American Governmnt Final Exam Review Sheet
The final exam in government will be cumulative, meaning it will have questions about everything we
have learned this semester. The test will have mostly multiple choice questions with some true and false.
Here are some topics to guide your studying.
 Define economic system
 Define form of government
 Define communism, socialism, and capitalism
 Define dictatorship, monarchy, representative democracy, and democracy
 Define government, federalism (and where we got it from)
 Where does the government get its power?
 What were the initial intentions of the Founding Fathers at the Constitutional Convention?
 Economic system and form of government of the United States
 How much power did the chief executive of England have?
 Under the Articles of Confederation, how much power did our chief executive have?
The Constitution: Article I
 What are the two houses of Congress? What is their membership based on? Who is the leader of
each? What are the requirements to hold office? How long are their terms?
 How many representatives are guaranteed for each state?
 Where do bills for raising revenue originate (start)?
 Who is involved in making a bill a law?
 Who has the power to coin money?
 Who has the power to declare war?
The Constitution: Article II
 What are the qualifications to be president of the United States?
 How long is the term for president? How many terms can a president serve?
 What is the ONE SPECIFIED duty of the vice-president under the Constitution?
 How is the president elected?
 Who can be impeached?
 Who can appoint top officials to executive agencies?
 How many electors are from each state?
The Whole Constitution:
 How many states are needed for ratification?
 Define a bicameral legislature
 Who must approve treaties?
 Define separation of powers, federalism, judicial review, checks and balances and popular
sovereignty
 What does the supremacy clause say?
 Who has the power to impeach (bring the charges)?
 What does the Constitution say about the requirements to be a Supreme Court judge?
 How long can a Supreme Court judge serve?
 Know Marbury v. Madison, Miranda v. Arizona
 Know which branch of government enforces, interprets, and creates laws.
 Who were Federalists?
 Who must approve appointments made by the president?
 How many justices sit on the U.S. Supreme Court?
 What is the only court to be named in the Constitution?
 What are the first ten amendments of the Constitution called?
 Together the House of Representatives and the Senate are called?
Elections:
 Who was the only group of people allowed to vote when our country was founded?
 What level of government controls/regulates elections?
 How many electors are there in the Electoral College? How do we determine this number?
 What are the purposes of political parties? What do members of these parties have in common?
 Why might a third party form in elections?
 19th and 26th amendments
 Define direct primary election, party platform
 What are the two major political parties in our society today?
The Bill of Rights and Articles IV-VII:
 Is it difficult to change the Constitution? How many times has it changed?
 What is the “Supreme Law of the Land”?
 Define ratify and amend
 What does the 1st amendment say?
 Why did many states not initially want to ratify the Constitution?
Ohio’s Government:
 What is Ohio’s Legislative Branch called?
 Who are the top officials in Ohio’s government? What are their term limits?
 What must a person do to vote in Ohio?