Deck 2: Federalism: State and Local Politics Within a Federal System

Question 1

Utah Governor Gary Herbert's comments,"We are a state,not a colony," was in response to which federal program?

A)REAL ID Act
B)Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
C)Voting Rights Act
D)Help Americans Vote Act

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT true regarding the Commerce Clause?

A)It gives Congress the "power to regulate commerce with foreign nations,and among the several states,and with the Indian tribes."
B)Traditionally,the United States Supreme Court has ruled against Congress's use of the clause to pass laws dealing with indirect issues related to interstate commerce.
C)Congress has interpreted the clause broadly,greatly expanding its legislative power to intervene in a wide number of facets of the national economy.
D)Today,with increased interconnectivity of human activity,most economic activities extend beyond a state's borders and thus may fall prey to congressional regulations.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT true regarding the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution?

A)It specifically limits the powers of national government vis­à­vis the states.
B)It is also known as the reserve clause.
C)The founders intended for substantive issues not mentioned in the Constitution (like education,public health,and the environment)to be left to the states.
D)Because of the Tenth Amendment,states are not constituent parts that retain their autonomy from the central government.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Critics of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,refer to it as

A)ObamaCare.
B)the Big Swap.
C)RomneyCare.
D)PalinProtection.

Question 5

The Federalist Papers

A)were propaganda put forth by those opposed to the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.
B)were propaganda put forth by those opposed to the ratification of the Constitution.
C)were propaganda put forth by those in support of the ratification of the Constitution.
D)were propaganda put forth by those who supported a confederate system over a federal system.

Question 6

Which of the following clauses stipulates that residents of one state cannot be discriminated against by another state when it comes to fundamental matters,such as pursuing one's professional occupation,access to the courts,or equality in taxation?

A)The Full Faith and Credit Clause
B)The Privileges and Immunities Clause
C)The National Supremacy Clause
D)The Necessary and Proper Clause

Question 7

Which of the following clauses stipulates that the states must mutually accept one another's public acts,records,and judicial proceedings?

A)The Full Faith and Credit Clause
B)The Privileges and Immunities Clause
C)The National Supremacy Clause
D)The Necessary and Proper Clause

Question 8

In the American federal system,states

A)can be considered administrative appendages or extensions of the national government.
B)do not experience much overlap in the powers held by the national government.
C)retain their own identity and distinctiveness by being fully sovereign from the national government.
D)have discrete powers that are derived from the federal Constitution as well as their own constitution and laws.

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT an argument defending the use of decentralized governance?

A)Decentralized governments are closer to and more familiar with the interests and needs of their constituents,which will allow for better representation.
B)Decentralized decision making encourages policy experimentation and pluralistic solutions to local problems.
C)Policy responsiveness is enhanced when political authority is dispersed among subnational units.
D)The central government is able to provide and manage governmental services more efficiently than subnational units under a decentralized system.

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT true regarding members of the Continental Congress?

A)They were elected by their constituents.
B)They served one-year terms.
C)They were chosen by their state legislatures.
D)They acted as delegates of their state legislatures.

Question 11

The structural relationship between a national government and its constitutive states is known as .

A)federalism
B)constitutionalism
C)intergovernmentalism
D)national duality

Question 12

All of the following about a confederal system of government are true EXCEPT

A)in terms of a spectrum of the balance of power between national and subnational levels of government,a confederal system is located at the opposite pole from a unitary system.
B)it is a system of governance whereby the subnational governments are subject to the control of the autonomous national government.
C)the constituent subnational governments enter into a covenant with one another and derive the bulk of their power from their own constitutions.
D)today,no purely confederal system of government exists.

Question 13

Which system of governance features all governmental power being vested in the national government?

A)Federal
B)Confederal
C)Central
D)Unitary

Question 14

When the national government takes regulatory action that overrides state laws,it is known as

A)federal preemption.
B)watchdog tactics.
C)a federal veto.
D)constitutional authority.

Question 15

A federalist system refers to

A)power centralized in an executive branch.
B)shared power between executive,legislative,and judicial branches.
C)power centralized in subnational governments.
D)shared power between national and subnational governments.

Question 16

In May of 1787,Congress called for a Constitutional Convention because

A)it wanted to scrap the Articles of Confederation.
B)tensions between rival sovereigns were wearing thin.
C)it was appalled by the ineffectualness of the sovereign,subnational governments under the Articles of Confederation.
D)it wanted to be granted the power to enter into war with France.

Question 17

The Bill of Rights

A)immediately prevented state governments from depriving their residents of rights.
B)was ratified by nearly every state by December 1789.
C)ensures the protection of individuals from the national government.
D)was derived from the political beliefs of George Washington.

Question 18

Which of the following about the American federalist system is NOT true?

A)Governmental functions are apportioned so that states are no more subject within their respective spheres to the general authority than the general authority is subject to them within its own sphere.
B)It is sometimes pictured as a "marble cake" but is more aptly described as a "birthday cake."
C)At times it can be described as a system of dual federalism.
D)National and state governments sometimes compete and encroach upon each other's territory.

Question 19

Which country does NOT use a unitary form of government?

A)Israel
B)United States
C)France
D)Kenya

Question 20

Which of the following powers was NOT granted to Congress under the Articles of Confederation?

A)Declaration of war
B)Coin or borrow money
C)Levy taxes
D)Enter treaties and alliances

Question 21

Medicare

A)created a national health insurance program for the elderly.
B)eliminated the need for private insurance companies.
C)is a joint state-funded health care for poor people.
D)was part of a series of programs that decreased the relative power of the federal government.

Question 22

Which type of government has shown to prevail over time in America?

A)A stronger,more centralized government
B)A weaker,more centralized government
C)A stronger,more decentralized government
D)A weaker,more decentralized government

Question 23

As part of the Republican devolution effort known as the Contract with America,which of the following acts was passed?

A)General Revenue Sharing Repulsion Act
B)Violence Against Women Act
C)Gun Free School Zones Act
D)Unfunded Mandate Reform Act

Question 24

Which federal agency employed more than 8 million workers in construction and other jobs during the Great Depression?

A)Works Progress Administration
B)Agricultural Enhancement Administration
C)Civil Works Administration
D)Construction Employment Administration

Question 25

Which federal program following 9/11 had civil libertarians up in arms?

A)Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
B)REAL ID
C)No Child Left Behind
D)Iraq War Authorization Act

Question 26

Which type of federalism was used under the Roosevelt administration?

A)New federalism
B)Coercive (or creative)federalism
C)Individual federalism
D)Cooperative federalism

Question 27

Which branch of the federal government is also known as the "umpire of federalism?"

A)Legislative
B)Judicial
C)Executive
D)United Nations

Question 28

Which statement is FALSE?

A)Centralization often occurs in time of war and national crises.
B)Centralization often occurs when there are calls to redistribute the nation's wealth to increase greater equity in society.
C)Centralization often occurs when there is a public clamor for public policies that fit specific,localized needs.
D)Centralization often occurs when there are efforts to create more efficiencies of scale in the implementation of public policy.

Question 29

Which of the following was NOT a part of the Civil Rights Act?

A)It enforced the right to vote.
B)It extended federal protection discrimination in public accommodations.
C)It guaranteed the right to vote to African Americans.
D)It outlawed job discrimination.

Question 30

John C.Calhoun stated that states had the right to

A)print currency.
B)secede from the Union.
C)create an army.
D)tax the federal government.

Question 31

By 1945,the size of the federal bureaucracy had

A)decreased dramatically.
B)increased dramatically.
C)followed traditional decrease patterns.
D)followed traditional increase patterns.

Question 32

The President that pronounced "government is not the solution to our problem;government is the problem" is

A)Richard Nixon.
B)Ronald Reagan.
C)Abraham Lincoln.
D)George H.W.Bush.

Question 33

What was the "Big Swap" proposition?

A)A Republican election tactic that would attempt to create incentives for large amounts of Democrats to switch parties
B)An unprecedented exchange of power between the executive and legislative branches of government
C)A proposal that the federal government would turn over to the states the responsibilities to provide for education,social services,transportation,and cash public assistance programs in exchange for taking over the provision of health services for the poor
D)An idea proposed by one of the founding fathers to change the Articles of Confederation to the current Constitution

Question 34

Which of the following is NOT a critique of federal preemption?

A)It leads to less flexibility in regulations and the delivery of public services.
B)It hurts the ability of states to experiment with and develop best practices.
C)It creates a uniformity of laws and regulations.
D)It diminishes the protections that states are able to craft for their citizens.

Question 35

The grant-in-aid program whereby the federal government provides financial aid to subnational units but does not prescribe how those units are to allocate the funding is known as

A)unfunded mandates.
B)categorical grants.
C)block grants.
D)General Revenue Sharing (GRS).

Question 36

What is a requirement created by the Federal government that is not backed with any federal money?

A)Unfunded mandate
B)Blanket statute
C)Block grant
D)Preemptive funding

Question 37

In the 1960s,Congress further expanded the scope of the federal government by using

A)categorical grants.
B)earmark grants.
C)block grants.
D)project grants.

Question 38

Which of the following was NOT one of the high points of federal governmental power in the twentieth century?

A)The New Deal
B)World War II
C)The Great Society
D)Watergate

Question 39

During which period did Democrats use the authority of the federal government to expand civil rights?

A)The Era of Good Feelings
B)The Civil War
C)The New Deal
D)The Great Society

Question 40

Which United States Supreme Court ruling,reinforced by its decision Gibbons v.Ogden,greatly empowered the federal government's hold over questions dealing with interstate commerce?

A)Marbury v.Madison
B)McCulloch v.Maryland
C)Baker v.Carr
D)Gitlow v.New York

Question 41

How did the attacks of 9/11 impact the power of the federal government in America?

Question 42

In the ruling of Bush v.Gore,the Supreme Court found that the guarantees individuals that their ballots cannot be devalued later by arbitrary and disparate treatment.

A)First Amendment
B)Ninth Amendment
C)Fourteenth Amendment
D)Nineteenth Amendment

Question 43

Explain the differences between federalist and unitary systems of government.Where are unitary systems more prominent?

Question 44

How has the U.S.Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts impacted American federalism? Has the
makeup of the Supreme Court in recent years affected states' rights?

Question 45

Compare the powers of Congress under the Articles of Confederation versus those given them by the U.S.Constitution.

Question 46

Which amendment to the Constitution allowed the Supreme Court to gradually incorporate the Bill of Rights to the states?

A)Twelfth Amendment
B)Thirteenth Amendment
C)Fourteenth Amendment
D)Fifteenth Amendment

Question 47

Congress's passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

A)gave the federal government even more say over a range of issue areas.
B)was widely accepted by Republicans as a necessary response to ward off a recession.
C)gave states more power to provide social services for the poor.
D)received widespread bipartisan support.

Question 48

Which 2013 United States Supreme Court ruling struck down Section 4 of the of the 1965 Voting Rights Act?

A)Marbury v.Madison
B)Shelby County v.Holder
C)Roe v.Wade
D)Reynolds v.Simms

Question 49

In his landmark dissent in New State Ice Co.v.Liebmann (1932),Louis Brandeis,an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court,coined the phrase

A)"The Polar Express."
B)"Laboratories of democracy."
C)"Ice is nice."
D)"Polar democracy."

Question 50

Governor Bobby Jindal publicly announced that he would reject portions of Congress's 2009 stimulus package earmarked for his state of .

A)Oklahoma
B)Louisiana
C)Indiana
D)South Carolina

Question 51

Under Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts,it appears that the Court's effort to bolster states' rights has

A)remain unchanged.
B)been eliminated.
C)gotten stronger.
D)begun to fade.

Question 52

What are the benefits of decentralization of government according to defenders of shared systems of government? Do you think decentralization of power is effective for delivering various public services?

Question 53

The federal government's rapid response following the terrorist attacks of September 11,2001

A)led to enhancement of civil liberties.
B)lowered the stature of the powerbrokers operating in the national capital.
C)altered the balance of power between the federal government and the states.
D)allowed the state judiciaries to exert their power over local governments.

Question 54

In its 2005 decision,Granholm v.Heald,the United States Supreme Court drew on which constitutional provision to prohibit states from engaging in discriminatory practices when regulating the sale of wine produced in another state?

A)Commerce Clause
B)Due Process Clause
C)Reserve Clause
D)Repeal of Prohibition