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. System designed to reduce voter fraud by limiting voting to those who have established eligibility to vote by submitting the proper documents.






2. 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.






3. 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.






4. Relationships among interest groups - congressional committees and subcommittees - and the government agencies that share a common policy concern.






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






6. Supporters of ratification of the Constitution and of a strong central government.






7. Theory that opposes governmental interference in economic affairs beyond what is necessary to protect life and property.






8. A monopoly that controls goods and services - often in combinations that reduce competition.






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






10. Segregation imposed by law.






11. The principle of a two-house legislature.






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






13. Mutual aid and vote trading among legislators.






14. Powers the Constitution specifically grants to one of the branches of the national government.






15. 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).






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






17. The constitutional requirement (in Article II - Section 3) that presidents take care that the laws are faithfully executed - even if they disagree with the purpose of those laws.






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






19. A career government employee.






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






21. 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.






22. Aid to the poor; 'welfare.'






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






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






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






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






27. A small political party that rises and falls with a charismatic candidate or - if composed of ideologies on the right or left - usually persists over time; also called a third party.






28. A permanent committee established in a legislature - usually focusing on a policy area.






29. 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.






30. A committee composed of members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate; such committees oversee the Library of Congress and conduct investigations.






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






32. 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.






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






34. 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.






35. In this type of sample - every individual has unknown and random chance of being selected.






36. A secret ballot printed by the state.






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






38. The powers expressly given to Congress in the Constitution.






39. 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.






40. A provision attached to a bill






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






42. A consistent pattern of beliefs about political values and the role of government.






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






44. A policy-making alliance that involves a very strong ties among a congressional committee - an interest group - and a Federal Department or agency.






45. 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.






46. Formal accusation against a president or other public official - the first step in removal from office.






47. 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.






48. 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






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






50. A company with a labor agreement under which union membership cannot be required as a condition of employment.