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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. Election in which voters choose party nominees.






2. The powers of the national government in foreign affairs that the Supreme Court has declared do not depend on constitutional grants but rather grow out of the very existence of the national government.






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






4. 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.






5. 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.






6. 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.






7. 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.






8. Providing automatic increases to compensate for inflation.






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






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






11. A PAC formed by an officeholder that collects contributions from individuals and other PACs and then makes contributions to other candidates and political parties.






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






13. Stresses federalism as a system of intergovernmental relations in delivering governmental goods and services to the people and calls for cooperation among various levels of government.






14. Tax required to vote; prohibited for national elections by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) and ruled unconstitutional for all elections in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966).






15. A philosophy that encourages individual nations tacked together to solve international problems.






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






17. Exemption from prosecution for a particular crime in return for testimony pertaining to the case.






18. Statement required by Federal law from all agencies for any project using Federal funds to assess the potential affect of the new construction or development on the environment.






19. Federal program that provides medical benefits for low-income persons.






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






21. 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






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






23. 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.






24. Advertisements and commercials for products and services; they receive less First Amendment protection - primarily to discourage false and misleading ads.






25. Mutual aid and vote trading among legislators.






26. 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






27. 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.






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






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






30. Officer of the Senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president.






31. 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.'






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






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






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






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






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






37. 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.






38. Constitutional arrangement in which power is distributed between a central government and subdivisional governments - called states in the United States. The national and the subdivisional governments both exercise direct authority over individuals.






39. Police targeting of racial minorities as potential suspects of criminal activities.






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






41. A judicial system in which the court of law is a neutral arena where two parties argue their differences.






42. The number of Americans who are out of work but actively looking for a job. The number does not usually include those who are not looking.






43. 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.






44. 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.






45. People who favor state or local action rather than national action.






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






47. Promoting a particular position or an issue by interest groups or individuals but not candidates. Much issue advocacy is often electioneering for or against a candidate and - until 2004 had not been subject to regulation.






48. Special spending projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of Congress for their constituents.






49. The right to renounce one's citizenship.






50. 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.






Can you answer 50 questions in 15 minutes?



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