Test your basic knowledge |

CLEP American Government

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. During the 1800's and early 1900's - some state and local party committees became ________________ dominating party activities. Committee members would promise new recruits money - jobs - and other benefits for joining and voting the straight party t






2. The provisions of the Constitution that divide power among three constitutionally equal and independent branches of government






3. This 1972 Supreme Court case struck down all state laws allowing the death penalty stating that they allowed for too much discretion on the part of the judge and jury resulting in lack of consistent administration of the penalty.






4. In charge of state's legal business. provide advice to other state official and represents the state in court if the state is involved in a lawsuit






5. Government regulation of the economy through its control over the supply of money and the cost and availability of credit. Controlled by the Federal Reserve Board.






6. Federal grants in which the recipient has little discretion over how the money is spent. The national government sets narrowly defined rules for use of funds and often requires the states or local governments to provide matching funds. These grants a






7. Formed as a third party on the issue of slavery by many former Whigs in the 1850's. Anti-slavery platform. Supported by farmers - laborers - and newly-freed blacks.






8. A technique polling organizations use in which several people from the same neighborhood are interviewed.






9. The coming to power of a new coalition - replacing an old dominant coalition of the other party






10. Voters tendency to identify with a party that shares their views on important issues ignoring the party's stance on issues they deem less important. to be life-long unless there is a major change in the party's platform. 2. Influenced by ra






11. Law enacted in 1939 to prohibit civil servants from taking activists roles in partisan campaigns .This act prohibited federal employees from making political contributions - working for a particualr party -or campaining for a particualr canidate






12. Laws must be administered in a fair manner.






13. A primary in which any registered voter is able to vote for candidates from more than one party. A voter - for example - may vote for a Democrat for U.S. senator and for a Republican for governor. In 2000 - the Supreme Court struck down the blanket p






14. Eisenhower's philosophy of being liberal in all things human and being conservative with all things fiscal. Appealed to both Republicans and Democrats.






15. A method of polling - considered less reliable than a random sample - in which interviewers are instructed to question members of a particular group in proportion to their percentage in the population as a whole.






16. The House appropriations committee has ___ subcommittees.






17. These party members take active non-leadership roles such as working polls or contributing money to campaigns. Tend to compromise on important issues and are mostly concerned about winning elections.






18. The permanent committees of a legislature that consider bills and conduct hearings and investigations.






19. Article I of the Constitution establishes the ___________________ branch.






20. Infamous 1735 English case established the precedent for Freedom of the Press in the US.






21. The right to privacy is ___________ in the Constitution.






22. What occurs when government adopts a public policy that provides - or distributes - benefits to people or groups.






23. A tax on voting abolished by the Twenty-fourth Amendment in 1964 - long used by southern states to keep blacks (and - in some cases - poor whites) from participating in elections.






24. The drawing of the lines of congressional districts - or of any other political district - in order to favor one political party or group over another.






25. The framers of the Constitution created the Senate to function as a check on the ________________.






26. The Supreme Court has sometimes used a narrow interpretation of the Establishment Clause allowing the government to provide aid to religious groups as long as it remains ______________ and does not promote one religion at the expense of another. This






27. Polls taken as people leave voting places. In the past - television networks sometimes used these polls to predict election outcomes before the polls close. In 1992 - the television networks agreed not to project the winner in a state until the major






28. The view advocated by Supreme Court Justices Hugo Black and William O. Douglas that there are provisions of the Bill of Rights that cannot be diluted by judicial decisions.






29. Method by which federal court judges may lose their position.






30. Constitutional protection of the accused to not be tried for the same crime twice.






31. A jury of 6 to 12 persons who determine guilt or innocence in a civil or criminal action






32. The Jacksonian Era marked an important change in the process used to nominate Presidential candidates with the emergence of party _________________ - eliminating caucuses.






33. In _______________ cases such as Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) - the Supreme Court has upheld that while Affirmative action policies are legal - race and gender cannot be the only determining factors.






34. States that states may draw reasonable distinctions between the rights of residents and non-residents (ex. In state and out of state tuition)






35. Also known as the Massachusetts ballot - groups candidates according to the office for which they are running






36. Prohibits the use of cruel or unusual punishment.






37. In WV State BOE v Barnette (1943) - the Supreme Court ruled that compelling citizens to salute the flag violates the principles of a free society - upholding which 1st Amendment rights?






38. Cabinet department responsible for insuring mortgages and providing housing subsidies. Established in 1965






39. The policy established after the Second World War that America must take an active leadership role in world affairs






40. 1963 ruling prohibiting prayer in public schools.






41. A device that allows the House of Representatives to conduct its business with fewer restrictions on debate and a quorum of only 100 members.






42. This category of interest groups has been the strongest and most effective in lobbying Washington






43. The practice that allows senators to delay or even kill floor action on legislation - a nomination - or other matters by asking their party leaders not to schedule them.






44. International agreements between the president and foreign heads of state that - unlike treaties - do not require Senate approval.






45. The period of time after the election of FDR until the Vietnam War was dominated by the Democratic Party and know as the __________________ Era.






46. Powers of government that the national government may exercise simply because it exists as a government - such as the right to conduct foreign relations.






47. Executive check on Legislative Branch.






48. Representing - characterized by - or including members from two parties or factions






49. Freedoms that protect the individual from the government.






50. 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.