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 decision by the president not to spend money appropriated by Congress - now prohibited under Federal law.






2. The right of a federal law or a regulation to preclude enforcement of a state or local law or regulation.






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






4. 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.






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






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






7. A secret ballot printed by the state.






8. 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.






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






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






11. Something given with the expectation of receiving something in return.






12. A procedural practice in the Senate whereby a senator temporarily blocks the consideration of the bill or nomination.






13. Attempting to overthrow the government by force or use violence to interrupt its activities.






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






15. 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.






16. Divisions within society that reinforce one another - making groups more homogenous or similar.






17. Political contributions given to a party - candidate - or interest group that are limited in amounts and fully disclosed. Raising such limited funds is harder than raising unlimited funds - hence the term 'hard money.'






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






19. Largely banned party soft money - restored a long-standing prohibition on corporations and labor unions for using general treasury funds for electoral purposes - and narrowed the definition of issue advocacy.






20. 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.






21. Clause of the Constitution (Article 1 - Section 8 - Clause 3) setting forth the implied powers of Congress. It states that Congress - in addition to its express powers has the right to make all laws necessary and proper to carry out all powers the Co






22. Alternative means of health care in which people or their employers are charged a set amount and the HMO provides health care and covers hospital costs.






23. Interpretation of the First Amendment that would permit legislatures to forbid speech encouraging people to engage in illegal action.






24. The head of the White House staff.






25. The legislative leader selected by the majority party who helps plan party strategy - confers with other party leaders - and tries to keep members of the party in line.






26. The process by which we develop our political attitudes - values - and beliefs.






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






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






29. These are broad state grants to states for prescribed activities—welfare - child care - education - social services - preventive health care - and health services—with only a few strings attached. States have greater flexibility in deciding how to sp






30. A tax graduated so that people with higher incomes pay larger fraction of their income than people with lower incomes.






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






32. A tactic in which PACs collect contributions from like-minded individuals (each limited to $2000) and present them to a candidate or political party as a 'bundle -' thus increasing the PAC's influence.






33. Interest groups organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code may advertise for or against candidates. If their source of funding is corporations or unions - they have some restrictions on broadcast advertising. 527 organizations were impo






34. The desire to avoid international entanglement altogether.






35. Philosophy proposing that judges should interpret the Constitution to reflect what the framers intended and what its words literally say.






36. International organization derived from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that promotes it free trade around the world.






37. A policy adopted by the Bush administration in 2001 that asserts America's right to attack any nation that has weapons of mass destruction that might be used against U.S. interests at home or abroad.






38. The joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the Twelfth Amendment.






39. An informal and subjective affiliation with a political party that most people acquire in childhood.






40. How voters feel about a candidate's background - personality - leadership ability - and other personal qualities.






41. A collection of people who share a common interest or attitude and seek to influence government for specific ends. Interest groups usually work within the framework of government and try to achieve their goals through tactics such as lobbying.






42. Governance according to the expressed preferences of the majority.






43. A dispute growing out of an actual case or controversy and that is capable of settlement by legal methods.






44. During the Great Society - the marble cake approach of intergovernmental relations.






45. A formal written statement from a grand jury charging an individual with an offense; also called a true bill.






46. A formal - public agreement between the United States and one or more nations that must be approved by two thirds of the Senate.






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






48. 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.






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






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