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. An official document - published every weekday - which lists the new and proposed regulations of executive departments and regulatory agencies.






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






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






4. A veto exercised by the president after Congress has adjourned; if the president takes no action for 10 days - the bill does not become law and does not return to Congress for possible override.






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






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






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






8. 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.






9. Voting by member of one party for a candidate of another party.






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






11. The rule of precedent - whereby a rule or law contained in a judicial decision is commonly viewed as binding on judges whenever the same question is presented.






12. Congress appropriates funds for a specific purpose - such as school lunches or for building airports and highways. These funds are allocated by formula and are subject to detailed federal conditions - often on a matching basis; that is - the local go






13. 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).






14. Policy of erecting trade barriers to protect domestic industry.






15. Interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that freedom of expression is so essential to democracy that governments should not punish persons for what they say - only for what they do.






16. 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.






17. Programs such as unemployment insurance - disability relief - or disability payments that provide benefits to all eligible citizens.






18. Views the Constitution as giving a limited list of powers—primarily foreign policy and national defense—to the national government - leaving the rest to the sovereign states. Each level of government is dominant within its own sphere. The Supreme Cou






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






20. Government by the people - both directly or indirectly - with free and frequent elections.






21. Elections in which voters determine party nominees.






22. 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.






23. Power of a government to take private property for public use; the U.S. Constitution gives national and state governments this power and requires them to provide just compensation for property so taken.






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






25. Trade status granted as part of an international trade policy that gives a nation the same favorable trade concessions and tariffs that the best trading partners receive.






26. Interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that the government cannot interfere with speech unless the speech presents a clear and present danger that it will lead to evil or illegal acts.






27. The total output of all economic activity in the nation - including goods and services.






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






29. A dispute growing out of an actual case or controversy and that is capable of settlement by legal methods.






30. Citizenship in more than one nation.






31. The powers of the national government in foreign affairs that the Supreme Court has declared do not depend on constitutional grants but rather grow out of the very existence of the national government.






32. General tax on sales transactions - sometimes exempting food and drugs.






33. Formal accusation against a president or other public official - the first step in removal from office.






34. A technique of Congress to establish federal regulations. Direct orders must be complied with under threat of criminal or civil sanction. An example is the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 - barring job discrimination by state and local gover






35. A philosophy that encourages individual nations to act on their own when facing threats from other nations.






36. A specific course of action taken by government to achieve a public goal.






37. 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.






38. A formal written statement from a grand jury charging an individual with an offense; also called a true bill.






39. A career government employee.






40. A type of policy that takes benefits (usually through taxes) from one group of Americans and gives them to another (usually through spending).






41. The assigning by Congress of congressional seats after each census. State legislatures reapportion state legislative districts.






42. An electoral district in which voters choose one representative or official.






43. The head of the White House staff.






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






45. The practice of exporting U.S. jobs to lower paid employees in other nations.






46. The right of women to vote.


47. A theory that is based on creating enough military strength to convince other nations not to attack first.






48. 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.






49. How groups form and organize to pursue their goals or objectives - including how to get individuals and groups to participate and to cooperate. The term has many applications in the various social sciences such as political science - sociology - and






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