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. Financial contributions by individuals or groups in the hope of influencing the outcome of the election and subsequently influencing policy.






2. Government by the people - both directly or indirectly - with free and frequent elections.






3. Governance divided between the parties - as when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.






4. A procedural practice in the Senate whereby a senator refuses to relinquish the floor and thereby delays proceedings and prevents a vote on a controversial issue.






5. An organization that seeks political power by electing people to office so that its positions and philosophy become public policy.






6. A system of government in which the legislature selects the prime minister or president.






7. Money raised in unlimited amounts by political parties for party-building purposes. Now largely illegal except for limited contributions to state or local parties for voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts.






8. Something given with the expectation of receiving something in return.






9. Tax levied on imports to help protect the nation's industries - labor - or farmers from foreign competition. It can also be used to raise additional revenue.






10. Election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote.






11. The precise legal definition of how government will implement a policy.






12. A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.






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






14. The right of a federal law or a regulation to preclude enforcement of a state or local law or regulation.






15. Synonymous with 'collective action -' it specifically studies how government officials - politicians - and voters respond to positive and negative incentives.






16. 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.






17. A convention held in September 1786 to consider problems of trade and navigation - attended by five states and important because it issued the call to Congress and the states for what became the Constitutional Convention.






18. The widely shared beliefs - values - and norms about how citizens relate to governments and to one another.






19. Championed by Ronald Reagan - presumes that the power of the federal government is limited in favor of the broad powers reserved to the states.

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20. Party leader who is the liaison between the leadership and the rank-and-file in the legislature.






21. Theory based on the principles of John Maynard Keynes - stating that government spending should increase during business slumps and the curve during booms.






22. Efforts by government to alter the free operation of the market to achieve social goals such as protecting workers and the environment.






23. The Federal government's primary intelligence officer - responsible for overseeing all national intelligence agencies and providing advice to the President on terrorist threats.






24. A person who is employed by and acts for an organized interest group or corporation to try to influence policy decisions and positions in the executive and legislative branches.






25. Advisory council for the president consisting of the heads of the executive departments - the vice president - and a few other officials selected by the president.






26. Economic theory based on the principles of John Maynard Keynes stating that government spending should increase during business slumps and be curbed during booms.






27. A dispute growing out of an actual case or controversy and that is capable of settlement by legal methods.






28. The clause in the Constitution (Article 1 - Section 8 - Clause 1) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations.






29. The system created by Congress in 1913 to establish banking practices and regulate currency in circulation and the amount of credit available. It consists of 12 regional banks supervised by the Board of Governors. Often called simply the Fed.






30. An international trade organization with more than 130 members - including the United States and the People's Republic of China - that seeks to encourage free trade by lowering tariffs and other trade restrictions.






31. Established rules and regulations that restrain government officials.






32. A secret ballot printed by the state.






33. The principle of a two-house legislature.






34. An opinion that agrees with the majority in a Supreme Court ruling but differs on the reasoning.






35. An opinion disagreeing with a majority in a Supreme Court ruling.






36. Officer of the Senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president.






37. Alternative means of health care in which people or their employers are charged a set amount and the HMO provides health care and covers hospital costs.






38. Directive issued by a president or governor that has the force of law.






39. The tendency of presidents to lose support over time.






40. A meeting of local party members to choose party officials or candidates for public office and to decide the platform.






41. A government entity that is independent of the legislative - executive - and judicial branches.






42. A company in which new employees must join a union within a stated time period.






43. The rights of all people to dignity and worth; also called human rights.






44. A formal agreement between the U.S. president and the leaders of other nations that does not require Senate approval.






45. Formal orders issued by the president to direct action by the Federal bureaucracy.






46. A large body of people interested in a common issue - idea - or concern that is of continuing significance and who are willing to take action. Movements seek to change attitudes or institutions - not just policies.






47. A policy-making alliance among loosely connected participants that comes together on a particular issue - then disbands.






48. Clause in the Constitution (Article 4 - Section 1) requiring each state to recognize the civil judgments rendered by the courts of the other states and to accept their public records and acts as valid.






49. General tax on sales transactions - sometimes exempting food and drugs.






50. A company with a labor agreement under which union membership is a condition of employment.