POLS 1333
American/Texas Government
Exam 1 Review Sheet
Terms You Should Know
You should know any of the bold faced words in the textbook.
Questions You Should be Able to Answer
1. What has happened to the trust in government of US citizens since the 1960s?
2. Does it matter that people do not trust the government? Why?
3. How does political knowledge work to create good citizenship?
4. Describe the six different types of government discussed in the text.
5. What is the difference between representative democracy (republic) and direct
democracy?
6. Describe the three consensus values in American politics.
7. What is Social Capital? Robert Putnam argues that social capital has declined in
the United States and he argues one of the reasons is television. Why has
television led to a decline in social capital?
8. Describe the main weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
9. What led up to, and what were the results of, Shay’s Rebellion?
10. Describe the Virginia and New Jersey plans, as well as, the Great Compromise.
11. Describe the three-fifths compromise.
12. Describe the four main goals of the framers of the Constitution.
13. Compare expressed powers to implied powers.
14. Describe the process for amending the Constitution.
15. Describe the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists and the three issues they argued
over.
16. Explain why the 10th Amendment is important.
17. What is the Full Faith and Credit Clause and why can it be controversial?
18. What are the differences between dual federalism and cooperative federalism?
Under dual federalism what powers did the federal government have? What
powers did state governments have? Please draw a picture to illustrate the
differences between dual federalism and cooperative federalism.
19. Describe the four eras of federalism that have happened since 1789.
20. Explain the differences between regulated and new federalism.
21. What are unfunded mandates?
22. What is a political ideology? Explain the key differences between liberals and
conservatives.
23. Describe the four agents of political socialization.
24. Explain John Zaller’s explanation for why people might have instability in their
responses to public opinion surveys. Why does Zaller argue that political
knowledge is important?
25. What two powerful sources influence the marketplace of ideas? Describe them.
