Deck 2: The Constitution

Question 1

After the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, James Otis, Jr.

A) declared that there could be "no taxation without war."
B) wrote Common Sense.
C) proposed that the colonies impose a sugar tax on Britain.
D) declared that there could be "no taxation without representation."
E) wrote A Handbook for Dumping Tea.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In response to the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament

A) passed the Coercive Acts.
B) wrote the Articles of Confederation.
C) repealed the Stamp Act.
D) imposed taxes on glass, paint, and lead.
E) passed the Sugar Act.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The earliest colonial legislature was established in .

A) Virginia
B) Massachusetts
C) Connecticut
D) New York
E) Pennsylvania

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The Mayflower Compact

A) established the Articles of Confederation.
B) was the first of a series of social contracts that established the fundamental rules of government.
C) provided for the popular election of a governor and judges in an early settlement of Connecticut.
D) was America's first written constitution.
E) was essentially a bill of rights.

Question 5

Thomas Paine's influential pamphlet Common Sense

A) contended that America could survive economically on its own and no longer needed its British connection.
B) argued against breaking ties with Britain.
C) urged the colonists to remain loyal to King George III, calling him a "good and decent man."
D) denounced the Declaration of Independence.
E) laid out the strategy for the Boston Tea Party.

Question 6

In 1764, the British Parliament passed , which prompted a "nonimportation" movement that soon spread to several colonies.

A) the Sugar Act
B) the Stamp Act
C) the "Intolerable Acts"
D) the Coercive Acts
E) taxes on glass, paint, and lead

Question 7

The First Continental Congress

A) called for a continued boycott of British goods and asked each colony to establish an army.
B) urged the people of Boston to dress as Mohawk Indians and dump chests of British tea into Boston Harbor as a gesture of tax protest.
C) assumed the powers of a central government.
D) named George Washington as the commander in chief of the army that was made up of militia who had gathered around Boston.
E) drafted a declaration of independence from Britain.

Question 8

The first colony established by England in North America was

A) the Plymouth Company.
B) the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
C) in what is now Connecticut.
D) in Jamestown, in what is now Virginia.
E) founded in Pennsylvania.

Question 9

The colonists began using the word American to describe themselves

A) when the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
B) when Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, was founded.
C) after writing the Articles of Confederation.
D) after adopting the Declaration of Independence.
E) in the aftermath of the Seven Years' War.

Question 10

The First Continental Congress was called in response to the Intolerable Acts by

A) Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts.
B) New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
C) Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
D) Virginia and Massachusetts.
E) New York and New Jersey.

Question 11

The 1765 Stamp Act imposed a direct tax on

A) sugar.
B) British imports.
C) colonial exports.
D) food.
E) legal documents, playing cards, and dice.

Question 12

The first time a majority of colonists joined together to oppose British rule was

A) during the Stamp Act Congress.
B) during the First Continental Congress.
C) during the Boston Tea Party.
D) the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
E) upon ratification of the Articles of Confederation.

Question 13

These entities used social pressure, spying, and public ridicule to enforce the boycott of British goods.

A) The First and Second Continental Congresses
B) The committees of "safety"
C) Colonial legislatures
D) Newspapers
E) Religious institutions

Question 14

Which authority ruled the British colonies?

A) Merchants and traders of the Virginia Company and Massachusetts Bay Colony
B) Colonial legislatures
C) The British monarchy
D) Colonial charters
E) The Continental Congress

Question 15

Following the British victory in the Seven Years' War, the

A) British relinquished their authority over the American colonies.
B) relationship between Britain and its American colonies was permanently altered.
C) British government repealed the taxes it had imposed on the American colonies.
D) French expanded their control over several southern colonies.
E) British government decided to fight on the side of the French in the French and Indian War.

Question 16

Before the mid-1700s, the majority of American colonists

A) were anxious to break free of British colonial rule.
B) despised the British monarchy.
C) were loyal to the British monarch and viewed Britain as their homeland.
D) were loyal to France.
E) were secretly planning to declare their independence from Britain.

Question 17

America's first written constitution, the , called for the laws to be made by an assembly of elected representatives from each town.

A) Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
B) Massachusetts Body of Liberties
C) Mayflower Compact
D) Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges
E) Pennsylvania Frame of Government

Question 18

In , anger over the taxes Britain had imposed on the colonies reached a climax at the Boston Tea Party.

A) 1765
B) 1767
C) 1773
D) 1775
E) 1776

Question 19

In 1764, the residents of this colony proposed a boycott of certain British imports that spread throughout the other colonies.

A) Virginia
B) Massachusetts
C) Pennsylvania
D) New York
E) Connecticut

Question 20

According to John Adams, the most significant revolutionary event(s) in the colonies was (were)

A) the battles of Lexington and Concord (1775).
B) the Declaration of Independence (1776).
C) the publication of Common Sense (1776).
D) the Revolutionary War itself.
E) psychological changes that severed the ties of loyalty to Great Britain.

Question 21

The concepts expressed in the Declaration of Independence reflected European political philosophy. In particular, the theories of provided philosophical underpinnings by which the American Revolution could be justified.

A) John Locke
B) James Otis, Jr.
C) Patrick Henry
D) Roger Sherman
E) Richard Henry Lee

Question 22

Which ideology of rule, common during the revolutionary war era, was suspicious of both executive and national power?

A) Republicanism
B) Nationalism
C) Patriotism
D) Loyalism
E) Constitutionalism

Question 23

As the colonies transformed themselves into sovereign states, republican sentiment was so strong in many of them that the became all-powerful.

A) executives
B) courts
C) bureaucracies
D) national government
E) legislatures

Question 24

Under the Articles of Confederation,

A) the central government could draft soldiers to form a standing army.
B) there was a national judicial system.
C) Congress had significant power to enforce its laws.
D) Congress could regulate commerce between the states and with other nations.
E) the central government depended on the states to enforce its laws

Question 25

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress appointed to preside over its meetings.

A) civil officers
B) constables
C) a junta
D) a committee
E) a president

Question 26

After the Revolutionary War, which states had unicameral legislatures and no executives?

A) Maryland and Georgia
B) Massachusetts and Rhode Island
C) Connecticut and New Jersey
D) Pennsylvania and Georgia
E) Virginia and New York

Question 27

The Treaty of Paris, which confirmed the colonies' independence from Britain, was signed in 1783. By 1784, the new nation

A) had annexed Vermont to Canada.
B) was suffering from a serious economic depression.
C) had created a strong national government with the power to regulate interstate commerce and to directly tax the people.
D) had created a national judicial system so that disputes among the states could be settled by the central government.
E) had established a monetary system that gave the power to print money exclusively to the central government.

Question 28

was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.

A) John Adams
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) Patrick Henry
D) John Locke
E) James Madison

Question 29

For the most part, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were

A) representative of the population as a whole.
B) uneducated.
C) poor.
D) from the best-educated and wealthiest classes.
E) ordinary farmers and merchants.

Question 30

Under the Articles of Confederation, the early government of the United States

A) could not settle state land claims.
B) could not enter into treaties and alliances.
C) regulated coinage.
D) regulated interstate commerce.
E) established a strong national judiciary.

Question 31

The nation's first national constitution was the .

A) Articles of Confederation
B) Congress of the Confederation
C) Committee of "Safety"
D) Declaration of Rights and Principles
E) Second Continental Congress

Question 32

The Philadelphia meeting that became the Constitutional Convention was called "for the sole and express purpose" of

A) drafting a national constitution.
B) electing a president.
C) drafting the Bill of Rights.
D) revising the Articles of Confederation.
E) revising the Mayflower Compact.

Question 33

The proposals of the delegation immediately set the agenda for the Constitutional Convention.

A) New Jersey
B) New York
C) Connecticut
D) Virginia
E) Massachusetts

Question 34

Under the Articles of Confederation, each state had the unicameral assembly of representatives.

A) one vote in
B) two votes in
C) one vote for each ambassador it sent to
D) proportional representation (based on state population) in
E) seven votes in

Question 35

of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were college graduates.

A) None
B) About one-half
C) Thirty-three
D) Nineteen
E) All

Question 36

Indebted farmers in western Massachusetts seized county courthouses and disrupted debtors' trials in 1786. An attack was also launched on the national government's arsenal. This uprising, known as , was an important catalyst for change because it helped to convince many Americans that a true national government had to be created.

A) Shays' Rebellion
B) the Boston Tea Party
C) the Whiskey Rebellion
D) the Massachusetts mutiny
E) Agrarian Revenge

Question 37

Which of the following proposals was part of the Virginia Plan?

A) A unicameral legislature based on population
B) A unicameral legislature in which each state has one vote
C) A national supreme court appointed by the chief executive officer
D) A bicameral legislature with an upper house chosen by the lower house
E) An executive composed of more than one person chosen by congress

Question 38

, where feelings were strong against creating a more powerful central government, was the only state that did not send any delegates to the Constitutional Convention.

A) Connecticut
B) Georgia
C) New Jersey
D) New York
E) Rhode Island

Question 39

Shays' Rebellion

A) was a protest against the imposition of a tax on all sugar imported into the American colonies.
B) was an indication to American political and business leaders that the national government under the Articles of Confederation was too weak.
C) prompted the British Parliament to close Boston Harbor.
D) was the first battle of the American Revolution.
E) allowed the French to expand their control over several southern states.

Question 40

did not attend the Constitutional Convention, because he "smelt a rat."

A) Patrick Henry
B) George Washington
C) Alexander Hamilton
D) Robert Morris
E) Benjamin Franklin

Question 41

As stated in the Perception versus Reality feature, the framers did not ban slavery in the Constitution due to

A) their belief that slavery would become obsolete on its own.
B) the influence of southern economic strength.
C) their own racism.
D) their fear that the south would walk out of the constitutional convention in protest.
E) their fundamental belief that people are inherently unequal.

Question 42

The idea that no one, including government officers, is above the law is known as .

A) rule of law
B) federalism
C) republicanism
D) popular sovereignty
E) nationalism

Question 43

John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison wrote a series of essays in defense of the Constitution, known collectively as

A) the Federalist Papers.
B) The Washington Post.
C) Publius.
D) Caesar.
E) Poor Richard's Almanac.

Question 44

In Federalist Paper No. 10, Madison argued that the nation's size was actually an advantage in controlling

A) poverty.
B) crime.
C) factions.
D) racism.
E) immigration.

Question 45

A federal official who has been impeached is tried by the

A) Supreme Court.
B) Senate.
C) House of Representatives.
D) Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
E) Solicitor General of the United States.

Question 46

The Constitution provides that a federal official who commits may be impeached by the House of Representatives.

A) "a Felony, Misdemeanor, or other Criminal transgression"
B) "an Abuse of Presidential Authority"
C) "Obstruction of Justice and failure to abide by the Law"
D) "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors"
E) "Lack of Judgment, Crimes against the State, or an Abuse of Power"

Question 47

To win over the anti-federalists during the ratification process, the federalists promised to

A) keep the executive weak.
B) establish a federal court system upon ratification.
C) add a bill of rights to the constitution.
D) guarantee voting rights for women.
E) appoint anti-federalists to important positions in government.

Question 48

The Plan that was proposed at the Constitutional Convention favored small states. It called for a legislature in which each state would have only one vote.

A) New Jersey
B) New York
C) Connecticut
D) Virginia
E) Massachusetts

Question 49

At the Constitutional Convention, the South agreed to let Congress have the power to in exchange for a ban on export taxes.

A) regulate voting rights
B) ban slavery
C) appoint an independent executive
D) impose export taxes
E) regulate interstate and international commerce

Question 50

The Great Compromise at the Constitutional Convention

A) resolved the issue of slavery.
B) guaranteed land for Native Americans.
C) called for a bicameral legislature in which each state would have equal representation in both chambers.
D) called for a unicameral legislature in which representatives from each state would be determined by the number of people in that state.
E) resolved the small-state/large-state controversy.

Question 51

The impeachment process for removing a federal official from office requires

A) a two-thirds vote of the Senate.
B) a three-fifths vote of the House.
C) a simple majority vote of the Supreme Court.
D) a unanimous vote by a specially convened Grand Jury.
E) a simple majority vote of the Senate.

Question 52

The three-fifths compromise reached at the Constitutional Convention settled the deadlock between the

A) eastern states and the western states over the national court system.
B) northern states and the southern states over export taxes.
C) large states and the small states over the regulation of commerce.
D) large states and the small states over how the president would be chosen.
E) southern states and the northern states over how slaves would be counted for purposes of representation in Congress.

Question 53

At the Constitutional Convention, Congress guarantee that

A) export taxes would be imposed on agricultural products to raise revenue for the national government.
B) the Supreme Court would be prohibited from hearing cases involving commerce.
C) the northern states would not produce goods that would compete in the marketplace with goods produced in the southern states.
D) no export taxes would be imposed on products exported by the states.
E) the southern states would be exempt from federal taxes.

Question 54

The three-fifths compromise was overturned in 1868 by the to the constitution.

A) Fifteenth Amendment
B) Fourteenth Amendment
C) Sixteenth Amendment
D) Seventeenth Amendment
E) Eigtheenth Amendment

Question 55

At the time of the constitutional convention, slaves constituted about of the population of the southern states.

A) 60 percent
B) 50 percent
C) 40 percent
D) 30 percent
E) 20 percent

Question 56

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention agreed that Congress could prohibit the importation of slaves into the country

A) beginning in 1808.
B) as soon as the Constitution was ratified.
C) when all the states agreed that slaves would be given the right to vote.
D) when the Civil War was over.
E) if the people voted to abolish slavery.

Question 57

The final draft of the Constitution was approved by the delegates on
A) July 4, 1776.

A) March 1, 1781.
B) September 17, 1787.
C) February 6, 1788.
E) May 29, 1790.

Question 58

The battle over ratification of the Constitution was fought chiefly by two opposing groups, the

A) Constitutionalists and the Confederates.
B) Nationalists and the Federalists.
C) Federalists and the Anti-Federalists.
D) Hamiltonians and the Madisonians.
E) Republicans and the Democrats.

Question 59

The Constitution incorporated the principle of , which was the solution to the debate over whether the national government or the states should have ultimate sovereignty.

A) checks and balances
B) federalism
C) limited government
D) separation of powers
E) popular sovereignty

Question 60

The last state to ratify the constitution was , which did so in May 1790.

A) Rhode Island
B) New York
C) Virginia
D) New Hampshire
E) Pennsylvania

Question 61

Staggered terms of office for members of the House of Representatives, members of the Senate, and the president reflect the principle of

A) federalism.
B) popular sovereignty.
C) the rule of law.
D) separation of powers.
E) checks and balances.

Question 62

The Congress checks the President by

A) exercising the power of judicial review.
B) exercising authority over taxes and spending.
C) nominating federal judges.
D) holding veto power.
E) acting as commander of the armed forces.

Question 63

Since the Constitution was written it has been amended times.

A) hundreds of
B) forty two
C) ten
D) thirty-three
E) twenty-seven

Question 64

In the Madisonian model of government, the powers of the national government were

A) balanced by the powers of the states.
B) subordinate to the powers of the large states.
C) separated into different branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.
D) limited to those that it had under the Articles of Confederation.
E) superior to popular sovereignty and the rule of law.

Question 65

A constitutional form of government that emphasizes "effective government" rather than "limited government" is a

A) parliamentary system.
B) republic.
C) constitutional monarchy.
D) federal system.
E) presidential system.

Question 66

There are possible ways for an amendment to be added to the Constitution.

A) two
B) three
C) four
D) six
E) eight

Question 67

A major principle of American government, , was devised to ensure that no one branch of government can exercise exclusive control.

A) checks and balances
B) popular sovereignty
C) limited government
D) federalism
E) the rule of law

Question 68

Although Madison began drafting the Bill of Rights by sorting through more than 200 recommendations from the states, the final bill included only amendments to the Constitution.

A) two
B) ten
C) twelve
D) sixteen
E) seventeen

Question 69

The principle of separation of powers is found in of the Constitution.

A) Article I
B) Article II
C) Article III
D) Articles I and II
E) Articles I, II, and III

Question 70

All of the existing amendments to the Constitution have been proposed

A) by a two-thirds vote in the Senate and in the House of Representatives.
B) by a vote in two-thirds of the state legislatures.
C) in special state conventions.
D) by a three-fourths vote in the Senate and in the House of Representatives.
E) at national constitutional conventions.