Practice Final Examination

The following will give you an idea of the format of the final exam. As you prepare, also take a look at the air midterm.

I. Briefly identify 12 of 14 items (4 points each). Explain each item's meaning and significance.

• Tactics in politics
• Referendum
• Article II
• The jury “as a political institution”
• Majority faction
• The "Iowa problem"
• “Full faith and credit”
• The 10th Amendment
• Outsourcing
• The Creationism Act
• The "Big Three" networks
• American Crossroads
• Treason
• PIE/PO/PIG

II. Explain the source, meaning, and significance of 2 of the following 3 passages (6 points each).

• In a free government the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects. The degree of security in both cases will depend on the number of interests and sects; and this may be presumed to depend on the extent of country and number of people comprehended under the same government.
• Religion, which never intervenes directly in the government of American society, should therefore be considered as the first of their political institutions, for although it did not give them the taste for liberty, it singularly facilitates their use thereof.
• In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

III. Answer two of three essay questions (20 points each). Each answer should take about 3 large bluebook pages or 4 small bluebook pages.

• How would Tocqueville explain why a case such as Edwards v. Aguillard came to the Supreme Court?
• Pick one of the proposed reforms of Congress that appear in the Ellis reader. Explain the arguments for and against the reform. Which side would you support, and why?
• Read this recent article: http://www.detnews.com/article/20111129/MIVIEW/111290378/1467/opinion01/Obamacare-s-Constitutional-malpratice [On the actual final, I shall give you hardcopy of any article that a question mentions.] Do you agree or disagree? Explain, with reference to Publius, Amar, and other course materials.

Bonus Questions (one point each). Very briefly identify the following:

• Mark Block
• Ed Rollins
• Maria Bartiromo
• Corinne Pepper
• Gary Johnson