This AP Government quiz covers Chapters 1-3, focusing on key aspects of the U. S. Political system, voter turnout, and policymaking. It tests understanding of constitutional principles, political institutions, and processes essential for civic competence.
In a 2007 nationwide survey, only 37 percent of college freshman said that "keeping up with politics" was an important priority for them.
Political interest among college students rose to record heights following September 11th, surpassing levels of interest among college students of the 1960s.
American youth are more likely to be informed about politics than are older Americans.
All of the above
Both B and C
Rate this question:
People over 65 have turned out to vote at a higher rate than young Americans since the early 1970s.
Young Americans have increased voter participation in the early twenty-first century, but still vote at lower rates than they did in the early 1970s.
In 2004, young Americans surpassed a record of voter turnout, set earlier in the 1970s.
Both A and B are true.
None of the above are true.
Rate this question:
Congress
Judiciary
Federal administrative agencies
Interest groups
Presidency
Rate this question:
Democracy
Government
The bureaucracy
A constellation
The policymaking system
Rate this question:
A gathering of people to represent the public opinion.
A location to express a political opinion.
A channel through which people's concerns become a political agenda.
Formation of a special interest group.
An environment where one learns about the political process.
Rate this question:
Public policies
Exercises in public opinion
Interest groups
Majoritarian politics
Red tape
Rate this question:
Government control of information
Inclusion
Citizen control of the agenda
Equality in voting
Effective participation
Rate this question:
Bureaucratic theory.
Hyperpluralist theory.
Elite and class theory.
Pluralist theory.
Balance of power theory.
Rate this question:
Weak groups and strong government.
Strong government and strong groups.
Weak groups, strong elites, and weak government.
Strong groups and weak government.
Too few groups result in the creation of many governments.
Rate this question:
Polarized.
Secular.
Hypocritical.
Egalitarian.
Isolationist.
Rate this question:
Have rights that are granted them by government.
Are granted rights by their king.
Derive their rights from God.
Determine their own rights.
Derive their rights from nature.
Rate this question:
Not dependent on governments.
Dependent on governments.
Rights inherent in human beings.
All of the above
Both A and C
Rate this question:
It was dictatorial.
The Congress was a puppet for George Washington.
It was weak and ineffective.
It was frequently involved in foreign affairs.
It was very large and bureaucratic.
Rate this question:
It gives more power to large states, particularly in presidential elections.
It gives more power to people living in states with large populations.
It gives more power to people living in states with small populations.
It distributes power among people of large and small states exactly equal.
Both B and D
Rate this question:
A majority of the Supreme Court.
Legislatures of three-fourths of the states.
A national convention.
State conventions called by two-thirds vote in Congress.
A two-thirds vote in each house of Congress.
Rate this question:
A two-thirds vote in each house of Congress.
A national convention called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures.
The request of the president of the United States.
All of the above
A or B
Rate this question:
Banned flag burning.
Banned gay marriage.
Granted suffrage to women.
Repealed prohibition.
Granted the right to vote to all citizens 18 years of age or older.
Rate this question:
Prohibited the sale and consumption of alcohol.
Abolished slavery.
Banned flag burning.
Granted the right to vote to all citizens 18 years of age or older.
Granted suffrage to women.
Rate this question:
Marbury v. Madison
Dred Scott v. Sandford
U.S. v. Lopez
McCulloch v. Maryland
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
Rate this question:
Allow almost all groups some place in the political system where their demands for public policy can be heard.
Have acted to discourage the growth of groups in American society.
Create so many obstacles that groups have no place for their policy demands to be heard.
Are basically undemocratic since only elites can formulate policies within the system.
Have made the United States one of the most democratic countries in the world.
Rate this question:
The original Constitution was characterized by numerous restrictions on direct voter participation.
The original Constitution offers numerous guidelines on voter eligibility.
Five of the 17 constitutional amendments passed since the Bill of Rights have focused on the expansion of the electorate.
Political change, such as the emergence of political parties, has contributed to the changing nature of the Constitution.
One of the central themes of American history has been the gradual democratization of the Constitution.
Rate this question:
Its code of conduct.
Never an unwritten document.
Always a written document.
Another way of referring to a society's common law.
Its constitution.
Rate this question:
Thomas Benjamin
Thomas Paine
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Friedman
Rate this question:
Counted slaves as three-fifths of a person.
Counted slaves as one-half of a person.
Was silent on the issue of how slaves would be counted, instead of leaving the issue to each state to decide.
Did not count as slaves.
Counted slaves as free persons.
Rate this question:
Guarantee the states a significant economic role.
Create a strong national government so as to bring stability out of economic chaos.
Establish a comprehensive set of social welfare programs to assist people in times of need.
Preserve and strengthen the farm economy to the disadvantage of manufacturing.
Promote a more equal distribution of wealth in the country.
Rate this question:
The ability to borrow money.
The ability to levy taxes.
The ability to regulate interstate and intrastate foreign commerce.
The ability to pay debts.
The ability to force states to abolish slavery.
Rate this question:
States.
President.
Courts.
Federal Reserve Board.
U.S. Congress
Rate this question:
Slavery.
The role of the president.
Whether or not to ensure political equality.
Women's suffrage.
How states were to be represented.
Rate this question:
Encourages change.
Has a conservative bias favoring the status quo.
Discourages moderation and compromise.
Is a form of direct democracy.
Both C and D
Rate this question:
Needed the approval of nine states.
Occurred when it was approved by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention.
Needed the approval of a majority of the people.
Needed the approval of all the states.
Was by two-thirds vote of the Continental Congress.
Rate this question:
Give too much power to the states.
Produce more democratic elements than desirable for a strong central government.
Promote pluralism, which would threaten liberty.
Provide for elite control, endanger liberty, and weaken the states.
All of the above
Rate this question:
Alexander Hamilton
James Madison
John Jay
Publius
All of the above
Rate this question:
The middle class; a handful of wealthy individuals
The east coast; the western frontier
Cities; countryside
Wealthy individuals; the middle class
Countryside; cities
Rate this question:
Urban and rural divisions.
Aristocracy.
Racial inequalities.
The British army.
The unequal division of property.
Rate this question:
It dissolved the Continental Congress.
It selected George Washington as the first post-Revolutionary president.
It issued the Declaration of Independence.
It was the first national convention of women demanding the right to vote.
It issued the first call for the Constitutional Convention, which would form in Philadelphia in 1787.
Rate this question:
They were all men.
They were mostly wealthy planters.
Most were residents of western frontiers.
A significant number of urbanites.
Many were college graduates.
Rate this question:
Connecticut Plan
Virginia Plan
New York Plan
Rhode Island Plan
New Jersey Plan
Rate this question:
The New Jersey Plan
The Federalist Papers
The Virginia Plan
The Connecticut Compromise
The Articles of the Confederation
Rate this question:
Depends on the state's population
One
Six
A total of three
Two
Rate this question:
Two
A total of three
One
Depends on the state's population
Six
Rate this question:
Threw out the idea of having a monarch in the United States, opting instead for an indirectly elected president.
Resolved the impasse between those who favored the New Jersey Plan and those who preferred the Virginia Plan.
Added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution in order to lessen concerns about too much power for the new government.
Settled the dispute about whether slavery should be permitted in the final Constitution.
Involved all of these elements.
Rate this question:
Prevent anarchy.
Educate the people.
Promote the common good.
Protect individuals from violence.
Protect natural rights.
Rate this question:
On laws given by the king.
On consent of the government.
In the laws of the previous government.
On the morals of the rule.
On the continuity of government, thus all efforts to overthrow a government are treason.
Rate this question:
A state of uninhabited territory ripe for government control.
A state ruled by the people, or a democracy.
A state in which human law is able to create natural rights.
A state in which there are no formal laws or government.
All of the above
Rate this question:
John Adams
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Paine
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
Rate this question:
It provided for no judiciary.
It provided for a unicameral national legislature.
It represented a "league of friendship" among the states.
It vested all of the meaningful power in the states.
It gave the president too much power.
Rate this question:
Power is centralized in the national government.
Power is centralized in state and local government.
There are three branches of government and a system of checks and balances.
Both national and state levels of government have some authority over the same land and people.
There is one federal government and all regional governments are administrative subunits of it.
Rate this question:
To the president.
To all governments by the Bill of Rights.
To both the state and national governments.
To the national government.
To state governments.
Rate this question:
Quiz Review Timeline (Updated): Oct 23, 2023 +
Our quizzes are rigorously reviewed, monitored and continuously updated by our expert board to maintain accuracy, relevance, and timeliness.
Wait!
Here's an interesting quiz for you.