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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. A compulsory national insurance program - financed by taxes on employers and employees. The insurance falls into four categories: old-age and survivors insurance - disability insurance - Medicare - and unemployment insurance.






2. A political candidate who is thought to have only an outside chance of gaining the nomination.






3. Guarantees the right to a speedy and public trial.






4. While the verbiage of the 4th Amendment is vague as to what constitutes 'reasonable'. Police departments must rely on _____________; they cannot act on unfounded suspicion.






5. In addition to overseeing the activities of one or more federal agencies - a ___________________may also serve as the authorizing committee for federal agencies' programs and operations.






6. The drawing of the lines of congressional districts - or of any other political district - in order to favor one political party or group over another.






7. Charge of misconduct brought against a government official.






8. Article I of the Constitution establishes the ___________________ branch.






9. 19th century case establishing that the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal government - upheld until the 20th century. Ruling allowed stated to engage in activities such as establishing state churches and denying public office to people of ce






10. In this essay - James Madison recognized that reconciling the competing interests of various groups was what legislation was all about






11. The primary purpose of _______________consolidate the nation's disability laws and provide for strong federal enforcement of a strengthened disability rights mandate






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






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






14. Powers specifically given to the federal government by the US Constitution - for example - the authority to print money.






15. Responsible for further investigation - hearings - and amendment to a bill






16. Permitted court authorized wire-tapping and bugging by federal - state - and local authorities and use of such evidence in trial. Later reversed by the Supreme Court based on 4th Amendment rights.






17. Units of government under the president - within the executive branch - that are not part of a cabinet department.






18. Unwritten law based on custom and tradition.






19. In a 1943 case - the Supreme Court upheld the right to refuse to salute the American flag on the basis of the constitutional guarantee of _________________.






20. Independent organizations - but more often the political arms of corporations - labor unions - or interest groups - established to contribute to candidates or to work for general political goals.






21. After hearings are complete - a congressional subcommittee will usually determine a bill's future in final deliberations known as






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






23. An unwritten custom by which individual senators who belong to the same political party as the president exercise an informal veto power over presidential appointments in their states.






24. This customary power allows the President to grant reprieves and pardons for federal offenses.






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






26. 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.






27. The principle - established by Chief Justice John Marshall in 1819 in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland - that the Constitution must be interpreted flexibly to meet changing conditions.






28. In the view of W. Lance Bennett - the people who hold and express opinions are constantly changing - as are the issues and conditions to which the public responds. As a result - Bennett suggests that public opinion is______________.






29. This author was highly influential on Thomas Jefferson - rejecting divine right - proposing that government is a social contract requiring the consent of the govern and establishing the concept of self-evident rights of life - liberty - and property.






30. 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






31. Petition that - if signed by a majority of the members of the House of Representatives - will pry a bill from committee and bring it to the floor for consideration






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






33. In Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969) - the Supreme Court established precedents for ___________________ in schools and government institutions.






34. The process by which individuals screen out messages that do not conform to their own biases






35. The Supremacy Clause appears in ________________ of the Constitution.






36. Agencies that were at one time semi-autonomous but that through legislation have been placed under presidential control since 1945.






37. A broadly based coalition that attempts to gain control of the government by winning elections in order to exercise power and reward its members.






38. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) - founded in 1932 by President Herbert Hoover to help combat the Great Depression - was the predecessor of which federal agencies?






39. 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.






40. 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.






41. Federal aid that states and localities may use mostly as they wish.






42. In his historic decision in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) - Chief Justice Marshall established the principle of _____________.






43. The gap between the government's income and outlays.






44. Article II of the Constitution establishes the ______________ branch.






45. To an extent - the press and the government have a relationship that is _______________ and mutually dependent.






46. The Immigration Act of 1965 abolished the practice of _______________ allowing more diversity among immigrants.






47. If 10 days do not remain in session and the president does not sign an act of Congress - the bill __________.






48. First civil rights organization to use non-violent tactics to promote racial equality and desegregation






49. Lobbyists for special interest groups have found ____________________ to be the most direct and effective method to secure their objectives in Congress.






50. The philosophy that government should intervene as little as possible in economic affairs.







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