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. Limitations on this freedom including prohibition of defamation and obscenity - limitation on commercial speech - and restriction of inciting words that may cause immediate danger.






2. After the bill reaches the house floor - if opponents have many changes - they may vote to ______________________.






3. 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?






4. Individual contributions to PACs are limited to ______________ dollars per candidate per election with primaries - general and special elections counting separately.






5. 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.






6. The individuals - institutions - and processes that make the rules for society and possess the power to enforce them.






7. Concept of the British statesman Edmund Burke that legislators should act according to their own consciences.






8. A coherent set of beliefs about politics - public policy - and public purpose. It helps give meaning to political event - personalities - and policies.






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






10. This author of Leviathon posited that government is necessary because people are generally in a state of conflict.






11. This 1973 ruling gave local communities the authority to determine obscenity - established three part test for obscene material. To qualify as obscene - speech must be considered obscene by the 'average' person - depict or describe material that is a






12. In the 1990 case OR State Employment Division v. Smith 1990 - the Supreme court allowed the state to fire employees who use peyote during native American religious ceremonies because it is in violation of drug laws. In this case - which clause of the






13. A relaxation of international tensions.






14. President requires their approval to appoint judges - ambassadors and other high officials.






15. New Jersey v. TLO (1985) established that school authorities may search students without _____________ as long as they are reasonable.






16. The issuance of this document by a judge requires probably cause and must be worded so as to allow for the search and seizure of specific evidence.






17. ________________ of the Constitution dictates how the Constitution shall be amended.






18. Age Requirement for House of Representatives.






19. There is an _____________ relationship between Presidential approval ratings and unemployment.






20. 1944 case established that as as long as a person accepted their beliefs in good faith that it is not the government's authority to determine whether those beliefs are valid.






21. Spending by the national committees of the political parties to support the election of congressional candidates is known as






22. The way things actually are.






23. There are 11 circuit ____________________ who have no original jurisdiction.






24. Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman (1979) upheld that bussing programs were an acceptable way to enforce ______________________.






25. Overturning unjust laws is the responsibility of _________________.






26. 1963 ruling prohibiting prayer in public schools.






27. The Medicaid and Food Stamp programs are examples of two very large






28. Which branch has the power to stop an executive order?






29. This branch of government checks Bureaucracy through its control over the creation and elimination of agencies as well as its control over budget appropriations.






30. This rule established by US v. Leon (1984) angered civil liberties groups by allowing exception to the Exclusionary Rule in instances where probably cause may not fully exist.






31. It is possible either to describe people - government - politics - and power as isolated - static elements - or to look at them as interacting elements in a_______________.






32. The spread of nuclear weapons to more nations.






33. The process through which an individual acquires a set of political attitudes and forms opinions about political and social issues.






34. The vote cast by a person who does not like either candidate and so votes for the less objectionable of the two - putting a clothespin over his nose to keep out the unpleasant stench






35. Age requirement for President






36. A declaration by the President in 1823 that warned European powers to keep out of the Western Hemisphere and pledged that the United States would not intervene in the internal affairs of Europe.






37. The primary purpose of _______________consolidate the nation's disability laws and provide for strong federal enforcement of a strengthened disability rights mandate






38. The Supreme Court has ruled that Congress_________________ take away a person's citizenship unless it is freely renounced.






39. An election in which voters in a jurisdiction select candidates for a subsequent election. In other words - one means by which a political party nominate candidates for the following general election.s






40. Serious crimes - such as murder - arson - or rape.






41. Lobbyists for special interest groups have found ____________________ to be the most direct and effective method to secure their objectives in Congress.






42. A centralized system of government - such as that of France - where most of the important policy decisions are made by a central government.






43. It the job of _________ committees of a political party to hold voter registration drives - recruit new party members and final candidates for city and county positions.






44. In addition to overseeing the activities of one or more federal agencies - a ___________________may also serve as the authorizing committee for federal agencies' programs and operations.






45. The formal source of all authority in each major political party. It nominates the party candidates for president and vice president - writes a platform - settles disputes - writes rules - and elects the members of the national committee.






46. The only instance in which the government can prohibit religious activities






47. 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.






48. Laws must be administered in a fair manner.






49. Committees of Congress composed of both representatives and senators.






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