1.Which of the following is not considered a core political ideal in the United States?

A) Socialism

B) liberty

C) equality

D) self-government

E) individualism

2 The reality that officials in the United States spend comparatively less money on government programs for the poor than other fully industrialized democracies reflects the American ideal of

A) unity.

B) equality.

C) diversity.

D) collectivism.

E) individualism.

3 The two primary sources of political conflict are

A) liberalism and conservatism.

B) partisan differences and philosophy.

C) scarcity and differences in values.

D) ethnicity and geographical differences.

E) libertarianism and populism.

4 Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau would all have agreed with which of the following statements?

A) The people must obey their rulers, even when their rulers act unjustly.

B) People in a state of nature are happier than people living under a government.

C) All legitimate governments are based on a social contract.

D) The only legitimate government was one that regularly consulted the will of the people.

E) By agreeing to live under a government's rule, persons lose all claims to individual rights.

5 In Leviathan (1651), _____ argued that the government rests on a social contract in which ordinary people surrender what they would have in the state of nature in return for the protection a sovereign ruler could provide.

A) Thomas Hobbes

B) John Locke

C) Jean Jacques Rousseau

D) Thomas Jefferson

E) James Madison

6 One effect of the American political system's use of checks and balances is

A) a substantial division of governing authority.

B) that the three branches operate independently of each other.

C) the absolute guarantee that governmental power will not be abused.

D) an unusually expedient decision making process.

E) the reality that policy errors are completely avoided.

7 Which of the following statements provides the most accurate description of democracy as practiced in the United States?

A) The people directly govern themselves.

B) Elitist institutions are absent from the American government.

C) The power of the people to make and enforce laws is checked by nothing except the will of the people.

D) The people govern through elected representatives.

E) The will of the majority always prevails.

8 Which of the following is an input into the American political system?

A) public opinion

B) voting

C) political parties

D) interest groups

E) All these answers are correct.

9 Which of the following is an output of the American political system?

A) law passed by Congress

B) presidential decision in foreign policy

C) law passed by Congress and presidential decision in foreign policy

D) Congress

E) executive bureaucracy

10 In contrast to most regimes established by military coups in recent decades, Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia were

A) authoritarian.

B) democratic.

C) totalitarian.

D) aristocratic.

E) majoritarian.

11 Pluralists such as _____ argue that government responds to the true interests of most Americans most of the time.

A) G. William Domhoff

B) Max Weber

C) C. Wright Mills

D) Robert Dahl

E) All these answers are .

12 Thomas Jefferson counted the founding of which university to be among his greatest accomplishments?

A) the College of William and Mary

B) the University of Virginia

C) Harvard

D) Yale

E) Princeton

13 Being the world's highest rate, roughly _____ of Americans have a college degree.

A) two-thirds

B) one-half

C) one-quarter

D) 10 percent

E) 1 percent

14 Which of the following statements is true?

A) Slavery lasted for almost 250 years in America.

B) The Jim Crow era followed the Civil War.

C) In 1882, Congress suspended Chinese immigration on the assumption that the Chinese were an inferior people.

D) President Calvin Coolidge asked Congress for a permanent ban on Chinese immigration in 1923.

E) All these answers are correct.

15 Which of the following statements is true of African Americans today?

A) African Americans have equal rights under the law.

B) African Americans are twice as likely as whites to live in poverty.

C) African Americans are twice as likely as whites to be unable to find a job.

D) African Americans are twice as likely as whites to die in infancy.

E) All these answers are correct .

16 Which Western philosopher declared in a political tract from 1690 that all individuals have certain natural rights, including those of life, liberty, and property?

A) Thomas Hobbes

B) John Locke

C) Jean Jacques Rousseau

D) Thomas Jefferson

E) James Madison

17 In which famous document did James Madison argue that government is most dangerous when a single group gains complete political control?

A) Social Contract

B) Second Treatise on Civil Government

C) the Constitution

D) the Declaration of Independence

E) Federalist No. 10

18 The Federal Reserve Board is illustrative of the _____ theory of political power.

A) majoritarian

B) pluralist

C) elitist

D) bureaucratic

E) aristocratic

19 Which of the following is true of majoritarianism in the United States?

A) Majorities do sometimes rule in America.

B) In many policy areas, majority opinion is ignored by policy makers.

C) When majority opinion on major issues changes, policy tends to change in that direction as well.

D) The public is interested and well-informed on all policy issues.

E) All the statements are true, except the statement that the public is interested and well-informed on all policy issues.

20 ____ refers to the characteristic and deep-seated beliefs of a particular people about government and politics.

A) Classical liberalism

B) Political culture

C) Capitalism

D) Pluralism

E) Socialism