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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. Federal categorical grants in which the granting agency has much discretion over how the recipient spends the money.
Fixed
Whistle-blowers
Baker v. Wingo
Project Grant
2. By far - the largest amount of federal aid to state and local governments comes in the form of:
Cycle of Decreasing Influence
Public Administration
Categorical Grants
Right to Work Laws
3. Cabinet department responsible for managing school lunch programs and food safety. Established in 1862.
Bundling
Agriculture
Common Sense
Probable Cause
4. David R. Mayhew has suggested that this influences congressional behavior. The ________________ is the relationship between members of Congress and their constituents.
Electoral Connection
Laissez-Faire
Bandwagon
Conference Committee
5. The 15th Amendment - also know as _________________ - was intended to help recently freed blacks from unconstitutional state laws designed to circumvent federal laws.
Party Column Ballot
Incorporation Doctrine
Intelligence
Political System
6. Legislature bills that affect only a small group of citizens.
Libertarianism
Instructed Delegate
Clean bill
Private Bills
7. The 24th amendment banned _____________ - making it harder for states to discriminate against poor and minority voters.
Gerrymandering
Poll Tax
31
State Government
8. The power of the president - struck down by the Supreme Court in 1998 - to veto parts of appropriations bills. Most state governors have this power.
Federal Courts
Line-Item Veto
Government
Redistributive Policy
9. An individual who does not join a group representing his or her interests yet receives the benefit of the group's influence.
Exit Polls
Free Rider
Bundling
Cold War
10. Electoral college system and other campaign practices make it exceedingly difficult for even popular ______________ candidates to successfully run for the presidency.
Third Party
Swing Voters in the Democratic Party
20th
Social Security
11. 'lame duck' amendment
20th
Offensive Language
19th Amendment
30
12. The formal source of all authority in each major political party. It nominates the party candidates for president and vice president - writes a platform - settles disputes - writes rules - and elects the members of the national committee.
National Convention
1st Amendment
Whigs
Demands
13. A world economy characterized by the free movement of goods - capital - labor - and information across national borders.
Judicial Activism
8th Amendment
Globalization
Electoral Votes
14. A judicial opinion agreed to by a majority of the members of a court. A majority opinion sets forth the decision of the court and an explanation of the rationale behind the court's decision.
Conservatism
Republicans
Majority Opinion
Little Difference
15. The philosophy that government should intervene as little as possible in economic affairs.
Parallel
Whigs
Popular Sovereignty
Laissez-Faire
16. Bills that benefit legislators' home districts - or powerful corporate contributors - with sometimes wasteful or unnecessary public works or other projects.
Pork-Barrel Legislation
Feedback
Nuclear Proliferation
Concurrent Powers
17. Wisconsin Republican who exploited public concern for political gain during the 1950's through freewheeling investigations of alleged Communists.
Joseph McCarthy
Categorical Grants
Ratification
Legislative
18. A 1972 treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union limiting the number of defensive missiles each country could build. In 2001 President George W. Bush withdrew the United States from the treaty.
Marshall Plan
Trustee
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
Redistributive Policy
19. A provision of law in which Congress asserts the power to nullify actions of the executive branch. In 1983 the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional - but Congress continued to pass laws containing such provisions.
Espionage Act
Raise Public Awareness
Vietnam War
Legislative Veto
20. The 23rd Amendment guaranteed voting rights to whom?
Great or Connecticut Compromise
National Chair
Political Patronage
District of Columbia
21. Representing - characterized by - or including members from two parties or factions
Bipartisanship
Presidential Ticket
Third Party
Reynolds v. Sims
22. 1925 Supreme Court case overturned Baron v. Baltimore and applied the Bill of Rights to states.
Electoral College
Freedom of Speech
Gitlow v. New York
Gideon v. Wainwright
23. An act of legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial. Constitutionally prohibited.
20th
Bill of Attainder
Court of Appeals
Energy
24. A vote in the House of Representatives in which the position of each member is noted and published in the Congressional Record.
Implied Powers
Town Meeting
Recorded Vote
Enacted
25. Established national income tax.
Patriot Act
AARP
16th Amendment
Equal Time
26. Federal laws limit the amount of ___________ that can be donated directly to campaign coffers.
October 1st
Negative
Federalist
Soft money
27. The belief that all people possess certain basic rights that may not be abridged by government.
Political Action Committees
Natural Rights
Policy
English Bill of Rights
28. A court decision in an earlier case with facts and legal issues similar to a dispute currently before a court.
Precedent
Plain View
Woodrow Wilson
Republicans
29. _____________ is responsible for monetary policy.
Entitlement Spending
State Government
Electoral Votes
The Federal Reserve Board
30. Most modern political scientists believe there is ________________ between politics and government.
Clothespin vote
Third Parties
Little Difference
Presidential Ticket
31. Love of country and a desire for independence; it can also mean an excessive form of patriotism exploited by political leaders.
Miller v. California
Republicans
Public Opinion
Nationalism
32. An opinion of one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment.
Issue Networks
Dissenting Opinion
National Debt
Random Sample
33. A form of city government under which power is divided between a mayor and an elected city council.
Thomas Hobbes
Mayor-Council Plan
Shield Laws
Poll Tax
34. The individuals - institutions - and processes that make the rules for society and possess the power to enforce them.
de jure
state legislatures
Military-Industrial Complex
Government
35. The Supremacy Clause appears in ________________ of the Constitution.
35
Article VI
Non-protected Speech
Slander
36. A law passed in 1966 that requires federal executive branch and regulatory agencies to make information available to journalists - scholars - and the public unless it falls into one of several confidential categories.
Ways and Mean Committee
Police Powers
Government
Freedom of Information Act
37. A device that allows the House of Representatives to conduct its business with fewer restrictions on debate and a quorum of only 100 members.
Equal Time
Committee of the Whole
Thomas Hobbes
Bicameral
38. The 1776 pamphlet by Thomas Paine that prompted King George III's Prohibitory Act and the sending of mercenaries to the colonies.
Proposition 187
Common Sense
Exit Polls
Positive
39. Process by which citizens propose an amendment by petition.
Free Exercise
Constitutional Initiative
Common Law
Hyperpluralism
40. Federal and State Courts function in a _____________manner so that federal courts may receive appeals from state courts.
Independent Expenditures
General Accounting Office
Parallel
Establishment Clause
41. New Jersey v. TLO (1985) established that school authorities may search students without _____________ as long as they are reasonable.
Great Compromise
Articles of Confederation
Probable Cause
Secretary of State
42. Powerful standing committee that puts bills on the legislative calendar and establishes the processes by which the bill will be discussed on the floor.
Rules Committee
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Max Weber
Free Exercise Clause
43. A controversial law overwhelmingly passed by Congress in October 2001 - after the terrorist attacks of September 11 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It greatly expanded the power of federal law enforcement authorities to move against suspe
Patriot Act
Bureaucracy
Probable Cause
Democrats
44. Form of government in which the people are sovereign but their power is exercised by their elected representatives.
Supports
Republic
Politics
Jus Soli
45. An immigrant who wished to become a citizen may be naturalized after living in the US for ___ years.
Probable Cause
5
Senior Executive Service
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act
46. Colonies in which the proprietors (who had obtained their patents from the king) named the governors - subject to the king's approval.
Gitlow v. New York
20
77
Proprietary Colonies
47. The median income of women is ___________ percent of men.
77
Television
Pyramid Model
Constitutional Initiative
48. Concurrent resolution - adopted by both Houses of Congress - that sets forth a Congressional budget plan for the budget year and at least four out-years.
Agriculture
Delegated Powers
Budget Resolution
Vietnam War
49. Individual contributions to PACs are limited to ______________ dollars per candidate per election with primaries - general and special elections counting separately.
5 -000
Monroe Doctrine
Blacks
1776
50. The right to privacy is ___________ in the Constitution.
Implied
Campaign Contributions
Supreme Court
Concurrent Powers