Chapter 20, The Texas Constitution
So, since I am "attending" a Texas learning institution for my eArmyU classes, our Government class is required to cover Texas Government as well. This chapter was my first foray into such areas... Texans are weird.
Chapter 20
The Texas Constitution
1. Texas declared its independence from Mexico in:
a. 1845.
b. 1861.
c. 1836.
d. 1827.
2. The current Texas Constitution was written in:
a. 1845.
b. 1976.
c. 1876.
d. 1827
3. The U.S. Constitution has 7,000 words; the Texas Constitution has:
a. approximately 7,000 words.
b. approximately 40,000 words.
c. approximately 93,000 words.
d. approximately 10,000 words.
4. The Texas Constitution reflects:
a. hatred of government.
b. brevity.
c. trust in government.
d. distrust in government.
5. A legislature that has a single legislative body is called:
a. unicameral.
b. tricameral.
c. bicameral.
d. multicameral.
6. The Constitution of 1836 created a:
a. unicameral Congress.
b. bicameral Congress.
c. an official religion.
d. both bicameral Congress and an official religion.
7. The move toward Texas's admission to the U.S. in 1845 was accelerated by the election of:
a. Zachary Taylor as president.
b. William H. Harrison as president.
c. James K. Polk as president.
d. John Tyler as president.
8. The terms of Texas's admission into the Union also provided that Texas could divide itself into as many as _____ states.
a. five
b. three
c. two
d. four
9. The Constitution of 1845 did all of the following except:
a. established separate property rights for married women
b. established a permanent fund for the support of public schools.
c. protected private homesteads from foreclosure.
d. allowed state-chartered banks.
10. In 1866, the mild reconstruction policies of Johnson were replaced by the severe policies of the:
a. Radical Reconstructionists.
b. Extreme Reconstructionists.
c. Fanatical Reconstructionists.
d. Revolutionary Reconstructionists.
T/F
1. The Constitution of 1845 allowed African Americans the right to vote.
2. The Radical Reconstructionists were a group of Democrats who took control of the U.S. Congress in 1866 and imposed military governments on former Confederate states.
3. The Grange was an organization formed to improve the lot of farmers.
4. The Texas Constitution of 1786 was essentially anti-government, a reaction to the corruption of the Davis administration and President Grant's two administrations.
5. The Texas Constitution of 1876 levied poll taxes.
6. There were 409 amendments to the Texas Constitution betwen 1876 and 2002.
7. An initiative is a procedure by which voters propose a constitutional amendment or other law through petitions and subject to adoption by a popular vote.
8. Texans currently have an initiative process.
9. Only about 20% of Texans will participate in an election when constitutional amendments are the only issues on the ballot.
10. In the Edgewood school finance case, Texas courts invalidated the system of funding public education, claiming that it was unconstitutional and ordered the legislature to provide more equity in tax resources among the school districts.
Essays
Explain the ways in which the Texas Constitution of 1876 was a reaction to political and economic events of the past.
Why has the current Texas Constitution been amended so many times? Describe the problems with the current constitution. Why did the constitutional convention of 1974 fail? Is another constitutional convention the answer to the problems with the current constitution? Why or why not?
Describe the role of elites in Texas. Compare the role of elites in Texas today, to their role under earlier constitutions. Is Texas becoming more democratic or less so? Why?
Explain how and why the current Texas Constitution reflects the values of the state’s conservative political culture.
As usual, I'm posting the answers to the Multiple Choice and True/False in the comments section. I'll post the essay answer once I finally write it (this is one of the ones I've put off, for now).
In other news, I took the first test, ensuring that I completed at least 25% of the course before the original end date (the test was 25%, and I have somewhere between 2 and 5% of the rest of it done due to the homework requirements). I received a 96%, missing only 2 out of 50 multiple choice questions. While the instructor for the course seems quite intelligent, she can't write a decent mulitple choice question to save her life, as evidenced by some of the ones I've already shown here (#s 4, 5, and others, specifically). I don't know why I was worried... now just to finish these essays, a short paper on trusting (or not) the government, and a final paper... just under 120 days to do it. Woo.