World Government Final Exam Study Guide Spring 2015
1. Because the United States is a sovereign state what can it do?
2. What are the four defining characteristics of a state?
3. Based on the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, what is the purpose of the government of the United
States?
4. In a (n) __________, there is an absolute ruler who is not held responsible to the will of the people.
5. In what way is modern democracy a challenge to the divine right theory?
6. Which theory of the origin of the state most strongly influenced the formation of the government of the
United States?
7. How is the prime minister of a parliamentary government chosen?
8. In a representative democracy, how are public officials held responsible to the will of the people?
9. What is an oligarchy?
10. What is the origin of the state according to the evolutionary theory?
11. What are basic concepts of democracy?
12. Describe Federalism.
13. What is the Constitutional principle of republicanism?
14. Give an examples of how America expanded the idea of popular sovereignty.
15. Give examples of the system of checks and balances.
16. What are the three broad categories of Congressional powers?
17. How is membership in the House of Representatives determined?
18. Elections in the Senate are staggered. Not all Senators are up for election at the same time. What is
the election number and cycle?
19. How is the number of electors a state has in the Electoral College determined?
20. What are the powers of the president?
21. What important civil right was established by Article III?
22. Article IV deals with “relations among the states." What is included in this Article?
23. For the Constitution to be amended, ______ of Congress or the state legislatures must agree to
propose it, then ______________.
24. What does the Supremacy Clause grant?
25. What does the last Article to the U.S. Constitution deal with?
26. What all is covered in Bill of Rights?
27. What freedoms are covered in the First Amendment?
28. What do the Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments all have in common?
29. The Seventeenth Amendment provides that senators are elected how?
30. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees?
31. How many major political parties are in our system of government?
32. To be a voter in the United States, a person must meet what requirements?
33. Under the Constitution, the power to set suffrage qualifications belongs to?
34. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was an effort to ensure voting rights for what group?
35. What was the law that led to the establishment of the United States Civil Rights Commission?
36. Where does most of the money used in political campaigns come from?
37. Why was the Federal Election Commission established?
38. Describe the nominating process.