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






2. A law that defines crimes against the public order.






3. Assigning police to neighborhoods where they walk the beat and work with churches and other community groups to reduce crime and improve relations with minorities.






4. The process by which individuals perceive what they want to in media messages.






5. Programs that the Federal government requires States to implement without Federal funding.






6. The first governing document of the confederated states drafted in 1777 - ratified in 1781 - and replaced by the present Constitution in 1789.






7. A collection of people who share a common interest or attitude and seek to influence government for specific ends. Interest groups usually work within the framework of government and try to achieve their goals through tactics such as lobbying.






8. How groups form and organize to pursue their goals or objectives - including how to get individuals and groups to participate and to cooperate. The term has many applications in the various social sciences such as political science - sociology - and






9. Clause in the First Amendment that states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. The Supreme Court has interpreted this to forbid governmental support to any or all religions.






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






11. A technique of Congress to establish federal regulations. Total preemption rests on the national governments power under the supremacy and commerce clauses to preempt conflicting state and local activity. Building on this constitutional authority - f






12. Election in which voters choose party nominees.






13. A national meeting of delegates elected in primaries - caucuses - or state conventions who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president - ratify the party platform - elect officers - and adopt rules.






14. The informal list of issues that Congress and the president consider most important for action.






15. Review of all executive branch testimony - reports - and draft legislation by the Office of Management and Budget to ensure that each communication to Congress is in accordance with the president's program.






16. Democratic party primary in the old 'one-party South' that was limited to white people and essentially constituted an election; ruled unconstitutional in Smith v. Allwright (1944).






17. 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.






18. A national meeting of delegates elected at primaries - caucuses - or state conventions who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president - ratify the party platform - elect officers - and adopt rules.






19. Presidential staff agency that serves as a clearinghouse for budgetary requests and management improvements for government agencies.






20. Electoral system used in electing the president and vice president - in which voters vote for electors pledged to cast their ballots for particular party's candidates.






21. Requirement that evidence unconstitutionally or illegally obtained be excluded from a criminal trial.






22. Powers expressly or implicitly reserved to the states.

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23. Established by Congress in 1978 as a flexible - mobile corps of senior career executives who worked closely with presidential appointees to manage government.






24. A type of policy that takes benefits (usually through taxes) from one group of Americans and gives them to another (usually through spending).






25. 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.






26. Agreement signed by the United States - Canada - and Mexico in 1992 to form the largest free trade zone in the world.






27. A minor party founded by Ross Perot in 1995. It focuses on national government reform - fiscal responsibility - and political accountability. It has recently struggled with internal strife and criticism that it lacks an identity.






28. The act of declaring party affiliation; required by some states when one registers to vote.






29. The reliance on diplomacy and negotiation to solve international problems.






30. A meeting of party delegates to vote on matters of policy and in some cases to select party candidates for public office.






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






32. Committee appointed by the presiding officers of each chamber to adjust differences on a particular bill passed by each in different form.






33. A law that governs relationships between individuals and defines their legal rights.






34. Elections in which voters elect officeholders.






35. Media that emphasize the news.






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






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






38. The study of the characteristics of populations.






39. Court order directing an official to perform an official duty.






40. Employment cycle in which individuals who work for governmental agencies that regulate interests eventually end up working for interest groups or businesses with the same policy concern.






41. A government that enforces recognized limits on those who govern and allows the voice of the people to be heard through free - fair - and relatively frequent elections.






42. 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.






43. Interpretation of the First Amendment that would permit legislatures to forbid speech encouraging people to engage in illegal action.






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






45. The right to keep executive communications confidential - especially if they relate to National Security.






46. A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that prohibits any amendments to bills or provides that only members of the committee reporting the bill may offer amendments.






47. A nonprofit association or group operating outside of government that advocates and pursues policy objectives.






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






49. The dispensing of government jobs to persons who belong to the winning political party.






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