SUBJECTS
|
BROWSE
|
CAREER CENTER
|
POPULAR
|
JOIN
|
LOGIN
Business Skills
|
Soft Skills
|
Basic Literacy
|
Certifications
About
|
Help
|
Privacy
|
Terms
|
Email
Search
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. Until the law was changed in 2002 - the term described unregulated campaign funds not subject to the limits of federal law because they went to party committees and not directly to candidates. The 2002 law banned contributions of soft money to nation
Antitrust Legislation
8th Amendment
Soft Money
External Efficacy
2. Lead by Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. Dedicated to defending federal authority and high tariffs. Gained supports of merchants - bankers - industrialists and planters.
Internal Efficacy
Whigs
Constituencies
Charismatic authority
3. Wisconsin Republican who exploited public concern for political gain during the 1950's through freewheeling investigations of alleged Communists.
a senior senator of the majority party
100
Joseph McCarthy
Plurality
4. Organization of individuals with similar policy goals who enter the political process to influence legislation that affects the organizations interests
Interest Groups
Fiscal Policy
5
Jus Sanguinis
5. Special spending projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of Congress for their constituents.
Political System
Earmarks
Natural Rights
Discharge Petition
6. The Constitution requires that state governments - like the federal government - must be _____________ in form - with final authority resting with the people.
Democratic
4
Seniority System
Maintaining Elections
7. An offical who is expected to represent the views of his or her constituents even when personally holding different views; one interpretation of the role of the legislator
Bill of Attainder
Pluralist Theory
Impoundment
Delegate
8. This clause of the 1st amendment establishes a 'wall of separation' between church and state.
Offensive Language
Policy Making Cycle
Lord Acton
Establishment Clause
9. Lobbyists for special interest groups have found ____________________ to be the most direct and effective method to secure their objectives in Congress.
Committees of Correspondence
Concurrent Powers
Elastic Clause
Campaign Contributions
10. First governing document of the Plymouth Colony establishing freedom of religion.
31
Laissez-Faire
Mayflower Compact
30
11. Act of exchanging favors for mutual gain
House Standing Committees
Lemon Test
Logrolling
Electoral Votes
12. Age Requirement for House of Representatives.
Tammany Hall
Convention Bounce
NY Times v. Sullivan
25
13. Political party lead by Andrew Jackson from 1828 to 1856. Campaigned against strong central government and fought to end elitism.
Press Secretary
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
Double Jeopardy
Democrats
14. Concept of the British statesman Edmund Burke that legislators should act according to their own consciences.
Ways and Means Committee
Political Action Committees
Trustee
2
15. Also known as the Indiana ballot - lists the candidates of each party in a row or column - beside or under the party emblem. In most cases - the voter can make one mark at the top of the column - or pull one lever - and thus vote for all the party's
Policy Making Cycle
Executive
Party Column Ballot
Local
16. This event was an important factor in creating the climate for a new Constitution.
Warning
: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in
/var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php
on line
183
17. This group of voters historically supported Republicans - a party founded on an anti-slavery platform. During the 1930's they began supporting the New Deal policies of the Democratic party.
Ratification
Blacks
Clear and Present Danger
Major Political Party
18. Laws on Schools - Marriage - and owning property;Licensee Lawyers - Doctors - and Teachers.
congressional oversight committee
19th Amendment
Antitrust Legislation
State Government
19. Federal and State Courts function in a _____________manner so that federal courts may receive appeals from state courts.
Senior Executive Service
Mayflower Compact
Joint Committees
Parallel
20. Smith v. Allwight (1994) was the first vase in which the Supreme Court upheld the voting rights of _____________ in state primary elections.
Blacks
Writ of Certiorari
Interest groups
It Failed to be Ratified
21. In the 1990 case OR State Employment Division v. Smith 1990 - the Supreme court allowed the state to fire employees who use peyote during native American religious ceremonies because it is in violation of drug laws. In this case - which clause of the
Campaign Contributions
Free Exercise Clause
Equal Time
25
22. These two Senate standing committees have existed - largely unchanged - since 1816.
Clear and Present Danger
Judicial
Reference Group
Foreign Relations and the Judiciary Committees
23. 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.
Democratic-Republicans
Bandwagon
Government Corporations
Monopoly
24. Legislative house whose members were intended to represent the people.
Categorical Grants
Dred Scott
Impartial
House of Representatives
25. This category of interest groups has been the strongest and most effective in lobbying Washington
Establishment Clause
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act
Economic Interest Groups
Plain View
26. 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.
Executive Privilege
Negative Advertising
Conference Committee
Federal Appellate
27. The president - the vice president - the heads of the major executive departments of the government - and certain other senior officials who may hold 'cabinet rank.'
Clear and Present Danger
Cabinet
Union Shop
Felonies
28. The ruling in this case provided that the government must prove a threat to national security in order to impose prior restraint.
Closed rule
Pentagon Papers
Random Sample
Legislative
29. The vote cast by a person who does not like either candidate and so votes for the less objectionable of the two - putting a clothespin over his nose to keep out the unpleasant stench
Interest Groups
National Debt
Clothespin vote
Raiding
30. This author was highly influential on Thomas Jefferson - rejecting divine right - proposing that government is a social contract requiring the consent of the govern and establishing the concept of self-evident rights of life - liberty - and property.
John Locke
Enterprise Zones
Dissenting Opinion
Dies
31. The only court specifically outlined in the Constitution.
Supreme Court
Freedom of Speech
14th Amendment
Popular Sovereignty
32. Legislature bills that affect only a small group of citizens.
Balance of Trade
Populous
Agriculture
Private Bills
33. 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.
Constituencies
Energy
Bipartisanship
Speech Plus
34. 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.
Suburbia
Coast Guard
Interventionism
Strategic Deterrence
35. California measure designed to deny welfare and other benefits to illegal aliens. Overwhelmingly passed the popular vote - but overturned in federal court because it extending beyond the bounds of state rights to attempt to control immigration.
Poll Tax
Probable Cause
Proposition 187
Federalist Papers
36. Bills that benefit legislators' home districts - or powerful corporate contributors - with sometimes wasteful or unnecessary public works or other projects.
435
de facto
Appropriation Bills
Pork-Barrel Legislation
37. This amendment applied the Bill of Rights to states.
14th
Lord Acton
4th Amendment
Truman
38. The coming to power of a new coalition - replacing an old dominant coalition of the other party
Lafolette's Progressive s
100
527 Organizations
Critical Election
39. This 1963 case extended the right to counsel to all felony cases.
Gideon v. Wainwright
Original Jurisdiction
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Little Difference
40. Total number of Representatives apportioned to the states based on population and reapportioned with the census every 10 years
Majority Rule
Common Sense
Federal Appellate
435
41. 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
Trial Balloon
Rules Committee
John F. Kennedy
Clear and Present Danger
42. Puerto Rico has ____________ status.
Literacy Tests
Commonwealth
Clean bill
15
43. Most likely to board a foreign ship suspected of drug trafficking at a U.S. port
Charismatic authority
Retrospective Voting
Speaker of the House
Coast Guard
44. ________________ of the Constitution dictates how the Constitution shall be amended.
Statutory Law
House of Representatives
Article V
Recommit the Bill to Committee
45. 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.
Line-Item Veto
Adversarial
Spoiler Candidate
Judicial Restraint
46. A controversial law overwhelmingly passed by Congress in October 2001 - after the terrorist attacks of September 11 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It greatly expanded the power of federal law enforcement authorities to move against suspe
Political Culture
Patriot Act
Open rule
Mugwumps
47. A relaxation of international tensions.
Detente
19th Amendment
Closed
Politics
48. In lieu of an indictment - the state prosecutor may file a _______________ charging the person with a crime.
Caucus
Whips
Monetary Policy
Criminal Information
49. A policy of avoiding foreign involvement.
Fiscal Federalism
Retrospective Voting
Isolationism
Executive
50. Most modern political scientists believe there is ________________ between politics and government.
Ways and Mean Committee
Democrats
Equality
Little Difference