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. Initial proposal at the Constitutional Convention made by the Virginia delegation for a strong central government with a bicameral legislature dominated by the big states.






2. 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.






3. Money government provides to parents to pay their children's tuition in a public or private school of their choice.






4. Assigning police to neighborhoods where they walk the beat and work with churches and other community groups to reduce crime and improve relations with minorities.






5. A meeting of the members of a party in a legislative chamber to select party leaders and to develop party policy. Called a conference by the Republicans.






6. A congressional district created to include a majority of minority voters; ruled constitutional so long as race is not the main factor in redistricting.






7. Programs such as Medicaid and welfare under which applicants must meet eligibility requirements based on need.






8. Clause in the Fifth Amendment limiting the power of the national government; similar clause in the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the state governments from depriving any person of life - liberty - or property without due process of law.






9. Something given with the expectation of receiving something in return.






10. The idea that a just government must derive its powers from the consent of the people it governs.






11. A theory that government should control the money supply to encourage economic growth and restrain inflation.






12. The difference between the revenues raised annually from sources of income other than borrowing and the expenditures of government - including paying the interest on past borrowing.






13. Clause in the Constitution (Article 4 - Section 1) requiring each state to recognize the civil judgments rendered by the courts of the other states and to accept their public records and acts as valid.






14. A widely shared and consciously held view - like support for homeland security.






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






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






17. A policy that emphasizes a united front and cooperation between the major political parties - especially on sensitive foreign policy issues.






18. Governance according to the expressed preferences of the majority.






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






20. The set of arrangements - including checks and balances - federalism - separation of powers - rule of law - due process - and a bill of rights - that requires our leaders to listen - think - bargain - and explain before they act or make laws. We then






21. Interpretation of the First Amendment that would permit legislatures to forbid speech encouraging people to engage in illegal action.






22. Elections held in years when the president is on the ballot.






23. 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.






24. A procedural practice in the Senate whereby a senator temporarily blocks the consideration of the bill or nomination.






25. A system of government in which the legislature selects the prime minister or president.






26. The portion of the Federal budget that is spent on programs - such as Social Security - that the president and Congress are unwilling to cut.






27. Quality or state of a work that taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex by depicting sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and that lacks serious literary - artistic - political - or scientific value.






28. A rising public approval of the president that follows a crisis as Americans 'rally 'round the flag' and the chief executive.






29. The right to keep executive communications confidential - especially if they relate to National Security.






30. A legislative practice that assigns the chair of the committee or subcommittee to the member of the majority party with the longest continuous service on the committee.






31. 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.






32. A government that enforces recognized limits on those who govern and allows the voice of the people to be heard through free - fair - and relatively frequent elections.






33. 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.






34. A company in which new employees must join a union within a stated time period.






35. A person who is employed by and acts for an organized interest group or corporation to try to influence policy decisions and positions in the executive and legislative branches.






36. A type of policy that provides benefits to all Americans.






37. 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.






38. An economic and governmental system based on public ownership of the means of production and exchange.






39. Philosophy proposing that judges should interpret the Constitution to reflect current conditions and values.






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






41. 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).






42. A decision by the president not to spend money appropriated by Congress - now prohibited under Federal law.






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






44. An official who is expected to vote independently based on his or her judgment of the circumstances; one interpretation of the role of the legislator.






45. A theory of international relations that focuses on the tendency of nations to operate from self-interest.






46. A formal agreement between a U.S. president and the leaders of other nations that acquires approval by both houses of Congress.






47. 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.






48. The right to renounce one's citizenship.






49. Widespread agreement on fundamental principles of democratic governance and the values that undergird them.






50. Powers that the Constitution gives to both the national and state governments - such as the power to levy taxes.