuals.
b.
control rests with a small group, such as military officers or a few wealthy families.
c.
the state controls all aspects of individuals' lives, including family relations and the practice of religion.
d.
the state is run by corporate interests and companies instead of individuals.
e.
control rests with a single individual, such as a dictator.

Answer:

control rests with a small group, such as military officers or a few wealthy families.

Question 9

Question:

A government's authority
Select one:
a.
ensures that lawlessness prevails most of the time.
b.
is evidenced when government officials use their right to exercise power.
c.
is by definition not coercive.
d.
is based on pluralism.
e.
does not include the power to arrest and imprison.

Answer:

is evidenced when government officials use their right to exercise power.

Question 10

Question:

Which of the following is a difference between communism and socialism, as described by the text?
Select one:
a.
Under communism, the government manages the economy completely but does not attempt to provide for people's basic needs; under socialism, the government does not manage the economy completely, but does attempt to provide for people's basic needs.
b.
Under socialism, the government owns more industries than a communist government does, but it provides less direct benefit for individuals' welfare.
c.
Under socialism, the government owns some firms, but under communism the government does not own any major assets.
d.
Under socialism, the economy operates mainly through private transactions, but under communism, the government owns a number of major industries and tries to provide for people's basic economic needs.
e.
Under communism, the government assumes total management of the economy, whereas under socialism, the government does not try to manage the overall economy.

Answer:

Under communism, the government assumes total management of the economy, whereas under socialism, the government does not try to manage the overall economy.

Question 11

Question:

The term of office for a U.S. senator is years, while that of a member of the U.S. House is years.
Select one:
a.
four; four
b.
six; four
c.
six; two
d.
eight; four
e.
four; two

Answer:

six; two

Question 12

Question:

The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution
Select one:
a.
None of these answers are correct.
b.
by the framers during the Philadelphia convention.
c.
in stages, from 1789 to 1798.
d.
in response to the freeing of the slaves during the Civil War.
e.
in response to the ideals of Jacksonian democracy.

Answer:

a. None of these answers are correct.

Question 13

Question:

Under the New Jersey Plan, each state would have vote(s) in Congress.
Select one:
a.
two
b.
four
c.
three
d.
one
e.
five

Answer:

one

Question 14

Question:

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress had the power to
Select one:
a.
regulate commerce between states.
b.
tax individual states.
c.
regulate commerce between states and foreign countries.
d.
amend the Articles of Confederation.
e.
tax individual citizens.

Answer:

d. amend the Articles of Confederation.

Question 15

Question:

If the Supreme Court decides that Congress had passed legislation exceeding its constitutional, how can Congress overrule that decision?
Select one:
a.
Congress can vote to impeach the chief justice.
b.
It can force the Court to accept the power to issue writs of mandamus.
c.
It can completely disregard the Court's ruling.
d.
The President can repeal the Court’s decision.
e.
Congress had no effective way to retaliate.

Answer:

Congress had no effective way to retaliate.

Question 16

Question:

was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.
Select one:
a.
George Washington
b.
Alexander Hamilton
c.
Thomas Jefferson
d.
James Madison
e.
John Locke

Answer:

Thomas Jefferson

Question 17

Question:

referred to his victory in the presidential election as the "Revolution of 1800."
Select one:
a.
Thomas Jefferson
b.
John Marshall
c.
James Madison
d.
John Adams
e.
Andrew Jackson

Answer:

Thomas Jefferson

Question 18

Question:

Which of the following developments in the national political system did NOT provide for more popular control?
Select one:
a.
special elections
b.
primary elections
c.
the biennial election of representatives
d.
direct election of U.S. senators
e.
judicial nominations

Answer:

judicial nominations

Question 19

Question:

presided over the Philadelphia convention of 1787.
Select one:
a.
Benjamin Franklin
b.
Gouverneur Morris
c.
Edmund Randolph
d.
James Madison
e.
George Washington

Answer:

George Washington

Question 20

Question:

The European philosopher whose concept of natural rights had a great impact on American politics is
Select one:
a.
Montesquieu.
b.
Locke.
c.
Burke.
d.
Hobbes.
e.
Aristotle.

Answer:

Locke.

Question 21

Question:

Devolution is the
Select one:
a.
None of these answers are correct.
b.
passing of authority from the national government to the state and local levels.
c.
contraction of state authority and the expansion of local government authority.
d.
expansion of national authority that began in the 1960s.
e.
expansion of national authority that began in the 1930s.

Answer:

passing of authority from the national government to the state and local levels.

Question 22

Question:

According to, a large republic is less likely to have an all-powerful faction.
Select one:
a.
James Madison
b.
John Marshall Harlan
c.
Patrick Henry
d.
George Mason
e.
John C. Calhoun

Answer:

James Madison

Question 23

Question:

The "separate but equal" standard was created by
Select one:
a.
Justice John Marshall Harlan.
b.
President Ulysses S. Grant.
c.
the state supreme court of Virginia.
d.
Congress.
e.
the Supreme Court.

Answer:

e. the Supreme Court.

Question 24

Question:

Which decision is indicative of how the Supreme Court interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment and state discretion in civil rights matters in the decades after the Civil War?
Select one:
a.
McCullochv. Maryland
b.
the DredScott decision
c.
Plessyv. Ferguson
d.
Gibbonsv. Ogden
e.
Brownv. BoardofEducation

Answer:

b. necessary and proper clause

Question 25

Question:

In significant decisions early in the New Deal era, the Supreme Court
Select one:
a.
ruled that public accommodations were part of interstate commerce.
b.
upheld FDR's "court-packing" proposal.
c.
ruled that segregation violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
d.
invalidated key pieces of FDR's New Deal legislation.
e.
invalidated the commerce clause.

Answer:

invalidated key pieces of FDR's New Deal legislation.

Question 26

Question:

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the national government
Select one:
a.
provided health care to Americans on a temporary basis, as a means of alleviating economic hardships.
b.
provided vast sums to the states so they could meet their citizens' welfare needs.
c.
provided vast sums to business firms to keep them out of bankruptcy.
d.
utilized laissez-faire capitalism in its policies.
e.
asserted the power to regulate the nation's economy.

Answer:

asserted the power to regulate the nation's economy.

Question 27

Question:

In what decade did federal grants-in-aid NOT expand significantly?
Select one:
a.
1980s
b.
1990s
c.
1960s
d.
2000s
e.
1970s

Answer:

1980s

Question 28

Question:

Viewed in historical terms, federalism has been a
Select one:
a.
theoretical principle, in that constitutional provisions for federalism have virtually no impact on the relationship between the nation and the states.
b.
contentious and dynamic system that has evolved over time to make for a progressively stronger national government.
c.
flawed principle, in that the relationship between the nation and the states has been a constant source of problems without many positive benefits.
d.
fixed principle, in that the relationship between the nation and states is almost completely defined by provisions of the Constitution.
e.
poor replacement for the confederal system that existed before the Constitution.

Answer:

contentious and dynamic system that has evolved over time to make for a progressively stronger national government.

Question 29

Question:

Which of the following made the rise of contemporary federalism so pressing during the Great Depression?
Select one:
a.
the states' increased economic interdependency
b.
the deadlock between the president and the House of Representatives
c.
the isolation of the national economy from foreign events
d.
the refusal of the Supreme Court to protect corporations
e.
the economic isolation of the individual states and metropoles

Answer:

the states' increased economic interdependency

Question 30

Question:

The Edward Snowden leaks about the NSA surveillance program
Select one:
a.
indicated that the NSA was listening to all American cell phone conversations.
b.
brought changes in how Americans' phone data was stored for NSA retrieval.
c.
led President Obama to quickly terminate the program.
d.
showed that the NSA was diligent about getting court orders to monitor electronic communications.
e.
in reality shared little or no new information.

Answer:

b. brought changes in how Americans' phone data was stored for NSA retrieval.

Question 31

Question:

In PlannedParenthoodv. Casey (1992), the justices
Select one:
a.
allowed a restriction on abortion services as long as it did not cause an "undue burden" on the woman.
b.
invoked the Ninth Amendment for the first time in an abortion decision.
c.
ruled that states are free to adopt abortion laws of their choosing.
d.
None of these answers are correct.
e.
invalidated the right to an abortion in the early months of pregnancy.

Answer:

a. allowed a restriction on abortion services as long as it did not cause an "undue burden" on the woman.

Question 32

Question:

What is the greatest restriction on appeals in the United States?
Select one:
a.
the refusal by state appeals court judges to grant even a first appeal
b.
the lack of any formal right of appeal in the federal process
c.
a federal law that bars in most instances a second federal appeal by a prisoner
d.
a federal law that bars a first federal appeal to persons convicted of homicide
e.
the very low income of some convicted persons, which reduces their ability to appeal

Answer:

the very low income of some convicted persons, which reduces their ability to appeal

Question 33

Question:

In her dissent against Chief Justice Roberts's ruling against a Montana state law providing scholarship funds for students in secular, but not religious, private schools, Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued that
Select one:
a.
religious schools should ask students to live a life of humble poverty without scholarships.
b.
churches had enough private charity to draw on.
c.
the ruling went against her commitment to atheism.
d.
the separation of church and state was beneficial to both and was weakened in this ruling.
e.
neither secular nor religious schools should enjoy subsidies from public funds.

Answer:

the separation of church and state was beneficial to both and was weakened in this ruling.

Question 34

Question:

Which of the following is true of the appeal process?
Select one:
a.
Both the federal and all state constitutions guarantee an appeal after conviction.
b.
The Constitution does not guarantee an appeal after conviction, but the federal government and all states permit at least one appeal.
c.
The guarantee of appeal in the states was established as part of selective incorporation as applied to the Fourteenth Amendment.
d.
There are no guarantees of appeal at the federal or state level, but the appeal process has been effectively certified through common practice.
e.
The Constitution guarantees at least one appeal after conviction, but many states continue to challenge this guarantee in court.

Answer:

The Constitution does not guarantee an appeal after conviction, but the federal government and all states permit at least one appeal.

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