Week 10 Quiz

The Articles of Confederation were in force from 1781 to 1789, and the Constitution signed in 1787 replaced them. Which arrangement of power across levels did the Articles use?

Select one.

• A unitary arrangement, with final authority at the center
• A confederal one, with final authority in the States
• A federal arrangement, with authority divided in the constitution
• A presidential arrangement, with a separately elected executive

A student says, "Federalism and separation of powers are the same idea, since both divide power." What is the best correction?

Select one.

• Federalism divides power among branches, and separation of powers divides it among levels
• Both divide power among levels, but only federalism has a written list
• Federalism divides power vertically among levels, and separation of powers divides it horizontally among branches
• Both divide power among branches, but only separation of powers has courts

Amendment X reads: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Which statement describes the reserved powers?

Select one.

• They are a short list of named State powers written into Amendment X
• They are the powers Congress may use when a law is necessary and proper
• They are the powers that make a valid national law supreme over a State law
• They are the residue left after delegation and prohibition

Arvenna is a made-up federation whose constitution lets the federal parliament run a national postal service and ends its list with a necessary-and-proper clause. A federal law builds sorting centers to move the mail. How should the sorting-center law be sorted?

Select one.

• Enumerated, because the postal service is written in the list
• Implied, because they serve the listed postal job
• Reserved, because no clause of the list names sorting centers
• Supremacy, because the federal law outranks any provincial law

Article VI makes the Constitution and the laws made in pursuance of it "the supreme Law of the Land". What does this supremacy clause do?

Select one.

• It breaks ties between valid laws at two levels and grants no power
• It grants Congress every power that the list in Article I, Section 8 leaves out
• It means a national law beats a State law even when no power supports the national law
• It reserves to the States every power the Constitution does not delegate

In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), Congress had chartered a bank, and Maryland taxed it. How did the Court answer the case's two questions?

Select one.

• The bank was an enumerated power, and Maryland could tax it like any other bank
• The bank was beyond Congress's power, so Maryland's tax did not matter
• The bank was an implied power, and no State could tax it
• The bank was a reserved power, and Maryland alone could decide to tax it

True or false: the phrase "wall of separation between Church & State" appears in the text of Amendment I.

True or false.

• True
• False

Which of these pair a check correctly with the branch of the U.S. government that holds it? Select all that apply.

Select every option that applies.

• The President: a veto of a bill passed by Congress
• The Senate: confirmation of a president's appointment
• Congress: the power of the purse over government spending
• The Senate: a veto of a bill signed by the President
• The President: the power of the purse over Congress's budget

Week 9 called Marbury v. Madison (1803) a case about power: who decides. Which pinned case is instead about scope, upholding implied powers and federal supremacy?

Select one.

• Marbury v. Madison
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists
• McCulloch v. Maryland

Among the checks on each branch, which one lets the courts set aside an act that conflicts with the Constitution?

Select one.

• Judicial review
• Judicial independence
• Jurisdiction
• Confirmation