Deck 1: Envisioning the Presidency

Question 1

The Articles of Confederation created a strong executive that was too much like a monarch for the founding fathers' taste.

Answer 1

False
Explanation:The Articles of Confederation purposefully created an exceptionally weak executive in order to avoid any similarities to the royal authority of the King of England.

Question 2

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention considered having a national legislature elect the president.

Answer 2

True
Explanation:One of the Virginia Plan's resolutions, which the delegates used as a starting point, suggested that a president be chosen by the legislature for a single term of a certain length.

Question 3

Advocates of the progressive presidency argue that a strong modern presidency is necessary to overcome the intolerable inertia built into the Constitution.

Answer 3

True
Explanation:Progressive intellectuals viewed the Constitution as a document designed to protect the economic interests of the propertied elite and that the presidency was the only part of the constitutional order that could break through the inertia.

Question 4

Jefferson initially feared that the Constitution had created:

A) A chief executive that was too powerful.
B) A chief executive that was too weak.
C) A legislature that was too powerful.
D) A judiciary that was undemocratic.

Question 5

Which theory of the presidency views the president as too powerful and laments that the Constitution provided for such a strong executive?

A) The potent presidency
B) The princely presidency
C) The perverted presidency
D) The progressive presidency

Question 6

Which theory of the presidency is consistent with the "unitary executive" doctrine?

A) The potent presidency
B) The princely presidency
C) The perverted presidency
D) The progressive presidency

Question 7

Cato was:

A) The pen name under which The Federalist Papers were published.
B) A member of the Virginia delegation to the Constitutional Convention who advocated a strong executive.
C) An Anti-Federalist pamphleteer who viewed the presidency of the Constitution as far too powerful.
D) A famously corrupt Roman politician to which the Federalists compared the Anti-Federalists.

Question 8

How did President Wilson view the presidency of the Constitution?

A) An archaic office constrained by checks and balances that made it difficult to govern
B) An appropriately constrained office that ensured a republican form of government
C) A writ for a the kind of "unitary executive" necessary for the success of a modern president
D) A flawed document that gave the president almost monarchical powers

Question 9

Which of the following views of presidency posit disruptive, transformative changes that make the presidency of today fundamentally unlike the presidency envisioned by the framers and enacted by Washington or Jefferson?

A) The potent presidency
B) The perverted presidency
C) The progressive presidency
D) B and C

Question 10

Which of the following views of presidency see development less in terms of regime transformation and more as a natural or logical evolution of the constitutional regime established by the framers?

A) The potent presidency
B) The perverted presidency
C) The progressive presidency
D) A and B