SUBJECTS
|
BROWSE
|
CAREER CENTER
|
POPULAR
|
JOIN
|
LOGIN
Business Skills
|
Soft Skills
|
Basic Literacy
|
Certifications
About
|
Help
|
Privacy
|
Terms
|
Email
Search
Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP American Government
Start Test
Study First
Subjects
:
clep
,
civics
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 political group organized under section 527 of the IRS code that may accept and spend unlimited amounts of money on election activities so long as they are not spent on broadcast ads run in the last 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a gene
Parallel
State Government
Civil War Amendments
527 Organization
2. Several Presidents have been elected without winning the popular vote. As a result - In 1970 and 1979 - Amendments were proposed to disband the ______________ - neither passed.
2
Electoral College
Recall
Separation of Powers
3. Permitted court authorized wire-tapping and bugging by federal - state - and local authorities and use of such evidence in trial. Later reversed by the Supreme Court based on 4th Amendment rights.
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act
New Federalism
Change of Venue
Legislative
4. Direct oral or written speech directed at a specific individual or group
Military-Industrial Complex
Bill of Attainder
Pure Speech
Coast Guard
5. The process through which an individual acquires a set of political attitudes and forms opinions about political and social issues.
3
Political Socialization
Recall
State Legislatures
6. As part of the negotiations concerning the Constitution - the South fought for and won an agreement forbidding the imposition of _______________.
binding
Speech Plus
Conference Committee
Export Taxes
7. Elections that may lead to a basic shift in the party identification of the electorate.
Contract Clause
Right of Expatriation
Realigning Elections
Democratic
8. A series of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton - John Jay - and James Madison under the pseudonym Publius advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution.
Dual / Layer Cake Federalism
17th
Federalist Papers
Fiscal Federalism
9. Federal aid that states and localities may use mostly as they wish.
Constituencies
General Purpose Grants
Membership
Little Difference
10. Tax legislation must originate in this house.
Impartial
binding
Shield Laws
House of Representatives
11. A form of city government under which power is divided between a mayor and an elected city council.
The Enlightenment
Spoils System
Mayor-Council Plan
Horse race
12. Makes sure that funds are used safely and wisely. They oversee the state's financial records
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Filibuster
State Auditor
Bicameral
13. A federal law passed by Congress in 1939 to restrict political activities by federal workers. The law prevents federal employees while on duty from taking an active part in party politics or campaigns and also bars federal employees from running for
Due Process
Monetary Policy
Hatch Act
Due Process of Law
14. The Supremacy Clause appears in ________________ of the Constitution.
Cloture
Weber
Article VI
Adversarial
15. A device that allows the House of Representatives to conduct its business with fewer restrictions on debate and a quorum of only 100 members.
Committee of the Whole
Members of Congress
Electoral College
Caucus
16. Clause in the 14th Amendment that forbids any state to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. The 5th Amendment also imposes this limitation on the national government.
Executive Agreements
Public Bills
Budget Surplus
Equal Protection Clause
17. The process by which individuals screen out messages that do not conform to their own biases
legislative and executive
Administrative Procedure Act
Presidential Ticket
Selective exposure
18. Plan that proposed unicameral legislature with each state having one vote.
Spoiler Candidate
New Jersey Plan
Cycle of Decreasing Influence
Medicare
19. Concept of the British statesman Edmund Burke that legislators should act according to their own consciences.
Situational
John F. Kennedy
Popular Sovereignty
Trustee
20. This 1957 judgement prohibited pornography material as utterly without redeeming social significance - later reversed in Miller v. California
Roth v. US
Earmarks
state legislatures
Reynolds v. Sims
21. A government that undertakes responsibility for the welfare of its citizens through programs in public health and public housing and pensions and unemployment compensation etc.
Truman
Open rule
Establishment Clause
Welfare State
22. Political commercials that strongly attack a rival candidate.
Negative Advertising
Mark Up Session
Blanket Primary
Public Administration
23. After the Vietnam war - American politics entered an era of __________________ during which neither party maintained control over the government.
Veto
Salient Agenda
Judicial Review
Divided Government
24. Legislative house responsible for impeachment trials.
Commander in Chief
Seniority System
Public hearing
Senate
25. Also known as the Massachusetts ballot - groups candidates according to the office for which they are running
Valence issue
Office Column Ballot
Inherent Powers
Majority Rule
26. A world economy characterized by the free movement of goods - capital - labor - and information across national borders.
Globalization
Monopoly
Gender Gap
Free Exercise Clause
27. The House appropriations committee has ___ subcommittees.
Non-protected Speech
12
Pork Barrel Spending
Tariff
28. Number of original cabinet positions under George Washington.
Federalist Papers
Situational
Mugwumps
3
29. The absent colony at the 2nd Continental Congress.
Probable Cause
Shay's Rebellion
Social Regulation
Rhode Island
30. Powers specifically outlined in the Constitution as assigned to one branch of government.
Containment
Raise Public Awareness
Enumerated Powers
Fast Track Authority
31. A term coined by President Lyndon B. Johnson to describe his own view of the relationship between Washington and the states.
Soft Money
Creative Federalism
Commission Plan
527 Organization
32. Legislature bills that affect all citizens.
Administrative Procedure Act
Public Bills
Grand Jury Indictment
States
33. Guarantees that any rights not explicitly outlined heretofore are reserved for the states.
The Sugar Act and the Currency Act
Convention Bounce
10th Amendment
Dred Scott Decision
34. The way things should be by law
Conventions
Independent
de jure
Conference Committee
35. Population migration patterns since the second World War have increased the power of _____________.
Suburbia
Albany Plan
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Restrictive Covenant
36. This controversial clause of the 9th Amendment has allowed government to expand rights to suit its needs.
Freedom of Speech
Elastic Clause
Judicial Activism
Horse race
37. A public assistance program established in 1965 to help pay hospital - doctor - and medical bills for people with low incomes.
Felonies
Medicaid
Selective Incorporation
Police Powers
38. Tips the balance between two leading candidates by attracting a minority of voters who otherwise might have voted for one of the leading candidates.
Incorporation Doctrine
Offensive Language
Judicial Restraint
Spoiler Candidate
39. This category of interest groups has been the strongest and most effective in lobbying Washington
Flexible Construction
Economic Interest Groups
Deviating Elections
Budget Resolutions
40. Article I - Section 8 - of the Constitution - which allows Congress to make all laws that are 'necessary and proper' to carry out the powers of the Constitution.
de jure
Elastic Clause
Reynolds v. Sims
Freedom of Information Act
41. Guarantees the right to bare arms.
Recall
Omaha platform
55
2nd Amendment
42. This branch of government checks Bureaucracy through its control over budget and appointments of leadership.
Committees of Correspondence
Categorical Grants
Executive
AARP
43. A system in which national and state governments are competitors with distinct powers. This system was prominent in the US from the during the 19th century until 1937.
Power Structure
Majority and Minority Leader
Dual / Layer Cake Federalism
Voting Rights Act of 1965
44. While these voters have traditionally supported the Democrats - some have begun to support Republicans in light of the Democrats liberal policies on abortion.
Catholics
Monroe Doctrine
Budget Surplus
Brown v. Board of Education Topeka - Kansas
45. A system in which the power to govern is shared between national and state governments
Ticket Splitters
New Federalism
Federalism
Vietnam War
46. Political strategists believe that presidential elections will normally be won or lost in _______________states.
Democratic-Republicans
Coordinated Spending
Civilian Supremacy
Populous
47. Formal approval or consent given to a constitution - constitutional amendment - or treaty before it goes into effect.
Great or Connecticut Compromise
Ratification
Exit Polls
Political Advertising
48. Provisions tacked on to a piece of legislation that are not relevant to the bill.
Freedom of Information Act
Riders
Pyramid Model
Political System
49. Proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 as an attempt to form a union of the colonies. Later used to help form the Articles of Confederation.
31
Jurisdiction
Albany Plan
Elastic Clause
50. In lieu of an indictment - the state prosecutor may file a _______________ charging the person with a crime.
Judicial
Criminal Information
Free Exercise Clause
Bicameral