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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. Programs mandated by law and not subject to annual review by Congress or the president.
Energy
Declining
Affirmative Action
Entitlement Programs
2. The median income of women is ___________ percent of men.
Veto
Democracy
77
Cruel and Unusual
3. The Democrats control over politics during the 20th century ended with this President's unpopular handling of the Vietnam War.
Selective Incorporation
Lyndon B. Johnson
Selective Incorporation
Redistributive Policy
4. Guarantees that an accused in innocent until proven guilty.
Proprietary Colonies
Executive Privilege
8th Amendment
Article IV
5. 1798 Act that criminalized speech that was derisive to the government. Later ruled unconstitutional - Andrew Jackson issued blanket pardon in 1801
Federal District
Judicial Restraint
Alien and Sedition Acts
Recorded Vote
6. The period of time after the election of FDR until the Vietnam War was dominated by the Democratic Party and know as the __________________ Era.
Cycle of Decreasing Influence
New Deal Era
Private Bills
Lobbying
7. Direct oral or written speech directed at a specific individual or group
Shay's Rebellion
Public Policy
Independent
Pure Speech
8. The concentration of economic power in the hands of a relatively few large companies.
House of Representatives
14
Oligopoly
Pluralist Theory
9. Test whereby the Supreme Court established criteria by which state may provide aid to religious groups.
Lemon Test
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act
Permanent Registration
Collective Action
10. 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?
Free Exercise of Religion
Policy
Affirmative Action
35
11. An elected office that is predictably won by one party or the other - so the success of that party's candidate is almost taken for granted
Safe seat
Zenger
Lobbying
Libertarianism
12. Tax legislation must originate in this house.
Declining
8th Amendment
House of Representatives
Low
13. In charge of all state funds. Supervises the collection of taxes and payment of state's bill
Trial Balloon
Vietnam War
Clear and Present Danger
State Treasurer
14. A registered voter may vote in any party primary regardless of his own party affiliation. When voters do not register with a party before the primary - it is called a pick-a-party primary because the voter can select which party's primary he or she w
National Security Council
2
27th Amendment
Open
15. Prohibits the use of cruel or unusual punishment.
Federal Register
Instructed Delegate
8th Amendment
Delegate
16. Which branch has the power to stop an executive order?
Misdemeanors
Judicial
Prior Restraint
Rules Committee
17. Because there is no Senate Rules Committee - Senators can debate a bill for an _________________ time.
Public Bills
Interest Groups
Increased
Unlimited
18. The single biggest item in campaign spending at the presidential level is ___________________.
Television and Radio
89
Presidential Ticket
Agriculture
19. Legislative house responsible for impeachment trials.
Senate
Department of State
Presidential Ticket
Redistributive Policy
20. Laws that were designed to segregate black and white Americans and give legal recognition to discrimination.
12
19th Amendment
Committees of Correspondence
Jim Crow Laws
21. Freedoms that protect the individual from the government.
Woodrow Wilson
Executive
Civil Liberties
Public Bills
22. 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 _____________.
Committees
Political Socialization
Increased competition
Gerrymandering
23. Several Presidents have been elected without winning the popular vote. As a result - In 1970 and 1979 - Amendments were proposed to disband the ______________ - neither passed.
Electoral College
4
National Convention
Inherent Powers
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.
Tammany Hall
Omaha platform
25th Amendment
blockbusting and redlining
25. Constitutional Article that establishes the Judicial Branch.
Article III
Globalization
Formula Grant
Original
26. A broadly based coalition that attempts to gain control of the government by winning elections in order to exercise power and reward its members.
Good Faith Exception
Regulatory Federalism
Major Political Party
Entitlement Programs
27. This 1967 Supreme Court case prohibited illegal eavesdropping and extending the zone of privacy to include the home - office - person - and immediate public arena.
Socialism
Katz. v US
Precedent
Segregation
28. The agency that provides Congress with evaluations of public policies is the
Shield Laws
Agriculture
Distribution
General Accounting Office
29. The power to tax is an example of _______________ powers.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Affirmative Action
Concurrent
Populous
30. Largest interest group in the US.
Common Law
School Desegregation
15
AARP
31. The claim by presidents of an inherent right to withhold information from Congress and the judiciary.
Random Sample
Bureaucracy
Executive Privilege
Gay
32. First proposed in 1789 - this amendment passed in 1992 prohibits Congress from raising their own pay. Pay raises may not take affect until the beginning of the next term.
Issue network
27th Amendment
Shield Laws
Felonies
33. The framers of the Constitution created the Senate to function as a check on the ________________.
House of Representatives
Electoral Votes
Elastic Clause
Conglomerates
34. Form of obstruction in the Senate where an attempt is made to infinitely extend debate upon a proposal in order to delay the progress or completely prevent a vote on the proposal taking place.
Nationalism
Catholics
Impartial
Filibuster
35. An issue on which voters distinguish rival parties by the degree to which they associate each party or candidate with conditions - goals - or symbols the electorate universally approves or disapproves of. Examples of such issues are economic prosperi
Patriot Act
Random Sample
Party Activists
Valence issue
36. The foreign policy of the United States during the period after the Second World War - designed to contain the expansion of Soviet power.
Enumerated Powers
Containment
Republicans
Judicial Review
37. Cabinet department responsible for managing school lunch programs and food safety. Established in 1862.
Elastic Clause
15
Royal Colonies
Agriculture
38. Presidential management model in which the Chief of Staff plays a prominent role as the head of a military style chain of command. Used successfully by Reagan and Eisenhower.
Hatch Act
Bowers v. Hardwick
Pyramid Model
Popular Sovereignty
39. 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
Free Exercise Clause
Pocket Veto
Cloture
Espionage Act
40. Finding that enough evidence exists to warrant a criminal trial.
Ways and Mean Committee
12th Amendment
Grand Jury Indictment
Swing Voters in the Democratic Party
41. Gave authority over atomic energy from military to civilians.
Substantive Due Process
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Atomic Energy Act of 1946
Power Structure
42. 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
Focus Groups
Regulatory Federalism
Council of Economic Advisors
Categorical Grant
43. The body composed of electors from the 50 states who formally have the power to elect the president and vice president of the United States. Each state has a number of electors and electoral votes equal to its number of senators and representatives i
Fiscal Federalism
Death penalty
Positive
Electoral College
44. 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.
Open
Smith Act
National Security
Homeland Security
45. Powers specifically outlined in the Constitution as assigned to one branch of government.
Military-Industrial Complex
Vietnam War
Private Bills
Enumerated Powers
46. Something given in exchange for something else; swap
Majority Whip
Quid Pro Quo
Earl Warren
Political Advertising
47. 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
Writ of Certiorari
Gideon v. Wainwright
Blanket Primary
Selective exposure
48. A vote in the House of Representatives in which the position of each member is noted and published in the Congressional Record.
Double Jeopardy
Criminal Information
Recorded Vote
Clear and Present Danger
49. A group of people who try to influence policy agendas and whose ultimate goal is to run the government by getting their favorite candidates elected.
Ways and Mean Committee
Closed
Television
Political Party
50. The only amendments to be ratified through the process of 'ratifying conventions -' not a vote in the state legislatures
Supply Side Economics
Bill of Rights
16th Amendment
Impeachment