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






2. The powers expressly given to Congress in the Constitution.






3. 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.






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






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






6. 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.






7. Police targeting of racial minorities as potential suspects of criminal activities.






8. Rebellion led by Daniel Shays of farmers in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787 - protesting mortgage foreclosures. It highlighted the need for a strong national government just as the call for the Constitutional Convention went out.

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9. Championed by Ronald Reagan - presumes that the power of the federal government is limited in favor of the broad powers reserved to the states.

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10. Divisions within society that reinforce one another - making groups more homogenous or similar.






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






12. A PAC formed by an officeholder that collects contributions from individuals and other PACs and then makes contributions to other candidates and political parties.






13. 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.






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






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






16. 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.






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






18. Segregation imposed by law.






19. 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.






20. Philosophy proposing that judges should interpret the Constitution to reflect what the framers intended and what its words literally say.






21. Promoting a particular position or an issue by interest groups or individuals but not candidates. Much issue advocacy is often electioneering for or against a candidate and - until 2004 had not been subject to regulation.






22. A national meeting of delegates elected in 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.






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






24. The process by which we develop our political attitudes - values - and beliefs.






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






26. A large body of people interested in a common issue - idea - or concern that is of continuing significance and who are willing to take action. Movements seek to change attitudes or institutions - not just policies.






27. 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.






28. The constitutional requirement (in Article II - Section 3) that presidents take care that the laws are faithfully executed - even if they disagree with the purpose of those laws.






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






30. The process - most notably in families and schools - by which we develop our political attitudes - values - and beliefs.






31. Media that emphasize the news.






32. The process by which provisions of the bill of rights are brought within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment and so applied to state and local governments.






33. A belief that ultimate power resides in the people.






34. A philosophy that encourages individual nations tacked together to solve international problems.






35. A technique of Congress to establish federal regulations. These sanctions permit the use of federal money in one program to influence state and local policy in another. For example - a 1984 act reduced federal highway aid by up to 15 percent for any






36. A belief that government can and should achieve justice and equality of opportunity.






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






38. The distribution of individual preferences or evaluations of a given issue - candidate - or institution within a specific population.






39. Domination of an industry by a single company that fixes prices and discourages competition; also - the company that dominates the industry by these means.






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






41. 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






42. Procedure for submitting to popular vote measures passed by the legislature or proposed amendments to a state constitution.






43. Views the national government - 50 states - and thousands of local governments as competing with each other over ways to put together packages of services and taxes. Applies the analogy of the marketplace: we have some choice about which state and ci






44. An election system in which the candidate with the most votes wins.






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






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






47. Elections held midway between presidential elections.






48. The rights of an individual to own - use - rent - invest in - buy - and sell property.






49. 30-second statements on the evening news shows. The media have been accused of simplifying complicated political issues by relying on sound bites to explain them to the public.






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