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. Powers of the national government that flow from its enumerated powers and the 'elastic clause' of the Constitution.






2. 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.






3. A policy that takes something away from one person and gives it to someone else -






4. Assistants to the Majority and Minority Leaders of both the House and Senate.






5. 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.






6. This 1689 English Document made the monarch






7. Population migration patterns since the second World War have increased the power of _____________.






8. A system of voter registration in which voters must register only once in their district.






9. Guaranteed women the right to vote.






10. In this case - a gay man from Georgia charged with committing sodomy in his own home with a consenting adult. The court ruled that the Constitution does not explicitly grant the right for homosexuals to practice their lifestyle and that laws against






11. Age Requirement for House of Representatives.






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






13. Overturning unjust laws is the responsibility of _________________.






14. Guarantees that an accused in innocent until proven guilty.






15. A legislative leader of each party who is responsible for rounding up party members for important votes.






16. The oldest House committee still in existence.






17. Cabinet department responsible for managing school lunch programs and food safety. Established in 1862.






18. The absent colony at the 2nd Continental Congress.






19. Smith v. Allwight (1994) was the first vase in which the Supreme Court upheld the voting rights of _____________ in state primary elections.






20. Provisions tacked on to a piece of legislation that are not relevant to the bill.






21. The period of time after the election of FDR until the Vietnam War was dominated by the Democratic Party and know as the __________________ Era.






22. _____________ are expected to specialize in a few policy areas rather than claim expertise in the whole range of legislative concerns






23. Economists generally agree that the major responsibility for promoting prosperity and full employment falls on ________________.






24. A legal principle of fair dealing - which may provide preventive measures and legal remedies that are unavailable under existing common law and statutory law.






25. First step in the Policy Making Cycle.






26. First Executive Branch






27. This body of government has final authority on the meaning of the Constitution.






28. This controversial clause of the 9th Amendment has allowed government to expand rights to suit its needs.






29. 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.






30. A method of polling - considered less reliable than a random sample - in which interviewers are instructed to question members of a particular group in proportion to their percentage in the population as a whole.






31. The fundamental flaw in plural theory contends that pluralism weakens the backbone of democracy with too many common interest groups attempt to wield power - often leading to standstill because of unwillingness to compromise.






32. A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that prohibits any amendment to bills or provides that only memebers of the committee reporting the bill may offer amendments






33. The Supreme Court's broad interpretation of this clause has denied direct aid from the government for religious groups - but does allow religious groups to make use of government services such as police and fire.






34. Once the Supreme Court justices have agreed to hear an appeal - they issue a _________________.






35. 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 _________________.






36. 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.






37. The 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act banned contributions of soft money to______________.






38. States that states may draw reasonable distinctions between the rights of residents and non-residents (ex. In state and out of state tuition)






39. This 1957 judgement prohibited pornography material as utterly without redeeming social significance - later reversed in Miller v. California






40. A federal law passed by Congress in 1939 to restrict political activities by federal workers. The law prevents federal employees while on duty from taking an active part in party politics or campaigns and also bars federal employees from running for






41. Includes expressive conduct/assembly/actions and symbolic behavior (ex. Picketing or burning the flag) Based on our country history of symbolic acts such as the Boston Tea Party - courts almost always uphold symbolic acts of speech unless they are cr






42. Beginning with the election of Abraham Lincoln - the period between 1860 and the Great Depression was dominated by this political party.






43. Groups whose views serve as guidelines to an individual's opinion. See also primary groups and secondary groups.






44. In Schenck v. US (1919) - The Supreme Court ruled that government may prohibit speech that creates an immediate threat of criminal action. Essentially established different standards for speech during wartime than in peacetime. Thus - establishing th






45. In which case did the Supreme Court rule that the 1964 Civil Rights Act does not prohibit private affirmative action programs?






46. Federal laws limit the amount of ___________ that can be donated directly to campaign coffers.






47. An economy in which most economic decisions result from the interaction of buyers and sellers in markets - but in which the government plays a significant role in the allocation of resources.






48. 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






49. Method by which federal court judges may lose their position.






50. A legislature with only one house.