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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. Established rules and regulations that restrain government officials.






2. A national meeting of delegates elected at primaries - caucuses - or state conventions who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president - ratify the party platform - elect officers - and adopt rules.






3. The right to renounce one's citizenship.






4. Theory that opposes governmental interference in economic affairs beyond what is necessary to protect life and property.






5. The right of women to vote.

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






7. Federal laws (starting with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890) that try to prevent a monopoly from dominating an industry and restraining trade.






8. A landmark case in United States law and the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States - under Article Three of the United States Constitution. The case resulted from a petition to the Supreme Court by William Marbury - who had b






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






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






11. The means by which individuals can express preferences regarding the development of public policy.






12. Remedial action designed to overcome the effects of discrimination against minorities and women.






13. Largely banned party soft money - restored a long-standing prohibition on corporations and labor unions for using general treasury funds for electoral purposes - and narrowed the definition of issue advocacy.






14. The clause in the Constitution (Article 1 - Section 8 - Clause 1) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations.






15. The dispensing of government jobs to persons who belong to the winning political party.






16. Citizenship in more than one nation.






17. The act of declaring party affiliation; required by some states when one registers to vote.






18. Constitutional doctrine that whenever conflict occurs between the constitutionally authorized actions of the national government and those of a state or local government - the actions of the federal government will prevail.






19. A belief that limited government insures order competitive markets and personal opportunity.






20. Election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote.






21. Compromise between northern and southern states at the Constitutional Convention that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for determining direct taxation and representation in the House of Representatives.






22. The proportion of the voting age public that votes - sometimes defined as the number of registered voters that vote.






23. A permanent committee established in a legislature - usually focusing on a policy area.






24. A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that permits floor amendments within the overall time allocated to the bill.






25. The candidate or party that wins more than half the votes cast in an election.






26. The power to keep executive communications confidential - especially if they relate to national security.






27. Federal statute barring Federal employees from active participation in certain kinds of politics and protecting them from being fired on partisan grounds.






28. The list of potential cases that reach the Supreme Court.






29. Financial contributions by individuals or groups in the hope of influencing the outcome of the election and subsequently influencing policy.






30. Constitutional requirement that governments proceed by proper methods; limits how government may exercise power.






31. Presidential power to strike - or remove - specific items from a spending bill without vetoing the entire package; declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.






32. 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.






33. An election during periods of expanded suffrage and change in the economy and society that proves to be a turning point - redefining the agenda of politics and the alignment of voters within parties.






34. The authority of a court to review decisions made by lower courts.






35. A minor party that believes in extremely limited government. Libertarians call for a free market system - expanded individual liberties such as drug legalization - and a foreign policy of nonintervention - free trade - and open immigration.






36. Primary election in which only persons registered in the party holding the primary may vote.






37. An elected office that is predictably won by one party or the other - so the success of that party's candidate is almost taken for granted.






38. An opinion disagreeing with a majority in a Supreme Court ruling.






39. The presiding officer in the House of Representatives - formally elected by the House but actually selected by the majority party.






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






41. Incumbents have an advantage over challengers in election campaigns because voters are more familiar with them - and incumbents are more recognizable.






42. Unlimited and undisclosed spending by an individual or group on communications that do not use words like 'vote for' or 'vote against -' although much of this activity is actually about electing or defeating candidates.






43. The system created by Congress in 1913 to establish banking practices and regulate currency in circulation and the amount of credit available. It consists of 12 regional banks supervised by the Board of Governors. Often called simply the Fed.






44. Statement required by Federal law from all agencies for any project using Federal funds to assess the potential affect of the new construction or development on the environment.






45. An ideology that cherishes individual liberty and insists on minimal government - promoting a free market economy - a noninterventionist foreign policy - and an absence of regulation in moral - economic - and social life.






46. Theory that opposes governmental interference in economic affairs beyond what is necessary to protect life and property.






47. Proposal at the Constitutional Convention made by William Paterson of New Jersey for a central government with a single-house legislature in which each state would be represented equally.






48. The informal list of issues that Congress and the president consider most important for action.






49. The tendency of presidents to lose support over time.






50. A government entity that is independent of the legislative - executive - and judicial branches.






Can you answer 50 questions in 15 minutes?



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