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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. Court cases that concern crimes committed against the public order.
Amicus Curiae Brief
Criminal Cases
Blacks
Tariff
2. Number of Federal District courts across 50 states - DC and Puerto Rico.
Increased
Monroe Doctrine
89
Judicial
3. A declaration by the President in 1823 that warned European powers to keep out of the Western Hemisphere and pledged that the United States would not intervene in the internal affairs of Europe.
Monroe Doctrine
30
Violation of Law
Unlimited
4. Bills that benefit legislators' home districts - or powerful corporate contributors - with sometimes wasteful or unnecessary public works or other projects.
Enumerated Powers
Pork-Barrel Legislation
Public Opinion
Interest Groups
5. The Jacksonian Era marked an important change in the process used to nominate Presidential candidates with the emergence of party _________________ - eliminating caucuses.
Wallace's Progressives
Conventions
Clean bill
Line-Item Veto
6. Method by which federal court judges may lose their position.
Referendum
Public Opinion
Select Committee
Impeachment
7. This author of Leviathon posited that government is necessary because people are generally in a state of conflict.
Diminish
The Federalist #10
de jure
Thomas Hobbes
8. American politics is dominated by a small ___________ who is responsible for most of the important policy decisions
Libertarianism
Hyperpluralism
Elite
Legislative Courts
9. When neither political party is dominant.
Max Weber
Interest Groups
Party Dealignment
Liberalism
10. A judicial opinion agreed to by a majority of the members of a court. A majority opinion sets forth the decision of the court and an explanation of the rationale behind the court's decision.
Article V
Majority Opinion
Baker v. Wingo
Right to Work Laws
11. Executive office responsible for helping the President write the federal budget and monitoring federal spending.
Absolute Position
Filibuster
Secondary Group
Office of Management and Budget
12. Committees of Congress composed of both representatives and senators.
Warrant
Magna Carta
Nuclear Proliferation
Joint Committees
13. Money spent by individuals or gorups not asociated with candidates to elect or defeat candidates for office
Valence issue
Independent expenditures
Rank and File
31
14. 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.
Mayor-Council Plan
Exclusionary Rule
de jure
Republic
15. A Latin phrase meaning 'stand by past decisions -' a principle that judges often use in deciding cases. Ruling based on precedents.
Majority Rule
11th Amendment
Legislative
Stare Decisis
16. Executive Check on the Legislative Branch.
Oligopoly
Home Rule
Presidential Veto
Third Parties
17. This term refers to the gain in the polls that a candidate often enjoys after a national convention
imprisoned
Writ of Certiorari
Whistle-blowers
Convention Bounce
18. The ___________ aspects of Federalism include: conflicts between state and national government - economic and racial discrimination - uneven enforcement of law - and dominance of local governments by special interest groups
Chief Justice
congressional oversight committee
2nd Amendment
Negative
19. 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.
Whips
Horse race
National Security Council
Retrospective Voting
20. After hearings are complete - a congressional subcommittee will usually determine a bill's future in final deliberations known as
Speech Plus
Local
Third Parties
Mark Up Session
21. A law passed by Congress in 1973 in an effort to set a time limit on the use of combat forces abroad by a president.
War Powers Resolution
Party Identification
National Chair
Hatch Act
22. 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.
High
27th Amendment
Quid Pro Quo
5
23. A course of action decided upon by a government
Policy
2/3
Court of Appeals
Poll Tax
24. States that states may draw reasonable distinctions between the rights of residents and non-residents (ex. In state and out of state tuition)
Articles of Confederation
Policy Making Cycle
Privileges and Immunities Clause
Writ of Certiorari
25. The way things should be by law
de jure
Mark Up Session
Political Machines
General Election
26. A world economy characterized by the free movement of goods - capital - labor - and information across national borders.
Open Meeting Law
Globalization
Self-Incrimination
Rank and File
27. Age requirement for President
Commander in Chief
Independent expenditures
Elite
35
28. 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?
Class Action Suit
Small Business Administration (SBA)
Reverse Discrimination
Privileges and Immunities Clause
29. This branch of government checks Bureaucracy through its control over lawsuits filed against the agency.
Judicial
Clothespin vote
Little Difference
blockbusting and redlining
30. A term coined by President Lyndon B. Johnson to describe his own view of the relationship between Washington and the states.
Due Process of Law
Freedom of Information Act
Creative Federalism
blockbusting and redlining
31. 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
Republican
Realigning Elections
Positive
Article V
32. A federal program established in 1965 to provide hospital and medical services to older people through the Social Security system.
Balance of Payments
5 -000
Medicare
Article IV
33. Agencies that were at one time semi-autonomous but that through legislation have been placed under presidential control since 1945.
Lafolette's Progressive s
Government Corporations
5 -000
Substantive Due Process
34. A powerful alliance of mutual benefit among an agency or unit of the government - an interest group - and a committee or subcommittee of Congress. Also called a triangle or iron triangle.
Sub-government
Lord Acton
General Purpose Grants
Republicans
35. Unwritten law based on custom and tradition.
Residual
Common Law
Primary
Transnational Relations
36. 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
Social Security
Furman v. Georgia
Joint Chiefs of Staff
Safe seat
37. Germany - Switzerland - and India are examples of countries with a _______________ system of government.
Cruel and Unusual
Gay
Outputs
Federal
38. Southern whites prevented blacks from ____________ through use of poll taxes - literacy tests and intimidation tactics after the Civil War.
Voting
Office of Management and Budget
Articles of Confederation
The Sugar Act and the Currency Act
39. The party-column ballot - or Indiana ballot - encourages _______________.
Straight Ticket Voting
Caucus
Convention Bounce
Committees
40. International agreements between the president and foreign heads of state that - unlike treaties - do not require Senate approval.
1st Amendment
31
Executive Agreements
Public Opinion
41. Laws on Schools - Marriage - and owning property;Licensee Lawyers - Doctors - and Teachers.
Home Rule
Concurrent
Murray v. Curlett
State Government
42. Guarantees the right to a civil trial by jury.
527 Organization
Gerrymandering
7th Amendment
Public Policy
43. Committees that pull members from both the house and the senate who meet to discuss major policy issues such as economy and taxation.
Independent Regulatory Agencies
Low
Clear and Present Danger
Joint Committee
44. Clause of the Constitution (Article 1 - Section 10) intended to prohibit state governments from modifying contracts made between individuals; interpreted as prohibiting state governments from taking actions that adversely affect property rights.
Free Exercise Clause
Contract Clause
Dred Scott
Judicial Review
45. 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 ______________)
New Deal Era
Free Exercise Clause
Northern and Southern
Spoiler Candidate
46. These voters tend to have a high voter turnout because of their strong since of civic duty due to growing up during an era of political and civil unrest.
Baby Boomers
Inverse
2/3
Articles of Confederation
47. Inherent powers of state governments to pass laws to protect health - safety - and welfare; the national government has no directly granted police powers but accomplishes the same goals through other delegated powers.
State Government
Police Powers
12
Supreme Court
48. The Equal Rights Amendment was defeated in 1982 because ____________________________.
Habeas Corpus
It Failed to be Ratified
Pre-clearance
Elite and Class Theory
49. Number of current cabinet positions under GW Bush.
Public Opinion
de facto
15
Unlimited
50. Loose - competitive relationships among policy experts - interest groups - congressional committees - and federal agencies. Many observers argue that these have replaced iron triangles.
Issue network
Reverse Discrimination
Political System
Universe