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






2. 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.






3. A secret ballot printed by the state.






4. 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.






5. 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.






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






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






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






9. 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






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






11. Clause in the First Amendment that states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. The Supreme Court has interpreted this to forbid governmental support to any or all religions.






12. The right to vote.






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






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






15. A theory of government that holds that open - multiple - and competing groups can check the asserted power by any one group.






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






17. 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.






18. A legal action conferring citizenship on an alien.






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






20. A law that defines crimes against the public order.






21. Trial or punishment for the same crime by the same government; forbidden by the Constitution.






22. A congressional committee created for a specific purpose - sometimes to conduct an investigation.






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






24. A court order forbidding specific individuals or groups from performing certain acts (such as striking) that the court considers harmful to the rights and property of an employer or community.






25. 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.






26. Stresses federalism as a system of intergovernmental relations in delivering governmental goods and services to the people and calls for cooperation among various levels of government.






27. The reliance on economic and military strength to solve international problems.






28. 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.






29. 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).






30. Money raised in unlimited amounts by political parties for party-building purposes. Now largely illegal except for limited contributions to state or local parties for voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts.






31. A tax whereby people with lower incomes pay a higher fraction of their income than people with higher incomes.






32. Usually the largest organization in government with the largest mission; also the highest rank in Federal hierarchy.






33. Inherent powers of state governments to pass laws to protect the public health - safety - and welfare; the national government has no directly granted police powers but accomplishes the same goals through other delegated powers.






34. Words that by their very nature inflict injury on those to whom they are addressed or insight them to acts of violence.






35. A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent - from the Atlantic the Pacific.






36. An official who is expected to represent the views of his or her constituents even when personally holding different views; one interpretation of the role of legislator.






37. Compromise agreement by states at the Constitutional Convention for a bicameral legislature with a lower house in which representation would be based on population and an upper house in which each state would have two senators.






38. Legislative act inflicting punishment - including deprivation of property - without a trial - on named individuals or members of a specific group.






39. 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.






40. A commission created by the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act to administer election reform laws. It consists of six commissioners appointed by president and confirmed by the Senate. Its duties include overseeing disclosure of camp






41. The residents of a congressional district or state.






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






43. A decision made by a higher court such as a circuit court of appeals or the Supreme Court that is binding on all other federal courts.






44. The authority of a court to hear a case 'in the first instance.'






45. 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.






46. Committee appointed by the presiding officers of each chamber to adjust differences on a particular bill passed by each in different form.






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






48. Government in which citizens vote on laws and select officials directly.






49. The widely shared beliefs - values - and norms about how citizens relate to governments and to one another.






50. A government agency or commission with regulatory power whose independence is protected by Congress.