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. Federal and State Courts function in a _____________manner so that federal courts may receive appeals from state courts.






2. After analyzing 1 -795 platform pledges over a 10-year period - Gerald M. Pomper concluded that almost ____________ of these promises were fulfilled






3. What occurs when government adopts a public policy that provides - or distributes - benefits to people or groups.






4. The Articles of Confederation established a ________________ legislature.






5. Most house committees are limited to _____ subcommittees.






6. The principle of civilian control of the military - based on the clear constitutional power of the president as supreme commander of the armed forces.






7. Limitations on this freedom including prohibition of defamation and obscenity - limitation on commercial speech - and restriction of inciting words that may cause immediate danger.






8. First Roman Catholic elected President.






9. The oldest House committee still in existence.






10. This category of interest groups has been the strongest and most effective in lobbying Washington






11. Amendment that delegated the election of Senators to popular vote.






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






13. Smith v. Allwight (1994) was the first vase in which the Supreme Court upheld the voting rights of _____________ in state primary elections.






14. Provisions tacked on to a piece of legislation that are not relevant to the bill.






15. Process by which citizens propose an amendment by petition.






16. Literally - a 'friend of the court' brief - filed by an individual or organization to present arguements in addition to those presented by the immediate parties to a case






17. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments provide for _____________.






18. Powers of government that are specifically granted to the three branches of the federal government under the Constitution.






19. Colonies controlled by the British king through governors appointed by him and through the king's veto power over colonial laws.






20. This House committee is responsible for all taxes - tariffs - and other revenue raising measures in addition to social security - child support - Medicare - foster care - and unemployment.






21. In _______________ cases such as Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) - the Supreme Court has upheld that while Affirmative action policies are legal - race and gender cannot be the only determining factors.






22. A legislature with only one house.






23. These party members take active non-leadership roles such as working polls or contributing money to campaigns. Tend to compromise on important issues and are mostly concerned about winning elections.






24. Individual contributions to PACs are limited to ______________ dollars per candidate per election with primaries - general and special elections counting separately.






25. Executive office responsible for negotiating trade with foreign powers.






26. 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






27. 1974 Act mandating that all government files about private citizens be kept confidential.






28. 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.






29. The principle - established by Chief Justice John Marshall in 1819 in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland - that the Constitution must be interpreted flexibly to meet changing conditions.






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






31. ____________________ define Congressional voting districts acting within constraints set down by Congress and the Supreme Court.






32. 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






33. Judicial Check on Legislative Branch. Not specifically outlined in the Constitution - but established in the case of Marbury v. Madison through the application of the Supremacy Clause in Article VI.






34. In this 1972 case - the Supreme Court established four guidelines for determining if a trial was appropriately speedy and fair: cause of delay - length of delay - affect on the outcome - and the defendant's claim to a speedy trial.






35. 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






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






37. According to V. O. Key - Jr. - the Populist Party of the 1890s is an example of a ____________________.






38. The practice under which victorious politicians reward their followers with jobs.






39. These party members are highly involved in the electoral process. Donate funds to party and candidates - demand a voice in state party agendas and tend to have a strong belief in their party's ideology.






40. The 1776 pamphlet by Thomas Paine that prompted King George III's Prohibitory Act and the sending of mercenaries to the colonies.






41. While the voting rights act of 1965 did direct the Attorney General to investigate the constitutionality of poll taxes and prohibit literacy tests - it did not expressly prohibit _____________.






42. Political strategists believe that presidential elections will normally be won or lost in _______________states.






43. Minor criminal offenses - such as speeding.






44. Broadly worded warrants used by British soldiers during colonial America to search for contraband and prevent smuggling.






45. The gap between the government's income and outlays.






46. _______________ indicates a citizens' faith and trust in government and their own belief that they can understand and influence political affairs






47. 1976 Law requiring all governmental agency meetings to be open to the public unless classified information will be discussed.






48. Committees created by Congress to conduct special investigations. Although normally temporary - some become - in effect - permanent.






49. Age requirement for President






50. States that arrestees must be informed of their right to remain silent - that anything they say can be held against them in a court - that they have a right to an attorney and that an attorney will be appointed to them if they cannot afford one.