AP US Government — Practice Questions flashcards
6 of 45 questions free to study here · 4 topics · the whole deck is built into Willys
Multiple-choice practice questions, one best answer each, on foundational documents, federalism, Congress, the presidency, courts, civil liberties, civil rights and voting.
Practice deck · part of AP US Government and Politics · written against: College Board AP US Government and Politics CED (effective fall 2026): thirteen required documents and fourteen required cases. Updated 2026-10-10.
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A pamphlet argues that people hold rights no ruler grants, that governments gain just power only from the people they govern, and that a people may replace a government that persistently abuses those rights. Which founding document makes the same argument?
A) Federalist No. 51
B) The Articles of Confederation
C) The Declaration of Independence
D) The Anti-Federalist essay Brutus No. 1C) The Declaration of IndependenceFoundations › Documents
The Declaration rests on natural rights, consent of the governed and the right to alter or abolish a government that violates them, which is Locke's social contract. Brutus 1 attacked the proposed Constitution's centralizing power rather than justifying a revolution. -
Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress asked the states for money to pay war debts, and many states sent little or nothing. Which feature of the Articles best explains this problem?
A) The president vetoed most revenue bills
B) Congress lacked the power to declare war
C) Congress lacked the power to levy taxes
D) Large states controlled the legislatureC) Congress lacked the power to levy taxesFoundations › Documents
Congress under the Articles could only request money from the states because it had no power to tax. There was no executive to veto anything, and each state had one vote, so large states could not dominate. -
Tennessee had not redrawn its state legislative districts in about sixty years, leaving rural voters heavily overrepresented. What did the Court decide in Baker v. Carr (1962)?
A) States must draw majority-minority districts under the Voting Rights Act
B) Redistricting is a political question that only legislatures may resolve
C) Courts may hear malapportionment claims under the equal protection clause
D) Any district drawn mainly on the basis of race must survive strict scrutinyC) Courts may hear malapportionment claims under the equal protection clauseBranches › Congress
Baker held that malapportionment claims under the equal protection clause are justiciable, not political questions, opening the way to the one-person, one-vote rule. The strict scrutiny of race-based districts comes from Shaw v. Reno. -
A state draws an oddly shaped congressional district whose boundaries can be explained only as an effort to group voters of one race. Under Shaw v. Reno (1993), how will a court evaluate it?
A) With rational-basis review, because the aim was to aid minorities
B) With strict scrutiny, as a racial classification
C) It will refuse to hear the case as a nonjusticiable political question
D) With intermediate scrutiny, because districting is a legislative taskB) With strict scrutiny, as a racial classificationBranches › Congress
Shaw held that a district so irregular it can be understood only as an effort to separate voters by race must survive strict scrutiny under the equal protection clause, even when the purpose is to help minority voters. A benign motive does not lower the standard.
Watch out: the 'race as the predominant factor' test comes from the follow-up case Miller v. Johnson (1995). -
During the First World War, a man was convicted under the Espionage Act for mailing leaflets that urged draftees to resist conscription. In Schenck v. United States (1919), the Court
A) upheld the conviction because the speech posed a clear and present danger
B) upheld the conviction because printed leaflets are not protected speech
C) reversed the conviction because political speech is absolutely protected
D) reversed the conviction because the leaflets caused no substantial disruptionA) upheld the conviction because the speech posed a clear and present dangerCivil Liberties and Civil Rights › Required Cases
Schenck held that speech may be punished when it creates a clear and present danger of harms Congress may prevent, and that wartime changes what speech is dangerous. No-disruption reasoning belongs to Tinker, a later student-speech case. -
A state requires each person to pay a fee before voting in a federal election. Which amendment does this requirement violate?
A) The Twenty-fourth Amendment
B) The Seventeenth Amendment
C) The Nineteenth Amendment
D) The Twenty-sixth AmendmentA) The Twenty-fourth AmendmentPolitical Participation › Voting and Campaign Finance
The Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964) bans poll taxes in federal elections. The Nineteenth extended the vote to women and the Twenty-sixth lowered the voting age to eighteen.
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Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.
Checked against:
- Facts and case holdings follow this folder's study deck, which was checked against the Constitution, amendments and founding documents at the National Archives (public domain) and Supreme Court opinions via Oyez and the Legal Information Institute; reference only, no text copied.
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