GED Social Studies Practice Test 4

The Constitution divides power over taxes and trade between Congress and the President. Read the four excerpts and the note that follows.

(1) Article I, Section 8: "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;" …

(2) Article I, Section 8 (continued): "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;"

(3) Article I, Section 9: "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State."

(4) Article II, Section 3: "He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; … he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States."

Word help: duties and imposts = taxes on imported goods (also called tariffs); excises = taxes on goods made or sold at home; uniform = the same everywhere; expedient = useful or wise; "He" in Article II = the President.

Editor's note: Beginning with the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934, Congress has passed laws that allow the President to negotiate trade agreements and, in certain situations, to raise or lower tariffs within limits that Congress sets. Congress can change or repeal these laws.

The Constitution divides power over taxes and trade between Congress and the President. Read the four excerpts and the note that follows.

(1) Article I, Section 8: "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;" …

(2) Article I, Section 8 (continued): "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;"

(3) Article I, Section 9: "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State."

(4) Article II, Section 3: "He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; … he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States."

Word help: duties and imposts = taxes on imported goods (also called tariffs); excises = taxes on goods made or sold at home; uniform = the same everywhere; expedient = useful or wise; "He" in Article II = the President.

Editor's note: Beginning with the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934, Congress has passed laws that allow the President to negotiate trade agreements and, in certain situations, to raise or lower tariffs within limits that Congress sets. Congress can change or repeal these laws.

Under Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution, the President can veto (reject) a bill passed by Congress by returning it with objections. Congress can then override the veto and make the bill a law anyway, but only if two-thirds of the House and two-thirds of the Senate vote to do so. The chart shows the regular vetoes of eight presidents who served between 1945 and 1989, and how many of those vetoes Congress overrode. Pocket vetoes, which happen when Congress has adjourned and the bill cannot be returned, are not shown, because Congress has no chance to override them.

(1) An executive order is a written directive from the President to officials and agencies in the executive branch. It tells them how to carry out their work. The Constitution does not mention executive orders by name. Presidents base them on their powers under Article II, such as the duty to see that laws are carried out and the role of Commander in Chief, or on powers that Congress has given the President by law.

(2) Executive orders have been used for major decisions. In 1948, President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which called for equal treatment and opportunity for all people in the armed forces. It was an important step toward ending racial segregation in the U.S. military.

(3) Still, an executive order is not the same as a law passed by Congress, and its power has limits. Federal courts can rule that an order goes beyond what the President is allowed to do. In 1952, during the Korean War, Truman ordered the government to take control of the nation's steel mills to keep a strike from stopping production. In Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, the Supreme Court ruled that neither the Constitution nor any law gave the President the power to seize private property in this way, and the mills were returned to their owners.

(4) Congress can respond as well. It can pass a law that overturns or blocks an order, although the President may veto that law. Congress can also refuse to provide the money needed to carry out an order. Finally, an executive order lasts only as long as presidents keep it: a later President can change or cancel (revoke) an earlier President's order simply by issuing a new one.

On December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke to a joint session of Congress. The day before, Japanese forces had attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

(1) "Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."

(2) "The United States was at peace with that Nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific." …

(3) "As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense." …

(4) "Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger." …

(5) "I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire."

Word help: infamy = lasting shame; solicitation = request; hostilities = acts of war; no blinking at = no ignoring; dastardly = cowardly and cruel.

Note: Congress voted to declare war on Japan later that same day. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power "To declare War."

On December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke to a joint session of Congress. The day before, Japanese forces had attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

(1) "Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."

(2) "The United States was at peace with that Nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific." …

(3) "As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense." …

(4) "Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger." …

(5) "I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire."

Word help: infamy = lasting shame; solicitation = request; hostilities = acts of war; no blinking at = no ignoring; dastardly = cowardly and cruel.

Note: Congress voted to declare war on Japan later that same day. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power "To declare War."

Congress passed the War Powers Resolution in November 1973, near the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. President Richard Nixon vetoed it, and Congress overrode his veto. The law was meant to give Congress a stronger voice when a President sends troops into combat without a declaration of war. The excerpts below are from the law as it appears in the U.S. Code.

(1) 50 U.S.C. 1541(c): "The constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces."

(2) 50 U.S.C. 1543(a): "In the absence of a declaration of war, in any case in which United States Armed Forces are introduced— (1) into hostilities or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances; … the President shall submit within 48 hours to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to the President pro tempore of the Senate a report, in writing," …

(3) 50 U.S.C. 1544(b): "Within sixty calendar days after a report is submitted or is required to be submitted pursuant to section 1543(a)(1) of this title, whichever is earlier, the President shall terminate any use of United States Armed Forces with respect to which such report was submitted (or required to be submitted), unless the Congress (1) has declared war or has enacted a specific authorization for such use of United States Armed Forces, (2) has extended by law such sixty-day period, or (3) is physically unable to meet as a result of an armed attack upon the United States. Such sixty-day period shall be extended for not more than an additional thirty days if the President determines and certifies to the Congress in writing that unavoidable military necessity respecting the safety of United States Armed Forces requires the continued use of such armed forces in the course of bringing about a prompt removal of such forces."

Word help: hostilities = fighting; imminent = about to happen; pursuant to = following; specific statutory authorization = permission given in a law passed by Congress; section 1543(a)(1) = the 48-hour report rule in paragraph 2; terminate = end; certifies = formally states.

(1) Choosing a President takes more than a year. The process begins when candidates announce that they are running and start raising money and campaigning. Most candidates run as members of a political party.

(2) Next come the primary elections and caucuses, held state by state, usually from January through June of the election year. In a primary, voters cast ballots for the candidate they want their party to nominate. In a caucus, party members meet in person to discuss the candidates and choose. The results decide how many delegates each candidate wins.

(3) In the summer, each major party holds a national convention. The delegates formally nominate the party's candidate for President, and the candidate's choice for Vice President is confirmed. The party also adopts a platform, a statement of its goals and positions.

(4) The general election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. On that day, voters are not directly electing the President. In each state, they are choosing a group of electors pledged to a candidate. Each state has as many electors as it has members of Congress (senators plus representatives), and the District of Columbia has three. There are 538 electors in all. In 48 states and the District of Columbia, the candidate who wins the most popular votes in the state wins all of that state's electors. Maine and Nebraska divide some of their electors by congressional district.

(5) In December, the electors meet in their states and cast their votes. Congress counts the votes in January. A candidate needs a majority, at least 270 of the 538 electoral votes, to win. If no candidate reaches 270, the House of Representatives chooses the President, with each state's delegation casting one vote. The new President takes the oath of office on January 20.

(6) Because most states give all of their electors to the statewide winner, a candidate can win the most popular votes nationwide and still lose in the Electoral College. This has happened in several elections, including 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016.

(1) Choosing a President takes more than a year. The process begins when candidates announce that they are running and start raising money and campaigning. Most candidates run as members of a political party.

(2) Next come the primary elections and caucuses, held state by state, usually from January through June of the election year. In a primary, voters cast ballots for the candidate they want their party to nominate. In a caucus, party members meet in person to discuss the candidates and choose. The results decide how many delegates each candidate wins.

(3) In the summer, each major party holds a national convention. The delegates formally nominate the party's candidate for President, and the candidate's choice for Vice President is confirmed. The party also adopts a platform, a statement of its goals and positions.

(4) The general election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. On that day, voters are not directly electing the President. In each state, they are choosing a group of electors pledged to a candidate. Each state has as many electors as it has members of Congress (senators plus representatives), and the District of Columbia has three. There are 538 electors in all. In 48 states and the District of Columbia, the candidate who wins the most popular votes in the state wins all of that state's electors. Maine and Nebraska divide some of their electors by congressional district.

(5) In December, the electors meet in their states and cast their votes. Congress counts the votes in January. A candidate needs a majority, at least 270 of the 538 electoral votes, to win. If no candidate reaches 270, the House of Representatives chooses the President, with each state's delegation casting one vote. The new President takes the oath of office on January 20.

(6) Because most states give all of their electors to the statewide winner, a candidate can win the most popular votes nationwide and still lose in the Electoral College. This has happened in several elections, including 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016.

Kordania and Lessaro are fictional countries.

(1) In Kordania, General Varo took power after the army removed the elected government. He suspended the constitution, closed the national legislature and banned every political party except his own. Newspapers must send their stories to government censors before printing. Varo rules by decree: his orders take effect immediately and cannot be challenged in court. He has not set a date for elections.

(2) In Lessaro, the president is elected by the people to a five-year term and may serve no more than two terms. A written constitution lists the rights of citizens, including freedom of the press. The president can propose laws and veto bills, but the elected legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds vote. Independent judges have struck down presidential orders that violated the constitution. Several political parties compete in regular elections.

Kordania and Lessaro are fictional countries.

(1) In Kordania, General Varo took power after the army removed the elected government. He suspended the constitution, closed the national legislature and banned every political party except his own. Newspapers must send their stories to government censors before printing. Varo rules by decree: his orders take effect immediately and cannot be challenged in court. He has not set a date for elections.

(2) In Lessaro, the president is elected by the people to a five-year term and may serve no more than two terms. A written constitution lists the rights of citizens, including freedom of the press. The president can propose laws and veto bills, but the elected legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds vote. Independent judges have struck down presidential orders that violated the constitution. Several political parties compete in regular elections.

Congress is debating a proposed 25 percent tariff on imported steel. Two fictional writers share their views.

Viewpoint 1 — Dana Whitfield, a fictional spokesperson for a steelworkers' group

(1) Over the past ten years, imports of low-priced foreign steel have grown, and three mills in our region have closed. A 25 percent tariff on imported steel would give American mills a fair chance to compete. When mills stay open, so do the diners, hardware stores and schools that depend on mill paychecks.

(2) Steel is also a matter of national security. A country that cannot make its own steel must rely on others to build its ships, bridges and power lines. In my view, no price is too high to keep that ability at home.

Viewpoint 2 — Marcus Lee, a fictional owner of a company that builds farm equipment

(3) My company buys about 4,000 tons of steel each year. A 25 percent tariff would raise the price of imported steel, and American mills would likely raise their prices too, since they would face less competition. That would add to the cost of every tractor we build.

(4) Higher steel prices would hurt the many industries that use steel, such as car makers, appliance makers and builders. Other countries could also respond with tariffs of their own on American farm products, which would hurt my customers. The best way to protect jobs is to keep costs low and markets open.

Congress is debating a proposed 25 percent tariff on imported steel. Two fictional writers share their views.

Viewpoint 1 — Dana Whitfield, a fictional spokesperson for a steelworkers' group

(1) Over the past ten years, imports of low-priced foreign steel have grown, and three mills in our region have closed. A 25 percent tariff on imported steel would give American mills a fair chance to compete. When mills stay open, so do the diners, hardware stores and schools that depend on mill paychecks.

(2) Steel is also a matter of national security. A country that cannot make its own steel must rely on others to build its ships, bridges and power lines. In my view, no price is too high to keep that ability at home.

Viewpoint 2 — Marcus Lee, a fictional owner of a company that builds farm equipment

(3) My company buys about 4,000 tons of steel each year. A 25 percent tariff would raise the price of imported steel, and American mills would likely raise their prices too, since they would face less competition. That would add to the cost of every tractor we build.

(4) Higher steel prices would hurt the many industries that use steel, such as car makers, appliance makers and builders. Other countries could also respond with tariffs of their own on American farm products, which would hurt my customers. The best way to protect jobs is to keep costs low and markets open.

The timeline shows key events involving the United States from the start of World War I to the end of World War II. Events are in order but are not spaced to scale.

(1) After the United States entered World War II in December 1941, the war changed daily life for nearly every American. More than 16 million Americans served in the armed forces during the war. Factories that had made cars switched to making tanks, airplanes and trucks. No new cars were built for ordinary buyers from 1942 until the war ended.

(2) With so many men in uniform, employers hired workers they had often turned away before. Millions of women took jobs in factories and shipyards, and "Rosie the Riveter" became a symbol of these workers. Hundreds of thousands of Black Americans moved from the rural South to cities in the North and West to take jobs in defense plants, continuing the movement known as the Great Migration. In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt had issued Executive Order 8802, which banned discrimination based on race, creed, color or national origin in the defense industry and in government.

(3) The government also asked civilians to sacrifice. To make sure the armed forces had enough supplies, the Office of Price Administration rationed goods such as sugar, coffee, meat, gasoline and tires. Families used ration books with stamps to buy them. Americans bought war bonds, lending money to the government to pay for the war, and planted "victory gardens" to grow their own vegetables. Communities collected scrap metal, rubber and paper to be turned into war materials.

(4) The war also brought injustice at home. Under Executive Order 9066, signed in February 1942, about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of them U.S. citizens, were forced from their homes on the West Coast and held in camps. In 1988, Congress passed a law that apologized and paid $20,000 to each surviving person who had been held.

The unemployment rate is the percent of people in the civilian labor force (people who have a job or are looking for one) who do not have a job. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, millions of Americans were out of work. As World War II approached, and especially after the United States entered the war in December 1941, the federal government spent huge sums on ships, planes, tanks and other supplies, and millions of workers left the civilian labor force to serve in the armed forces.

Dalmora is a fictional country that is considering new tariffs (taxes on imported goods). The table shows the current price of three products, both imported and made in Dalmora, and the proposed tariff rate on each imported product. Assume importers pass the full tariff on to buyers. So the new price of an imported product equals its price before the tariff plus the tariff rate times that price.

(1) In June 1930, during the early months of the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover signed the Tariff Act of 1930, often called the Smoot-Hawley Tariff after its two main sponsors in Congress. The law raised tariffs on thousands of imported products. Supporters hoped it would protect American farmers and factory workers from foreign competition at a time when prices and jobs were falling.

(2) Many economists warned against the law, and more than a thousand of them signed a public letter urging Hoover not to sign it. After it passed, a number of trading partners, including Canada, answered by raising their own tariffs on American goods. World trade, already shrinking because of the Depression, fell sharply over the next few years, and American exports dropped along with it. Most historians do not believe the tariff caused the Depression, but many argue that it made the downturn worse.

(3) Congress changed course in 1934. The Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act gave the President authority to negotiate agreements with individual countries to lower tariffs on both sides, within limits set by Congress. After World War II, the United States and other nations signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947, which lowered tariffs among many countries at once.

Arlo and Brin are fictional countries. Each can produce wheat and machines. The table shows how much one worker can produce in one day if that worker makes only one of the two products.

A country has an absolute advantage in a product if it can make more of it with the same resources. A country has a comparative advantage in a product if it gives up less of the other product to make it (it has a lower opportunity cost). Economists predict that trade benefits both countries when each specializes in the product in which it has a comparative advantage.

President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act on May 20, 1862, during the Civil War. Its full title was "An Act to secure Homesteads to actual Settlers on the Public Domain." A quarter section of land was 160 acres.

(1) "That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands," …

(2) … "that he, she, or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the affidavit aforesaid" …

Word help: declaration of intention = official papers saying a person plans to become a citizen; borne arms = fought; enter = claim; unappropriated public lands = land owned by the federal government that no one else had claimed; resided upon = lived on; cultivated = farmed.

Editor's note: Over the next several decades, settlers claimed millions of acres under the act, much of it on the Great Plains, where land was dry and had few trees. These lands had long been home to Native American nations, many of whom were forced onto reservations as settlement spread.

President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act on May 20, 1862, during the Civil War. Its full title was "An Act to secure Homesteads to actual Settlers on the Public Domain." A quarter section of land was 160 acres.

(1) "That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands," …

(2) … "that he, she, or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the affidavit aforesaid" …

Word help: declaration of intention = official papers saying a person plans to become a citizen; borne arms = fought; enter = claim; unappropriated public lands = land owned by the federal government that no one else had claimed; resided upon = lived on; cultivated = farmed.

Editor's note: Over the next several decades, settlers claimed millions of acres under the act, much of it on the Great Plains, where land was dry and had few trees. These lands had long been home to Native American nations, many of whom were forced onto reservations as settlement spread.

The schematic map shows the fictional Teller Basin in the mid-1800s, before most towns were built. Four possible town sites are marked A, B, C and D. The legend explains the symbols.

(1) In January 1848, a carpenter named James Marshall found gold at Sutter's Mill on the American River in California. News spread slowly at first, but by 1849 tens of thousands of people were heading west. They became known as "forty-niners."

(2) Gold seekers came from the eastern United States, Latin America, Europe, China and Australia. Some sailed around South America or crossed Panama; others traveled for months by wagon across the plains and mountains. Many left behind farms that had suffered poor harvests, or towns with few jobs. Some migrants from China were escaping war and poverty in their home regions.

(3) San Francisco grew from a small settlement of about 1,000 people in 1848 into a city of tens of thousands within a few years. Stores, banks and shipping companies sprang up to serve the miners. California became a state in 1850.

(4) The gold rush also brought great harm. Miners and settlers took over the lands of California's Native peoples, and the Native population fell sharply because of violence, disease and starvation. Mining muddied rivers and washed away hillsides. Foreign-born miners faced discrimination, including a state tax on foreign miners passed in 1850.

(5) By the mid-1850s, most of the easy-to-reach gold was gone. Many newcomers stayed anyway and turned to farming, trade or other work, and California's population kept growing.