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. The term most political scientists prefer to describe the bureaucratic process






2. Each Senate committee may have ________ subcommittees.






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






4. Law enacted by Congress - or by state legislatures or local legislative bodies.






5. Number of Electoral College votes required to win the Presidency.






6. American politics is dominated by a small ___________ who is responsible for most of the important policy decisions






7. Tips the balance between two leading candidates by attracting a minority of voters who otherwise might have voted for one of the leading candidates.






8. Programs are designed to give preferential access to education - employment - health care - or social welfare to groups of people - especially minorities and women - who have historically been discriminated against.






9. The case of Gregg v. Georgia set the precedent for a ________________ system in which guilt and sentencing and tried separately.






10. This clause of the 1st amendment establishes a 'wall of separation' between church and state.






11. Form of government in which the people are sovereign but their power is exercised by their elected representatives.






12. Germany - Switzerland - and India are examples of countries with a _______________ system of government.






13. A pluralist theory by C. Wright Mills where a small number of wealthy elite wield most of the power. Fundamental to all governments around the world - the elite rule while they make the lower classes feel like they are involved in democracy. The elit






14. After a bill is assigned to a committee - the next step is typically a ______________.






15. 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






16. The executive office established in response to intelligence lapses during WWI. Oversees American foreign policy and includes the President - Vice President - Secretary of State - Secretary of Defense and is lead by the National Security Advisor.






17. The rules and regulations made and applied by federal regulatory agencies and commissions.






18. Also known as the Indiana ballot - lists the candidates of each party in a row or column - beside or under the party emblem. In most cases - the voter can make one mark at the top of the column - or pull one lever - and thus vote for all the party's






19. Established the Federal Reserve Bank - responsible for conducting the nation's monetary policy - maintaining the stability of the financial system - supervising and regulating banking institutions - and protecting the credit rights of consumers - and






20. These parties often emerge as off-shoots of major parties or as single-issue parties. They typically act as critic/innovator bringing attention to issues and influencing the platforms of the major parties.






21. Most modern political scientists believe there is ________________ between politics and government.






22. Committees that pull members from both the house and the senate who meet to discuss major policy issues such as economy and taxation.






23. Most Americans support ______________ primarily as part of their criticism of PACs






24. Define US Citizenship as any person born or naturalized in the United States.






25. A legislative leader of each party who is responsible for rounding up party members for important votes.






26. Court cases that concern crimes committed against the public order.






27. Prompted by FDR's 4th election to the Presidency - the 22nd Amendment limited the number of Presidential terms to _____ terms.






28. The binding decisions that the government makes whether in the form of laws -regulations - or judicial decisions






29. Powers of government that are specifically granted to the three branches of the federal government under the Constitution.






30. 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.






31. 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.






32. Agencies that were at one time semi-autonomous but that through legislation have been placed under presidential control since 1945.






33. The relationship between the total cost of foreign goods imported to this country and sales of U.S. products overseas.






34. The only amendments to be ratified through the process of 'ratifying conventions -' not a vote in the state legislatures






35. Elects the President if no candidate receives 270 Electoral College votes.






36. The vagueness of this phrase has allowed juries to exclude specific genders or races in order to affect the outcome of the verdict.






37. This 1967 Supreme Court case prohibited illegal eavesdropping and extending the zone of privacy to include the home - office - person - and immediate public arena.






38. _____________ are expected to specialize in a few policy areas rather than claim expertise in the whole range of legislative concerns






39. What principle - contained in the Fourth Amendment - protects a citizen from unwarranted search and seizure?






40. _______________ indicates a citizens' faith and trust in government and their own belief that they can understand and influence political affairs






41. Legislative house whose members were intended to represent the people.






42. An interest group organization that represents a specific group of people (Ex. NAACP - AARP)






43. Number of Senators elected at large per state -






44. Which committee assignments would confer the most power and influence on members of the Senate?






45. 14th Amendment is often used to support the right to ____________.






46. Groups named for the section of the Internal Revenue Service code under which they must report their expenditures. The tax-exempt groups were created to exploit a loophole in the law regulating campaign finance.






47. Year of the 2nd Continental Congress.






48. This was amended in 1985 to prohibit vote dilution without requiring the proof of discriminatory purpose demanded by the original Act.






49. The structure and set of regulations in place to control activity - usually in large organizations and government. it is represented by standardized procedure (rule-following) that dictates the execution of most or all processes within the body - for






50. In Woodson v. North Carolina - the Supreme Court struck down mandatory sentencing of capital punishment as ______________________ because it does not allow for any discretion.