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. Head of the Supreme Court.






2. If 10 days do not remain in session and the president does not sign an act of Congress - the bill __________.






3. Makes sure that funds are used safely and wisely. They oversee the state's financial records






4. The Articles of Confederation established a ________________ legislature.






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






6. 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






7. 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






8. 1944 case established that as as long as a person accepted their beliefs in good faith that it is not the government's authority to determine whether those beliefs are valid.






9. This 1st amendment clause prohibits the government from making any law prohibiting the exercise of any religion






10. Article II of the Constitution establishes the ______________ branch.






11. Legislative branch incorporating two houses.






12. The individuals - institutions - and processes that make the rules for society and possess the power to enforce them.






13. Colonies in which freely elected legislatures chose the governor and the king could not veto laws.






14. Year of the 2nd Continental Congress.






15. The concentration of economic power in the hands of a relatively few large companies.






16. Money spent by individuals or gorups not asociated with candidates to elect or defeat candidates for office






17. The Supreme Court is the only judicial body that may hear disputes between _________________.






18. Finding that enough evidence exists to warrant a criminal trial.






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






20. A law passed in 1966 that requires federal executive branch and regulatory agencies to make information available to journalists - scholars - and the public unless it falls into one of several confidential categories.






21. Responsibilities include: Coordinating the nation's intelligence activities and Evaluating and disseminating intelligence that affects national security






22. Senators have a __________ rate of re-election than Representatives primarily because of their larger constituency and lack of direct involvement with them.






23. A course of action chosen by government officials






24. Programs of government - universities - and businesses designed to favor minorities and remedy past discrimination.






25. Legislative house whose members were intended to represent the people.






26. Prompted by the ____________________ - the 26th Amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.






27. The chair and the heads of the three armed services - and - when Marine Corps matters are under consideration - the commandant of the marines. By law - they advise the president and the secretary of defense and are the chiefs of their respective mili






28. Wisconsin Republican who exploited public concern for political gain during the 1950's through freewheeling investigations of alleged Communists.






29. Belief in the value of strong government to provide economic secruity and protection for civil rights - combined with a belief in personal freedom from government intervention in social conduct






30. In order to win support for ratification of the Constitution - the Federalists had to promise that the first order of business under a new government would be to _______________.






31. First African American appointed to the Supreme Court






32. Most states have ___________ legislatures.






33. ______________________is responsible for the management of the federal debt and the printing of currency. It is the major fiscal policy agency.






34. Programs are designed to give preferential access to education - employment - health care - or social welfare to groups of people - especially minorities and women - who have historically been discriminated against.






35. A federal tax on imports.






36. In the Federalist Papers - James Madison proposed that the states under the new Constitution would retain ____________ sovereignty.






37. During Presidential election years or when the nation is divided on policy agenda - particularly regarding salient issues - voter turnout is _____________






38. Authority based on an individual's outstanding traits - which attract followers






39. Most likely to board a foreign ship suspected of drug trafficking at a U.S. port






40. Private groups that attempt to influence the government to respond to the shared attitudes of their members.






41. Appointed by Eisenhower - this Supreme court justice who played an important role in the court's stance on the advancement of civil rights.






42. A plan to provide billions of dollars of American aid to Western Europe to speed its economic and social recovery after the Second World War.






43. A political group organized under section 527 of the IRS code that may accept and spend unlimited amounts of money on election activities so long as they are not spent on broadcast ads run in the last 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a gene






44. Important during the Revolution - these bodies organized by the local governments of the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution for the purposes of coordinating written communication outside of the colony.






45. The right to renounce one's citizenship.






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






47. The belief that one can understand politics and therefore participate in politics






48. Define US Citizenship as any person born or naturalized in the United States.






49. Freedoms that protect the individual from the government.






50. The constitutional requirement (in article II - sec 3) that presidents take care that the laws are faithfully executed - even if they disagree with the purpose of those laws