AP U.S. GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
UNIT 1 PRACTICE TEST
Foundations of American Democracy
25 questions — modeled on official AP question styles and stimulus formats.
Give yourself 30 minutes. Answers and explanations begin on a separate page after the questions.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. According to John Locke's theory of natural rights, which of the following best describes the primary purpose of
government?
A) To grant rights to citizens that they would not otherwise possess
B) To protect pre-existing rights to life, liberty, and property
C) To ensure that a single, strong ruler maintains order over the population
D) To redistribute property equally among all citizens
E) To represent the interests of a nation's economic elite
2. A city government holds monthly open forums where any resident can propose and vote on how a portion of the
municipal budget is spent. This practice best reflects which theory of democracy?
A) Elite theory
B) Pluralist theory
C) Participatory theory
D) Social contract theory
E) Natural rights theory
3. Hundreds of environmental, labor, and business groups regularly lobby Congress, each pushing legislators to favor
their members' interests. Political scientists who argue this competition among organized groups is the primary way
citizen interests are represented are applying which model of democracy?
A) Participatory democracy
B) Pluralist democracy
C) Elite democracy
D) Direct democracy
E) Dual federalism
4. Thomas Hobbes argued that without government, human life in the “state of nature” would most likely be:
A) Peaceful and cooperative, since people naturally respect one another's property
B) Governed by a natural aristocracy, with the wisest ruling the rest
C) “Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” due to constant conflict
D) Organized around small, self-sufficient republics
E) Structured by unwritten but universally respected natural law
, 5. Under the Articles of Confederation, the national government's inability to do which of the following most directly
caused the economic instability that led to Shays' Rebellion?
A) Declare war against foreign nations
B) Regulate interstate commerce and enforce debt collection uniformly
C) Appoint federal judges
D) Negotiate treaties with Native American nations
E) Establish a national currency printed by a central bank
6. Shays' Rebellion is most often cited as evidence for which claim?
A) The Articles of Confederation created a national government too weak to respond effectively to internal unrest
B) The Constitution granted the national government too much military power
C) State governments had no power to maintain their own militias
D) The Bill of Rights was unnecessary to secure ratification
E) Farmers uniformly opposed a strong national government even after 1789
7. The Great (Connecticut) Compromise at the Constitutional Convention directly resolved a dispute over which issue?
A) Whether enslaved people should be counted for taxation purposes
B) Whether the national government could regulate interstate commerce
C) How states would be represented in the new national legislature
D) Whether the president should be elected by popular vote or by Congress
E) Whether the Bill of Rights would be added immediately or later
8. Which of the following was the primary concession Federalists made to secure ratification of the Constitution by
skeptical states?
A) Agreeing to abolish the Electoral College
B) Promising to add a Bill of Rights protecting individual liberties
C) Agreeing to eliminate the federal judiciary
D) Promising each state an equal number of electoral votes
E) Agreeing to require unanimous consent for future amendments
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal
controls on government would be necessary.”
9. This passage from Federalist No. 51 is most directly used to justify which constitutional principle?
A) Popular sovereignty
B) Judicial review
C) Checks and balances
D) Dual federalism
E) The supremacy clause
“Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately
developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.”
10. This passage from Federalist No. 10 supports which argument James Madison makes about a large republic?
A) A large republic makes it harder for any single faction to gain a majority and dominate government
B) A large republic requires a hereditary monarch to remain stable
C) Factions are dangerous only in small republics and pose no threat in large ones
D) A large republic should eliminate political parties entirely
E) Small republics naturally prevent the formation of factions
UNIT 1 PRACTICE TEST
Foundations of American Democracy
25 questions — modeled on official AP question styles and stimulus formats.
Give yourself 30 minutes. Answers and explanations begin on a separate page after the questions.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. According to John Locke's theory of natural rights, which of the following best describes the primary purpose of
government?
A) To grant rights to citizens that they would not otherwise possess
B) To protect pre-existing rights to life, liberty, and property
C) To ensure that a single, strong ruler maintains order over the population
D) To redistribute property equally among all citizens
E) To represent the interests of a nation's economic elite
2. A city government holds monthly open forums where any resident can propose and vote on how a portion of the
municipal budget is spent. This practice best reflects which theory of democracy?
A) Elite theory
B) Pluralist theory
C) Participatory theory
D) Social contract theory
E) Natural rights theory
3. Hundreds of environmental, labor, and business groups regularly lobby Congress, each pushing legislators to favor
their members' interests. Political scientists who argue this competition among organized groups is the primary way
citizen interests are represented are applying which model of democracy?
A) Participatory democracy
B) Pluralist democracy
C) Elite democracy
D) Direct democracy
E) Dual federalism
4. Thomas Hobbes argued that without government, human life in the “state of nature” would most likely be:
A) Peaceful and cooperative, since people naturally respect one another's property
B) Governed by a natural aristocracy, with the wisest ruling the rest
C) “Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” due to constant conflict
D) Organized around small, self-sufficient republics
E) Structured by unwritten but universally respected natural law
, 5. Under the Articles of Confederation, the national government's inability to do which of the following most directly
caused the economic instability that led to Shays' Rebellion?
A) Declare war against foreign nations
B) Regulate interstate commerce and enforce debt collection uniformly
C) Appoint federal judges
D) Negotiate treaties with Native American nations
E) Establish a national currency printed by a central bank
6. Shays' Rebellion is most often cited as evidence for which claim?
A) The Articles of Confederation created a national government too weak to respond effectively to internal unrest
B) The Constitution granted the national government too much military power
C) State governments had no power to maintain their own militias
D) The Bill of Rights was unnecessary to secure ratification
E) Farmers uniformly opposed a strong national government even after 1789
7. The Great (Connecticut) Compromise at the Constitutional Convention directly resolved a dispute over which issue?
A) Whether enslaved people should be counted for taxation purposes
B) Whether the national government could regulate interstate commerce
C) How states would be represented in the new national legislature
D) Whether the president should be elected by popular vote or by Congress
E) Whether the Bill of Rights would be added immediately or later
8. Which of the following was the primary concession Federalists made to secure ratification of the Constitution by
skeptical states?
A) Agreeing to abolish the Electoral College
B) Promising to add a Bill of Rights protecting individual liberties
C) Agreeing to eliminate the federal judiciary
D) Promising each state an equal number of electoral votes
E) Agreeing to require unanimous consent for future amendments
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal
controls on government would be necessary.”
9. This passage from Federalist No. 51 is most directly used to justify which constitutional principle?
A) Popular sovereignty
B) Judicial review
C) Checks and balances
D) Dual federalism
E) The supremacy clause
“Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately
developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.”
10. This passage from Federalist No. 10 supports which argument James Madison makes about a large republic?
A) A large republic makes it harder for any single faction to gain a majority and dominate government
B) A large republic requires a hereditary monarch to remain stable
C) Factions are dangerous only in small republics and pose no threat in large ones
D) A large republic should eliminate political parties entirely
E) Small republics naturally prevent the formation of factions
