American Government First Exam Review Sheet

· This exam is made up of 100 multiple choice (MC) questions.

· You are responsible chapter 1, 3, 4 and the sections on the electoral college and pluralism from the rest of the book.

· You are responsible for everything that I cover in the lecture.

· Bring a 100 question scantron #882 and a No. 2 pencil for the exam.

Areas of Emphasis:

1. What is the technical name for the federal government’s powers that are not listed in the Constitution?

2. What was the name used by the writers of the Federalist Papers?

3. What is the “rider-mule-carrot” analogy?”

4. What was the case of Mcculloch vs. Maryland about?

5. What is the national supremacy clause?

6. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of having a federal system of government?

7. What are the arguments of pluralist theory?

8. What were the details of the New Jersey plan?

9. What were the details of the Virginia plan?

10. What were the three compromises that the founders agreed to on slavery?

11. What were the states prohibited from doing under the new Constitution?

12. What is “cooperative federalism?”

13. What type of federalism does each cake analogy represent?

14. What is “dual federalism?”

15. What is “new federalism?”

16. Why did the founding fathers create the Electoral College?

17. What was the primary source of conflict in a society according to the founding fathers?

18. What are the different types of democracy?

19. Define the three different forms of government.

20. What are the arguments of elite theory?

21. What powers did the states have under the Articles of Confederation?

22. What does the “necessary and proper clause” allow the federal government to do?

23. Why does Congress favor categorical grants?

24. What did the Anti-Federalist believe was missing in the Constitution?

25. What are the elements of a representative democracy?

26. What is power?

27. What are block and categorical grants?

28. What are mandates? In what policy areas are mandates used by the federal government?

29. What is the closest approximation to a direct democracy in the United States?

30. What is government?

31. What is politics?

32. How does the federal government provide for the general welfare of the people?

33. How does the electoral college work?

34. What is legitimacy? What is its source in the United States?

35. What was the soci-economic background of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists?

36. Early on, how were the two branches of government elected in the United States?

37. What is a “coup d’etat?” What three arguments prove that the founding fathers carried a coup d’etat?

38. What is the purpose of government according to John Locke?

39. Who has more power in the different forms of government?

40. What are the “equal protection” and “due process” clauses in the Constitution? Who do they apply to?

41. What were the implications of Shays Rebellion?

42. How would you describe the founders?

43. Is the tax burden in the United States too high compared to similarly developed countries?

44. What are the powers of the states under federalism in the United States?

45. What are the problems with the Electoral College?

46. What was “nullification?”

47. What did the 14^th amendment force the states to do?

48. What did Thomas Jefferson do with the phrase “life, liberty and property?”

49. What is the “elastic” clause in the Constitution?

50. Why do some countries have a federal form of government?

51. How do states view federal grants?

52. What are public goods?

53. What was the biggest crisis in the history of the federalist system in the US?

54. What were the ideas of John Locke?

55. Why do governments provide public education?

56. How does US Federal spending on Defense compare to the rest of the world?