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






2. Media that emphasize the news.






3. The formal process for making regulations.






4. 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






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






6. Presidential power to strike - or remove - specific items from a spending bill without vetoing the entire package; declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.






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






8. 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.






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






10. 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.






11. The process by which provisions of the bill of rights are brought within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment and so applied to state and local governments.






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






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






14. Clause in the Fifth Amendment limiting the power of the national government; similar clause in the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the state governments from depriving any person of life - liberty - or property without due process of law.






15. Elections in which voters elect officeholders.






16. Legislative or executive review of a particular government program or organization. Can be in response to a crisis of some kind or part of routine review.






17. The political arm of an interest group that is legally entitled to raise funds on a voluntary basis from members - stockholders - or employees to contribute funds to candidates or political parties.






18. A theory of government that holds that open - multiple - and competing groups can check the asserted power by any one group.






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. 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.






21. Those citizens who follow public affairs closely.






22. Censorship imposed before a speech is made or a newspaper is published; usually presumed to be unconstitutional.






23. A form of organization that operates through impersonal - uniform rules and procedures.






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






25. A legislative practice that assigns the chair of the committee or subcommittee to the member of the majority party with the longest continuous service on the committee.






26. Period at the beginning of the new president's term during which the president enjoys generally positive relations with the press and Congress - usually lasting about six months.






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






28. Voting based on what a candidate pledges to do in the future about an issue if elected.






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






30. Weakening of partisan preferences that points to a rejection of both major parties and a rise in the number of independents.






31. 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.






32. A belief that limited government insures order competitive markets and personal opportunity.






33. Elections held midway between presidential elections.






34. Means of communication that are reaching the public - including newspapers and magazines - radio - television (broadcast - cable - and satellite) - films - recordings - books - and electronic communication.






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






36. An official document - published every weekday - which lists the new and proposed regulations of executive departments and regulatory agencies.






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






38. 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.






39. A government agency or commission with regulatory power whose independence is protected by Congress.






40. 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.






41. Federal program that provides medical benefits for low-income persons.






42. Photo opportunities set up by the candidates. The media have been accused of simplifying complicated political issues by relying on photo ops to explain them to the public.






43. A characteristic of individuals that is predictive of political behavior.






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






45. A theory that is based on creating enough military strength to convince other nations not to attack first.






46. Opponents of ratification of the Constitution and of a strong central government - generally.






47. 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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48. Implies that although federalism provides 'a sharing of power and authority between the national and state governments - the state's share rests upon the permission and permissiveness of the national government.'






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






50. The process of putting a law into practice through bureaucratic rules or spending.