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. Legislative house whose members were intended to represent the people.






2. Government employees who publicly expose evidence of official waste or corruption that they have learned about in the course of their duties.






3. The Jacksonian Era marked an important change in the process used to nominate Presidential candidates with the emergence of party _________________ - eliminating caucuses.






4. The possible tendency of some voters or convention delegates to support the candidate who is leading in the polls and seems likely to win.






5. Members of this party typically include Conservative Christian groups - higher socio-economic classes - middle-class white collar - and suburban voters.






6. Largest interest group in the US.






7. A coherent set of beliefs about politics - public policy - and public purpose. It helps give meaning to political event - personalities - and policies.






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






9. Established the Federal Reserve Bank - responsible for conducting the nation's monetary policy - maintaining the stability of the financial system - supervising and regulating banking institutions - and protecting the credit rights of consumers - and






10. Tax legislation must originate in this house.






11. Elections that reflect the basic party identification of the voters.






12. This controversial clause of the 9th Amendment has allowed government to expand rights to suit its needs.






13. The only instance in which the government can prohibit religious activities






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






15. 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






16. Bills that benefit legislators' home districts - or powerful corporate contributors - with sometimes wasteful or unnecessary public works or other projects.






17. 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.






18. Grants that an accused may not be held in custody without charge - literally 'You shall have the body'.






19. 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.






20. Corporations formed by the government to act as a business to produce a product or service. Often monopolies with varying degrees of independence.






21. The house armed services and foreign affairs committees each have ___ subcommittees.






22. By far - the largest amount of federal aid to state and local governments comes in the form of:






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






24. Loose - competitive relationships among policy experts - interest groups - congressional committees - and federal agencies. Many observers argue that these have replaced iron triangles.






25. How groups form and organize to pursue their goals or objectives - including how to get individuals and groups to participate and cooperate.






26. The framers of the Constitution created the Senate to function as a check on the ________________.






27. The spread of nuclear weapons to more nations.






28. Law intended to promote free competition in the market place by outlawing monopolies






29. A joint committee of Congress established to help negotiate discrepancies and gain consensus between legislation passed in each house before sending the bill to the President.






30. A decision of the Supreme Court cannot be ___________.






31. Federal grants in which the recipient has little discretion over how the money is spent. The national government sets narrowly defined rules for use of funds and often requires the states or local governments to provide matching funds. These grants a






32. Between conventions - the governing body of a major political party. Members of this group are chosen in the states and formally elected by the party






33. 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 -






34. The issue of slavery split the Democratic Party into what two factions?






35. In Schenck v. US (1919) - The Supreme Court ruled that government may prohibit speech that creates an immediate threat of criminal action. Essentially established different standards for speech during wartime than in peacetime. Thus - establishing th






36. Legislative house responsible for impeachment trials.






37. Money spent by individuals or gorups not asociated with candidates to elect or defeat candidates for office






38. Political commercials that strongly attack a rival candidate.






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






40. An official document - published every weekday - which lists the new and proposed regulations of executive departments and regulatory agencies.






41. In Woodson v. North Carolina - the Supreme Court struck down mandatory sentencing of capital punishment as ______________________ because it does not allow for any discretion.






42. A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that prohibits any amendment to bills or provides that only memebers of the committee reporting the bill may offer amendments






43. Presides over the Senate in the absence of the Vice President. Position awarded to the longest serving Senator from the majority party. 3rd in line of succession for the Presidency.






44. The class of independent voters who do not vote according to party affiliation - but who typically have a broader range of concerns than single-issue voters - are known colloquially as






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






46. A tactic in which PACs collect contributions from like-minded individuals and present them to a candidate or political party as a 'bundle -' thus increasing the PAC's influence.






47. The main mechanism used by modern political parties to nominate their candidate for President.






48. A vote in the House of Representatives in which the position of each member is noted and published in the Congressional Record.






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






50. Congress' first step towards allocating funds