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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. 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
Slander
Civil War Amendments
Mugwumps
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
2. The tendency of presidents to lose support over time.
Offensive Language
Cycle of Decreasing Influence
Committees
Oligopoly
3. Concept of the British statesman Edmund Burke that legislators should act according to their own consciences.
Veto
Trustee
Caucus
national quotas
4. 1917 Reincarnation of the Sedition Act during WWI
Spoiler Candidate
Incumbents
Espionage Act
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
5. The 5th amendment protect against _____________.
Self-Incrimination
Little Difference
Public Policy
Closed Shop
6. A world economy characterized by the free movement of goods - capital - labor - and information across national borders.
Voting
Delegate
Globalization
Entitlement Spending
7. Article I of the Constitution establishes the ___________________ branch.
Family
Legislative
8th Amendment
Issue network
8. _____________ is responsible for monetary policy.
Political Patronage
1st Amendment
Bull Moose Progressives
The Federal Reserve Board
9. This branch of government checks Bureaucracy through its control over budget and appointments of leadership.
Executive
Ratification
Initiative
Exclusionary Rule
10. 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.
Legislative
Rank and File
House of Representatives
Flexible Construction
11. Belief in the value of strong government to provide economic secruity and protection for civil rights - combined with a belief in personal freedom from government intervention in social conduct
Liberalism
Reference Group
Tariff
Shay's Rebellion
12. A court decision in an earlier case with facts and legal issues similar to a dispute currently before a court.
Roe v. Wade
Riders
Establishment Clause
Precedent
13. Literally meaning 'right of soil' - confers citizenship by place of birth.
Jus Soli
Senatorial Courtesy
Clear and Present Danger
Increased competition
14. Since 1960 - there has been a general trend of ______________ participation in elections.
Energy
Declining
Veteran's Affairs
Unlimited
15. This branch of government checks Bureaucracy through its control over lawsuits filed against the agency.
Administrative Procedure Act
Omaha platform
Judicial
Balancing Test
16. This house committee is responsible for Supervising the authority of the federal government to borrow money - Raising the revenue required to finance the federal government by levying taxes - Overseeing Social Security and other social insurance prog
Katz. v US
Ways and Means Committee
Delegate
Monroe Doctrine
17. There is an _____________ relationship between Presidential approval ratings and unemployment.
National Security Council
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Inverse
Unicameral
18. Groups whose views serve as guidelines to an individual's opinion. See also primary groups and secondary groups.
Reference Group
Political Advertising
de jure
Clear and Present Danger
19. Court cases that concern crimes committed against the public order.
Criminal Cases
31
Dred Scott
Police Powers
20. 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
Committee of the Whole
Discharge Petition
Negative Advertising
Pass the fundraising threshold
21. Which office serves as a watchdog into waste or fraud in the bureaucracy and conducts investigations at the request of congressional committees
Periodic Registration
Republicans
Federal
General Accounting
22. These candidates win re-election to the House 80-90% of the time.
Proportional Representation
Establishment Clause
Salient Agenda
Incumbents
23. Freedoms that protect the individual from the government.
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Civil Liberties
Reynolds v. Sims
Great Compromise
24. Literally meaning 'right of blood' - confers citizenship to a child from the parents.
Jus Sanguinis
Local
Earl Warren
Agriculture
25. Spending determined by the number of qualified recipients and their legally determined need is called
Straight Ticket Voting
Entitlement Spending
2
Speech Plus
26. Guarantees that citizens cannot be compelled by the government to act in a way that is contrary to their religious beliefs. (ex. Conscientious objection to military service required by the draft is the execution of ______________)
Inherent Powers
Free Exercise Clause
35
Civil Cases
27. The practice under which victorious politicians reward their followers with jobs.
Good Faith Exception
Permanent Registration
Spoils System
Political Advertising
28. In the 1964 case of ____________ - the Supreme Court: established 'one person - one vote' -
Reynolds v. Sims
Select Committee
Voting
Equal Protection Clause
29. The spread of nuclear weapons to more nations.
Max Weber
Appealed
Block Grant
Nuclear Proliferation
30. An economic system in which the factors of production are owned by the publicand operate for the welfare of all.
Civilian Supremacy
Socialism
Writ of Certiorari
Party Realignment
31. The Constitution requires that state governments - like the federal government - must be _____________ in form - with final authority resting with the people.
Democratic
Budget Surplus
Democrats
Political Patronage
32. States that states may draw reasonable distinctions between the rights of residents and non-residents (ex. In state and out of state tuition)
Convention Bounce
Death penalty
Privileges and Immunities Clause
Supreme Court
33. 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.
Democrats
Amicus Curiae Brief
Pluralist Theory
Filibuster
34. Executive office responsible for helping the President write the federal budget and monitoring federal spending.
Article III
Little Difference
Office of Management and Budget
Chief Justice
35. The body composed of electors from the 50 states who formally have the power to elect the president and vice president of the United States. Each state has a number of electors and electoral votes equal to its number of senators and representatives i
Senior Executive Service
Electoral College
Legislative Courts
527 Organization
36. The Jacksonian Era marked an important change in the process used to nominate Presidential candidates with the emergence of party _________________ - eliminating caucuses.
Conventions
House of Representatives
High
Executive Agreements
37. Unwritten law based on custom and tradition.
Supremacy Clause
Social Regulation
Common Law
Albany Plan
38. Programs of government - universities - and businesses designed to favor minorities and remedy past discrimination.
Little Difference
Delegate
Affirmative Action
Social Regulation
39. This called for three-fifths of all slaves in a state were counted for purposes of apportioning representation in the House of Representatives.
Great Compromise
Private Bills
Charismatic authority
Political Action Committees
40. Formed as a third party on the issue of slavery by many former Whigs in the 1850's. Anti-slavery platform. Supported by farmers - laborers - and newly-freed blacks.
Republicans
2/3
Elastic Clause
Jim Crow Laws
41. A jury of 6 to 12 persons who determine guilt or innocence in a civil or criminal action
Petit Jury
Ex Post Facto
Block Grant
Cooperative / Marble Cake Federalism
42. An official document - published every weekday - which lists the new and proposed regulations of executive departments and regulatory agencies.
Senior Executive Service
Federal Register
Jus Sanguinis
Party Identification
43. This contraversial 2001 law allows anti-terrorism authorities to monitor e-mail and Internet traffic in order to prevent terrorist attacks. The government argues that cyberspace is public domain and that no warrants should be needed to access informa
Propose an Amendment
Conventions
2
Patriot Act
44. A word that comes from two Greek roots - demos - 'the populace -' and kratia - 'rule'
Laissez-Faire
25
Democracy
Criminal Information
45. Cabinet department responsible for collective bargaining and union activity. Established in 1913
Criminal Cases
Federalist
Labor
Appropriation Bills
46. Th joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the twelfth amendment
Weber
1964 Civil Rights Act
Securities and Exchange Commission or Securities Act of 1933
Presidential Ticket
47. These party members tend to be ideologues who put issues ahead of winning elections and withhold support from candidates who do not share their stance on issues. Very active in special interest groups and caucuses within the party. Willing to break a
Party Purists
Gerrymandering
Veto
General Election
48. 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.
President Pro Tempore
Presidential Veto
Baron v. Baltimore
Party Activists
49. In the 1962 case of Robinson v. California - the Supreme Court ruled that incarcerating a drug addict is ______________________ because drug addiction is an illness.
Creative Federalism
Open Meeting Law
Cruel and Unusual
Bundling
50. These voters tend to have a high voter turnout because of their strong since of civic duty due to growing up during an era of political and civil unrest.
2
Baby Boomers
General Election
Situational