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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. Number of Federal District courts across 50 states - DC and Puerto Rico.
Equality
89
State Legislatures
Administrative Procedure Act
2. In his historic decision in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) - Chief Justice Marshall established the principle of _____________.
Flexible Construction
War Powers Resolution
Establishment Clause
Gross Domestic Product
3. An economy in which most economic decisions result from the interaction of buyers and sellers in markets - but in which the government plays a significant role in the allocation of resources.
Cabinet
Affirmative Action
Soft Money
Mixed Economy
4. German sociologist theorized that the engine of government needs bureaucracies to provide expertise in a way that short-term elected or appointed official cannot.
Hyperpluralism
Max Weber
Lower
8th Amendment
5. A world economy characterized by the free movement of goods - capital - labor - and information across national borders.
Globalization
Public Bills
Ratification
Article V
6. The power to tax is an example of _______________ powers.
Free Speech
Concurrent
Habeas Corpus
Categorical Grant
7. The appropriation of government spending for projects that are intended primarily to benefit particular constituents - such as those in marginal seats or campaign contributors.
Random Sample
Probable Cause
may not
Pork Barrel Spending
8. Polls taken as people leave voting places. In the past - television networks sometimes used these polls to predict election outcomes before the polls close. In 1992 - the television networks agreed not to project the winner in a state until the major
Political ideology
Unicameral
Exit Polls
Legislative Courts
9. A pluralist theory by C. Wright Mills where a small number of wealthy elite wield most of the power. Fundamental to all governments around the world - the elite rule while they make the lower classes feel like they are involved in democracy. The elit
2
Federalist
Jim Crow Laws
Elite and Class Theory
10. Committees appointed for investigative or crisis situations.
Arraignment
Select Committee
Republicans
Balance of Trade
11. This customary power allows the President to grant reprieves and pardons for federal offenses.
Grand Jury Indictment
Jim Crow Laws
Grant Clemency
Democrats
12. 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
Logrolling
Clear and Present Danger
Federalist
Institutional
13. Formerly known as the Anti-Federalist - this party lead by Thomas Jefferson advocated states rights pressing the causes of the common people and agrarian interest. Dominated the political arena until the Civil War.
Interest groups
Democratic-Republicans
Articles of Confederation
State Treasurer
14. The 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act banned contributions of soft money to______________.
It Failed to be Ratified
Social Contract
National Political Parties
Democratic
15. 1974 Act mandating that all government files about private citizens be kept confidential.
Strategic Deterrence
Privacy Act
8 Million
Issue Networks
16. This controversial clause of the 9th Amendment has allowed government to expand rights to suit its needs.
Elastic Clause
Pentagon Papers
Internationalism
may not
17. Form of government in which the people are sovereign but their power is exercised by their elected representatives.
Concurrent
Entitlement Programs
Article IV
Republic
18. A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that permits floor amendments within the overall time allocated to the bill.
Independent
presidential line-item veto
High
Open rule
19. A court decision in an earlier case with facts and legal issues similar to a dispute currently before a court.
Precedent
Negative Advertising
Veto
Political Action Committee
20. In Argersinger v. Hamlin (1972) - the Supreme Court extended the right to counsel to those accused of misdemeanors if the defendant is _____________.
Political Efficacy
imprisoned
Mayor-Council Plan
legislative and executive
21. The executive office established in response to intelligence lapses during WWI. Oversees American foreign policy and includes the President - Vice President - Secretary of State - Secretary of Defense and is lead by the National Security Advisor.
Realigning Elections
National Security Council
Articles of Confederation
Right of Expatriation
22. 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.
Thurgood Marshall
Right to Counsel
Clear and Present Danger
31
23. When neither political party is dominant.
Party Dealignment
Collective Action
Judicial Selection
Isolationism
24. The framers of the Constitution created the Senate to function as a check on the ________________.
Project Grant
House of Representatives
Woodrow Wilson
Free Exercise of Religion
25. Limitations on this freedom including prohibition of defamation and obscenity - limitation on commercial speech - and restriction of inciting words that may cause immediate danger.
Third Party
Party Regulars
Hyperpluralism
Freedom of Speech
26. Judges in Legislative Courts serve _______ terms and do not require impeachment.
5
Agriculture
Fixed
270
27. Theory that a government requires the consent of the governed.
Outputs
2
Social Contract
Baron v. Baltimore
28. _____________ is responsible for monetary policy.
The Federal Reserve Board
Public Policy
Pyramid Model
Federal Courts
29. The possible tendency of some voters or convention delegates to support the candidate who is leading in the polls and seems likely to win.
Bandwagon
Institutional
Budget Surplus
Cloture
30. An official document - published every weekday - which lists the new and proposed regulations of executive departments and regulatory agencies.
Department of Treasury
Laissez-Faire
Legislative
Federal Register
31. The primary purpose of _______________consolidate the nation's disability laws and provide for strong federal enforcement of a strengthened disability rights mandate
Primary
Line-Item Veto
English Bill of Rights
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
32. In 1992 - the television networks agreed not to release these until a majority of polling places had closed in each state
Unlimited
Exit Polls
Interest groups
Political Culture
33. The pursuit and exercise of power
Politics
Democratic
Hyperpluralism
Political Socialization
34. The house armed services and foreign affairs committees each have ___ subcommittees.
State Government
Inputs
7
House of Representatives
35. The most important committees - always assembled and delegated with the responsibility of handling all bills under their concern. Includes the Ways and Means - Appropriations - Budget - Rules and Agriculture Committees.
Standing Committees
Initiative
de facto
Cloture
36. To negotiate a complex and politically sensitive trade treaty - a President will often
Energy
Plurality
Fast Track Authority
Populous
37. Minor criminal offenses - such as speeding.
Foreign Policy
Misdemeanors
Federal District
Caucus
38. The 5th amendment protect against _____________.
Self-Incrimination
Agriculture
Balance of Payments
12
39. Compromise between the large states and small states that established the bicameral Legislature consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives. Also included 3/5 compromise on the status of slaves in representation.
Great or Connecticut Compromise
Constitutional Initiative
527 Organizations
Writ of Assistance
40. By far - the largest amount of federal aid to state and local governments comes in the form of:
Blacks
National Security Council
Freedom of Information Act
Categorical Grants
41. Colonies in which the proprietors (who had obtained their patents from the king) named the governors - subject to the king's approval.
Proprietary Colonies
Straight Ticket Voting
89
Implementation
42. Established by President Hoover - It is the _______________ job to keep the press informed and orchestrate press conferences
Press Secretary
Writ of Assistance
Regulatory Federalism
The Federalist #10
43. Federal categorical grants in which the granting agency has less discretion over how the recipient spends the money.
Open
Formula Grant
Recommit the Bill to Committee
Speaker of the House
44. Elects the President if no candidate receives 270 Electoral College votes.
House of Representatives
Internationalism
Transportation
3
45. 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.
Cabinet
House of Representatives
Constituencies
John Locke
46. A policy adopted by the United States after the Second World War that assumed that if enough nuclear weapons were deployed by the United States - an enemy would not attack for fear of being destroyed in retaliation.
Inherent Powers
Establishment Clause
Strategic Deterrence
Proportional Representation
47. 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.
Libertarianism
Economic Interest Groups
Republican
Civilian Supremacy
48. This 1st amendment clause prohibits the government from making any law prohibiting the exercise of any religion
Katz. v US
Block Grant
Free Exercise Clause
Primary
49. 1966 Act allowing citizens to inspect all government records with the exception of classified military or intelligence documents - trade secrets or private personnel files.
may not
Lord Acton
Freedom of Information Act
Independent Regulatory Agencies
50. Most likely to board a foreign ship suspected of drug trafficking at a U.S. port
Situational
Coast Guard
national quotas
Tammany Hall