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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. It the job of _________ committees of a political party to hold voter registration drives - recruit new party members and final candidates for city and county positions.
Local
Federal Appellate
18th Amendment
Substantive Due Process
2. In this 1972 case - the Supreme Court established four guidelines for determining if a trial was appropriately speedy and fair: cause of delay - length of delay - affect on the outcome - and the defendant's claim to a speedy trial.
Cluster Sampling
14th Amendment
Baker v. Wingo
Filibuster
3. A legal principle of fair dealing - which may provide preventive measures and legal remedies that are unavailable under existing common law and statutory law.
Police Powers
Constitutional Initiative
Negative
Equity
4. 14th Amendment is often used to support the right to ____________.
Social Security
Wallace's Progressives
Pass the fundraising threshold
Due Process
5. Form of government in which the people are sovereign but their power is exercised by their elected representatives.
Republic
Caucuses
Private Bills
Probable Cause
6. The practice of victorious politicians to reward their followers with jobs. Also known as the spoils system.
Political Patronage
Bill of Attainder
Hyperpluralism
Raiding
7. Congress defined the steps for the creation and admission of new states. It forbade slavery while the region remained a territory although citizens could legalize it. First congress would appoint a territorial governor and judges. Second as soon as 5
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Political System
Arraignment
Gideon v. Wainwright
8. Today the Senate operates with ____ standing and select committees. These select committees - however - are permanent in nature and are treated as standing committees under Senate rules.
Public Opinion
Military-Industrial Complex
Riders
20
9. These parties often emerge as off-shoots of major parties or as single-issue parties. They typically act as critic/innovator bringing attention to issues and influencing the platforms of the major parties.
Third Parties
Issue Networks
5
Implementation
10. A written opinion by some of the judges of a court which agrees with the majority of the court but might arrive there in a different manner.
National Debt
Concurring Opinion
Enumerated Powers
8th Amendment
11. Presides over the Senate without voting privileges except in the case of a tie.
Senate
9
Vice President
Royalists
12. Special courts assigned to deal with specific legislative issues such as taxes - military appeals - and international trade.
Pork Barrel Spending
Legislative Courts
Council of Economic Advisors
Ratification
13. Laws on Schools - Marriage - and owning property;Licensee Lawyers - Doctors - and Teachers.
2
Regulatory Federalism
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
State Government
14. Which committee assignments would confer the most power and influence on members of the Senate?
Coast Guard
Pyramid Model
Agriculture
Appropriations
15. The constitutional requirement (in article II - sec 3) that presidents take care that the laws are faithfully executed - even if they disagree with the purpose of those laws
Equal Time
Mallory Rule
Trustee
Take Care Clause
16. A system in which the power to govern is shared between national and state governments
14th Amendment
Judicial
Federalism
Department of State
17. Literally meaning 'right of blood' - confers citizenship to a child from the parents.
Divided Government
Welfare State
Speaker of the House
Jus Sanguinis
18. Funds spent for or against a candidate by committees not formally connected to the candidate's campaign and without coordination with the campaign.
Independent Expenditures
Convention Bounce
Line-Item Veto
Bureaucracy
19. Responsibilities include: Coordinating the nation's intelligence activities and Evaluating and disseminating intelligence that affects national security
Federal
Electoral College
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
4
20. Groups named for the section of the Internal Revenue Service code under which they must report their expenditures. The tax-exempt groups were created to exploit a loophole in the law regulating campaign finance.
Whistle-blowers
527 Organizations
Patriot Act
Redistributive Policy
21. Legislature bills that affect all citizens.
Mark Up Session
Probable Cause
Public Bills
2/3
22. 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.
Cycle of Decreasing Influence
Federalist
Ticket Splitters
Change of Venue
23. Number of original cabinet positions under George Washington.
Change of Venue
legislative and executive
3
Closed rule
24. Number of years a Senator must reside in the US prior to taking office
Republican
Lemon Test
9
may not
25. Between conventions - the governing body of a major political party. Members of this group are chosen in the states and formally elected by the party
3
Voting
Senatorial Courtesy
National Committee
26. Requires the Electoral College to vote for President and Vice President separately.
Democratic
legislative and executive
12th Amendment
Cruel and Unusual
27. Constitutionally empowered to appoint judges - ambassadors - and other high officials - Constitutionally empowered to make treaties with foreign countries.
President
Independent expenditures
Patriot Act
Republicans
28. The principle of civilian control of the military - based on the clear constitutional power of the president as supreme commander of the armed forces.
Furman v. Georgia
9
Committees of Correspondence
Civilian Supremacy
29. Prohibits the use of cruel or unusual punishment.
Rules Committee
Union Shop
8th Amendment
Criminal Cases
30. First governing document of the Plymouth Colony establishing freedom of religion.
4
Supreme Court
Mayflower Compact
Preamble
31. Age Requirement for House of Representatives.
Popular Sovereignty
2nd Amendment
25
Referendum
32. Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman (1979) upheld that bussing programs were an acceptable way to enforce ______________________.
School Desegregation
Permanent Registration
Slander
Privacy Act
33. Committees appointed for investigative or crisis situations.
Equity
Select Committee
Whips
8th Amendment
34. Most modern political scientists believe there is ________________ between politics and government.
Democratic-Republicans
state legislatures
Open rule
Little Difference
35. Congress' first step towards allocating funds
Transportation
Authorizations
Lyndon B. Johnson
Pluralist
36. The fundamental rights of a free society that are protected by the Bill of Rights against the power of the government - such as freedom of speech - religion - press - and assembly.
Republicans
Power Structure
Republicans
Civil Liberties
37. Guarantees the right to bare arms.
Balance of Trade
Military-Industrial Complex
12th Amendment
2nd Amendment
38. The action - or actions - taken by government to carry out a policy.
2
Deficit
Charismatic authority
Implementation
39. This 1967 Supreme Court case prohibited illegal eavesdropping and extending the zone of privacy to include the home - office - person - and immediate public arena.
Freedom of Speech
Enumerated Powers
Secondary Group
Katz. v US
40. 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.
Hold
External Efficacy
Petit Jury
Reference Group
41. This contraversial legal technicality intended to protect civil liberties has allowed criminals to remain free when the courts refuse to admit evidence that may have been obtained illegally.
Exclusionary Rule
Gitlow v. New York
Gerrymandering
Literacy Tests
42. A system of voter registration in which voters must register only once in their district.
congressional oversight committee
Select Committee
Federalism
Permanent Registration
43. Executive check on Legislative Branch.
100
Veto
1st Amendment
8th Amendment
44. Passed in 1883 - it created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage.
Closed Shop
Pyramid Model
Pendleton Civil Service Act
Senate
45. The body composed of electors from the 50 states who formally have the power to elect the president and vice president of the United States. Each state has a number of electors and electoral votes equal to its number of senators and representatives i
Segregation
Foreign Policy
25
Electoral College
46. In 1943 - The Supreme Court upheld the Jehovah's Witnesses right to refrain from saluting the American flag based on their right to _____________.
Federalism
John Locke
Free Exercise of Religion
Straight Ticket Voting
47. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 required states in the covered jurisdiction to attain _________________ from the Attorney General before making changes to voting standards - practice - or procedure
Hub and Spoke Model
Pre-clearance
6
Commonwealth
48. Age requirement for President
Mayor-Council Plan
State Government
35
Republicans
49. The only amendments to be ratified through the process of 'ratifying conventions -' not a vote in the state legislatures
Marshall Plan
Horse race
Bill of Rights
Virginia Plan
50. A provision of the Federal Communications Act that requires broadcasters to provide the same amount of exposure to all legally qualified political candidates.
Baron v. Baltimore
270
Free Rider
Equal Time