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. Presidential custom of submitting the names of prospective appointees for approval to senators from the states in which the appointees are to work.






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






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






4. A provision in a deed to real property prohibiting its sale to a person of a particular race or religion. Judicial enforcement of such deeds is unconstitutional.






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






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






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






8. A requirement the federal government imposes as a condition for receiving federal funds.






9. 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.






10. Procedure for submitting to popular vote the removal of officials from office before the end of their term.






11. Clause in the First Amendment that states that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.






12. 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






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






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






15. 30-second statements on the evening news shows. The media have been accused of simplifying complicated political issues by relying on sound bites to explain them to the public.






16. The drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party - group - or incumbent.






17. Governance divided between the parties - as when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.






18. The set of arrangements - including checks and balances - federalism - separation of powers - rule of law - due process - and a bill of rights - that requires our leaders to listen - think - bargain - and explain before they act or make laws. We then






19. A veto exercised by the president after Congress has adjourned; if the president takes no action for 10 days - the bill does not become law and does not return to Congress for possible override.






20. The clause in the Constitution (Article 1 - Section 8 - Clause 1) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations.






21. The clause of the Constitution (Article I - Section 8 - Clause 3) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations.






22. Compromise agreement by states at the Constitutional Convention for a bicameral legislature with a lower house in which representation would be based on population and an upper house in which each state would have two senators.






23. Clause of the Constitution (Article I - Section 10) originally intended to prohibit state governments from modifying contracts made between individuals; for a while interpreted as prohibiting state governments from taking actions that adversely affec






24. Widespread agreement on fundamental principles of democratic governance and the values that undergird them.






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






26. The rights of all people to dignity and worth; also called human rights.






27. 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.






28. Procedure for submitting to popular vote measures passed by the legislature or proposed amendments to a state constitution.






29. An individual who does not to join a group representing his or her interests yet receives the benefit of the group's influence.






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






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






32. The legislative leader selected by the minority party as spokesperson for the opposition.






33. General tax on sales transactions - sometimes exempting food and drugs.






34. 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.






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






36. Providing automatic increases to compensate for inflation.






37. A specific course of action taken by government to achieve a public goal.






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






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






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






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






42. A congressional district created to include a majority of minority voters; ruled constitutional so long as race is not the main factor in redistricting.






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






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






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






46. The total amount of money the Federal government has borrowed to finance deficit spending over the years.






47. A career government employee.






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






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






50. 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.