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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. 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






2. Laws that were designed to segregate black and white Americans and give legal recognition to discrimination.






3. Spending determined by the number of qualified recipients and their legally determined need is called






4. Literally meaning 'right of soil' - confers citizenship by place of birth.






5. Presides over the Senate without voting privileges except in the case of a tie.






6. Protects against unreasonable search and seizure.






7. 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.






8. The Articles of Confederation established a ________________ legislature.






9. Repealed by the 21st Amendment - this Amendment prohibited alcohol.






10. Puerto Rico has ____________ status.






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






12. A word that comes from two Greek roots - demos - 'the populace -' and kratia - 'rule'






13. The President's role in the armed forces which during the 20th century has allowed Presidents to circumvent Congress' refusal to declare war.






14. Although camera are allowed in most trial courts - they are banned from ______________.






15. 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.






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






17. 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






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






19. First African American appointed to the Supreme Court






20. Government agencies that exercise quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative powers and are administratively independent of both the president and Congress (although politically independent of neither).






21. Permitted court authorized wire-tapping and bugging by federal - state - and local authorities and use of such evidence in trial. Later reversed by the Supreme Court based on 4th Amendment rights.






22. The power to tax is an example of _______________ powers.






23. Included are Agriculture - Nutrition - and Forestry; Appropriations; Armed Services; Banking - Housing and Urban Affairs; Commerce - Science and Transportation; Energy and Natural Resources; Environment and Public Works; Finance; Health - Education -






24. This 1963 case extended the right to counsel to all felony cases.






25. Requires that a suspect in a federal case be arraigned without unnecessary delay.






26. Cabinet department oversees nuclear reactors.Established in 1973 in response to the Energy Crisis.






27. 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.






28. In states using primaries - the most common form of primary election is the ___________ primary.






29. Which historical figure described democracy as 'the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time?'






30. According to the Constitution - the electors in the Electoral College shall be appointed in a manner to be determined by the






31. According to V. O. Key - Jr. - the Populist Party of the 1890s is an example of a ____________________.






32. Year of the 2nd Continental Congress.






33. Impact elections by siphoning off votes from major parties spoiling a party's chance in a close race.






34. A compulsory national insurance program - financed by taxes on employers and employees. The insurance falls into four categories: old-age and survivors insurance - disability insurance - Medicare - and unemployment insurance.






35. A federal tax on imports.






36. A course of action decided upon by a government






37. Plan that proposed bicameral legislature where states were to have representation based on size in both houses.






38. Funds spent for or against a candidate by committees not formally connected to the candidate's campaign and without coordination with the campaign.






39. Presides over any impeachment trial.






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






41. First civil rights organization to use non-violent tactics to promote racial equality and desegregation






42. A term coined by President Lyndon B. Johnson to describe his own view of the relationship between Washington and the states.






43. These voters are registered as a party member but only participate by voting in primary and general elections. Tend to vote straight-party ticket and follow the leads of local party officials.






44. A philosophy that the Supreme Court should avoid constitutional questions when possible and uphold acts of Congress unless they clearly violate a specific section of the Constitution.






45. Voter turnout is usually ____________ when there is a binding referendum on the ballot.






46. The principle - established by Chief Justice John Marshall in 1819 in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland - that the Constitution must be interpreted flexibly to meet changing conditions.






47. Guaranteed women the right to vote.






48. In addition to the doctrine of implied powers - Chief Justice Marshall - in his decision in the Supreme Court case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) - established the key concept of:






49. In a 1943 case - the Supreme Court upheld the right to refuse to salute the American flag on the basis of the constitutional guarantee of _________________.






50. Head of the Supreme Court.







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