UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — The DAILY QUIZ

Q1. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. Article 1 of the Constitution of India contains an express provision declaring that no State shall secede from the Union.
  2. The Indian federation was not formed through an agreement among the States.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q2. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 did not, by itself, end slavery throughout the United States.
  2. The Proclamation was justified as a presidential war power and applied only to areas under Confederate control, not to loyal slaveholding States.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q3. With reference to the dispute over slavery in the territories of the United States before the Civil War, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Under the doctrine of popular sovereignty, the residents of a territory, rather than Congress, would decide whether slavery was permitted there.
  2. In the 1860 election, the Northern Democrats demanded federal protection of slavery in the territories, while the Southern Democrats stood by popular sovereignty.
  3. The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 removed the earlier geographic line north of which slavery had been barred in the territories.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 1, 2 and 3
  • C. 2 only
  • D. 1 and 3 only

Q4. With reference to the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. It reduced the period during which members of Congress who had been defeated at an election continued to hold office.
  2. Before it was adopted, the terms of outgoing members of Congress ended as soon as the November election results were declared.
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 2 only
  • C. Both 1 and 2
  • D. Neither 1 nor 2

Q5. With reference to the effect of prorogation and dissolution on business pending in the Parliament of India, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. A Bill pending in the Lok Sabha lapses when the Lok Sabha is dissolved.
  2. A Bill pending in the Lok Sabha lapses when the session of the Lok Sabha is prorogued.
  3. A Bill pending in the Rajya Sabha that has not been passed by the Lok Sabha lapses when the Lok Sabha is dissolved.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 1 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 3
  • D. 2 and 3 only

Q6. Consider the following assertion: The Dred Scott decision of 1857 closed off the middle-ground solutions to the question of slavery in the territories and sharpened the sectional conflict that preceded the 1860 election. Which of the statements given below support/supports the above assertion?

  1. The Court held that Congress had no power to forbid slavery in the territories.
  2. The decision undermined the legitimacy of popular sovereignty as a way of settling the slavery question.
  3. The decision was announced two days after the inauguration of President James Buchanan.
  4. The decision increased antislavery sentiment in the North.
  • A. 2, 3 and 4 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 4 only
  • D. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Q7. In 1854, a law removed a fixed geographic line that had barred slavery in part of the American West and let the settlers of each territory decide the question instead. Which one of the following was a direct political consequence of this change?

  • A. Formation of a new party opposed to the spread of slavery into the western territories
  • B. A Supreme Court ruling that upheld the power of Congress to ban slavery in the territories
  • C. Admission of Missouri as a slave State balanced by the admission of Maine as a free State
  • D. Immediate abolition of slavery in the loyal border States by an Act passed in Congress