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Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP American Government
Start Test
Study First
Subjects
:
clep
,
civics
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. International agreements between the president and foreign heads of state that - unlike treaties - do not require Senate approval.
Establishment Clause
Checks and Balances
National Security Council
Executive Agreements
2. First civil rights organization to use non-violent tactics to promote racial equality and desegregation
Democratic
Monetary Policy
Impeachment
CORE
3. Committees created by Congress to conduct special investigations. Although normally temporary - some become - in effect - permanent.
Select Committee
Entitlement Programs
Instructed Delegate
General Accounting
4. A law passed by Congress in 1973 in an effort to set a time limit on the use of combat forces abroad by a president.
Social Security
War Powers Resolution
Bill of Attainder
Electoral Connection
5. This 1963 case extended the right to counsel to all felony cases.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Party Column Ballot
Federal Courts
Gideon v. Wainwright
6. The Supreme Court holds _____________ jurisdiction in cases against the US - ambassadors - public ministers - and consuls.
Regulatory Federalism
Original
Securities and Exchange Commission or Securities Act of 1933
Inherent Powers
7. Signed the executive order banning segregation in the armed forces.
Isolationism
Regulatory Federalism
Truman
Salient Agenda
8. A system in which national and state government have shared or overlapping powers. FDR's New Deal legislation established this system in the US.
Cooperative / Marble Cake Federalism
9
Popular Sovereignty
Budget Resolution
9. In the view of W. Lance Bennett - the people who hold and express opinions are constantly changing - as are the issues and conditions to which the public responds. As a result - Bennett suggests that public opinion is______________.
Good Faith Exception
Soft Money
Situational
Implementation
10. This category of interest groups has been the strongest and most effective in lobbying Washington
Inverse
Laissez-Faire
Economic Interest Groups
Albany Plan
11. Requires the Electoral College to vote for President and Vice President separately.
Muckrakers
12th Amendment
Veteran's Affairs
Royal Colonies
12. Practice by which voters of one party crossing over and voting in the primary of another party - effectively allowing a party to help choose its opposition's candidate.
3
Raiding
Civil Liberties
Categorical Grants
13. In Argersinger v. Hamlin (1972) - the Supreme Court extended the right to counsel to those accused of misdemeanors if the defendant is _____________.
imprisoned
Republicans
Soft Money
Automobiles
14. This 1st amendment clause prohibits the government from making any law prohibiting the exercise of any religion
Fast Track Authority
Free Exercise Clause
Self-Incrimination
Elastic Clause
15. Federal aid that states and localities may use mostly as they wish.
Committees
AARP
General Purpose Grants
Secretary of State
16. Infamous 1735 English case established the precedent for Freedom of the Press in the US.
Jus Sanguinis
Zenger
AARP
Whistle-blowers
17. Members of this party typically include Conservative Christian groups - higher socio-economic classes - middle-class white collar - and suburban voters.
Whistle-blowers
New Deal Era
Free Speech
Republican
18. When neither political party is dominant.
Whip
Party Dealignment
State Treasurer
Office Column Ballot
19. A form of city government under which a board of city commissioners is popularly elected (often on a nonpartisan ballot). The commissioners make policy as a city council - but they also run city departments as administrators.
9
Nuclear Proliferation
10th Amendment
Commission Plan
20. Repealed by the 21st Amendment - this Amendment prohibited alcohol.
Department of State
Free Exercise Clause
Stare Decisis
18th Amendment
21. In the Federalist Papers - James Madison proposed that the states under the new Constitution would retain ____________ sovereignty.
Gideon v. Wainwright
Residual
Constitutional Initiative
Fiscal Policy
22. When the President's own party gains power and influence - it more puts pressure on the President to conform to the will of the party - leading to________________ between the President and the party to define their public identities
Supremacy Clause
Tammany Hall
Increased competition
Fast Track Authority
23. Judicial Check on Legislative Branch. Not specifically outlined in the Constitution - but established in the case of Marbury v. Madison through the application of the Supremacy Clause in Article VI.
Sub-committee
Office of Management and Budget
Judicial Review
Ways and Means Committee
24. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was somewhat undermined by racist practices in the real estate market such as _____________ and ______________ - which continued illegally in many areas following passage of the Act.
Civil Cases
Negative
Commission Plan
blockbusting and redlining
25. If significant amendments are made to a bill during committee - the bill is sometimes given a new number as a _______________.
Writ of Mandamus
Elastic Clause
Clean bill
Budget Resolutions
26. Guarantees that any rights not explicitly outlined heretofore are reserved for the states.
10th Amendment
9
Dies
Stare Decisis
27. The principle of civilian control of the military - based on the clear constitutional power of the president as supreme commander of the armed forces.
Gender Gap
Speech Plus
Interest Groups
Civilian Supremacy
28. The sum of the goals - decisions - and actions that govern a nation's relations with the rest of the world.
Foreign Policy
Writ of Assistance
Rules Committee
Public Bills
29. Smith v. Allwight (1994) was the first vase in which the Supreme Court upheld the voting rights of _____________ in state primary elections.
Blacks
Segregation
Libertarianism
Precedent
30. The right of the Supreme Court - under the Constitution - to hear certain kinds of cases directly - such as cases involving foreign diplomats - or cases in which one of the 50 states is a party.
20th
Select Committee
Original Jurisdiction
Confederation
31. The most important committees - always assembled and delegated with the responsibility of handling all bills under their concern. Includes the Ways and Means - Appropriations - Budget - Rules and Agriculture Committees.
Gross Domestic Product
Joint Committees
Bandwagon
Standing Committees
32. The amount of money available when the government's income is greater than what it spends in a fiscal year.
Hub and Spoke Model
Power Structure
Incorporation Doctrine
Budget Surplus
33. A provision of law in which Congress asserts the power to nullify actions of the executive branch. In 1983 the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional - but Congress continued to pass laws containing such provisions.
Legislative Veto
Cycle of Decreasing Influence
Atomic Energy Act of 1946
Elastic Clause
34. Plan that proposed unicameral legislature with each state having one vote.
Caucus
Administrative Procedure Act
New Jersey Plan
Press Secretary
35. The period of time after the election of FDR until the Vietnam War was dominated by the Democratic Party and know as the __________________ Era.
Article VI
New Deal Era
Incumbents
Positive
36. Established national income tax.
16th Amendment
Categorical Grants
Supreme Court
US Trade Representatives
37. While the voting rights act of 1965 did direct the Attorney General to investigate the constitutionality of poll taxes and prohibit literacy tests - it did not expressly prohibit _____________.
Bowers v. Hardwick
Soft money
Gerrymandering
House of Representatives
38. Legislative house whose membership was intended to represent the state.
Federalist
Gitlow v. New York
Senate
Television and Radio
39. Economists generally agree that the major responsibility for promoting prosperity and full employment falls on ________________.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Woodrow Wilson
Government
Whigs
40. A group of writers - journalists - and critics who exposed corporate malfeasance and political corruption in the first decade of the 20th century.
Political Culture
National
Baby Boomers
Muckrakers
41. Cabinet department responsible for insuring mortgages and providing housing subsidies. Established in 1965
Resolutions
a senior senator of the majority party
Freedom of Speech
Housing and Urban Development
42. In this case - a gay man from Georgia charged with committing sodomy in his own home with a consenting adult. The court ruled that the Constitution does not explicitly grant the right for homosexuals to practice their lifestyle and that laws against
Gerrymandering
Bowers v. Hardwick
Selective Incorporation
Veto
43. Spending determined by the number of qualified recipients and their legally determined need is called
Federal
527 Organization
Entitlement Spending
Concurring Opinion
44. Which branch has the power to stop an executive order?
Recorded Vote
Judicial
Pyramid Model
Equity
45. Term limit for House of Representatives.
Unlimited
Joint Chiefs of Staff
Strategic Deterrence
Speech Plus
46. A vote in the House of Representatives in which the position of each member is noted and published in the Congressional Record.
Federal
Flexible Construction
Recorded Vote
Dissenting Opinion
47. Colonies controlled by the British king through governors appointed by him and through the king's veto power over colonial laws.
Pluralist Theory
Miller v. California
Royal Colonies
Mayflower Compact
48. The 15th Amendment - also know as _________________ - was intended to help recently freed blacks from unconstitutional state laws designed to circumvent federal laws.
Incorporation Doctrine
Freedom of Religion
Energy
Gerrymandering
49. A place of work in which any person may be hired provided that he or she joins the union within a specified time.
Political Machines
3
Socialism
Union Shop
50. In the 1964 case of ____________ - the Supreme Court: established 'one person - one vote' -
Political Action Committees
presidential line-item veto
Reynolds v. Sims
State Auditor