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. Constitutional grant of powers that enables each of the three branches of government to check some acts of the others and therefore ensure that no branch can dominate.






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






3. An ideology that cherishes individual liberty and insists on minimal government - promoting a free market economy - a noninterventionist foreign policy - and an absence of regulation in moral - economic - and social life.






4. Employment cycle in which individuals who work for governmental agencies that regulate interests eventually end up working for interest groups or businesses with the same policy concern.






5. The current holder of the elected office.






6. Legal process whereby an alleged criminal offender is surrendered by the officials of one states to officials of the state in which the crime is alleged to have been committed.






7. Programs that the Federal government requires States to implement without Federal funding.






8. 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.






9. The principle of a two-house legislature.






10. 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.






11. A provision attached to a bill






12. 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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13. A nonprofit association or group operating outside of government that advocates and pursues policy objectives.






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






15. The joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the Twelfth Amendment.






16. Political contributions given to a party - candidate - or interest group that are limited in amounts and fully disclosed. Raising such limited funds is harder than raising unlimited funds - hence the term 'hard money.'






17. 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.






18. 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.






19. The residents of a congressional district or state.






20. 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.






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






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






23. 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).






24. 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.






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






26. Voting based on what a candidate pledges to do in the future about an issue if elected.






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






28. In a criminal action - the person or party accused of an offense.






29. The Supreme Court has ruled that individuals - groups - and parties can spend unlimited amounts in campaigns for or against candidates as long as they operate independently from the candidates. When an individual - group - or party does so - they are






30. An economic system characterized by private property - competitive markets - economic incentives - and limited government involvement in the production - distribution - and pricing of goods and services.






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






32. 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).






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






34. The right to renounce one's citizenship.






35. A tax on increased value of the product at each stage of production and distribution rather than just at the point of sale.






36. Special spending projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of Congress for their constituents.






37. Officer of the Senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president.






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






39. Elections in which voters determine party nominees.






40. Those citizens who follow public affairs carefully.






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






42. The belief that nations must engage in international problem solving.






43. The precise legal definition of how government will implement a policy.






44. 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.






45. A term the founders used to refer to political parties and special interests or interest groups.






46. The effort to slow the growth of the federal government by returning many functions to the states.






47. Opponents of ratification of the Constitution and of a strong central government - generally.






48. 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.






49. A social division based on national origin - religion - language - and often race.






50. The tendency in elections to focus on the personal attributes of a candidate - such as his/her strengths - weaknesses - background - experience - and visibility.