Civics - 1st Nine Weeks Assessment (study guide)

	1.	What jurisdiction allows a court to hear appeals from a lower court? Appellate

	2.	What is the group of people named by each state legislature to select the president and vice president? Electoral College

	3.	What keeps one branch of government from becoming too powerful? Checks and Balances

	4.	A writ of habeas corpus requires police to explain to a court why they are holding a prisoner.

	5.	If the president ignores a bill for 10 days and Congress is not in session, it is a pocket veto

	6.	If a case can be heard in either a federal or a state court, those courts have concurrent jurisdiction.

	7.	The Boston Tea Party caused Parliament to pass the Coercive Acts, which Americans called the Intolerable Acts.

	8.	Special interest groups try to influence government decisions.

	9.	What is the term that is used when an official is formally accused of misconduct in office? impeach

	10.	Who wrote Common Sense? Thomas Paine

	11.	What refers to powers given to state governments but not to the national government? Reserved powers

	12.	What is a nation’s overall plan for dealing with other nations? Foreign policy 

	13.	Unfair treatment based on prejudice against a certain group is called what? Discrimination

	14.	What is the tactic of delaying a vote until a bill’s sponsor withdraws the measure? filibustering

	15.	The president may grant amnesty to pardon a group of people.

	16.	The census is a population count taken every 10 years.

	17.	What is the term for a detailed, written plan of government? Constitution

	18.	the most powerful member of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.

	19.	The Missouri Plan combines appointment of judges by the governor with popular elections.

	20.	What is the term for a court’s authority to hear and decide cases? Jurisdiction

	21.	State electoral districts must be equally apportioned, or based on population.

	22.	By Judicial Review, the Supreme Court decides if a law is constitutional.

	23.	What is the indirect method we use to elect the president? Electoral College

	24.	The Nineteenth Amendment extended suffrage to women.

	25.	What marked the beginning of self-government in colonial America? House of Burgesses
 
	26.	Senators can end a filibuster by a three-fifths vote in favor of cloture.

	27.	What regulates the ways state and local governments can raise and spend money? State constitutions

	28.	What is the term for the geographic area covered by an appeals court? circuit

	29.	The Nineteenth Amendment protected the right of women to vote in all national and state elections.

	30.	Many Southern states practiced segregation, or the social separation of the races.

	31.	The Declaration of Independence states that among our inalienable rights are “Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of happiness.”

	32.	The first 10 amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights.

	33.	The Great Compromise called for Congress to have a Senate and a House of Representatives.

	34.	A secretary of state usually manages elections and maintains the state’s official records.

	35.	A subpoena is a court order requiring someone to appear in court.

	36.	The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States of America.

	37.	What are completely unrelated amendments tacked onto a Senate bill? riders

	38.	Where does the president live and work? The White House

	39.	Popular Sovereignty is the notion that governmental power lies with the people.

	40.	A Treaty is a formal agreement between two or more countries.

	41.	The right to petition means the right to express one’s ideas to the government.

	42.	What is the basic goal of American foreign policy? National Security

	43.	Which amendment protects Americans “against unreasonable searches and seizures”? The Fourth

	44.	The form of government in which power is divided between the national government and the states is called federalism.

	45.	A state has as many electors as the total of its U.S. senators and representatives.

	46.	What is the most important role of the president? Chief Executive

	47.	The president has the power to issue an executive order, which is a rule or command that has the force of law.

	48.	What freedoms are protected by the First Amendment? Speech, Religion, Assembly, the Press, right to petition

	49.	Who follows the vice president in succession to the presidency? Speaker of the House

	50.	What term refers to government projects and grants that primarily benefit a Congress member’s home state? Pork-barrel projects 

	51.	Concurrent powers are held by both state and federal governments.

	52.	What plan proposed that every five enslaved persons would count as three free persons? Three-fifths Compromise

	53.	Congress may not pass ex post facto laws, or laws that make an act a crime after the act has been committed.

	54.	The Twenty-fifth Amendment makes provisions for presidential succession.

	55.	The middle part of the Preamble states the six purposes of the government.