AP Government and Politics
Midterm 2016
Monday January 25th
7:40- 10:00
Format: 50 MC questions, 3 FRQs
**STUDY your vocabulary cards/lists/ quizlets for each chapter (Edwards 1-3, 4-14)
Unit I – Constitutional Underpinnings of United States Government
Essential Questions:
 Why did Madison and the Founders fear factions?
 What were the reasons for the swift adoption of the Bill of Rights?
 How did we arrive at principles such as separation of powers and federalism?
 How do those principles operate in our modern system?
Terms/ concepts: role of government, checks and balances, supremacy clause, full faith and credit
clause, reserved powers, devolution, direct democracy, representative democracy, categorical grants,
block grants, unfunded mandates
Unit II- Political Beliefs and Behaviors
Essential Questions:
 How do the differences among Americans shape their political beliefs?
 What information, influences and experiences inform political ideas, beliefs and behaviors ?
 How are citizens’ political ideas, beliefs and behaviors shaped by public opinion ?
 What makes any set of ideas or beliefs “public opinion ?
 How can political behavior be quantified and/or explained ?
Terms/ concepts: political socialization, demographics (a lot falls in this category !), poll, political
ideology, gender gap, voting behavior (see demographics)
Unit 3 - Political Parties, Interest Groups, Elections, and Mass Media
Essential Questions:
 Do political parties adequately represent public opinion in the U.S?
 Why has there been a proliferation of interest groups in the U.S?
 Has the media become too influential in US politics?
 How do linkage institutions impact government?
 Why is the issue of campaign finance a seemingly unsolvable problem ?
 How does the “50 State election” system encourage participation ? Limit participation?
Terms/ concepts: media, narrowcasting, role of the political party, role of the PAC, linkage institutions,
policy agenda, iron triangle*, lobbyists, grass roots lobbying ticket-splitting, national party organization,
“50 Party System” (as in 50 states), critical election, coalition, party realignment, party dealignment,
third parties, voter turnout, Motor Voter, campaign finance, soft money, Federal election Commission,
McCain-Feingold, Citizens United v. US, 527s, 501 (c), Super PACs
Unit 4- The Congress, the President and the Bureaucracy
Essential Questions
 Why did the framers give the longest list of enumerated powers to Congress?
 Why did the Framer not give more explicit power to the president?
 Does the current system of checks and balances make Congress unacceptably
cumbersome?
 How does a member of Congress determine what constituents want?
 What are the responsibilities of the president under the US Constitution?
 Evaluate the role of the modern presidency .
 Evaluate how public relations and the media affect the presidency.
 What is government regulation and why is it utilized by the government?
 How are bureaucracies organized?
 Does too much bureaucracy encroach on the democratic rights of citizens?
Terms and concepts: powers of the House of Representatives, powers of the Senate, powers of the
President, gerrymandering, White House Staff, congressional committees, iron triangles *, primaries,
incumbency, Electoral College, pork-barrel, fiscal policy, War Powers Resolution (1973), federal
expenditures, entitlements, national debt, OMB (Office of Management and Budget), authorization bill,
appropriations bill (1 year *), civil servants, privatization, deregulation