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. Financial contributions by individuals or groups in the hope of influencing the outcome of the election and subsequently influencing policy.






2. An imbalance in international trade in which the value of imports exceeds the value of exports.






3. In a criminal action - the person or party accused of an offense.






4. Segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice.






5. An international trade organization with more than 130 members - including the United States and the People's Republic of China - that seeks to encourage free trade by lowering tariffs and other trade restrictions.






6. 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






7. A large body of people interested in a common issue - idea - or concern that is of continuing significance and who are willing to take action. Movements seek to change attitudes or institutions - not just policies.






8. Presidential power to strike - or remove - specific items from a spending bill without vetoing the entire package; declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.






9. Divisions within society that cut across demographic categories to produce groups that are more heterogeneous or different.






10. Essays promoting ratification of the Constitution - published anonymously by Alexander Hamilton - John Jay - and James Madison in 1787 and 1788.






11. The power of a court to refuse to enforce a law or government regulation that in the opinion of the judges conflicts with the U.S. Constitution or - in a state court - the state constitution.






12. Agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant that the defendant will plead guilty to a lesser offense to avoid having to stand trial for a more serious offense.






13. 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.






14. Clause in the Constitution (Article 4 - Section 1) requiring each state to recognize the civil judgments rendered by the courts of the other states and to accept their public records and acts as valid.






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






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






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






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






19. A close contest; by extension - any contest in which the focus is on who is ahead and by how much rather than on substantive differences between the candidates.






20. An ideology that cherishes individual liberty and insists on minimal government - promoting a free market economy - a noninterventionist foreign policy - and an absence of regulation in moral - economic - and social life.






21. A theory that government should control the money supply to encourage economic growth and restrain inflation.






22. Constitutional requirement that governments act reasonably and that the substance of the laws themselves be fair and reasonable; limits what the government may do.






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






24. Rebellion led by Daniel Shays of farmers in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787 - protesting mortgage foreclosures. It highlighted the need for a strong national government just as the call for the Constitutional Convention went out.

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






26. 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






27. A formal decision to reject the bill passed by Congress.






28. 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.






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






30. The desire to avoid international entanglement altogether.






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






32. A government entity that is independent of the legislative - executive - and judicial branches.






33. An official who is expected to represent the views of his or her constituents even when personally holding different views; one interpretation of the role of legislator.






34. Government regulation of property so extensive that government is deemed to have taken the property by the power of eminent domain - for which it must compensate the property owners.






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






36. Interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that the government cannot interfere with speech unless the speech presents a clear and present danger that it will lead to evil or illegal acts.






37. Procedure whereby a certain number of voters may - by petition - propose a law or constitutional amendment and have it submitted to the voters.






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






39. A formal agreement between the U.S. president and the leaders of other nations that does not require Senate approval.






40. The tendency of presidents to learn more about doing their jobs over time.






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






42. 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.






43. A minor party that believes in extremely limited government. Libertarians call for a free market system - expanded individual liberties such as drug legalization - and a foreign policy of nonintervention - free trade - and open immigration.






44. Agency that administers civil service laws - rules - and regulations.






45. A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that prohibits any amendments to bills or provides that only members of the committee reporting the bill may offer amendments.






46. The idea that a just government must derive its powers from the consent of the people it governs.






47. 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






48. Arrangement whereby public officials are hired to provide legal assistance to people accused of crimes who are unable to hire their own attorneys.






49. 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).






50. 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.