What Lessons About Public Opinion Can We Draw from the Federalist

question 1

Multiple Choice

What lessons about public opinion can we draw from The Federalist Papers?

• A) Public opinion can easily be swayed by skillful arguments.
• B) American public opinion from the beginning has been treated as a political force to alternatively be shaped, mollified, or exploited.
• C) During the earliest days of the republic, political elites paid little attention to public preferences since most of the nation was illiterate.
• D) Public opinion has only played a role in American politics since the advent of scientific polling methods in the twentieth century.

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Definitions:

Civil Liberty

The freedom of citizens to exercise traditional rights such as freedom of speech, assembly, and religion without governmental interference or repression.

John Winthrop

A key figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, serving as its governor multiple times in the early 17th century; remembered for his vision of the colony as a "city upon a hill."

Pequot War

An armed conflict in 1637 that led to the destruction of one of New England’s most powerful Indian groups.

Pequot Tribe

A Native American people of Connecticut, who were involved in the Pequot War with settlers in the 17th century, leading to their near destruction.