FREE Civic Literacy College Question and Answers

Question 1

The United States is a federal, not a unitary, nation, in contrast to many other nations. What does it mean that the United States is a federal nation?

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The federal government is created by the people of the states, with only limited specific powers and responsibilities

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The federal government can command the states to enforce federal law

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The federal government must rely on the states to enforce federal law

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All power flows from the national or central government to the local or state governments, with the latter only having powers given by the central government

Question 2

Which of the following, as compared to the amendment processes for other constitutions, best represents the structure of the U.S. Constitution's amendment process?

Accepted Answer

It ensures a relative consensus across the diversity of the United States and prevents a narrow majority from imposing sweeping changes, whereas state constitutions,

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representing smaller communities, are easier, sometimes much easier, to amend. It takes into account the sovereignty of the states, but, unlike the Articles of

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Confederation, ensures a handful of states cannot block changes desired by other members. It does not allow citizens to directly propose changes to the Constitution; they must ncome either through Congress or through a convention called by state legislators

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All of the statements above accurately describe the amendment process

Question 3

Which best encapsulates the Founders' philosophical interpretation of the phrase "all men are created equal" from the Declaration?

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Everyone had an equal right to consent to participate in government—the consent of the governed

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Everyone was to have an equal distribution of wealth, education, etc

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Everyone had an equal distribution of talents

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All of the statements above describe the Founders’ understanding of the phrase “all men are created equal”

Question 4

Why was there a movement to alter how United States Senators were chosen that started in the 1830s and culminated in the Seventeenth (17th) Amendment?

Accepted Answer

Both A. and B., but not C.

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State legislatures often had difficulty selecting senators, sometimes leaving Senate seats vacant and states with reduced representation.

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It was part of a long trend of wanting more input from the citizenry, not only in directly giving them the vote but in clearing out a great deal of corruption in the process of selecting state legislators.

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19th and early 20th century Americans concluded that they thought federalism was increasingly obsolete and no longer wished to represent the sovereignty of the states.

Question 5

Under the Constitution, Congress has less power to enact laws controlling federal territories or federal districts, like the District of Columbia, than it does to enact laws governing the states.

Accepted Answer

lesser: in addition to the Bill of Rights, the Constitution creates additional limits on Congress’s ability to govern the District of Columbia and the territory, specifying protocols governing both

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not comparable: the Constitution does not discuss the powers of Congress to regulate either federal territories or federal districts

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greater: whereas Congress’s lawmaking ability governing the states is limited to those powers enumerated in the Constitution, it has discretionary power in DC and the territories, provided those laws do not violate the Bill of Rights

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the same: Congress can pass whatever laws it wishes (“all needful Rules and Regulations”), in either the states or the territories/districts, provided those laws do not violate the Bill of Rights.

Question 6

Hamilton argues in Federalist No. 70 that there should be just one executive and many legislators, and that it would be wrong to have either a legislator or numerous executives. Why did the Founders intend for the legislative to be relatively ineffective and the executive to be more effective, at least for domestic policy?

Accepted Answer

The process of deciding what policy should be made, which is the job of the legislature, not the executive, needs to be slow and deliberative, taking many facts and perspectives into account. By contrast, once the policy is decided, its implementation—which is the executive’s job-- should be efficient and with clear accountability for “feeble” administration

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The executive needs to have clearer control over his or her advisor drafting policies, including the Cabinet and departments, whereas members of Congress have a much larger staff to review executive branch proposals

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The executive is supposed to represent the policy views of all of the country, whereas the legislators are supposed to represent the policy views of their specific constituents. Thus, this gives the president a mandate to push for national policy after winning a presidential election

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Both B. and C., but not A.

Question 7

Why does the Constitution establish the treaty protocol process that it does, for example, in The Federalist?

Accepted Answer

Both A. and C., but not B.

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Having members of the legislative body, which represents the people of the United States, consent to/ratify a treaty is an important part of making it legitimate and ensuring there is deliberation before committing the United States

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Since the executive is chosen by the people of the United States, and best represents all of the people, the executive should not only be the part of the government that negotiates the treaty but also issue the nation’s binding consent to it

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Since negotiations require secrecy and efficiency; the executive is better suited to negotiate, since having many members of a representative legislature would make negotiations too complicated

Question 8

According to John Marshall (Marbury v. Madison), Alexander Hamilton (Federalist 78), and other historical justifications of the authority of judicial review,

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judicial review ensures the people’s Constitution is supreme, insofar as all branches must follow it, and that laws that violate it are unconstitutional. However, justices must be bound only by enforcing the law and cannot “substitute their own pleasure” (what the law should be)

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judicial review was not originally understood as being in the Constitution, and had to be invented by Chief Justice John Marshall and the Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison in order to actually enforce the Constitution

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judicial review means that all constitutional decisions must be decided by the Supreme Court and only the Supreme Court; Congress and the president should refrain from making constitutional judgements and leave legal interpretation to judicial experts

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judicial review makes the Supreme Court superior to Congress, since the former can block acts of the latter on grounds that Congress has acted unwisely

Question 9

What was the objective of the Ninth (9th) Amendment, according to its author James Madison and the majority of modern legal scholars?

Accepted Answer

To clarify that adding a Bill of Rights with specific civil liberties did not eliminate the underlying limitation of the federal government to specific enumerated powers

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To prevent states and the federal government from passing laws impairing the “obligation of contract”, such as using paper money to devalue currency

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To empower the judiciary to enforce other fundamental rights applied to both the federal government and the states

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To apply the common law protections of jury trials to the federal government, as well as ensure the due process of law in federal legal proceedings

Question 10

Which of the following best encapsulates the Supreme Court's interpretation of the First Amendment's guarantees of free speech?

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Obscene materials and speech inciting imminent lawless action are not protected

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Obscene materials, “hate speech,” and speech inciting imminent lawless action are all protected

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Speech inciting imminent lawless action and “hate speech” are not protected

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“Hate Speech” and obscene materials are not protected