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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. Responsible for further investigation - hearings - and amendment to a bill
Civil Liberties
Shay's Rebellion
Sub-committee
Homeland Security
2. In charge of state's legal business. provide advice to other state official and represents the state in court if the state is involved in a lawsuit
Attorney General
Redistributive Policy
Blacks
Exit Polls
3. While both Asian and Hispanic immigrants experience various types of discrimination - Hispanic immigrants are more likely to experience economic discrimination. This explains why most Hispanics identify with the ____________ party - while Asians do n
Class Action Suit
Catholics
Democratic
Alien and Sedition Acts
4. High School Dropouts - Blacks - Hispanics - Recent immigrants - and People under 25 or over 75 tend to have a _________ voter turnout.
Due Process of Law
Inputs
Low
Free Exercise Clause
5. Committees appointed for investigative or crisis situations.
Federal
Civil Liberties
Referendum
Select Committee
6. In his classic study of community power in New Haven - Connecticut - political scientist Robert A. Dahl concluded that the city was a __________ system dominated by many different sets of leaders
Rousseau
Instructed Delegate
Thomas Hobbes
Pluralist
7. The practice under which victorious politicians reward their followers with jobs.
Proposition 187
Administrative Law
Max Weber
Spoils System
8. This influential English document refuted divine right of monarchy and made monarchs subject to laws and responsible for crimes
Petition of Right
Dies
Bill of Attainder
Propose an Amendment
9. There are 11 circuit ____________________ who have no original jurisdiction.
Judicial Restraint
Increased competition
Mayor-Council Plan
Court of Appeals
10. Groups whose views serve as guidelines to an individual's opinion. See also primary groups and secondary groups.
Reference Group
Hatch Act
War Powers Resolution
Judicial Review
11. The spread of nuclear weapons to new nations
Independent
Nuclear Proliferation
Government
Bicameral
12. The 1803 case in which the Supreme Court - by declaring a portion of an act of Congress unconstitutional - first firmly set forth and established the power of judicial review.
State of the Union
Party Regulars
Politics
Marbury v. Madison
13. Presidential staff agency that serves as a clearinghouse for budgetary requests and management improvements for government agencies.
Medicaid
16th Amendment
Office of Management and Budget
20th
14. 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.
Power Structure
Brown v. Board of Education Topeka - Kansas
Energy
Homeland Security
15. Voters in a political district - or supporters of an elected official; or interest groups or client groups that are either directly regulated by the bureaucracy or vitally affected by its decisions.
Pass the fundraising threshold
Constituencies
Campaign Contributions
Wallace's Progressives
16. The constitutional requirement (in article II - sec 3) that presidents take care that the laws are faithfully executed - even if they disagree with the purpose of those laws
Republican
Writ of Certiorari
Monetary Policy
Take Care Clause
17. Cabinet department oversees nuclear reactors.Established in 1973 in response to the Energy Crisis.
State
Antitrust Legislation
Energy
Foreign Policy
18. Presidential management model in which corporate CEO tactics are used employing committees - task forces - and special advisors. Successfully utilized by Clinton and G W Bush.
Dual / Layer Cake Federalism
Ad Hoc Structure
Electoral College
Proposition 187
19. The tendency of presidents to lose support over time.
Tammany Hall
Violation of Law
Lose
Cycle of Decreasing Influence
20. 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
Baron de Montesquieu
Popular Sovereignty
Catholics
Bill of Attainder
21. Cabinet department responsible for the management of public lands - wildlife - natural resources - and Native American affairs. Established in 1849
Executive Privilege
Rules Committee
Export Taxes
Interior
22. Article I of the Constitution establishes the ___________________ branch.
Exclusionary Rule
Gideon v. Wainwright
Contract Clause
Legislative
23. The Supreme Court has ruled that Congress_________________ take away a person's citizenship unless it is freely renounced.
Intelligence
Pendleton Civil Service Act
4th Amendment
may not
24. 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
Initiative
Referendum
Clear and Present Danger
Office of Management and Budget
25. Th joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the twelfth amendment
89
Felonies
Low
Presidential Ticket
26. Legislative house responsible for impeachment trials.
Implied Powers
Senate
National
Legislative Veto
27. These voters are registered as a party member but only participate by voting in primary and general elections. Tend to vote straight-party ticket and follow the leads of local party officials.
Rank and File
Impeachment
Fixed
Select Committee
28. Executive office responsible for negotiating trade with foreign powers.
Bill of Attainder
High
US Trade Representatives
Custom
29. Most Americans support ______________ primarily as part of their criticism of PACs
Socialism
Mugwumps
Campaign Finance Reform
Pure Speech
30. 1946 Act requiring bureaucratic agencies to appeal to the affected parties before adopting new policies. Legislative check on Bureaucracy.
Administrative Procedure Act
Constitutional Initiative
Pork-Barrel Legislation
Riders
31. 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.
Original Jurisdiction
Police Powers
Elastic Clause
Social Security
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.
Instructed Delegate
Cruel and Unusual
Albany Plan
Republican
33. A system of voter registration in which voters must register every year or at other stated intervals.
Outputs
Electoral Votes
Interest groups
Periodic Registration
34. 14th Amendment is often used to support the right to ____________.
Mayflower Compact
Labor
Unlimited
Due Process
35. 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
Muckrakers
Capitalism
Discharge Petition
Blanket Primary
36. Bills that benefit legislators' home districts - or powerful corporate contributors - with sometimes wasteful or unnecessary public works or other projects.
Majority Opinion
Pork-Barrel Legislation
Privacy Act
89
37. According to this nineteenth-century British peer and historian - 'power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'
Membership
Lord Acton
Unlimited
Party Purists
38. A philosophy that the Supreme Court should avoid constitutional questions when possible and uphold acts of Congress unless they clearly violate a specific section of the Constitution.
Campaign Contributions
Judicial Restraint
Deviating Elections
Furman v. Georgia
39. Powers of government that are specifically granted to the three branches of the federal government under the Constitution.
Enumerated Powers
Referendum
Home Rule
School Desegregation
40. The issue of slavery split the Democratic Party into what two factions?
Albany Plan
Balancing Test
Whips
Northern and Southern
41. During the period from 1976 to 1824 - This party was lead by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. They wanted a stronger national government that would rectify the pitfalls of the Articles of Confederation. Their supporters held a stronghold in New
Federalist
Exclusionary Rule
Republican
Shay's Rebellion
42. Between 1909 and 2002 - the number of daily newspapers in the United States______________.
Ad Hoc Structure
Decreased
Privacy Act
Secretary of State
43. Unwritten law based on custom and tradition.
Common Law
Gross Domestic Product
89
Committees
44. A loose grouping of people and organizations who seek to influence policy formation.
Elite
Select Committee
Issue Networks
state legislatures
45. Includes expressive conduct/assembly/actions and symbolic behavior (ex. Picketing or burning the flag) Based on our country history of symbolic acts such as the Boston Tea Party - courts almost always uphold symbolic acts of speech unless they are cr
Cruel and Unusual
State Government
Speech Plus
Supports
46. Guarantees that an accused in innocent until proven guilty.
Committees
Incorporation Doctrine
8th Amendment
Senatorial Courtesy
47. Guarantees the right to a speedy and public trial.
Membership
Authorizations
6th Amendment
Government
48. A centralized system of government - such as that of France - where most of the important policy decisions are made by a central government.
17th
Spoils System
Unitary System
Ad Hoc Structure
49. Form of obstruction in the Senate where an attempt is made to infinitely extend debate upon a proposal in order to delay the progress or completely prevent a vote on the proposal taking place.
Transportation
Distribution
Filibuster
Marbury v. Madison
50. First African American appointed to the Supreme Court
Thurgood Marshall
Great Compromise
Speaker of the House
Liberalism