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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. These parties often emerge as off-shoots of major parties or as single-issue parties. They typically act as critic/innovator bringing attention to issues and influencing the platforms of the major parties.
Public Administration
Third Parties
Segregation
Proprietary Colonies
2. The practice that allows senators to delay or even kill floor action on legislation - a nomination - or other matters by asking their party leaders not to schedule them.
Hold
Voting
Categorical Grants
Implied
3. A centralized system of government - such as that of France - where most of the important policy decisions are made by a central government.
Republicans
Warrant
Transnational Relations
Unitary System
4. In the mid-term elections following a President's inauguration - his party tends to ___________ seats in Congress.
Lose
Trustee
Dred Scott Decision
National Supremacy
5. Lawsuit brought by an individual or group of people on behalf of all those similarly situated
2
Pentagon Papers
Class Action Suit
17th
6. During the period from 1976 to 1824 - This party was lead by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. They wanted a stronger national government that would rectify the pitfalls of the Articles of Confederation. Their supporters held a stronghold in New
Federalist
Checks and Balances
Murray v. Curlett
Article VI
7. Responsible for assigning bills to committee in the Senate.
Majority and Minority Leader
Speaker of the House
Due Process of Law
Marshall Plan
8. Impact elections by siphoning off votes from major parties spoiling a party's chance in a close race.
National Convention
Sub-committee
Third Parties
Enterprise Zones
9. Presides over the Senate without voting privileges except in the case of a tie.
Vice President
Dark Horse
Department of State
Union Shop
10. Compromise between the large states and small states that established the bicameral Legislature consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives. Also included 3/5 compromise on the status of slaves in representation.
Government
Rules Committee
Flexible Construction
Great or Connecticut Compromise
11. Makes sure that funds are used safely and wisely. They oversee the state's financial records
State Auditor
Good Faith Exception
Supreme Court
Public Policy
12. 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.
Agriculture
Fast Track Authority
Exclusionary Rule
Populous
13. A legislative leader of each party who is responsible for rounding up party members for important votes.
Whip
New Deal Era
35
Independent Regulatory Agencies
14. The term 'Reagan Democrats' has become a generic term for
Intelligence
Swing Voters in the Democratic Party
Impeachment
Commonwealth
15. 1925 Supreme Court case overturned Baron v. Baltimore and applied the Bill of Rights to states.
Article III
Project Grant
Baby Boomers
Gitlow v. New York
16. Early civil rights leader established the Niagara Movement and helped to establish the NAACP.
W.E.B. DuBoise
Presidential Ticket
12
Elastic Clause
17. Several Presidents have been elected without winning the popular vote. As a result - In 1970 and 1979 - Amendments were proposed to disband the ______________ - neither passed.
Spoiler Candidate
Electoral College
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Public Opinion
18. Number of justices of the Supreme Court.
Residual
Earmarks
9
National Committee
19. A system in which the power to govern is shared between national and state governments
Federalism
District of Columbia
Office Column Ballot
Majority and Minority Leader
20. A device that allows the House of Representatives to conduct its business with fewer restrictions on debate and a quorum of only 100 members.
Committee of the Whole
Positive
Free Rider
Divided Government
21. A public assistance program established in 1965 to help pay hospital - doctor - and medical bills for people with low incomes.
Federalism
Medicaid
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act
New Federalism
22. Decides which bills will be considered.
Medicare
527 Organizations
Thomas Hobbes
Committees
23. The appropriation of government spending for projects that are intended primarily to benefit particular constituents - such as those in marginal seats or campaign contributors.
Pork Barrel Spending
Reference Group
Non-protected Speech
House of Representatives
24. Senators have a __________ rate of re-election than Representatives primarily because of their larger constituency and lack of direct involvement with them.
National Security Council
Lower
Arraignment
Right to Counsel
25. The framers of the Constitution created the Senate to function as a check on the ________________.
House of Representatives
Residual
Unlimited
Energy
26. The Supremacy Clause appears in ________________ of the Constitution.
Federalist Papers
Democracy
It Failed to be Ratified
Article VI
27. (1945-1991) The period after the Second World War marked by rivalry and tension between the two nuclear superpowers - the United States and the communist government of the Soviet Union. The Cold War ended when the Soviet government collapsed in 1991.
Office of Management and Budget
Affirmative Action
16th Amendment
Cold War
28. This Supreme Court case infamously decided that a slave was not a citizen but property to be 'used in subservience to the interests - the convenience - or the will of his owner'
Enacted
Dred Scott
Shay's Rebellion
Original
29. The Immigration Act of 1965 abolished the practice of _______________ allowing more diversity among immigrants.
national quotas
Strategic Deterrence
Probable Cause
Presidential Veto
30. The oldest House committee still in existence.
19th Amendment
Ways and Means Committee
Union Shop
435
31. Federal grants in which the recipient has a lot of discretion over how the money is spent. These grants are issued in support of general government functions such as education and law enforcement.
Reverse Discrimination
Flexible Construction
Salient Agenda
Block Grant
32. 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.
Spoiler Candidate
blockbusting and redlining
Pluralist
Project Grant
33. Included are Ways and Means - Veteran's Affairs - Transportation and Infrastructure - Standards of Official Conduct - Small Business - Science - Judiciary - Rules - Resources - Oversight of Government Reform - House Administration - Homeland Security
Secondary Group
House Standing Committees
Bill of Rights
7
34. Held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November.
Separation of Powers
General Election
House of Representatives
Bill of Rights
35. Contacts - coalitions - and interactions across national boundaries
Administrative Law
State Auditor
Transnational Relations
Local
36. Congress' first step towards allocating funds
Declining
Logrolling
Miller v. California
Authorizations
37. 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
Negative
Senate
Freedom of Speech
Members of Congress
38. Protects against unreasonable search and seizure.
Due Process
Bill of Attainder
Sub-committee
4th Amendment
39. Passed in 1883 - it created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage.
Council-Manager Plan
Electoral College
Housing and Urban Development
Pendleton Civil Service Act
40. Presidential management model in which corporate CEO tactics are used employing committees - task forces - and special advisors. Successfully utilized by Clinton and G W Bush.
Smith Act
Ad Hoc Structure
Constituencies
Adversarial
41. When the minority party becomes stronger than the majority party - usually the result of winning a critical election.
Clear and Present Danger
Party Realignment
Caucus
Soft money
42. Constitutional protection of the accused to not be tried for the same crime twice.
Balance of Payments
Double Jeopardy
Closed rule
John F. Kennedy
43. 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.
2nd Amendment
Monetary Policy
Council-Manager Plan
Council of Economic Advisors
44. 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.
Shay's Rebellion
Jus Soli
Right to Counsel
Quota Sampling
45. 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
Safe seat
Catholics
Unlimited
Private Bills
46. This called for three-fifths of all slaves in a state were counted for purposes of apportioning representation in the House of Representatives.
Whip
Vice President
Committees of Correspondence
Great Compromise
47. Laws must be reasonable. The Supreme Court has abandoned this concept in regards to business matters citing that it is the responsibility of Congress to regulate economic matters. The court has continued to apply this to matters of civil liberties an
1st Amendment
Substantive Due Process
Discharge Petition
Town Meeting
48. Formal approval or consent given to a constitution - constitutional amendment - or treaty before it goes into effect.
Eminent Domain
Dynamic Conservatism
Ratification
Transportation
49. While the verbiage of the 4th Amendment is vague as to what constitutes 'reasonable'. Police departments must rely on _____________; they cannot act on unfounded suspicion.
Criminal Information
Truman
Probable Cause
State Legislatures
50. The policy established after the Second World War that America must take an active leadership role in world affairs
Internationalism
House of Representatives
presidential line-item veto
35