REA CLEP American Government Study

The Constitution of the United States was written in the year ________________. - Answer-1787 A(n) ______________ is a form of government in which the people (defined broadly to include all adults or narrowly to exclude women and slaves, for example) are the ultimate political authority. - Answer-democracy List the three qualifications of suffrage for citizens of the United States. 1. at least _________ years of age 2. is not a felon serving time in prison 3. has not, by reason of ________, been placed under the supervision of another person - Answer-eighteen felon insanity Before 1870, only _______ ___________ had the right to vote. - Answer-white men In what year was African Americans granted suffrage? - Answer-1870 Women did not receive nationwide suffrage until _______. - Answer-1920 For the most part, the United States is a(n) ____________ democracy, meaning that voters elect the people who represent them in governmental bodies. - Answer- representative In some instances, Americans exercise _________________ democracy, meaning citizens vote directly on political issues, and the majority wins. - Answer-direct The first direct democracy we know of was in the Greek city-state of _____________. - Answer-Athens Direct democracy in the United States today can be seen in ___________ _____________ __________ ______________, where citizens of a town make decisions about local matters. - Answer-New England town meetings Other manifestations of direct democracy came in the form of ____________ , __________, and ___________. - Answer-initiatives referenda recall A(n) _______________ is the proposal by a specified number of voters of a statute, constitutional amendment, or ordinance to compel a popular vote on its adoption; also known as a proposition. - Answer-initiative A(n) ____________ is the submission of a piece of legislation (intended or actual) directly to voters for approval. - Answer-referendum In 2006, voters in Michigan voted on an initiative to eliminate ___________ _____________ programs in public universities and in state employment. - Answer- affirmative action ___________ __________________ programs seek to compensate for past discrimination by giving special attention in hiring and college or university admissions to people from groups discriminated against. - Answer-Affirmative action A ____________ is the direct action of voters to remove a political figure from office. - Answer-recall The Constitution's framers put in place a _____________ democracy because they worried that the "passions" of the people, which sometimes were driven by political fads, could derail good government. - Answer-representative A(n) ___________ is a political system without a monarch. - Answer-republic A republic is a political system in which the people have political power - that is, they exercise __________ ______________. - Answer-popular sovereignty The United States is best described as a __________ ______________. - Answer- democratic republic According to the theory of ________________________, the government should do what most people in the country want it to do. - Answer-majoritarianism According to the ___________ theory, elites run for office, pay for campaigns, scratch their friends' backs, and accumulate power - all while singing the praises of popular sovereignty. - Answer-elite Because even after the American Revolution, most of the country's leaders argued that only men who owned a certain amount of property should have the vote, one can deduce that the Constitutional framers seemed to advocate a form of ____________ theory. - Answer-elite Many see the United States operating on the theory of political ______________, meaning that different interest groups argue for different things; they are then willing to make political compromises and accommodations, which is considered the art of politics. - Answer-pluralism A(n) _________ group is a group of people acting together in support of common concerns that often seek to influence politics. - Answer-interest