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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 belief that one can understand politics and therefore participate in politics
Local
Internal Efficacy
Political Efficacy
4th Amendment
2. _____________ are expected to specialize in a few policy areas rather than claim expertise in the whole range of legislative concerns
Focus Groups
Feedback
Members of Congress
Rousseau
3. A series of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton - John Jay - and James Madison under the pseudonym Publius advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution.
Federalist Papers
Select Committee
Public Opinion
Mayor-Council Plan
4. Legislative branch incorporating two houses.
Council of Economic Advisors
Bicameral
Delegated Powers
Closed Shop
5. The claim by presidents of an inherent right to withhold information from Congress and the judiciary.
Executive Privilege
Homeland Security
Supply Side Economics
Declining
6. An ideology that advocates limits on government power to address economic and social problems - relying instead on economic markets and individual initiative to address problems like health care and education - while promoting government involvement
Distribution
Conservatism
Dual / Layer Cake Federalism
Initiative
7. Members of this party typically include Conservative Christian groups - higher socio-economic classes - middle-class white collar - and suburban voters.
Trustee
Caucuses
Legislative Courts
Republican
8. In Argersinger v. Hamlin (1972) - the Supreme Court extended the right to counsel to those accused of misdemeanors if the defendant is _____________.
Medicaid
Marbury v. Madison
Local
imprisoned
9. A centralized system of government - such as that of France - where most of the important policy decisions are made by a central government.
Northern and Southern
Bowers v. Hardwick
Unitary System
National
10. The process by which individuals screen out messages that do not conform to their own biases
Political Action Committees
Public Opinion
Fixed
Selective exposure
11. A political candidate who is thought to have only an outside chance of gaining the nomination.
Recommit the Bill to Committee
Dark Horse
State of the Union
Vietnam War
12. The 1776 pamphlet by Thomas Paine that prompted King George III's Prohibitory Act and the sending of mercenaries to the colonies.
Common Sense
State
Miranda Rights
Contract Clause
13. By far - the largest amount of federal aid to state and local governments comes in the form of:
Flexible Construction
Attorney General
Lose
Categorical Grants
14. Walter DeVries and Lance Tarrance have concluded that in many elections the outcome is determined by ______________.
School Desegregation
Shay's Rebellion
Thurgood Marshall
Ticket Splitters
15. Members of the ______________ committee of a political party work to maintain influence during non election years through congressional campaign committees.
National
77
House of Representatives
Oligopoly
16. First African American appointed to the Supreme Court
Thurgood Marshall
Fast Track Authority
Soft money
Executive
17. A jury of 6 to 12 persons who determine guilt or innocence in a civil or criminal action
Petit Jury
binding
Political System
Cloture
18. 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.
Lafolette's Progressive s
Miranda Rights
Speaker of the House
Conference Committee
19. This contraversial legal technicality intended to protect civil liberties has allowed criminals to remain free when the courts refuse to admit evidence that may have been obtained illegally.
Clear and Present Danger
Power Structure
Freedom of Speech
Exclusionary Rule
20. This clause of the 1st amendment establishes a 'wall of separation' between church and state.
Social Security
Pork-Barrel Legislation
Universe
Establishment Clause
21. The way things should be by law
de jure
Mayor-Council Plan
State
Exclusionary Rule
22. The process through which an individual acquires a set of political attitudes and forms opinions about political and social issues.
Majority Opinion
Party Identification
Bipartisanship
Political Socialization
23. Considered the most sacred right in American history. Colonists felt oppressed by the tyranny of the crown but were unable to speak up about it for fear of repercussion.
Free Rider
Veto
Department of State
Freedom of Speech
24. Legislative house responsible for impeachment trials.
Political Culture
Party Regulars
Interest Groups
Senate
25. Method by which federal court judges may lose their position.
Impeachment
Vietnam War
Public Policies
Secretary of State
26. A method of polling - considered less reliable than a random sample - in which interviewers are instructed to question members of a particular group in proportion to their percentage in the population as a whole.
Free Exercise of Religion
Quota Sampling
Government
Fiscal Policy
27. First proposed in 1789 - this amendment passed in 1992 prohibits Congress from raising their own pay. Pay raises may not take affect until the beginning of the next term.
Self-Incrimination
Formula Grant
Socialism
27th Amendment
28. Libel - obscenity - fighting words - and commercial speech - which are not entitled to constitutional protection in all circumstances.
Globalization
Non-protected Speech
Soft money
6th Amendment
29. International agreements between the president and foreign heads of state that - unlike treaties - do not require Senate approval.
Whips
legislative and executive
Confederation
Executive Agreements
30. Requests from people or groups for health care for the aged - loans for college students - equal opportunity for minorities - and higher subsidies for farmers are examples of:
Murray v. Curlett
Demands
General Accounting
Open rule
31. A legislator who automatically mirrors the will of the majority of his or her constituents.
Instructed Delegate
The Federalist #10
Whips
Senior Executive Service
32. As part of the negotiations concerning the Constitution - the South fought for and won an agreement forbidding the imposition of _______________.
Export Taxes
Governmental Corporations
Appropriations
3
33. Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman (1979) upheld that bussing programs were an acceptable way to enforce ______________________.
Rules Committee
Bipartisanship
School Desegregation
Unlimited
34. 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
Policy Making Cycle
Commission Plan
Whip
Ways and Means Committee
35. A system of _______________ - as in Italy - encourages the existence of many parties by allotting seats to competing candidates according to the percentage of votes they win.
Proportional Representation
Petition of Right
Preamble
congressional oversight committee
36. 1944 case established that as as long as a person accepted their beliefs in good faith that it is not the government's authority to determine whether those beliefs are valid.
Unlimited
7
Legislative
US v. Ballard
37. The 1803 case in which the Supreme Court - by declaring a portion of an act of Congress unconstitutional - first firmly set forth and established the power of judicial review.
12th Amendment
Weber
Marbury v. Madison
Joseph McCarthy
38. 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.
Military-Industrial Complex
Democratic
Negative
Bowers v. Hardwick
39. The relationship between the total cost of foreign goods imported to this country and sales of U.S. products overseas.
Office of Management and Budget
Concurring Opinion
Freedom of Information Act
Balance of Trade
40. 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.
Reverse Discrimination
Declining
1776
Felonies
41. Article I of the Constitution establishes the ___________________ branch.
Legislative
Ex Post Facto
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
General Accounting Office
42. The provisions of the Constitution that divide power among three constitutionally equal and independent branches of government
Checks and Balances
John F. Kennedy
Republicans
Transportation
43. After the Vietnam war - American politics entered an era of __________________ during which neither party maintained control over the government.
The Federal Reserve Board
Agriculture
20
Divided Government
44. Units of government under the president - within the executive branch - that are not part of a cabinet department.
3
Freedom of Information Act
Executive Agencies
Libertarianism
45. The single biggest item in campaign spending at the presidential level is ___________________.
Television and Radio
Inherent Powers
Fast Track Authority
Military-Industrial Complex
46. Baby boomers - women - and voters with higher levels of education tend to have a ____________ voter turnout.
High
Executive Agencies
Winston Churchill
Criminal Cases
47. Number of original cabinet positions under George Washington.
Dred Scott Decision
Major Political Party
Truman
3
48. The spread of nuclear weapons to new nations
Decreased
Housing and Urban Development
Nuclear Proliferation
Riders
49. Powers specifically outlined in the Constitution as assigned to one branch of government.
Divided Government
Enumerated Powers
Cruel and Unusual
Economic Interest Groups
50. Number of justices of the Supreme Court.
Independent Expenditures
Republican
9
Equity