Test your basic knowledge |

AP Government

Subjects : civics, ap
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The principle of a two-house legislature.






2. Literally - a 'friend of the court' brief - filed by an individual or organization to present arguments in addition to those presented by the immediate parties to a case.






3. Clause of the Constitution (Article I - Section 10) originally intended to prohibit state governments from modifying contracts made between individuals; for a while interpreted as prohibiting state governments from taking actions that adversely affec






4. A decision by the president not to spend money appropriated by Congress - now prohibited under Federal law.






5. Theory that opposes governmental interference in economic affairs beyond what is necessary to protect life and property.






6. Clause in the Constitution that states that 'Congress should have the power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers. . . .' This clause is also known as the elastic clause as is a major and significant p

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7. A congressional committee created for a specific purpose - sometimes to conduct an investigation.






8. A PAC formed by an officeholder that collects contributions from individuals and other PACs and then makes contributions to other candidates and political parties.






9. In this type of sample - every individual has unknown and random chance of being selected.






10. Through different grant programs - slices up the marble cake into many different pieces - making it even more difficult to differentiate the functions of the levels of government.






11. The idea that a just government must derive its powers from the consent of the people it governs.






12. A court order forbidding specific individuals or groups from performing certain acts (such as striking) that the court considers harmful to the rights and property of an employer or community.






13. A monopoly that controls goods and services - often in combinations that reduce competition.






14. Congress appropriates funds for a specific purpose - such as school lunches or for building airports and highways. These funds are allocated by formula and are subject to detailed federal conditions - often on a matching basis; that is - the local go






15. The total output of all economic activity in the nation - including goods and services.






16. The assigning by Congress of congressional seats after each census. State legislatures reapportion state legislative districts.






17. Largely banned party soft money - restored a long-standing prohibition on corporations and labor unions for using general treasury funds for electoral purposes - and narrowed the definition of issue advocacy.






18. Election system in which the candidate with the most votes wins.






19. A combination of entitlement programs - paid for by employer and employee taxes - that includes retirement benefits - health insurance - and support for disabled workers and the children of deceased or disabled workers.






20. A secret ballot printed by the state.






21. Power of a government to take private property for public use; the U.S. Constitution gives national and state governments this power and requires them to provide just compensation for property so taken.






22. Programs such as unemployment insurance - disaster relief - or disability payments that provide benefits to all eligible citizens.






23. A policy adopted by the Bush administration in 2001 that asserts America's right to attack any nation that has weapons of mass destruction that might be used against U.S. interests at home or abroad.






24. Primary election in which any voter - regardless of party - may vote.






25. An ideology that cherishes individual liberty and insists on minimal government - promoting a free market economy - a noninterventionist foreign policy - and an absence of regulation in moral - economic - and social life.






26. Presidential custom of submitting the names of perspective appointees for approval to senators from the states in which the appointees are to work.






27. A small political party that rises and falls with a charismatic candidate or - if composed of ideologies on the right or left - usually persists over time; also called a third party.






28. The number of Americans who are out of work but actively looking for a job. The number does not usually include those who are not looking.






29. The idea that the rights of the nation are supreme over the rights of the individuals who make up the nation.






30. Donations made to political candidates - party committees - or groups which - by law - are limited and must be declared.






31. Legislative act inflicting punishment - including deprivation of property - without a trial - on named individuals or members of a specific group.






32. Citizenship in more than one nation.






33. Belief in the superiority of one's nation or ethnic group.






34. Alternative means of health care in which individuals make tax-deductible contributions to a special account that can be used to pay medical expenses.






35. Libel - obscenity - fighting words - and commercial speech - which are not entitled to constitutional protection in all circumstances.






36. Federal laws (starting with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890) that try to prevent a monopoly from dominating an industry and restraining trade.






37. A social division based on national origin - religion - language - and often race.






38. Proposal at the Constitutional Convention made by William Paterson of New Jersey for a central government with a single-house legislature in which each state would be represented equally.






39. The rights of an individual to own - use - rent - invest in - buy - and sell property.






40. The right to vote.






41. Constitutional arrangement in which power is distributed between a central government and subdivisional governments - called states in the United States. The national and the subdivisional governments both exercise direct authority over individuals.






42. Federal statute barring Federal employees from active participation in certain kinds of politics and protecting them from being fired on partisan grounds.






43. Lawsuit brought by an individual or group of people on behalf of all those similarly situated.






44. An elected office that is predictably won by one party or the other - so the success of that party's candidate is almost taken for granted.






45. Denial of export - import - or financial relations with the target country in an effort to change that nation's policies.






46. Political contributions given to a party - candidate - or interest group that are limited in amounts and fully disclosed. Raising such limited funds is harder than raising unlimited funds - hence the term 'hard money.'






47. Contributions to a state or local party for party-building purposes.






48. The set of arrangements - including checks and balances - federalism - separation of powers - rule of law - due process - and a bill of rights - that requires our leaders to listen - think - bargain - and explain before they act or make laws. We then






49. Powers that grow out of the very existence of government.






50. The formal process for making regulations.