POSC 100 (Section 8): Introduction to American Government

Dr. Haesly
Spring 2024
Study Guide for Exam #1
Exam #1 Will Be IN-CLASS Thursday, March 7

Bring pencils and one SCANTRON sheet (get the green form, Form No. 882-E) to the exam. You can
buy SCANTRON sheets at the bookstore and the campus convenience stores (e.g., The Outpost on
lower campus). Please bring these with you so that you do not have to go buy it during the exam time!

Exam #1 will have 40 multiple choice questions. You will have 75 minutes to complete the exam. While
most will not need anywhere near that amount of time to complete the exam, please arrive to class on-
time (or perhaps a few minutes early) on Thursday, October 5. This will make things less disruptive for
everyone.

The exam is closed-book and closed-note. This means that you should not access your textbooks, course
PowerPoints, videos, your own notes, etc. while you are taking your exam. Telling other people who may
be taking the exam after you have finished what is on the exam is also considered cheating.

I wanted you to have a study guide to give you a sense of the types of questions that will appear on the
exam. This study guide is, in fact, from exams that I have given in the course before. None of the
questions that show up here will be on the exam, but the exam is written so that if you can do well on this
study guide, you will be prepared to answer the questions that will be on the exam.

How can you prepare for the exam?

1. Read all of the assigned readings. Many questions will stress information that was covered both in
lecture and the textbook yet some of the questions will be based solely on information from the textbook.
You will be responsible all of the material from Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 15 in your textbook. Do not forget to
read the assignments from the Mona Field book on CA Government and Politics.

2. Review your in-class notes (for Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 15) and study the PowerPoint lecture slides
(and your additional notes) carefully. This will re-enforce some of the information that was covered in
the text. Also, some of the questions will test material that was only covered in lecture. Remember, that
you will be responsible for the videos that are linked to in the PowerPoint slides accompanying the video
lectures.

3. Use this study guide. The questions on this study guide are very similar to the questions on the exam.
None of the questions that appear on this study guide will appear on the exam, but they give you a good
idea of the types of questions that you will answer. This study guide has been carefully constructed to
help you understand what material you need to master to do well on the exam. If there are any questions
that you get wrong, use this as a guide, not simply to find out what the right answer is, but to point you
back to an entire section of the lecture PowerPoints and/or textbook for you to read and review more
carefully. When using the study guide, you need to know why the correct answers are correct and the
incorrect ones are incorrect. I would recommend saving the study guide for near the end of your studying
so that you can replicate as closely as possible the feel of taking an exam on this material, but you know
your studying habits better than I!

4. Attend the Zoom Review Session. Our class GA, Courtney Jackson will be hosting a Review Session
on Tuesday, March 5, from 6:30-7:30 pm. This will be held on Zoom. We will post the Zoom link for the
Review Session before it is held.

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At this session, Courtney will be able to answer any questions you might have about the material. She
will NOT answer any questions trying to get a sense of which questions on the exam, so do not bother her
with those types of questions! This is a great resource so please take advantage of it if you can.

5. Important Court Cases (Know these for the exam—Know what the basic ruling was in each
case):
Schenck v. United States (1919)—established the importance of freedom of speech, but also ruled that
restrictions on free speech is allowable during wartime. “Clear and present danger” test.
Griswold v Connecticut (1965)—court case where the US Supreme Court found the right to privacy in the
US Constitution
Brandenberg v Ohio (1969)—“imminent lawless action” standard replaces “clear and present danger.”
Roe v Wade (1973)—right to access abortion, overturned earlier this year by a conservative majority of
the US Supreme Court in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022).
Buckley v. Valeo (1976)—spending as much of your own money to run for elected office is a version of
free speech
Citizens’ United v. Federal Elections Commission (2010)--under the First Amendment corporate funding
of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited.
Texas v. Johnson (1989) and US v. Eichman (1990)—In controversial 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court
held that burning the flag is protected under the 1 st Amendment freedom of expression protections (the
first case dealt with state laws and the second case dealt with a federal law).

6. Do not panic. While you should strive to do your very best, do not put too much pressure on yourself.
It is the pressure, rather than a lack of adequate preparation, that causes people to do poorly. Study hard
be well-rested when you decide to take the exam.

7. Strive for accuracy not speed!!!! You will have 75 minutes to complete the exam, which is more
than enough time to answer the questions on the exam (if you have studied).

Sample Questions

1. A form of government in which elected officials, who make policy in the name of the people, are
chosen by the people in open, free elections is called
a. a republic or representative democracy
b. tyranny of the majority.
c. a theocracy.
d. direct democracy.

2. What is a common argument against democracy?

a. All people are born equal.
b. Majority rule can threaten minorities.
c. People can be irrational and incompetent and may make bad political decisions.
d. Both (b) and (c)

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3. Which of the following are needed for a political system to have popular sovereignty?
I. Government policies should reflect the wishes of the people.
II. Government leaders are selected by free and fair elections.
III. Citizens must directly decide government policy on at least three of the
following five issues: foreign affairs, education policy, health care,
banking policy and the environment.
a. I, II and III
b. I and II only
c. I and III only
d. III only

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE with respect to democracy?

a. Democracy was widely practiced by western European nations throughout the eighteenth
century.
b. Democracy is founded on the belief that no government is necessary because people are
basically good-hearted and will always want to work together to meet their mutual needs.
c. Democracy and capitalism cannot exist together.
d. European countries before the eighteenth century were not democratic.

5. Initiatives in California (such as Prop 13 and Prop 8) are examples of

a. representative democracy.
b. illegal maneuvers to bypass the state Assembly.
c. direct democracy.
d. an illegal use of power by the Governor to bypass the state Assembly.

6. According to the video clips you saw for Chapter 1 (Democracy), what will be the main effect of
recently-passed Voter ID Laws?
a. They will significantly reduce widespread electoral fraud.
b. They will make it a lot easier for every citizen to register to vote.
c. They will make it more difficult for mostly Democratic voters to vote.
d. They will make it more difficult for mostly Republican voters to vote.

7. What can we say about the “democracy standard” from the textbook and course lectures?
a. Achieving popular sovereignty, political liberty and political equality is very easy to do
because everyone likes all three of them.
b. Political equality has been the part of the democracy standard that the United States has
always paid the most attention to.
c. The best way to protect individual liberties is ALWAYS to allow people to vote on them.
d. Although we like popular sovereignty, political liberty and political equality, it is a struggle
to have all of them at the same time because there are important contradictions that can exist
among them.

8. Which of the following words did we say was most closely associated with a well-functioning
democracy?
a. Compromise
b. Power
c. Tyranny of the majority
d. Consistency

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9. If a majority of elected officials voted to impose mandatory religious observations (e.g., school-
sponsored prayer in public schools) on all citizens, regardless of their religious beliefs, and this policy
was supported by a majority of the public, this would violate the principles of
a. procedural democracy.
b. substantive democracy.
c. indirect democracy.
d. all forms of democracy.

10. Shays’ Rebellion

a. demonstrated that slavery was going to be an important issue in our system of government.
b. was even bloodier than the American Revolution in terms of the number of Americans killed
in battle.
c. demonstrated that the national government under the Articles of Confederation had too much
power (especially at the expense of powers for the state governments).
d. None of the above are lessons from Shays’ Rebellion.

11. The Schoolhouse Rocks video, “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”, which we saw in class (link
found on the PowerPoint from Chapter 2),
a. gives viewers the mistaken idea that Spain and France supported the Colonists during the
Revolutionary War because those governments supported ideas, such as “no taxation without
representation”, natural rights must be protected by any legitimate government, etc.
b. correctly points out that France and Spain loaned (did not give) Americans ships and guns,
which suggested that paying off this debt would be an important issue after the war was
completed.
c. Both a and b are observations we made about this video.
d. is so completely inaccurate that we only showed the video in class to hear the foot-tapping
tune.

12. What is the major premise of the Declaration of Independence, which was based on the writings of
John Locke?
a. The American colonies rejected the British system of a parliamentary monarchy in favor of a
federal system.
b. The American colonies wanted to establish a government where no one would pay taxes.
c. The American colonies wanted independence from Britain because Britain was forcing the
American colonies to maintain a system of slavery that the colonies wanted to eliminate.
d. The American colonies would only accept the rule of a government that protected their
fundamental, natural rights. Any government that violated these rights would be seen as
breaking the social contract between the government and the governed.

13. Under the Articles of Confederation, who clearly had the most amount of power and authority?
a. Individual state governments
b. The President (who was beginning to act like an American king)
c. The National Congress
d. The voters

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14. The Great Compromise (the Connecticut Compromise)
a. established that slaves would count as three-fifths of a person for population purposes only.
b. provided for a two-chamber legislature with representation equal for all states in one chamber
and according to population in another.
c. was the name given to the decision to write a new constitution rather than to amend the
Articles of Confederation.
d. abolished slavery.

15. What role did slavery play in the US Constitutional Convention of 1787?
a. It played no role at all since all 13 states had already banned slavery by the start of the
convention.
b. It played no role at all since all 13 states still allowed slavery.
c. While some of the delegates spoke eloquently against the institution of slavery, the opponents
allowed it to continue to exist in order to strengthen the weaknesses of the Articles of
Confederation.
d. While many delegates spoke strongly in favor of the need for slavery to continue, the
Northern states forced the Southern states to restrict slavery significantly.

16. Which of the following is/are true about the Bill of Rights?
a. The Bill of Rights refers to the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution.
b. Many aspects of the US Constitution (e.g., freedom of speech, freedom of religion,
freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, etc.) of which Americans are most proud
and which have been copied in numerous other constitutions since 1787 are found in the
Bill of Rights.
c. Some of the framers of the US Constitution (e.g., Alexander Hamilton) thought that a
Bill of Rights was both unnecessary and potentially dangerous.
d. All of the above are true about the Bill of Rights.

17. At the time the Constitution was written, the right to vote (suffrage) was restricted to
a. white men and women
b. white, male, literate, property owners
c. all men, excluding slaves
d. white, male Protestants

18. What is needed to propose an amendment to the US Constitution?

a. Two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress
b. Two-thirds vote of the states
c. Both a and b are routes that can be used to propose amendments to the US Constitution.
d. Two of the three branches of the federal government (legislative, executive and judicial
branches) must propose the constitutional amendment.

19. Which of the following did the framers of the US Constitution put into the US Constitution to protect
against “majority tyranny” (a.k.a. “tyranny of the majority” or “mob rule”)?
a. Only one half of the legislative branch (the House of Representatives) was to be directly
elected by the people; the other half (the Senate) was to be selected by each state legislature.
b. The President would not be directly elected; instead he was to be chosen by the Electoral
College.
c. While most of the power was given to the legislative branch, the other two branches of
government would have the power to stop a Congress influenced by “majority tyranny.”
d. All of the above were put into place in order to protect against “majority tyranny.

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20. A check that the judicial branch has on the legislative branch is/are that
a. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is also the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
b. The Supreme Court, by simple majority vote, can declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.
c. The Supreme Court decides the budget for the legislative branch.
d. All of the above are checks the judicial branch has on the legislative branch.

21. How many amendments have been added to the California Constitution?
a. 50
b. 27
c. Over 500
d. None because CA is one of the few states not to have a constitution.

22. According to the US Constitution, who has the authority to declare war?
i. Congress
ii. A majority of the states
iii. A two-thirds majority of the US Supreme Court
a. I only
b. I and II only
c. II and III only
d. All three must agree to declare war, which is why the US has not formally declared war
on another country since WWII.

23. The “Current Events Bulletin” that starts Chapter 3 (Federalism) deals with
a. questions over which level of government (national or state) were and should be in charge of
the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
b. the recent 6-3 conservative decision by the US Supreme Court that said that the 2 nd
amendment’s “right to bear arms” extends to rights of individuals to carry a handgun outside
of the home.
c. how several states have decided to challenge the legitimacy of the US Constitution because it
was only ratified by 9 of 13 states (instead of the unanimity that the Articles of Confederation
required).
d. discussions by states, including Texas, to secede from the United States in protest over the
Biden administration’s policies.

24. The basic premise of federalism is that

a. two or more governments share power and authority over the same land and people.
b. direct democracy is the only legitimate way to govern people.
c. supreme political authority remains with the states.
d. a national government has ultimate authority over a country’s land and people.

25. How many levels of government are sovereign in the United States under the US Constitution?
a. Three; the national government, the state governments, and the county governments.
b. Two; the national government and the state governments.
c. Four; the national government, the state governments, the county governments, and city
governments.
d. There are too many to count exactly.

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26. Supporters of the states’ rights emphasize
a. the reserved powers of the 10th amendment to the US Constitution.
b. believe that allowing each state to develop its own policies creates 50 little “laboratories”
which might yield better solutions than a “one-size fits all” approach of national control.
c. The need for uniformity of public policies in the United States.
d. Both a and b are arguments in favor of allowing state governments more authority in our
federal system.

27. In which of the following policy area(s) do both the national government and state governments have
some jurisdiction?
a. Establishing treaties with foreign governments.
b. Printing money
c. Taxation
d. Both b and c

28. The US Constitution specifically lists (in Article I Section 8)

a. what the national government can do.
b. what citizens can do.
c. what the US Supreme Court can do.
d. how the state government divide up their power.

29. When the national government in Washington makes state highway funds contingent upon states
raising their drinking age to 21, the national government is
a. simply following the Constitution, which states that determining the legal drinking age is a
power of the national government.
b. violating the Constitution, which explicitly prohibits the national government power from
determining the drinking age.
c. legally getting around Constitutional limits on its power by offering financial incentives to
states to change the drinking age voluntarily.
d. The national government does not get involved in issues as mundane as drinking age.

30. Given the history of many Southern states (before and after the Civil War), the term, “states’ rights,”
has often been used as code for _____________.
a. Racial discrimination
b. A progressive agenda that hopes to change the status quo.
c. Increasing democracy (especially direct democracy)
d. Both b and c

31. Civil liberties refer to

a. a subset of constitutional court cases on the subject of the First Amendment.
b. the right to dispense, use, and buy private property as allowed by law.
c. government responsibility for guaranteeing that all citizens are able to participate as equals in
the practices of democracy.
d. Constitutional provisions, laws, and practices that protect individuals from government
intervention; in other words they are issues relating to individual freedom.

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32. In class, we argued that virtually all of the Bill of Rights are actually civil liberties. Which of the
following amendments is/are civil rights?
a. The establishment clause of the 1st Amendment
b. The 6th amendment of a promise of a “speedy trial”.
c. The 4th amendment protection against “warrantless search and seizure”.
d. All of the above are civil rights (the document is called “The Bill of Rights”).

33. The primary means by which the Bill of Rights has been applied to the states (a process known as
“selective incorporation”) is through
a. the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14 th
Amendment.
b. Executive orders by the President.
c. the action of state governors using the “elastic clause” of Article I Section 8.
d. acts of Congress.

34. Which of the following is/are true about the court cases, Texas v. Johnson (1989) and US v. Eichman
(1990)?
a. Flag burning could not be made a crime because it is protected by the 1 st Amendment
freedom of expression.
b. It was decided by the smallest majority possible (5-4).
c. It could be said to violate popular sovereignty since a majority of Americans (then and now)
support making flag burning a crime.
d. All of the above

35. Which of the following is NOT included in the First Amendment to the US Constitution?
a. Congress may not make any law with regards to the establishment of religion.
b. Congress may not abridge the right to privacy.
c. Congress may not abridge the free exercise of religion.
d. Congress may not abridge freedom of speech or of the press.

36. Benjamin Franklin made what observation about the trade-off between freedom and security?
a. “Those willing to trade essential liberties for temporary security deserve neither.”
b. “There are times, particularly in war, when a society needs to sacrifice temporarily important
liberties in order to feel safer.”
c. “America’s Democratic Republic has permanently solved the trade-off between order and
liberty that has plagued societies for centuries.”
d. “The government that governs best is that which governs least.”

37. In Mapp v. Ohio (1961), the Supreme Court enunciated the ____________ to prevent police and
prosecutors from using evidence gained through warrantless and unreasonable searches to convict
people.
a. due process rule
b. exclusionary rule
c. equal protection rule
d. Lemon Test

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38. The court case of Citizen United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) established that
a. Protestant Christian prayers would be considered constitutional, but prayers from other
religious denominations (e.g., Catholic, Mormon, Islamic, etc.) would not be allowed because
those were minority faiths in the United States.
b. Freedom of speech would be exactly the same in peace or in wartime because speech is so
important to a democratic society.
c. Corporations, wealthy individuals, unions and interest groups can spend as much of their own
money and profits on TV ads for a particular political candidate because such spending was
seen as freedom of speech.
d. The freedom of press did NOT apply at the state level.

39. The Free Exercise Clause of the 1st Amendment refers to which civil liberty?
a. Religion
b. Speech
c. Privacy
d. Association

40. The Supreme Court has

a. settled on an exact definition of obscenity that is acceptable to all members of American
society.
b. ruled that the First Amendment bans the government from placing any limitations on
obscenity or pornography.
c. struggled to define obscenity.
d. banned pornography under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Multiple Choice Answers

1) A 2) D 3) B 4) D 5) C 6) C 7) D 8) A 9) B 10) D 11) C 12) D 13) A 14) B 15) C 16) D 17) B
18) C 19) D 20) B 21) C 22) A 23) B 24) A 25) B 26) D 27) C 28) A 29) C 30) A 31) D 32) B
33) A 34) D 35) B 36) A 37) B 38) C 39) A 40) C

Remember: It is important that you know why the answer you have chosen is correct; it is also important
to know why the other answers are NOT correct!