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






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






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






4. 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.






5. Literacy requirements some states imposed as a condition of voting - generally used to disqualify black voters in the South; now illegal.






6. An opinion that agrees with the majority in a Supreme Court ruling but differs on the reasoning.






7. Government policy that attempts to manage the economy by controlling the money supply and thus interest rates.






8. Government by the people - both directly or indirectly - with free and frequent elections.






9. The formal instructions that government issues for implementing laws.






10. 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.






11. Words that by their very nature inflict injury on those to whom they are addressed or insight them to acts of violence.






12. Segregation imposed by law.






13. 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.






14. Presidential refusal to allow an agency to spend funds that Congress authorized and appropriated.






15. 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






16. Engaging in activities aimed at influencing public officials - especially legislators - and the policies they enact.






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






18. 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.






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






20. Consumer tax on a specific kind of merchandise - such as tobacco.






21. A provision attached to a bill






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






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






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






25. A social division based on national origin - religion - language - and often race.






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






27. Court order directing an official to perform an official duty.






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






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






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






31. 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.






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






33. Elections held midway between presidential elections.






34. 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.






35. Legal process whereby an alleged criminal offender is surrendered by the officials of one states to officials of the state in which the crime is alleged to have been committed.






36. Elected office that is predictably won by one party or the other - so the success of the party's candidate is almost taken for granted.






37. Donations made to political candidates - party committees - or groups which - by law - are limited and must be declared.






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






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






40. An official who is expected to vote independently based on his or her judgment of the circumstances; one interpretation of the role of the legislator.






41. A belief that ultimate power resides in the people.






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






43. Legislative act inflicting punishment - including deprivation of property - without a trial - on named individuals or members of a specific group.






44. 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.






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






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






47. A court with appellate jurisdiction that hears appeals from the decisions of lower courts.






48. 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






49. 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.






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