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






2. Finding that enough evidence exists to warrant a criminal trial.






3. The median income of women is ___________ percent of men.






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






5. Units of government under the president - within the executive branch - that are not part of a cabinet department.






6. A system of voter registration in which voters must register every year or at other stated intervals.






7. In Reynolds v. US (1879) - the Supreme Court denied this right to Reynolds because his religion's practice of polygamy violated federal law.






8. In the 1962 case of Robinson v. California - the Supreme Court ruled that incarcerating a drug addict is ______________________ because drug addiction is an illness.






9. 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






10. A jury of 6 to 12 persons who determine guilt or innocence in a civil or criminal action






11. A political group organized under section 527 of the IRS code that may accept and spend unlimited amounts of money on election activities so long as they are not spent on broadcast ads run in the last 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a gene






12. Senators are re-elected every ___ years with 1/3 of the Senate being up for election every 2 years.






13. Political party lead by Andrew Jackson from 1828 to 1856. Campaigned against strong central government and fought to end elitism.






14. This 1963 case extended the right to counsel to all felony cases.






15. An economic system in which the factors of production are owned by the publicand operate for the welfare of all.






16. In presidential campaigns - federal matching funds are provided to candidates who ______________.






17. The term 'Reagan Democrats' has become a generic term for






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






19. This 1932 case established that a case can be too speedy and under-counseled - providing defendants in a capital case the right to a reasonable amount of time to establish a defense.






20. Dissenting Democrats focused on foreign affairs. Aligned with the US Communist Party.

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21. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 restructured the number of ______________ in both the House and Senate.






22. 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






23. First African American appointed to the Supreme Court






24. In the mid-term elections following a President's inauguration - his party tends to ___________ seats in Congress.






25. Prohibits conviction of a crime that occurred before the act became illegal






26. This event was an important factor in creating the climate for a new Constitution.

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27. 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






28. A study of Bennington College students in the 1930s illustrated that the influence of the family on political attitudes tends to ______________ as they grow older and come into contact with other groups.






29. A centralized system of government - such as that of France - where most of the important policy decisions are made by a central government.






30. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was somewhat undermined by racist practices in the real estate market such as _____________ and ______________ - which continued illegally in many areas following passage of the Act.






31. The case of Gregg v. Georgia set the precedent for a ________________ system in which guilt and sentencing and tried separately.






32. A federal program established in 1965 to provide hospital and medical services to older people through the Social Security system.






33. Government agencies that exercise quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative powers and are administratively independent of both the president and Congress (although politically independent of neither).






34. A plan to provide billions of dollars of American aid to Western Europe to speed its economic and social recovery after the Second World War.






35. The spread of nuclear weapons to new nations






36. 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.






37. Concept of the British statesman Edmund Burke that legislators should act according to their own consciences.






38. A form of city government under which power is divided between a mayor and an elected city council.






39. The belief that one can understand politics and therefore participate in politics






40. A declaration by the President in 1823 that warned European powers to keep out of the Western Hemisphere and pledged that the United States would not intervene in the internal affairs of Europe.






41. Established in 1947 as a combined Department of War and Navy.






42. This Supreme Court case infamously decided that a slave was not a citizen but property to be 'used in subservience to the interests - the convenience - or the will of his owner'






43. While the verbiage of the 4th Amendment is vague as to what constitutes 'reasonable'. Police departments must rely on _____________; they cannot act on unfounded suspicion.






44. The chair and the heads of the three armed services - and - when Marine Corps matters are under consideration - the commandant of the marines. By law - they advise the president and the secretary of defense and are the chiefs of their respective mili






45. President Hoover's laissez-faire approach to the economy during the Great Depression left many poor voters disenfranchised by the Republican Party. They left to join the _______________ Party.






46. The provisions of the Constitution that divide power among three constitutionally equal and independent branches of government






47. Prompted by the ____________________ - the 26th Amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.






48. Programs of government - universities - and businesses designed to favor minorities and remedy past discrimination.






49. Committees that pull members from both the house and the senate who meet to discuss major policy issues such as economy and taxation.






50. 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