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. The term most political scientists prefer to describe the bureaucratic process






2. 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.






3. A centralized system of government - such as that of France - where most of the important policy decisions are made by a central government.






4. 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.






5. Article VII of the Constitution outlines the process of ____________________.






6. Laws passed by state legislatures that are designed to protect reporters from being forced to reveal their news sources.






7. A test established by Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes - Jr. - in 1919 to define the point at which speech loses the protection of the First Amendment.






8. Political strategists believe that presidential elections will normally be won or lost in _______________states.






9. Number of years a Representative must reside in the US prior to taking office






10. These candidates win re-election to the House 80-90% of the time.






11. Powers not specifically granted to the federal government or denied to the states belong to the states and the people






12. While the voting rights act of 1965 did direct the Attorney General to investigate the constitutionality of poll taxes and prohibit literacy tests - it did not expressly prohibit _____________.






13. When the President's own party gains power and influence - it more puts pressure on the President to conform to the will of the party - leading to________________ between the President and the party to define their public identities






14. Court cases that involve relations between individuals and organizations - such as a divorce action - or a suit for damages arising from an automobile accident or for violation of a business contract.






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






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






17. Early civil rights leader established the Niagara Movement and helped to establish the NAACP.






18. 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.






19. The concept that all people are of equal worth - even if not of equal ability.






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






21. Legislature bills that affect all citizens.






22. 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.






23. 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.






24. A public assistance program established in 1965 to help pay hospital - doctor - and medical bills for people with low incomes.






25. Programs are designed to give preferential access to education - employment - health care - or social welfare to groups of people - especially minorities and women - who have historically been discriminated against.






26. This influential English document refuted divine right of monarchy and made monarchs subject to laws and responsible for crimes






27. This clause of the 1st amendment establishes a 'wall of separation' between church and state.






28. A declaration by the President in 1823 that warned European powers to keep out of the Western Hemisphere and pledged that the United States would not intervene in the internal affairs of Europe.






29. Signed the executive order banning segregation in the armed forces.






30. The expression of attitudes about government and politics.






31. The state officer typically responsible for overseeing federal elections at the state level is the






32. Responsible for assigning bills to committee in the Senate.






33. Eisenhower's philosophy of being liberal in all things human and being conservative with all things fiscal. Appealed to both Republicans and Democrats.






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






35. Requires reporting of financial information by companies with publicly traded securities






36. In 1872 - Susan B Anthony was arrested in Rochester - New York for






37. 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.






38. Political theorist proposed the separation of church and state.






39. Cabinet department responsible for collective bargaining and union activity. Established in 1913






40. ______________ refers to the differences in political attitudes and voting behavior between men and women






41. 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.






42. 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.






43. Constitutional Article that establishes the Judicial Branch.






44. 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.






45. Voters tendency to identify with a party that shares their views on important issues ignoring the party's stance on issues they deem less important. to be life-long unless there is a major change in the party's platform. 2. Influenced by ra






46. A course of action chosen by government officials






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






48. Independent agencies governed by an appointed and confirmed commission. Examples include the Food and Drug Administration - Environmental Protection Agency - and the Securities and Exchange Commission.






49. A series of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton - John Jay - and James Madison under the pseudonym Publius advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution.






50. In the year 2000 - the Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America had a constitutional right to ban _____________ members.