The Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution: A Comparison, Exercises of Law

Download The Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution: A Comparison and more Exercises Law in PDF only on Docsity! 1.What was the name of our country’s first constitution? Correct Answer: The Articles of Confederation Additional Information: Adopted by the Continental Congress in 1777 and ratified by all thirteen states in 1781, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union [the document’s full title] reacted to the colonial experience under Great Britain by establishing f a weak central government and reserving most of the power for the state governments. The United States Constitution, which established a stronger federal government, replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789. 2. What does the Constitution do? Correct Answer: All of the Above Additional Information: The Constitution creates the federal government. It says how the federal government works. It creates a government where citizens choose senators and representatives to make laws for the country. The Constitution also protects the basic rights of all Americans. 3. When was the Constitution signed? Correct Answer: September 17, 1787 Additional Information: The United States Constitution was written over the course of the Constitutional Convention from May 25th - September 17th, 1787, ultimately being signed on September 17th, 1787. 4. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Which of the following was one of the writers? Correct Answer: James Madison More Information: James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers. The U.S. Constitution was written at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. People at the Constitutional Convention decided how the government should work. Then James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers. The Federalist Papers explained the new government. They said that the new United States needed the Constitution. Newspapers all over the United States published the Federalist Papers. 5. How old do citizens have to be to vote for President of the United States? Correct Answer: 18 or older Additional Information: The Twenty-Sixth Amendment prohibits the states and the federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen years old. It was the quickest adoption of an amendment. AMERICA250 CONSTITUTION QUIZ 2020 ANSWER KEY 6. Who vetoes bills? Correct Answer: The President Additional Information: The President has the power to stop a bill from becoming a law. The President can refuse to sign a bill that Congress approved. This is called a veto. The bill is sent back to Congress without the President's signature. Congress can change the bill or vote again. If two-thirds of the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the Senate vote to override the veto, it becomes a law without the President's signature. 7. How many amendments does the Constitution have? Correct Answer: Twenty-Seven Additional Information: In 1791, the Bill of Rights was also ratified with 10 amendments. Since then, 17 more amendments have been added. 8. What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution? Correct Answer: The Bill of Rights Additional Information: Late in the Constitutional Convention, the delegates rejected a proposal to include specific protection of individual rights as found in some state constitutions. After George Mason’s “there is no Declaration of Rights” became a rallying cry for the failed opposition to ratification of the Constitution, the new Congress acted and the states ratified the amendments that became known as the Bill of Rights in 1791, protecting individual rights and checking the power of the national government. 9. How many state votes were necessary to ratify the Constitution? Correct Answer: 9 States Additional Information: On September 28, Congress directed the state legislatures to call ratification conventions in each state. Article VII stipulated that nine states had to ratify the Constitution for it to go into effect. 10. How long did it take to frame the Constitution? Correct Answer: It was completed in less than one year Additional Information: 116 days. The Constitutional Convention made many drafts and many revisions to the Constitution. The Convention started, May 25, 1787 and adjourned, September 17, 1787. 11. The President is elected if he: Correct Answer: Wins a majority of the electoral votes Additional Information: Based upon the electoral process as described in the Constitution in Article 2, Section 1, Clause 3: "The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed ..." 12. If neither the President nor the Vice-President can serve, the position would be filled by: Correct Answer: The Speaker of the House Additional Information: In the case that the President can no longer serve, the Vice President would serve as President. If the Vice President cannot serve, the line of succession falls to the Speaker of the House, then to the Senate president pro tempore, then to Cabinet members. 28. The number of men who signed the Constitution was: Correct Answer: 39 Additional Information: In all, 55 delegates attended the Constitutional Convention sessions, but only 39 actually signed the Constitution. 29. Questions about interpreting the Constitution are finally settled by: Correct Answer: The Supreme Court Additional Information: As the final arbiter of the law, the Supreme Court is charged with ensuring the American people the promise of equal justice under law and, thereby, also functions as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution. 30. A U.S. President must have lived in the United States at least: Correct Answer: 14 years Additional Information: The Constitution lists only three qualifications for the Presidency — the President must be 35 years of age, be a natural born citizen, and must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years. 31. Nobody holding a United States office shall ever have to pass a: Correct Answer: Religious test Additional Information: A clause within Article VI, Clause 3, by its plain terms, provides that no federal officeholder or employee can be required to adhere to or accept any particular religion or doctrine as a prerequisite to holding a federal office or a federal government job. 32. The Nineteenth Amendment protects the voting rights of: Correct Answer: Women Additional Information: The Nineteenth Amendment prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. 33. The Constitution forbids states to: Correct Answer: All of the Above Additional Information: Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution puts limits on the powers of the states. States cannot form alliances with foreign governments, declare war, coin money, or impose duties on imports or exports, form alliances with foreign governments, declare war, coin money, or impose duties on imports or exports. 34. George Washington and James Madison were the only Presidents who signed the Constitution. Correct Answer: True 27. The Constitution forbids the use of: Correct Answer: A Bill of Attainder Additional Information: The United States Constitution forbids legislative bills of attainder: in federal law under Article I, Section 9, and in state law under Article I, Section 10. Such bills are acts of a legislature declaring a person or a group guilty of a crime and assessing punishment without a trial. 36. The Constitution treated all black people as three fifths of a human being. Correct Answer: False Additional Information: According to Article 1, Section 2 (repealed by the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868), the total number of enslaved black people in a given state was calculated at three fifths to determine the number of each state's representatives in the House of Representatives, the free black people in each state were counted as part of “the whole Number of free Persons” or five fifths. 37. Six men signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution: George Read, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, and James Wilson. Correct Answer: True 38. Constitution Day is celebrated on October 17. Correct Answer: False Additional Information: Constitution Day is celebrated on September 17, the anniversary of the day the framers signed the document. 39. The first time the formal term "The United States of America" was used was in the Declaration of Independence. Correct Answer: True Additional Information: The Constitution did not create the United States of America. Rather it established a new form of government for the Union created by the Declaration of Independence and previously governed under the Articles of Confederation. 35. The census counts every person living in the United States of America, and uses that count to determine the number of seats in the United States Congress. Correct Answer: False Additional Information: Article I, Section 2, empowers Congress to carry out the census in "such manner as they shall by Law direct" and mandates that an apportionment of representatives among the states must be carried out every 10 years. Therefore, originally determining the total number of seats in the House of Representatives and the apportionment of that total number among the states based on population. The census does not impact the total number of seats in the other congressional body, the Senate which includes two senators representing each state (Article I, Section 3). Since 1929, the total number of seats in the House of Representatives has been set at 435 by the Permanent Apportionment Act. 40. The word "democracy" does not appear in the Constitution. Correct Answer: True Additional Information: Although the Constitution begins with "We the People" and several amendments speak of the "right to vote," the government it establishes is not a pure democracy where individual voters pass laws to govern themselves--like a traditional New England town meeting. Rather under the Constitution the people directly elect representatives (Article I, Section 2) and senators (the Seventeenth Amendment), and indirectly elect the President and Vice President (Article II, Section 1) to govern. This government by consent of the governed is characteristic of the republican form of government the United States shall guarantee to every state in the Union (Article IV, Section 4). 41. At 81, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania was the oldest delegate at the Constitutional Convention. Correct Answer: True Additional Information: At 81, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania was the oldest delegate at the Constitutional Convention and at 26, Jonathon Dayton of New Jersey was the youngest. 42. The flag has 13 stripes to represent the number of signatures on the U.S. Constitution. Correct Answer: False Additional Information: The United States flag has 13 stripes because there were 13 original states. Today, the United States is an independent country. But before declaring independence as the United States of America in 1776, those states were 13 separate colonies governed by Great Britain. The 13 United States worked together to fight the British. They won the War of Independence in 1783. 43. George Washington had to change the date of his birthday during his lifetime. Correct Answer: True Additional Information: George Washington was born near Pope's Creek, Virginia on February 11, 1731. Following Great Britain's adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, George Washington's birthday shifted one year and eleven days to February 22, 1732. 44. George Mason refused to sign the Constitution, even though he’d had a major hand in shaping the final document. Correct Answer: False Additional Information: George Mason, a delegate from Virginia, actively participated in several important debates at the convention, but his arguments against the "Three-Fifths Compromise, for the end of the slave trade, and for the inclusion of a Bill of Rights were not reflected in the original Constitution, which he refused to sign.