NYSTCE NYSTCE Social Studies (005) 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which landmark Supreme Court case established the principle of judicial review in the United States?
- McCulloch v. Maryland
- Marbury v. Madison (Correct answer)
- Gibbons v. Ogden
- Fletcher v. Peck
Correct answer: Marbury v. Madison
Marbury v. Madison (1803) established judicial review, giving the Supreme Court authority to strike down laws that violate the Constitution.
Question 2: The Three-Fifths Compromise included in the original U.S. Constitution addressed which issue?
- How to divide tax revenue between large and small states
- How enslaved people would be counted for representation and taxation (Correct answer)
- How to regulate interstate commerce among the states
- How new states would be admitted to the Union
Correct answer: How enslaved people would be counted for representation and taxation
The Three-Fifths Compromise counted each enslaved person as three-fifths of a free person for purposes of congressional apportionment and direct taxation.
Question 3: Which amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted women the right to vote nationwide?
- 13th Amendment
- 15th Amendment
- 19th Amendment (Correct answer)
- 24th Amendment
Correct answer: 19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, prohibited denying the right to vote on account of sex, securing women's suffrage across the country.
Question 4: The Missouri Compromise of 1820 primarily attempted to resolve which national controversy?
- Tariff disputes between northern and southern states
- The expansion of slavery into new western territories (Correct answer)
- Native American land rights in the Mississippi Valley
- The establishment of a Second National Bank
Correct answer: The expansion of slavery into new western territories
The Missouri Compromise tried to balance tensions over slavery by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state while prohibiting slavery north of 36°30' latitude.
Question 5: The system of checks and balances in the U.S. government is designed primarily to:
- Ensure equal representation of all states in the Senate
- Prevent any single branch of government from accumulating excessive power (Correct answer)
- Guarantee individual liberties against government intrusion
- Divide authority between state and federal governments
Correct answer: Prevent any single branch of government from accumulating excessive power
Checks and balances gives each branch of government powers to limit the other branches, preventing dangerous concentration of authority in any one branch.
Question 6: Which New Deal agency employed millions of unemployed Americans in public works projects such as building roads, bridges, and public buildings during the Great Depression?
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
- Works Progress Administration (WPA) (Correct answer)
- Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
- Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Correct answer: Works Progress Administration (WPA)
The Works Progress Administration (WPA), established in 1935, employed over 8 million Americans in construction, arts, literacy, and other public works projects.
Question 7: Which combination of events most directly caused the United States to enter World War I in April 1917?
- The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Serbian response
- Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram (Correct answer)
- The sinking of the RMS Lusitania alone
- The fall of the Russian Tsar and fear of communist spread
Correct answer: Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram
Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare threatening American ships and the Zimmermann Telegram proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the U.S. directly pushed Congress to declare war.
NYSTCE NYSTCE Social Studies (005) 1
Which landmark Supreme Court case established the principle of judicial review in the United States?