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. Included are Agriculture - Nutrition - and Forestry; Appropriations; Armed Services; Banking - Housing and Urban Affairs; Commerce - Science and Transportation; Energy and Natural Resources; Environment and Public Works; Finance; Health - Education -






2. Presidential staff agency that serves as a clearinghouse for budgetary requests and management improvements for government agencies.






3. 1976 Law requiring all governmental agency meetings to be open to the public unless classified information will be discussed.






4. A White House council created under the National Security Act of 1947 to advise the president and help coordinate American military and foreign policy.






5. The kinds of cases that a court has the authority to decide.






6. The federal department that administers programs that provide services to farmers (including research and soil conservation and efforts to stabilize the farming economy)






7. The most important committees - always assembled and delegated with the responsibility of handling all bills under their concern. Includes the Ways and Means - Appropriations - Budget - Rules and Agriculture Committees.






8. A course of action decided upon by a government






9. 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.






10. The concept that political power rests with the people who can create - alter - and abolish government. People express themselves through voting and free participation in government






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






12. Presidential management model in which the Chief of Staff plays a prominent role as the head of a military style chain of command. Used successfully by Reagan and Eisenhower.






13. 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






14. People may vote in a party's primary only if they are registered members of that party. Independents cannot participate. Note that because some political parties name themselves independent - the term 'non-partisan' often replaces 'independent' when






15. Disapproval of a bill by a chief executive - such as the president or a governor.






16. Which of the following factors is likely to be the weakest indicator of an individual's political beliefs and opinions? Age - Race - Intelligence - or Religion






17. The 1st Amendment states that government cannot issue ______________ - censoring publications before they are published.






18. 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.






19. An ideology that cherishes individual liberty and insists on a sharply limited government - promoting a free market economy - a non-interventionist foreign policy - and an absence of regulation in the moral and social spheres.






20. Committees of Congress composed of both representatives and senators.






21. Proponents of limited government - unregulated free markets - national self-reliance - and conventional social values are best describes as






22. A registered voter may vote in any party primary regardless of his own party affiliation. When voters do not register with a party before the primary - it is called a pick-a-party primary because the voter can select which party's primary he or she w






23. Cabinet department responsible for regulating and promoting trade and maintaining the census Established in 1913..






24. Representing - characterized by - or including members from two parties or factions






25. A group of people - chosen by poll-takers - that is representative of the universe that is being polled.






26. Puerto Rico has ____________ status.






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






28. 6 In the view of Robert L. Lineberry - policy analysts focus on the _______________.






29. Smith v. Allwight (1994) was the first vase in which the Supreme Court upheld the voting rights of _____________ in state primary elections.






30. Political leaders typically try to both lead and follow ____________.






31. First governing document of the Plymouth Colony establishing freedom of religion.






32. 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.






33. Laws - rules - and government programs designed to protect individual rights and specific groups - as well as to benefit society as a whole in such areas as health - worker safety - consumer protection - and the environment.






34. 1925 Supreme Court case overturned Baron v. Baltimore and applied the Bill of Rights to states.






35. 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.






36. The yearly value of goods and services produced within a country.






37. Appointed by Eisenhower - this Supreme court justice who played an important role in the court's stance on the advancement of civil rights.






38. The overall public has a ___________ view of PACS in terms of bought votes and adding to the cost of running for office






39. ________ of voters identify with one political party in advance of the campaign.






40. Age Requirement for House of Representatives.






41. 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.






42. The foreign policy of the United States during the period after the Second World War - designed to contain the expansion of Soviet power.






43. Presides over any impeachment trial.






44. A federal program established in 1965 to provide hospital and medical services to older people through the Social Security system.






45. The belief that all people possess certain basic rights that may not be abridged by government.






46. Number of years a President must reside in the US prior to taking office






47. 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






48. The claim by presidents of an inherent right to withhold information from Congress and the judiciary.






49. A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that permits floor amendments within the overall time allocated to the bill.






50. The way things actually are.