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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How much of the Virginia Plan was accepted?
(a) A few key provisions.
(b) Most of it.
(c) None of it.
(d) All of it.

2. What did the Virginia Plan propose to do to the Articles?
(a) Extend their authority for another ten years.
(b) Discard them.
(c) Fix their flaws.
(d) Ratify them in Virginia.

3. Where did Mr. Gerry think the country's current troubles came from?
(a) Too little representation in government.
(b) Too much foreign influence.
(c) Too little religion.
(d) Too much democracy.

4. What was Mr. Wilson's feeling about the compromise?
(a) He felt that appointed leaders were better suited for the work of governing.
(b) He felt that popular participation would weaken government.
(c) He felt that majority rule alone could legitimize government.
(d) He felt that elections were not accurate indications of the country's needs.

5. What did James Madison argue with relation to the New Jersey Plan?
(a) It will not protect small states from bigger states.
(b) It cannot settle arguments between the states.
(c) It will give too much power to small states.
(d) It cannot support itself with tax revenue.

6. What power was missing from the Articles?
(a) Executive power.
(b) The power to regulate foreign trade.
(c) The power to amend the Articles.
(d) The power to conduct war.

7. What did James Madison argue concerning the question of whether the executive should be chosen by the legislature?
(a) He argued that the legislature should appoint the executive.
(b) He argued that the executive and the legislature should be kept separate.
(c) He argued that the legislature should elect the executive.
(d) He argued that the Supreme Court should appoint the executive.

8. What did James Madison recommend for the appointment of Supreme Court Justices?
(a) That judges should be elected.
(b) That appointments be susceptible to two-thirds vote override by the Congress.
(c) That appointments be beyond contest.
(d) That judges should be appointed for seven-year terms.

9. What did opponents of the resolution that was ultimately adopted think would be the consequence of adopting the proposal?
(a) That the states would be eradicated.
(b) That the states would have to band together to oppose the government.
(c) That the states would lose tax income to the federal government.
(d) That states would work by region to set their own laws and standards.

10. What were opponents of the resolution that was ultimately adopted afraid of?
(a) That trade would be stifled.
(b) That foreign countries would be able to divide and conquer.
(c) That the states would gain too much independence.
(d) That the federal government would become too powerful.

11. Who wrote the introduction to this edition of "The Anti-Federalist Papers"?
(a) Sacvan Bercovitch.
(b) Ralph Ketcham.
(c) James Madison.
(d) Alexander Hamilton.

12. What were the delegates' intentions when they argued for election of Senators from state legislatures?
(a) Creating a check against popular democracy.
(b) Raising the Senate above popular opinion.
(c) Insulating the federal government from individuals in the states.
(d) Improving upon the process by which the people were represented.

13. What did a legitimate government require, in James Madison's opinion?
(a) Direct democracy.
(b) A strong military.
(c) Freedom from debt.
(d) Aristocrats.

14. Where did James Madison argue government legitimacy came from?
(a) The power of the government.
(b) Consent of the governed.
(c) The political process itself.
(d) The righteousness of laws.

15. What were the delegates debating in Chapter 3?
(a) The election of the House of Representatives.
(b) The election of the President.
(c) The appointment of judges.
(d) The election of Senators.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the delegates debate concerning state laws?

2. Why did Mr. Wilson prefer the New Jersey Plan?

3. What was cut out when the Constitutional Convention doted down part of the Virginia Plan?

4. What was James Madison's feeling about the compromise?

5. What were Americans concluding by the 1780s?

(see the answer keys)

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