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






2. Mutual aid and vote trading among legislators.






3. A landmark case in United States law and the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States - under Article Three of the United States Constitution. The case resulted from a petition to the Supreme Court by William Marbury - who had b






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






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






6. Inherent powers of state governments to pass laws to protect the public health - safety - and welfare; the national government has no directly granted police powers but accomplishes the same goals through other delegated powers.






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






8. A government agency that operates like a business corporation - created to secure greater freedom of action and flexibility for a particular program.






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






10. Formal orders issued by the president to direct action by the Federal bureaucracy.






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






12. Elections held in years when the president is on the ballot.






13. The proportion of the voting age public that votes - sometimes defined as the number of registered voters that vote.






14. An explanation of the decision of the Supreme Court or any other appellate court.






15. An election system in which the candidate with the most votes wins.






16. 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.






17. 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.






18. Money government provides to parents to pay their children's tuition in a public or private school of their choice.






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






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






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






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






23. Quality or state of a work that taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex by depicting sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and that lacks serious literary - artistic - political - or scientific value.






24. Those citizens who follow public affairs carefully.






25. A technique of Congress to establish federal regulations. These sanctions permit the use of federal money in one program to influence state and local policy in another. For example - a 1984 act reduced federal highway aid by up to 15 percent for any






26. 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.






27. A court order requiring explanation to a judge why a prisoner is being held in custody.






28. 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.






29. The practice of exporting U.S. jobs to lower paid employees in other nations.






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






31. The system created by Congress in 1913 to establish banking practices and regulate currency in circulation and the amount of credit available. It consists of 12 regional banks supervised by the Board of Governors. Often called simply the Fed.






32. Constitutional requirement that governments proceed by proper methods; limits how government may exercise power.






33. Election in which voters choose party nominees.






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






35. Constitutional arrangement that concentrates power in a central government.






36. Trade status granted as part of an international trade policy that gives a nation the same favorable trade concessions and tariffs that the best trading partners receive.






37. The difference between the political opinions or political behavior of men and of women.






38. 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






39. 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.






40. The authority of a court to hear a case 'in the first instance.'






41. 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.






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






43. 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






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






45. The authority of a court to review decisions made by lower courts.






46. Remedial action designed to overcome the effects of discrimination against minorities and women.






47. Directive issued by a president or governor that has the force of law.






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






49. 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).






50. Biological - chemical - or nuclear weapons that can cause a massive number of deaths in a single use.