Study Guide for Second Test – Fall 2010
Last updated 10/19/2010
The test
will cover chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7 in your text and will consist of a
combination of multiple choice and essay questions. The format is the same as for
the first test, but there will be a few more questions.
Please be
sure to bring a scantron (the kind with room to write
an essay), and a number 2 pencil.
I am
giving you some ideas here of what you should know on the test. Refer back to
the text and to your notes from our class discussions. You are responsible for
all of the material there. You can also refer to the Power Points on the K
drive.
You should
understand each of the paradoxes presented in the chapters. You do not have to
memorize them per se, but understanding them will help you understand the broad
themes of each chapter.
You should
be familiar with and able to identify all the bold faced words in the chapters
and the terms listed at the end of each chapter.
You should
be able to cite some current news examples to illustrate points in your essay.
Here are
some terms and ideas you should know. This list does not necessarily cover
everything that will be on the test. Refer back to your text and to your notes
from class discussions and any required readings assigned (but not extra
credits!). These would include the general ideas in the Nader article on
federalism, the newspaper articles on the courts, and articles like “Maggots in Your
Mushrooms” and the excerpt from “The
Jungle” – you should be able to use these to illustrate key points.
Strong
presidents and how they contributed to the office (Washington, FDR, etc). You should be familiar with the contributions of each to the
office, like Lincoln’s use of emergency powers, Kennedy’s use of television,
etc.
Textbook
presidency
Stewardship
theory of the presidency and literalist theory of the presidency (T. Roosevelt
and Taft, respectively)
Two term
limit and how it came about – remember the constitutional amendment! Which
president was elected 4 times? Why?
Presidential
roles (chief of staff, commander in chief, etc) and role played by his
surrogates (First Lady, etc) – look also at concepts like veto and pocket veto,
executive agreements and treaties, impoundment, executive privilege (some of
this is repeated below separately!)
Court-packing
plan of FDR
Executive
agreements and treaties
Presidential
powers (recess appointments, impoundment, executive
privilege – pardon - veto – pocket veto – there is no line item veto!)
Executive Office
of the Presidency (what it is, what agencies are there, what a few of them,
like OMB, do)
Role of
the vice president and how and when it evolved to something more than just a
role of waiting for the president to die
Institutional
presidency – White House Office, EOP (the White House Office is the highly
political wing)
Requirements
to become president, both formal and informal
Power to
persuade and other informal presidential roles
Definition
of a bureaucracy, including characteristics, and pluses and minuses
Red tape
Reasons
why bureaucracy has grown (Where does the “Maggots in Your Mushrooms” fit?)
Which
levels of government employ the most people (federal, state, local)
Merit and
spoils systems – what are they?
Pendleton
Civil Service Act of 1883
Civil Service
Reform Act of 1978
Senior
Executive Service
Impoundment
(once again!)
The
Congressional bureaucracy (know a couple of examples like Library of Congress –
this was actually mentioned in chapter 3 but discussed briefly in the context of
chapters 4 and 5 – just be briefly familiar with it)
Kinds of
federal agencies (cabinet departments, executive agencies, regulatory agencies,
government corporations) and the differences between them (and examples of
each) – What kind of agency is the SEC, NASA, the TVA, the US Postal Service,
the Treasury Dept, etc?
e-gov
or electronic government – we looked at the federal government’s web portal and
you each did an assignment on your local government’s web site – what is it and
what impact has it had?
Proxy
administration (be able to define)
Privatization,
and its pluses and minuses (in other words, who does a better job, government
or the private sector, and why – think about the different goals of each and
the accountability issue)
Contracting
out of government services
Kinds of
taxes (progressive, proportional, regressive)
Kinds of
taxes various levels of government use (federal, state, local) depend on
(property, sales, income, user fees)
Fiscal and
monetary policy (definitions and who is responsible for each)
Supply-side
and Arthur Laffer (economist)
Keynesian
economics (be able to define)
Laissez-faire
or free market approach (be able to define)
Monetarism
and Milton Friedman (economist)
Deficit,
surplus, debt (be able to define)
National
Performance Review (private sector reform adopted by government in 1990s under
Clinton)
For the unit
on the courts, you should understand what the Constitution does and does not
say about the courts, what kind of people serve as judges, how they get their
jobs (including senatorial courtesy at the district court level, and how
appeals court judges and Supreme Court justices are appointed), differences
between Article I and Article III judges. You should understand the role that
ideology and politics play in court appointments and decisions. You should
understand what limits exist for the federal courts. You read an article on the
Tea Party and the Constitution – this illustrates different views on how to
interpret the Constitution – and one on the new Supreme Court session that
began in early October of 2010.
Differences
between federal and state courts, why few state cases are heard in federal
courts
Civil law
and criminal law
Original
jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction
District,
appeals, and Supreme Court
You should
understand the role of precedent, or stare decisis,
in decision making.
Rule of
four in accepting cases; writ of certiorari
Role of
law clerks – they are very influential!
You should
know how many people currently serve on the Supreme Court who are not white males. This changed again in the fall of 2010.
How many
justices serve on the Supreme Court, race and gender breakdown
You should
know the difference between judicial activism and restraint, and understand the
concepts of a living Constitution and originalism, or
original intent. Here’s where that Tea Party article comes in again!
You should
understand the concept of judicial review (and Marbury
v
You should
understand why the courts are really political institutions (look at who gets
appointed, how they get appointed, and how they make decisions) despite the
myth that the courts are non political institutions.
How long
federal judges serve, how they are removed from office
Qualifications
to be a federal judge
How state
cases get heard by federal courts
Eleventh
amendment to the Constitution – see my Power Point on this! It deals with who
has jurisdiction, federal or state courts, and state sovereignty
Unitary, federal, and confederal governments (definitions – this also appeared
earlier this semester in the first chapter)
The Constitution and federalism:
Interstate compacts – article I – SC
is in one for low level nuclear waste disposal
full
faith and credit clause (and public policy exception), privileges and
immunities clause, interstate rendition – article IV
Supremacy clause – article VI
10th amendment and reserved
powers
Limits on states: 14th
amendment, amendments that specify voting (note that the 14th
amendment includes the word “male”!)
The second article assigned on the Tea
Party fits in here as well.
History of federalism:
McCulloch v Md
(necessary and proper clause) and Gibbons v
Early to mid 1800s – nullification,
secession, civil war
Late 1800s to early 1900s – dual or
layer cake federalism and its implications on power and how wielded
New Deal era onward – cooperative or
marble cake federalism and its implications on power and how wielded
Civil rights era and Great Society
Devolution: 1980s and 1990s
States as laboratories of democracy,
and examples – see also Nader article here
Grants and their importance:
categorical and block grants, General Revenue Sharing
Unfunded mandates – there are lots of
them!
Kinds of local governments: general
purpose and special purpose governments, regional councils of government
The actors who determine “who is
responsible for what” – this includes citizens, parties, interest groups, etc.
Examples
of a multiple choice question: (not necessarily one that will be on the test,
but I have given you a typical question from each chapter):
Which
model for staff organization is best for most presidents?
A. chief
of staff
B. hub and
wheel
C. it
depends on the president’s personality and work habits
D. neither
Which president was the first to
greatly increase the role of the vice president by giving him an office in the
White House?
A. Warren G. Harding
B. Harry S. Truman
C. Jimmy Carter
D. Bill Clinton
What kind
of taxes do most local governments depend on?
A. income
taxes
B. sales
taxes
C.
property taxes
D. excise
taxes
As a result of the passage of the
Pendleton Act of 1883
A. The president created the Senior Executive
Service
B. Many patronage jobs were replaced
with jobs based on merit selection
C. Many merit based jobs were replaced
with jobs based on patronage
D. A major
set of reforms took place in the Civil Service Commission
E. Congress created the Office of
Personnel Management
How were most
federal courts established?
A. by the
Constitution
B. by a
special judicial commission created in the Constitution
C. by laws
passed by Congress and signed into law by the president
D. By
actions of the Senate alone
What important power was claimed by
the Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803)?
A. the power of four justices to
decide to hear a case
B. the right to issue writs of
certiorari
C. the power of issuing writs of
mandamus
D. judicial review
Unfunded mandates are
A. Government programs that pay
benefits to all eligible recipients
B. Efforts by state and local
governments to avoid paying income taxes
C. Required actions imposed by the
national government on lower governments without providing the money to pay for
them
D. Money given to the states by
Congress that can be used in broad general areas without specific requirements
A school district is which of the
following types of government?
A. a general purpose government
B. a special purpose government
C. a Regional Council of Government
D. none of the above
Sample
essay questions:
Outline the president’s powers and the
keys to being successful in office. In your discussion, be sure to describe the
limits that exist on presidential power.
List and describe at least five
different reasons why the federal bureaucracy has grown.
Compare and contrast free market
theory with Keynesian theory on what the national government should do and why
they should do it during a major economic slowdown. Which political party would
generally support which theory and why?
Discuss the ideal and reality of the
nonpolitical courts. In your discussion, describe three ways in which politics
enters into the federal courts.
Would the United States be better off
without a federal system? Make arguments on both sides of this question and
draw some conclusion, making sure you account for historical factors that led
to federalism in the first place.