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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. Article II of the Constitution establishes the ______________ branch.
Separate but Equal
Executive
Substantive Due Process
15
2. Prohibits the use of cruel or unusual punishment.
8th Amendment
Civilian Supremacy
Open Meeting Law
Budget Surplus
3. Overturning unjust laws is the responsibility of _________________.
Fiscal Federalism
Supreme Court
Bandwagon
Pure Speech
4. 19th century case establishing that the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal government - upheld until the 20th century. Ruling allowed stated to engage in activities such as establishing state churches and denying public office to people of ce
Baron v. Baltimore
Free Exercise Clause
Scandal Mongering
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
5. The framers of the Constitution created the Senate to function as a check on the ________________.
House of Representatives
Legislative
Low
Clothespin vote
6. A law passed in 1966 that requires federal executive branch and regulatory agencies to make information available to journalists - scholars - and the public unless it falls into one of several confidential categories.
Enacted
Party Realignment
Freedom of Information Act
Civil War Amendments
7. What occurs when government adopts a public policy that provides - or distributes - benefits to people or groups.
General Accounting Office
Lose
Political Culture
Distribution
8. Constitutionally required address by the President typically given in a joint session of Congress.
Commonwealth
Free Exercise
State of the Union
Checks and Balances
9. 'lame duck' amendment
Categorical Grant
External Efficacy
Governmental Corporations
20th
10. Federal categorical grants in which the granting agency has much discretion over how the recipient spends the money.
Freedom of Speech
Project Grant
1776
Majority Rule
11. Contacts - coalitions - and interactions across national boundaries
Transnational Relations
Committee of the Whole
Elite and Class Theory
Enumerated Powers
12. Gave authority over atomic energy from military to civilians.
Commission Plan
General Accounting
Atomic Energy Act of 1946
Appropriations
13. Units of government under the president - within the executive branch - that are not part of a cabinet department.
Third Parties
Populous
Cooperative / Marble Cake Federalism
Executive Agencies
14. This house committee is responsible for Supervising the authority of the federal government to borrow money - Raising the revenue required to finance the federal government by levying taxes - Overseeing Social Security and other social insurance prog
15
Judicial Review
Ways and Means Committee
Voting
15. Literally - a 'friend of the court' brief - filed by an individual or organization to present arguements in addition to those presented by the immediate parties to a case
Civil Liberties
Judicial
Amicus Curiae Brief
Ways and Means Committee
16. The Constitution requires that state governments - like the federal government - must be _____________ in form - with final authority resting with the people.
Economic Interest Groups
Democratic
Free Rider
Party Column Ballot
17. Form of government in which the people are sovereign but their power is exercised by their elected representatives.
Republic
High
Tariff
Shay's Rebellion
18. Which committee assignments would confer the most power and influence on members of the Senate?
20th
Appropriations
Impartial
Television and Radio
19. 1925 Supreme Court case overturned Baron v. Baltimore and applied the Bill of Rights to states.
Grand Jury Indictment
Social Security
Gitlow v. New York
Raiding
20. Proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 as an attempt to form a union of the colonies. Later used to help form the Articles of Confederation.
Albany Plan
Globalization
Open
Public Bills
21. The average voter turnout between 1960 and 2004 was __________ percent
Negative Advertising
55
Delegate
Federalist Papers
22. The fundamental flaw in plural theory contends that pluralism weakens the backbone of democracy with too many common interest groups attempt to wield power - often leading to standstill because of unwillingness to compromise.
14th
30
Hyperpluralism
Swing Voters in the Democratic Party
23. Also known as the Massachusetts ballot - groups candidates according to the office for which they are running
Office Column Ballot
Writ of Mandamus
Entitlement Programs
Welfare State
24. In Woodson v. North Carolina - the Supreme Court struck down mandatory sentencing of capital punishment as ______________________ because it does not allow for any discretion.
Inverse
Cruel and Unusual
Television
Alien and Sedition Acts
25. 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.
Freedom of Speech
Lose
6th Amendment
Republicans
26. A system in which the national government provides grants-in-aid to states using conditions to elicit control.
Federal
Republican
Fiscal Federalism
Standing Committees
27. Cabinet department responsible for the management of public lands - wildlife - natural resources - and Native American affairs. Established in 1849
Thomas Hobbes
Interior
Party Activists
Concurring Opinion
28. Political party lead by Andrew Jackson from 1828 to 1856. Campaigned against strong central government and fought to end elitism.
Issue Networks
Slander
Democrats
Major Political Party
29. Presides over the Senate without voting privileges except in the case of a tie.
Reverse Discrimination
Jim Crow Laws
35
Vice President
30. A system - until modified and reformed in the 1970s - that automatically resulted in the selection as committee chair of those members of the majority party in Congress who had the longest continuous service on a committee.
Seniority System
Non-protected Speech
State Legislatures
Adversarial
31. Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman (1979) upheld that bussing programs were an acceptable way to enforce ______________________.
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act
Privileges and Immunities Clause
Fast Track Authority
School Desegregation
32. Powers specifically outlined in the Constitution as assigned to one branch of government.
Focus Groups
Enumerated Powers
Interventionism
Alien and Sedition Acts
33. After the Vietnam war - American politics entered an era of __________________ during which neither party maintained control over the government.
Divided Government
Commander in Chief
Agriculture
Social Contract
34. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) - founded in 1932 by President Herbert Hoover to help combat the Great Depression - was the predecessor of which federal agencies?
Contract Clause
Small Business Administration (SBA)
Miller v. California
Select Committee
35. Signed the executive order banning segregation in the armed forces.
Free Exercise Clause
Filibuster
Free Speech
Truman
36. According to this nineteenth-century British peer and historian - 'power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'
Lord Acton
Mixed Economy
Political Advertising
Convention Bounce
37. The concentration of economic power in the hands of a relatively few large companies.
Oligopoly
Committees of Correspondence
Majority Rule
Categorical Grants
38. By far - the largest amount of federal aid to state and local governments comes in the form of:
Exit Polls
Entitlement Spending
Budget Resolution
Categorical Grants
39. Age requirement for President
Democratic
5
35
Riders
40. Between conventions - the governing body of a major political party. Members of this group are chosen in the states and formally elected by the party
National Committee
Exit Polls
Riders
Dred Scott Decision
41. A broad concept that may be defined in many ways - but the term is generally used to refer to the basic protection and defense of the nation.
Enumerated Powers
National Security
State Government
Clear and Present Danger
42. 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
Impeachment
Implied Powers
Mayflower Compact
Bureaucracy
43. 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.
Veto
National Security Council
Judicial Activism
Resolutions
44. This contraversial 2001 law allows anti-terrorism authorities to monitor e-mail and Internet traffic in order to prevent terrorist attacks. The government argues that cyberspace is public domain and that no warrants should be needed to access informa
Rhode Island
Patriot Act
Unlimited
Swing Voters in the Democratic Party
45. Th joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the twelfth amendment
Freedom of Speech
Low
Presidential Ticket
Executive
46. 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.
Party Regulars
Poll Tax
435
Majority Opinion
47. Number of Electoral College votes required to win the Presidency.
270
Omaha platform
Double Jeopardy
Recall
48. The 1st Amendment states that government cannot issue ______________ - censoring publications before they are published.
Monetary Policy
8th Amendment
Jus Sanguinis
Prior Restraint
49. In his historic decision in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) - Chief Justice Marshall established the principle of _____________.
State Treasurer
Flexible Construction
Free Exercise Clause
Entitlement Programs
50. Elects the President if no candidate receives 270 Electoral College votes.
Government
House of Representatives
Housing and Urban Development
Self-Incrimination