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AP Government / Civics / FSOT Questions - Question List

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76.

I often wondered whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lives in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.

- Judge Learned Hand, 1941

Which of the following best summarizes Judge Hand's argument about constitutional democracy in the United States?

  1. Constitutions are a serious obstacle to individual liberties.
  2. Constitutions allow governments to disregard individual liberties.
  3. Individual liberties depend on citizens committed to the protection of those liberties.
  4. Individual liberties can only be safeguarded by a written constitution and an independent judiciary.
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77.

The statute necessarily interferes with the right of contract between the employer and employees.... The general right to make a contract...is part of the liberty of the individual protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.... Under that provision, no State can deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The right to purchase or sell labor is part of the liberty protected by this amendment....

- Justice Peckham, delivering the majority opinion of the Court

It is plain that this statute was enacted in order to protect the physical well-being of those who work in bakeries.... The statute must be taken as expressing the belief of the people of New York that, as a general rule, labor in excess of sixty hours a week...may endanger the health of those who thus labor.... Our duty, I submit, is to sustain the statute as not being in conflict with the Federal Constitution.

- Justice Harlan, in his dissenting opinion

What is one way that political attitudes toward government regulation have changed since the decision in the Lochner case?

  1. Government today is largely unwilling to regulate private contracts.
  2. The federal government no longer applies the Fourteenth Amendment to state laws.
  3. It is generally accepted that the government should take some actions to defend the health and safety of workers.
  4. It is generally accepted that the government should play a role in enforcing contracts, but not in trying to influence their content.
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78. The primary purpose of the Bill of Rights was to
  1. limit the spread of slavery in the United States
  2. limit the power of the federal government
  3. establish judicial review
  4. allot specific powers to the states
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79. Imagine that Congress is considering severe cutbacks in the Social Security program. Which of the following national interest groups would be most concerned about and opposed to such a policy?
  1. Mothers Against Drunk Drivers
  2. American Association of Retired Persons
  3. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  4. American Bar Association
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80.

Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities . . . may be equal, deprive children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does.To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely on the basis of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status and community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone. . . . Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, this finding is amply supported by modern authority.  Any language in Plessy v. Ferguson contrary to this finding is rejected. We conclude that in the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

- Justice Warren, delivering the majority opinion of the Court

The second paragraph discusses an earlier court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. You can conclude that the Plessy decision had allowed:

  1. districts to use busing to integrate schools
  2. schools to have "separate but equal" educational facilities
  3. free public education for all citizens
  4. new federal support to finance education for minority students
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