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 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.






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






3. Lawsuit brought by an individual or group of people on behalf of all those similarly situated






4. This author was highly influential on Thomas Jefferson - rejecting divine right - proposing that government is a social contract requiring the consent of the govern and establishing the concept of self-evident rights of life - liberty - and property.






5. The median income of women is ___________ percent of men.






6. The belief that one can understand politics and therefore participate in politics






7. The 1896 case of Plessy v. Fergusan established the racial segregation policy of __________________.






8. An immigrant who wished to become a citizen may be naturalized after living in the US for ___ years.






9. Number of years a Representative must reside in the US prior to taking office






10. Article VII of the Constitution outlines the process of ____________________.






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






12. Head of the Supreme Court.






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






14. 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.






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






16. 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






17. The principle of civilian control of the military - based on the clear constitutional power of the president as supreme commander of the armed forces.






18. Th joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the twelfth amendment






19. The 1st Amendment states that government cannot issue ______________ - censoring publications before they are published.






20. The party-column ballot - or Indiana ballot - encourages _______________.






21. 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.






22. Programs mandated by law and not subject to annual review by Congress or the president.






23. Laws - rules - and government programs designed to protect individual rights and specific groups - as well as to benefit society as a whole in such areas as health - worker safety - consumer protection - and the environment.






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






25. In the mid-term elections following a President's inauguration - his party tends to ___________ seats in Congress.






26. Number of Federal District courts across 50 states - DC and Puerto Rico.






27. 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






28. This customary power allows the President to grant reprieves and pardons for federal offenses.






29. A form of city government under which a council - usually elected on a nonpartisan ticket - hires a professional city manager - who runs the city government and has power to hire and fire officials.






30. Held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November.






31. Author of The Spirit of the Laws advocating balance of power in politics with liberty is dependant upon a separation of the judicial - legislative - and executive branches of government.






32. Authority based on an individual's outstanding traits - which attract followers






33. Members of this party typically include Conservative Christian groups - higher socio-economic classes - middle-class white collar - and suburban voters.






34. 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.






35. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments provide for _____________.






36. Presides over the Senate in the absence of the Vice President. Position awarded to the longest serving Senator from the majority party. 3rd in line of succession for the Presidency.






37. Powers specifically given to the federal government by the US Constitution - for example - the authority to print money.






38. Legislative house whose membership was intended to represent the state.






39. 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






40. ________ of voters identify with one political party in advance of the campaign.






41. Elections that reflect the basic party identification of the voters.






42. Amendment that delegated the election of Senators to popular vote.






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






44. Committees appointed for investigative or crisis situations.






45. Elections that may lead to a basic shift in the party identification of the electorate.






46. Because there is no Senate Rules Committee - Senators can debate a bill for an _________________ time.






47. Southern whites prevented blacks from ____________ through use of poll taxes - literacy tests and intimidation tactics after the Civil War.






48. A system in which national and state governments are competitors with distinct powers. This system was prominent in the US from the during the 19th century until 1937.






49. The European political philosophers whose writings influenced the concepts of liberty and government contained in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution belonged to the intellectual and cultural movement known as






50. Unwritten law based on custom and tradition.