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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. The power to tax is an example of _______________ powers.
Medicaid
Brown v. Board of Education Topeka - Kansas
It Failed to be Ratified
Concurrent
2. In Woodson v. North Carolina - the Supreme Court struck down mandatory sentencing of capital punishment as ______________________ because it does not allow for any discretion.
Cruel and Unusual
Judicial Activism
Increased competition
Pass the fundraising threshold
3. Voters tendency to identify with a party that shares their views on important issues ignoring the party's stance on issues they deem less important. to be life-long unless there is a major change in the party's platform. 2. Influenced by ra
October 1st
Party Identification
Categorical Grant
Impartial
4. Which of the following factors is likely to be the weakest indicator of an individual's political beliefs and opinions? Age - Race - Intelligence - or Religion
15
Intelligence
Petit Jury
State Legislatures
5. Responsible for assigning bills to committee in the Senate.
State Legislatures
Checks and Balances
Majority and Minority Leader
John F. Kennedy
6. The 1803 case in which the Supreme Court - by declaring a portion of an act of Congress unconstitutional - first firmly set forth and established the power of judicial review.
Substantive Due Process
Federal District
Marbury v. Madison
Balance of Trade
7. The ___________ aspects of Federalism include: diversity/diffusion of power - more access points for political participation - fostering of experimentation and innovation - and allowing local governments to manage local problems effectively
High
Committees of Correspondence
Positive
Welfare State
8. The class of independent voters who do not vote according to party affiliation - but who typically have a broader range of concerns than single-issue voters - are known colloquially as
Political Action Committee
Office of Management and Budget
25th Amendment
Mugwumps
9. Cabinet department responsible for collective bargaining and union activity. Established in 1913
Voting
Federal District
77
Labor
10. 1974 Act mandating that all government files about private citizens be kept confidential.
Separate but Equal
Procedural Due Process
Privacy Act
Home Rule
11. A group of independent states or nations that come together for a common purpose and whose central authority is usually limited to defense and foreign relations.
Jury of Peers
Freedom of Speech
Confederation
Democratic
12. A provision in a deed to real property prohibiting its sale to a person of a particular race or religion. Judicial enforcement is unconstitutional.
Restrictive Covenant
Due Process
Senior Executive Service
Popular Sovereignty
13. 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:
2
Public Opinion
Initiative
National Supremacy
14. 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
Party Dealignment
Elite and Class Theory
19th Amendment
House of Representatives
15. The tendency of presidents to lose support over time.
Cycle of Decreasing Influence
Regulatory Federalism
Republican
Political Action Committee
16. Guarantees that citizens cannot be compelled by the government to act in a way that is contrary to their religious beliefs. (ex. Conscientious objection to military service required by the draft is the execution of ______________)
Free Exercise Clause
Civil Liberties
Democrats
Establishment Clause
17. A system in which national and state government have shared or overlapping powers. FDR's New Deal legislation established this system in the US.
Cooperative / Marble Cake Federalism
Zenger
Democratic-Republicans
Freedom of Religion
18. An annual meeting held in the spring in many New England towns - at which the townspeople come together to elect a board of selectmen and to discuss local policy questions. It has become a symbol of participatory democracy.
Office Column Ballot
Town Meeting
Implied Powers
Felonies
19. This 1932 case established that a case can be too speedy and under-counseled - providing defendants in a capital case the right to a reasonable amount of time to establish a defense.
Misdemeanors
Lyndon B. Johnson
25
Scottsboro Boys Case
20. The 15th Amendment - also know as _________________ - was intended to help recently freed blacks from unconstitutional state laws designed to circumvent federal laws.
Conference Committee
Incorporation Doctrine
Writ of Certiorari
Spoiler Candidate
21. When the minority party becomes stronger than the majority party - usually the result of winning a critical election.
Propose an Amendment
Party Realignment
Free Speech
2
22. The party-column ballot - or Indiana ballot - encourages _______________.
Straight Ticket Voting
Criminal Information
Party of Economic Protest
Federal District
23. This category of interest groups has been the strongest and most effective in lobbying Washington
Spoiler Candidate
Laissez-Faire
Economic Interest Groups
Balance of Trade
24. _____________ are expected to specialize in a few policy areas rather than claim expertise in the whole range of legislative concerns
Members of Congress
Government
Independent
2
25. A broadly based coalition that attempts to gain control of the government by winning elections in order to exercise power and reward its members.
7
Major Political Party
Grant Clemency
Majority Whip
26. Presidential refusal to allow an agency to spend funds that Congress authorized and appropriated.
Impoundment
Interest Groups
Free Exercise of Religion
Senior Executive Service
27. A test established by Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes - Jr. - in 1919 to define the point at which speech loses the protection of the First Amendment.
Veto
Shay's Rebellion
Clear and Present Danger
John F. Kennedy
28. Members of this party typically include women who support liberal policies on abortion and equal pay - Jews - Catholics - Blacks and other minorities - Blue-collar working class - urban - labor unions - and intelligensia
Democrats
Major Political Party
Unlimited
Containment
29. Polls taken as people leave voting places. In the past - television networks sometimes used these polls to predict election outcomes before the polls close. In 1992 - the television networks agreed not to project the winner in a state until the major
Due Process of Law
General Election
Exit Polls
Independent Expenditures
30. Executive Check on the Legislative Branch.
Bill of Attainder
Presidential Veto
Gerrymandering
Independent Regulatory Agencies
31. A place of work in which any person may be hired provided that he or she joins the union within a specified time.
Party Column Ballot
Detente
The Federal Reserve Board
Union Shop
32. This contraversial legal technicality intended to protect civil liberties has allowed criminals to remain free when the courts refuse to admit evidence that may have been obtained illegally.
31
Exclusionary Rule
Article IV
Literacy Tests
33. In Sweatt v. Painter (1950) - The Supreme Court upheld that ___________________ was inherently not the case as is applied to the University of Texas Law School.
Separate but Equal
US Trade Representatives
Bill of Rights
Government
34. Th joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the twelfth amendment
Divided Government
Presidential Ticket
Agriculture
Balance of Payments
35. Committees created by Congress to conduct special investigations. Although normally temporary - some become - in effect - permanent.
Select Committee
Commonwealth
Rules Committee
Speech Plus
36. Age Requirement for House of Representatives.
Pass the fundraising threshold
Open
25
Jus Sanguinis
37. Senators are re-elected every ___ years with 1/3 of the Senate being up for election every 2 years.
6
Lose
Low
Baker v. Wingo
38. Established by President Hoover - It is the _______________ job to keep the press informed and orchestrate press conferences
Max Weber
Members of Congress
Press Secretary
Two Trial
39. An unwritten custom by which individual senators who belong to the same political party as the president exercise an informal veto power over presidential appointments in their states.
Government
US v. Ballard
14
Senatorial Courtesy
40. Capital punishment is also known as the _________________.
Death penalty
Majority Rule
Independent expenditures
General Election
41. The coming to power of a new coalition - replacing an old dominant coalition of the other party
Critical Election
congressional oversight committee
Popular Sovereignty
Article III
42. The philosophy that government should intervene as little as possible in economic affairs.
Union Shop
Divided Government
Laissez-Faire
Pentagon Papers
43. 1946 Act requiring bureaucratic agencies to appeal to the affected parties before adopting new policies. Legislative check on Bureaucracy.
National Security Council
Administrative Procedure Act
Tariff
Labor
44. Constitutionally required address by the President typically given in a joint session of Congress.
Sub-committee
State of the Union
unlimited
Royalists
45. First Executive Branch
Earl Warren
Department of State
Coordinated Spending
Select Committee
46. Committees of Congress composed of both representatives and senators.
Thurgood Marshall
Judicial
Joint Committees
Foreign Relations and the Judiciary Committees
47. This 1964 case established strict standards for proving slander and libel - court must prove intent of malice on the part of the publisher.
NY Times v. Sullivan
Speaker of the House
Blacks
Federal Appellate
48. Number of Federal District courts across 50 states - DC and Puerto Rico.
Clean bill
Baby Boomers
Categorical Grant
89
49. Broadly worded warrants used by British soldiers during colonial America to search for contraband and prevent smuggling.
Writ of Assistance
Judicial
It Failed to be Ratified
Eminent Domain
50. The concept that political power rests with the people who can create - alter - and abolish government. People express themselves through voting and free participation in government
Popular Sovereignty
Impoundment
Globalization
Balance of Payments