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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. Cabinet department that includes the FAA and the National Hwy Traffic Safety Administration. Established in 1966.
Mayflower Compact
Articles of Confederation
Department of State
Transportation
2. A powerful alliance of mutual benefit among an agency or unit of the government - an interest group - and a committee or subcommittee of Congress. Also called a triangle or a subgovernment.
Muckrakers
Iron Triangle
Committees of Correspondence
Labor
3. Appointed by Eisenhower - this Supreme court justice who played an important role in the court's stance on the advancement of civil rights.
Earl Warren
Concurrent Powers
Civilian Supremacy
Declining
4. The House appropriations committee has ___ subcommittees.
55
Jus Sanguinis
Albany Plan
12
5. PACs may donate a ______________ amount of indirect or in-kind donations to a campaign. (Ex. placing ads to support their candidate)
14th
Ways and Means Committee
NY Times v. Sullivan
Unlimited
6. A meeting of party leaders to select candidates - elect convention delegates - etc
270
Caucus
Secretary of State
Supreme Court
7. A method of polling - considered less reliable than a random sample - in which interviewers are instructed to question members of a particular group in proportion to their percentage in the population as a whole.
Checks and Balances
Due Process of Law
Closed rule
Quota Sampling
8. The amount of money available when the government's income is greater than what it spends in a fiscal year.
Hold
Conglomerates
Whips
Budget Surplus
9. This act prohibited Discrimination because of race - color - sex - religion - or national origin by employers or labor unions; The adoption by voting registrars of different standards for black and white applicants; and Racial or religious discrimina
1964 Civil Rights Act
12
Unlimited
Blacks
10. Courts of original jurisdiction in federal crimes - civil suits under federal law - civil suits between citizens of different states where the amount in question exceeds $50 -000 - bankruptcy proceedings - cases involving some federal administrative
Public Policies
National Security Council
Federal District
Implementation
11. Cabinet department that includes the Coast Guard - Border Patrol - FEMA - Transportation Security Administration - INS and the Secret Service. Established in 2001 in response to 9/11.
Inherent Powers
Homeland Security
Committees
Open
12. The Supreme Court practice of applying most of the provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states under the 14th Amendment.
Free Exercise of Religion
Selective Incorporation
Elastic Clause
Political Culture
13. A group of independent states or nations that come together for a common purpose and whose central authority is usually limited to defense and foreign relations.
Plurality
35
CORE
Confederation
14. In an election with more than 2 options - the number of votes for the candidate or party receiving the greatest number - but less that half of the votes.
Outputs
Criminal Cases
Republican
Plurality
15. When the minority party becomes stronger than the majority party - usually the result of winning a critical election.
Speaker of the House
Party Realignment
Gerrymandering
Checks and Balances
16. This Supreme Court case infamously decided that a slave was not a citizen but property to be 'used in subservience to the interests - the convenience - or the will of his owner'
Dred Scott
Death penalty
Homeland Security
Rhode Island
17. Powers of government that are specifically granted to the three branches of the federal government under the Constitution.
Government Corporations
Local
Enumerated Powers
Balance of Trade
18. The right to renounce one's citizenship.
Right of Expatriation
Reference Group
Appropriation Bills
2/3
19. A method of amending state constitutions under which proposed constitutional amendments can be placed on the ballot if enough signatures are obtained on a petition. Almost half the states also employ the initiative on the ballot to allow voters to en
School Desegregation
Members of Congress
Initiative
Original Jurisdiction
20. The concept that all people are of equal worth - even if not of equal ability.
Miller v. California
Public Administration
Declining
Equality
21. Voter turnout is usually ____________ when there is a binding referendum on the ballot.
binding
Rules Committee
Proprietary Colonies
Marshall Plan
22. An extraordinary writ commanding an official to perform a ministerial act that the law recognizes as an absolute duty and not a matter for the official's discretion
Writ of Mandamus
Public Policy
Committees of Correspondence
Interventionism
23. In Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969) - the Supreme Court established precedents for ___________________ in schools and government institutions.
Open Meeting Law
4th Amendment
Securities and Exchange Commission or Securities Act of 1933
Freedom of Speech
24. Elections that may lead to a basic shift in the party identification of the electorate.
Political Action Committees
35
Writ of Mandamus
Realigning Elections
25. To negotiate a complex and politically sensitive trade treaty - a President will often
Delegate
Fast Track Authority
Royal Colonies
2/3
26. _____________ was the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics and helping immigrants (most notably the Irish) rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s.
Propose an Amendment
Public hearing
Tammany Hall
Voting
27. In Sweatt v. Painter (1950) - The Supreme Court upheld that ___________________ was inherently not the case as is applied to the University of Texas Law School.
Capitalism
Separate but Equal
Gerrymandering
12th Amendment
28. An elected office that is predictably won by one party or the other - so the success of that party's candidate is almost taken for granted
Independent Regulatory Agencies
Entitlement Programs
Safe seat
Majority and Minority Leader
29. 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
Executive Agreements
Inherent Powers
Clear and Present Danger
527 Organization
30. According to V. O. Key - Jr. - the Populist Party of the 1890s is an example of a ____________________.
Internal Efficacy
Party of Economic Protest
Charter Colonies
17th
31. Defamation by oral utterance rather than by writing - pictures
Press Secretary
Open
Slander
Low
32. A law passed by Congress in 1973 in an effort to set a time limit on the use of combat forces abroad by a president.
War Powers Resolution
Original Jurisdiction
Woodrow Wilson
8th Amendment
33. This 1973 ruling gave local communities the authority to determine obscenity - established three part test for obscene material. To qualify as obscene - speech must be considered obscene by the 'average' person - depict or describe material that is a
Miller v. California
Executive Privilege
Whigs
de facto
34. Also known as the Massachusetts ballot - groups candidates according to the office for which they are running
Cold War
Permanent Registration
Office Column Ballot
Freedom of Speech
35. Which form of registration prevails in all but a few states?
Northern and Southern
Article III
18th Amendment
Permanent Registration
36. Cabinet department responsible for regulating and promoting trade and maintaining the census Established in 1913..
Enumerated Powers
Public Administration
Commerce
Delegated Powers
37. This branch of government checks Bureaucracy through its control over budget and appointments of leadership.
Two Trial
Executive
Declining
Institutional
38. Committees created by Congress to conduct special investigations. Although normally temporary - some become - in effect - permanent.
Confirmed
Capitalism
Select Committee
Self-Incrimination
39. Formal approval or consent given to a constitution - constitutional amendment - or treaty before it goes into effect.
Supremacy Clause
Article III
Caucus
Ratification
40. The belief that one is effective when participating in politics - for example that the government will respond to one's demands
unlimited
Implied Powers
Discharge Petition
External Efficacy
41. A small group of voters chosen by a political campaign for their demographic similarities who are brought together to gauge how the group they represent feels about the candidate.
Foreign Policy
Focus Groups
Vietnam War
Agriculture
42. An issue on which voters distinguish rival parties by the degree to which they associate each party or candidate with conditions - goals - or symbols the electorate universally approves or disapproves of. Examples of such issues are economic prosperi
100
Swing Voters in the Democratic Party
Valence issue
Recall
43. Judicial Check on Legislative Branch. Not specifically outlined in the Constitution - but established in the case of Marbury v. Madison through the application of the Supremacy Clause in Article VI.
Institutional
Eminent Domain
Judicial Review
5
44. In Congress - _____________ are informal organizations of individual congressional representatives with like interests or constituencies. Members work together to promote the interests of the groups they represent through legislation - policy - and p
Caucuses
Governmental Corporations
Unlimited
Oligopoly
45. Prohibits the use of cruel or unusual punishment.
Delegate
8th Amendment
Thomas Hobbes
Increased competition
46. Special spending projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of Congress for their constituents.
Mayflower Compact
Earl Warren
Probable Cause
Earmarks
47. Court cases that concern crimes committed against the public order.
Criminal Cases
Voting
Free Exercise Clause
Budget Resolutions
48. Assistants to the Majority and Minority Leaders of both the House and Senate.
Unlimited
Whips
Inputs
English Bill of Rights
49. The concentration of economic power in the hands of a relatively few large companies.
Political ideology
Northern and Southern
Oligopoly
16th Amendment
50. Prohibits conviction of a crime that occurred before the act became illegal
Change of Venue
Ad Hoc Structure
Demands
Ex Post Facto