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. Divisions within society that cut across demographic categories to produce groups that are more heterogeneous or different.






2. Special spending projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of Congress for their constituents.






3. A type of policy that provides benefits to all Americans.






4. Powers inferred from the express powers that allow Congress to carry out its functions.






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






7. Constitutional grant of powers that enables each of the three branches of government to check some acts of the others and therefore ensure that no branch can dominate.






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






9. Domination of an industry by a single company that fixes prices and discourages competition; also - the company that dominates the industry by these means.






10. A jury of 12 to 23 persons who - in private - hear evidence presented by the government to determine whether persons shall be required to stand trial. If the jury believes there is sufficient evidence that a crime was committed - it issues an indictm






11. A theory of international relations that focuses on the tendency of nations to operate from self-interest.






12. The cluster of presidential staff agencies that help the president carry out his responsibilities. Currently the office includes the Office of Management and Budget - the Council of Economic Advisers - and several other units.






13. A provision attached to a bill






14. God's or nature's law that defines right from wrong and is higher than human law.






15. People who favor state or local action rather than national action.






16. The process by which we develop our political attitudes - values - and beliefs.






17. The effort to slow the growth of the federal government by returning many functions to the states.






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






19. Congress appropriates a certain sum - which is allocated to state and local units and sometimes to nongovernmental agencies - based on applications from those who wish to participate. Examples are grants by the National Science Foundation to universi






20. The reliance on economic and military strength to solve international problems.






21. A minor party that believes in extremely limited government. Libertarians call for a free market system - expanded individual liberties such as drug legalization - and a foreign policy of nonintervention - free trade - and open immigration.






22. A widely shared and consciously held view - like support for homeland security.






23. Government policy that attempts to manage the economy by controlling taxing and spending.






24. 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.






25. Authority given by Congress to the Federal bureaucracy to use reasonable judgment in implementing the laws.






26. The means by which individuals can express preferences regarding the development of public policy.






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






28. 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.






29. 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).






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






31. An informal and subjective affiliation with a political party that most people acquire in childhood.






32. A formal written statement from a grand jury charging an individual with an offense; also called a true bill.






33. A career government employee.






34. The distribution of individual preferences or evaluations of a given issue - candidate - or institution within a specific population.






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






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






37. 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.






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






39. 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.






40. 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






41. Government in which citizens vote on laws and select officials directly.






42. 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






43. Stresses federalism as a system of intergovernmental relations in delivering governmental goods and services to the people and calls for cooperation among various levels of government.






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






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






46. How voters feel about a candidate's background - personality - leadership ability - and other personal qualities.






47. A formal writ used to bring a case before the Supreme Court.






48. Mutual aid and vote trading among legislators.






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






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