Exam Format

• 9 AM, Monday, December 9
• You may not begin the test after the first person finishes, so be on time!
• Same as previous exams: multiple choice, multiple answer, true-false
• 3 points per question
• 56 questions, 168 points, 75 minutes
• 2 Extra Credit questions
• On Canvas, in the classroom unless you tell me in advance to make a paper copy
• Closed book, closed notes
• No makeup exams

Study Tips

• Study the prior exams
• Practice Final Exam on Canvas

Exam Content

• Everything we have covered this semester is fair game

• Extra Credit:

    - Federal taxation
    - Citizen participation

• Modules 1 through 4

• Lecture questions on “What is government?” 4 questions

Module 1

• Political thinking and culture

• The Constitution

    - Separation of powers
    - Checks and balances
    - Federalism
    - Bill of Rights
    - Enumerated powers
    - Necessary and proper clause

• Federalism

    - Supremacy clause
    - Dual federalism
    - Cooperative federalism
    - New federalism
    - Fiscal federalism

• Civil liberties

    - Bill of Rights
    - 14th Amendment and incorporation
    - Freedom of speech
    - Freedom of religion
    - Freedom of the press
    - Right to privacy
    - Due process

Module 2

• Public opinion

• Political participation

    - Voting and elections
    - other forms of participation

• Political parties

• Interest groups and the Media

• Congress

    - Structure
    - Powers
    - Committees
    - Leadership
    - Functions
    - Elections

Module 3

• The Presidency

    - Roles
    - Powers
    - Elections
    - Impeachment

• The Bureaucracy

    - Structure
    - Functions
    - Types of agencies
    - Civil service
    - Regulation

• Foreign Policy

    - Roles of the President and Congress
    - Treaties
    - War powers
    - Foreign aid
    - International organizations

• Domestic policies

    - Economic policy
    - Environmental policy
    - Health policy
    - Income, Welfare, and Education

Module 4

• The Judiciary

    - Structure
    - Jurisdiction
    - Original vs. Appellate jurisdiction
    - Decider of fact vs. Decider of law
    - Precedent

• Civil Rights

    - Civil Rights vs. Civil Liberties
    - What is discrimination? Is it always illegal?
    - Prohibited types of discrimination against **protected classes** is illegal
    - Equal protection
    - Affirmative action
    - Voting rights
    - Women's rights, LGBTQ rights, and disability rights

Important court cases

• Knowing what the court cases are basically about can help you eliminate really bad choices on the exam

    - Know the general categories for each case (slide headings)
    - Know the specific thing the case addressed (in parentheses by each case)
    - Then try to know some details about the case

Important Court Cases (Government Structure)

• Marbury v. Madison (established judicial review)
• McCulloch v. Maryland (federalism - federal supremacy)
• Prinz v. United States (federalism - state’s not agents of the federal government)
• United States v. Nixon (executive privilege)
• Bush v. Gore (elections - equal protection applies to elections)

Important Court Cases (Civil Rights)

• Dred Scott v. Sandford (denied citizenship to African Americans - major spark of the Civil War)
• Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal allowed - Jim Crow laws)
• Brown v. Board of Education (overturned Plessy; separate is inherently unequal)
• Virginia v. Loving (interracial marriage - marriage is fundamental right)
• Obergefell v. Hodges (same sex marriage)

Important Court Cases (Civil Liberties)

• Griswold v. Connecticut (created the right to privacy - topic was birth control)
• Roe v. Wade (legalized abortion for first trimester, limited regulation in 2nd trimester to health of the woman, allowed prohibition to protect the fetus in the 3rd trimester)
• Casey v. Planned Parenthood (abortion - narrowed Roe v. Wade allowing more regulation of abortion)

Important Court Cases (Civil Liberties)

• Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (overturned Roe v. Wade and Casey - made abortion a state issue - does not ban abortion)
• Lawrence v. Texas (overturned state sodomy laws - right to privacy - ended persecution of homosexual sex)

Important Court Cases (Civil Liberties - Criminal Justice)

• Gideon v. Wainwright (right to counsel)
• Miranda v. Arizona (police must inform suspects of rights before questioning)
• Terry v. Ohio (stop and frisk; reasonable search during questioning)

Authorship and License

Do not submit to Quizlet, Chegg, Coursehero, or other similar commercial websites.

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.