Test your basic knowledge |

CLEP American Government

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. In some cases where blicity too much publicity surrounds a trial - courts have granted _______________ to help ensure a fair trial. One example is the trial of Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma City Bombing.






2. These party members take active non-leadership roles such as working polls or contributing money to campaigns. Tend to compromise on important issues and are mostly concerned about winning elections.






3. Presides over the Senate without voting privileges except in the case of a tie.






4. Colonies in which the proprietors (who had obtained their patents from the king) named the governors - subject to the king's approval.






5. A system in which national and state government have shared or overlapping powers. FDR's New Deal legislation established this system in the US.






6. Method by which federal court judges may lose their position.






7. Government regulation of the economy through its control over the supply of money and the cost and availability of credit. Controlled by the Federal Reserve Board.






8. ________________ of the Constitution dictates how the Constitution shall be amended.






9. In Schenck v. US (1919) - The Supreme Court ruled that government may prohibit speech that creates an immediate threat of criminal action. Essentially established different standards for speech during wartime than in peacetime. Thus - establishing th






10. A vote in the House of Representatives in which the position of each member is noted and published in the Congressional Record.






11. The view of the majority of the Supreme Court that First Amendment rights must be weighed against the competing needs of the community to preserve order.






12. Concept of the British statesman Edmund Burke that legislators should act according to their own consciences.






13. The Supreme Court has ruled that Congress_________________ take away a person's citizenship unless it is freely renounced.






14. An official document - published every weekday - which lists the new and proposed regulations of executive departments and regulatory agencies.






15. The FCC's equal time policy applies to _____________.






16. In 1992 - the television networks agreed not to release these until a majority of polling places had closed in each state






17. Authority based on an individual's outstanding traits - which attract followers






18. A court decision in an earlier case with facts and legal issues similar to a dispute currently before a court.






19. Law enacted by Congress - or by state legislatures or local legislative bodies.






20. Guarantees that an accused in innocent until proven guilty.






21. 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






22. Responsible for assigning bills to committee in the Senate.






23. Bills that benefit legislators' home districts - or powerful corporate contributors - with sometimes wasteful or unnecessary public works or other projects.






24. A public policy that takes something away from one person or group and gives it to another person or group.






25. Executive check on Legislative Branch.






26. ______________ refers to the differences in political attitudes and voting behavior between men and women






27. Economists generally agree that the major responsibility for promoting prosperity and full employment falls on ________________.






28. 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.






29. Grants that an accused may not be held in custody without charge - literally 'You shall have the body'.






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






31. The way things should be by law






32. The Supreme Court is the only judicial body that may hear disputes between _________________.






33. Approximately 33% of American voters identify themselves as _______________ party.






34. Plan that proposed bicameral legislature where states were to have representation based on size in both houses.






35. The name commonly given to a private group - regardless of size - organized to elect political candidates. An organization becomes one by receiving contributions or making expenditures in excess of $1 -000 for the purpose of influencing a federal ele






36. While the voting rights act of 1965 did direct the Attorney General to investigate the constitutionality of poll taxes and prohibit literacy tests - it did not expressly prohibit _____________.






37. Number of Electoral College votes required to win the Presidency.






38. The 1776 pamphlet by Thomas Paine that prompted King George III's Prohibitory Act and the sending of mercenaries to the colonies.






39. The action - or actions - taken by government to carry out a policy.






40. A group of writers - journalists - and critics who exposed corporate malfeasance and political corruption in the first decade of the 20th century.






41. In the 1964 case of ____________ - the Supreme Court: established 'one person - one vote' -






42. The concentration of economic power in the hands of a relatively few large companies.






43. The practice that allows senators to delay or even kill floor action on legislation - a nomination - or other matters by asking their party leaders not to schedule them.






44. 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.






45. Voter turnout is usually ____________ when there is a binding referendum on the ballot.






46. Information sent out in order to observe the reaction of an audience. Used by politicians who deliberately leak information on a policy change under consideration.






47. These voters tend to have a high voter turnout because of their strong since of civic duty due to growing up during an era of political and civil unrest.






48. Clause of the Constitution (Article 1 - Section 10) intended to prohibit state governments from modifying contracts made between individuals; interpreted as prohibiting state governments from taking actions that adversely affect property rights.






49. 'lame duck' amendment






50. Passed in 1883 - it created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage.