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 combination of entitlement programs - paid for by employer and employee taxes - that includes retirement benefits - health insurance - and support for disabled workers and the children of deceased or disabled workers.






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






3. 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.






4. 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






5. Denial of export - import - or financial relations with the target country in an effort to change that nation's policies.






6. A company with a labor agreement under which union membership can be a condition of employment.






7. The process of putting a law into practice through bureaucratic rules or spending.






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






9. 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.






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






11. The process by which individuals perceive what they want to in media messages.






12. Government by religious leaders - who claim divine guidance.






13. A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that prohibits any amendments to bills or provides that only members of the committee reporting the bill may offer amendments.






14. 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.






15. 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.






16. Government regulation of property so extensive that government is deemed to have taken the property by the power of eminent domain - for which it must compensate the property owners.






17. A characteristic of individuals that is predictive of political behavior.






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






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






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






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






22. A committee composed of members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate; such committees oversee the Library of Congress and conduct investigations.






23. Clause of the Constitution (Article 1 - Section 8 - Clause 3) setting forth the implied powers of Congress. It states that Congress - in addition to its express powers has the right to make all laws necessary and proper to carry out all powers the Co






24. Advertisements and commercials for products and services; they receive less First Amendment protection - primarily to discourage false and misleading ads.






25. 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.






26. Method whereby representatives of the union and employer determine wages - hours - and other conditions of employment through direct negotiation.






27. 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.






28. Constitutional requirement that governments act reasonably and that the substance of the laws themselves be fair and reasonable; limits what the government may do.






29. 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.






30. National Health Insurance program for the elderly and disabled.






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






32. Established by Congress in 1978 as a flexible - mobile corps of senior career executives who worked closely with presidential appointees to manage government.






33. The process by which individuals screen out messages that do not conform to their own biases.






34. Constitutional division of powers among the legislative - executive - and judicial branches - with the legislative branch making law - the executive applying and enforcing the law - and the judiciary interpreting the law.






35. The drawing of election districts so as to ensure that members of a certain race are a minority in the district; ruled unconstitutional in Gomillion v. Lightfoot (1960).






36. 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).






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. A theory of international relations that focuses on the hope the nations will act together to solve international problems and promote peace.






39. A policy adopted by the Bush administration in 2001 that asserts America's right to attack any nation that has weapons of mass destruction that might be used against U.S. interests at home or abroad.






40. The first governing document of the confederated states drafted in 1777 - ratified in 1781 - and replaced by the present Constitution in 1789.






41. 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.






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






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






44. Segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice.






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






46. The principle of a two-house legislature.






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






48. Congress appropriates a certain sum - which is allocated to state and local units and sometimes to nongovernmental agencies - based on applications from those who wish to participate. Examples are grants by the National Science Foundation to universi






49. A jury of 6 to 12 persons that determines guilt or innocence in a civil or criminal action.






50. Money spent by individuals or groups not associated with candidates to elect or defeat candidates for office.