SDSU United States History Q&A Paper

You need to answers all 10 questions below:

Instructions: Please put your answers to all of the exam’s 10 written questions into one file, please make sure to do your responses in order,

and number them so that we know which question you are answering. Please do NOT include the

text of the questions in the file you submit, only the question numbers of the questions as you

answer them. Each of the 10 questions is worth up to 10 points, so the whole exam is worth 100

points total. Your response should be single-spaced and should require no more than 4 pages at

maximum. You should need most of the 4 pages to write a good and sufficiently detailed

response to each of the questions, but please do not exceed 4 pages total. You should not need to

cite any sources other than the lectures, the Kernell text, and Blackboard readings. Please do

make sure to indicate when you are quoting from any source, whether from in the class resources

or outside them, and make sure to provide full citations for any sources you use that are not

included in the class syllabus. Usually, it is a bad idea to use any extracurricular sources because

it is at the expense of the sources from class that you should be citing.

1. In the Declaration of Independence, the founders of the United States wrote: “Prudence,

indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light

and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more

disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the

forms to which they are accustomed.” Please explain how this sentence ties in with

Thomas Hobbes’ argument in the Leviathan, as discussed by Kernell et al.

2. Why would it reflect on the legitimacy of the U.S. government if we view the comic book

character of Batman as a hero or a villain? Please explain how vigilantes reflect our

notions of governmental efficacy.

3. Please discuss the constitutional amendment process. Why is it difficult to alter the

document? What are the positive and negative results of making it so difficult to change?

4. Please comment on the fact that the preamble of the Constitution uses the term “ordain”

to refer to the institution of the government of the United States.

5. Are checks and balances an efficient way to govern a country?

6. Please discuss the advantages and disadvantages of federalism in terms of consistency

and fairness.

7. Please assess the trajectory of civil rights cases from 1857-1954, in terms of issues of

racial equality in the United States.

8. Discuss the change over time in the civil rights movement strategy from one of litigation

to peaceful protest and then one of confrontational demonstrations. Be sure to give

concrete examples of activity from each era.

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9. What issues can you see with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s claim that

while it was difficult for him to come up with a written definition for obscenity, he knew

it when he saw it?

10. What is the disadvantage of depending on the federal judicial branch to protect people’s

rights, such as privacy? Please discuss.

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