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. A tax whereby people with lower incomes pay a higher fraction of their income than people with higher incomes.






2. A technique of Congress to establish federal regulations. Federal grants may establish certain conditions that extend to all activities supported by federal funds - regardless of their source. The first and most famous of these is Title VI of the 196






3. The list of potential cases that reach the Supreme Court.






4. During the Great Society - the marble cake approach of intergovernmental relations.






5. Primary election in which only persons registered in the party holding the primary may vote.






6. Clause of the Constitution (Article 1 - Section 8 - Clause 3) setting forth the implied powers of Congress. It states that Congress - in addition to its express powers has the right to make all laws necessary and proper to carry out all powers the Co






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






8. Compromise between northern and southern states at the Constitutional Convention that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for determining direct taxation and representation in the House of Representatives.






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






10. The candidate or party that wins more than half the votes cast in an election.






11. A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that permits floor amendments within the overall time allocated to the bill.






12. Views the national government - 50 states - and thousands of local governments as competing with each other over ways to put together packages of services and taxes. Applies the analogy of the marketplace: we have some choice about which state and ci






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






14. A division of population based on occupation - income - and education.






15. A decision made by a higher court such as a circuit court of appeals or the Supreme Court that is binding on all other federal courts.






16. Literacy requirements some states imposed as a condition of voting - generally used to disqualify black voters in the South; now illegal.






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






18. The process by which individuals screen out messages that do not conform to their own biases.






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






20. Police targeting of racial minorities as potential suspects of criminal activities.






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






22. Election in which voters choose party nominees.






23. Constitutional requirement that governments act reasonably and that the substance of the laws themselves be fair and reasonable; limits what the government may do.






24. A legal action conferring citizenship on an alien.






25. A term the founders used to refer to political parties and special interests or interest groups.






26. Views the Constitution as giving a limited list of powers—primarily foreign policy and national defense—to the national government - leaving the rest to the sovereign states. Each level of government is dominant within its own sphere. The Supreme Cou






27. The widespread belief that the United States is a land of opportunity and that individual initiative and hard work can bring economic success.






28. Segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice.






29. A rising public approval of the president that follows a crisis as Americans 'rally 'round the flag' and the chief executive.






30. A close contest; by extension - any contest in which the focus is on who is ahead and by how much rather than on substantive differences between the candidates.






31. An electoral district in which voters choose one representative or official.






32. 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.






33. A belief that government can and should achieve justice and equality of opportunity.






34. An economic system characterized by private property - competitive markets - economic incentives - and limited government involvement in the production - distribution - and pricing of goods and services.






35. A philosophy that encourages individual nations to act on their own when facing threats from other nations.






36. The desire to avoid international entanglement altogether.






37. 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.






38. Money spent by individuals or groups not associated with candidates to elect or defeat candidates for office.






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






40. 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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41. A president's claim of broad public support.






42. The difference between the revenues raised annually from sources of income other than borrowing and the expenditures of government - including paying the interest on past borrowing.






43. A system of public employment in which selection and promotion depend on demonstrated performance rather than political patronage.






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






45. Procedure whereby a certain number of voters may - by petition - propose a law or constitutional amendment and have it submitted to the voters.






46. 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.






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






48. A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent - from the Atlantic the Pacific.






49. The joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the Twelfth Amendment.






50. A jury of 6 to 12 persons that determines guilt or innocence in a civil or criminal action.