Test your basic knowledge |

AP Government

Subjects : civics, ap
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. A technique of Congress to establish federal regulations. Total preemption rests on the national governments power under the supremacy and commerce clauses to preempt conflicting state and local activity. Building on this constitutional authority - f






2. An informal and subjective affiliation with a political party that most people acquire in childhood.






3. A social division based on national origin - religion - language - and often race.






4. Conservative Christians who (as a group) have become more active in politics in the last two decades and were especially influential in the 2000 presidential election.






5. A court with appellate jurisdiction that hears appeals from the decisions of lower courts.






6. The inclination to focus on national issues - rather than local issues - in an election campaign. The impact of the national tide can be reduced by the nature of the candidates on the ballot who might have differentiated themselves from their party o






7. Exemption from prosecution for a particular crime in return for testimony pertaining to the case.






8. A formal - public agreement between the United States and one or more nations that must be approved by two thirds of the Senate.






9. The president's annual statement to Congress and the nation.






10. Alternative means of health care in which individuals make tax-deductible contributions to a special account that can be used to pay medical expenses.






11. Constitutional arrangement in which power is distributed between a central government and subdivisional governments - called states in the United States. The national and the subdivisional governments both exercise direct authority over individuals.






12. Tax required to vote; prohibited for national elections by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) and ruled unconstitutional for all elections in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966).






13. A meeting of local party members to choose party officials or candidates for public office and to decide the platform.






14. The power of a court to refuse to enforce a law or a government regulation that in the opinion of the judges conflicts with the U.S. Constitution or - in a state court - the state constitution.






15. Democratic party primary in the old 'one-party South' that was limited to white people and essentially constituted an election; ruled unconstitutional in Smith v. Allwright (1944).






16. Period at the beginning of the new president's term during which the president enjoys generally positive relations with the press and Congress - usually lasting about six months.






17. Agreement signed by the United States - Canada - and Mexico in 1992 to form the largest free trade zone in the world.






18. A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.






19. A technique of Congress to establish federal regulations. These sanctions permit the use of federal money in one program to influence state and local policy in another. For example - a 1984 act reduced federal highway aid by up to 15 percent for any






20. Through different grant programs - slices up the marble cake into many different pieces - making it even more difficult to differentiate the functions of the levels of government.






21. A law that governs relationships between individuals and defines their legal rights.






22. An economic system characterized by private property - competitive markets - economic incentives - and limited government involvement in the production - distribution - and pricing of goods and services.






23. Review of all executive branch testimony - reports - and draft legislation by the Office of Management and Budget to ensure that each communication to Congress is in accordance with the president's program.






24. Officer of the Senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president.






25. A grouping of human beings with distinctive characteristics determined by genetic inheritance.






26. Deliberate refusal to obey law or comply with orders of public officials as a means of expressing opposition.






27. The clause of the Constitution (Article I - Section 8 - Clause 3) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations.






28. A judicial system in which the court of law is a neutral arena where two parties argue their differences.






29. Those citizens who follow public affairs carefully.






30. These are broad state grants to states for prescribed activities—welfare - child care - education - social services - preventive health care - and health services—with only a few strings attached. States have greater flexibility in deciding how to sp






31. Weakening of partisan preferences that points to a rejection of both major parties and a rise in the number of independents.






32. Philosophy proposing that judges should interpret the Constitution to reflect what the framers intended and what its words literally say.






33. Requirement that evidence unconstitutionally or illegally obtained be excluded from a criminal trial.






34. Divisions within society that cut across demographic categories to produce groups that are more heterogeneous or different.






35. A meeting of party delegates to vote on matters of policy and in some cases to select party candidates for public office.






36. The study of the characteristics of populations.






37. A convention held in September 1786 to consider problems of trade and navigation - attended by five states and important because it issued the call to Congress and the states for what became the Constitutional Convention.






38. The process by which we develop our political attitudes - values - and beliefs.






39. The process - most notably in families and schools - by which we develop our political attitudes - values - and beliefs.






40. A term the founders used to refer to political parties and special interests or interest groups.






41. The principle of a two-house legislature.






42. System designed to reduce voter fraud by limiting voting to those who have established eligibility to vote by submitting the proper documents.






43. The idea that the rights of the nation are supreme over the rights of the individuals who make up the nation.






44. A court order requiring explanation to a judge why a prisoner is being held in custody.






45. Essays promoting ratification of the Constitution - published anonymously by Alexander Hamilton - John Jay - and James Madison in 1787 and 1788.






46. Election in which voters choose party nominees.






47. The head of the White House staff.






48. A procedural practice in the Senate whereby a senator refuses to relinquish the floor and thereby delays proceedings and prevents a vote on a controversial issue.






49. The cluster of presidential staff agencies that help the president carry out his responsibilities. Currently the office includes the Office of Management and Budget - the Council of Economic Advisers - and several other units.






50. Conceives of federalism as a marble cake in which all levels of government are involved in a variety of issues and programs - rather than a layer cake - or dual federalism - with fixed divisions between layers or levels of government.