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. Defamation by oral utterance rather than by writing - pictures






2. A term coined by President Lyndon B. Johnson to describe his own view of the relationship between Washington and the states.






3. Requires that a suspect in a federal case be arraigned without unnecessary delay.






4. In presidential campaigns - federal matching funds are provided to candidates who ______________.






5. People may vote in a party's primary only if they are registered members of that party. Independents cannot participate. Note that because some political parties name themselves independent - the term 'non-partisan' often replaces 'independent' when






6. Established the Federal Reserve Bank - responsible for conducting the nation's monetary policy - maintaining the stability of the financial system - supervising and regulating banking institutions - and protecting the credit rights of consumers - and






7. German sociologist theorized that the engine of government needs bureaucracies to provide expertise in a way that short-term elected or appointed official cannot.






8. Petition that - if signed by a majority of the members of the House of Representatives - will pry a bill from committee and bring it to the floor for consideration






9. Colonies in which the proprietors (who had obtained their patents from the king) named the governors - subject to the king's approval.






10. The 24th amendment banned _____________ - making it harder for states to discriminate against poor and minority voters.






11. International agreements between the president and foreign heads of state that - unlike treaties - do not require Senate approval.






12. In charge of state's legal business. provide advice to other state official and represents the state in court if the state is involved in a lawsuit






13. Ruling by the Supreme Court in 1954 that racial segregation in public schools violates the Fourteenth Amendment's requirement of equal protection of the laws for all persons.






14. Federal categorical grants in which the granting agency has much discretion over how the recipient spends the money.






15. Electoral college system and other campaign practices make it exceedingly difficult for even popular ______________ candidates to successfully run for the presidency.






16. Formal approval or consent given to a constitution - constitutional amendment - or treaty before it goes into effect.






17. The case of Gregg v. Georgia set the precedent for a ________________ system in which guilt and sentencing and tried separately.






18. President Hoover's laissez-faire approach to the economy during the Great Depression left many poor voters disenfranchised by the Republican Party. They left to join the _______________ Party.






19. Guarantees the right to a civil trial by jury.






20. Government regulation of the economy through its control over taxes and government spending. Controlled by the Department of Treasury.






21. The elected position of President pro tempore of the Senate is almost always held by






22. This called for three-fifths of all slaves in a state were counted for purposes of apportioning representation in the House of Representatives.






23. Legislature bills that affect all citizens.






24. Agencies that were at one time semi-autonomous but that through legislation have been placed under presidential control since 1945.






25. Baby boomers - women - and voters with higher levels of education tend to have a ____________ voter turnout.






26. 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.






27. The estimated number of illegal aliens living in the US.






28. Prohibits conviction of a crime that occurred before the act became illegal






29. Overturning unjust laws is the responsibility of _________________.






30. A study of Bennington College students in the 1930s illustrated that the influence of the family on political attitudes tends to ______________ as they grow older and come into contact with other groups.






31. Clause in the 14th Amendment that forbids any state to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. The 5th Amendment also imposes this limitation on the national government.






32. Spending by the national committees of the political parties to support the election of congressional candidates is known as






33. 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






34. In the area of foreign affairs - _______________ often have the advantage because






35. Permitted court authorized wire-tapping and bugging by federal - state - and local authorities and use of such evidence in trial. Later reversed by the Supreme Court based on 4th Amendment rights.






36. The only amendments to be ratified through the process of 'ratifying conventions -' not a vote in the state legislatures






37. ______________ refers to the differences in political attitudes and voting behavior between men and women






38. 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.






39. A group of people - chosen by poll-takers - that is representative of the universe that is being polled.






40. 1798 Act that criminalized speech that was derisive to the government. Later ruled unconstitutional - Andrew Jackson issued blanket pardon in 1801






41. Urban or rural areas in which businesses are encouraged to locate because of tax breaks and other incentives.






42. The power of the president - struck down by the Supreme Court in 1998 - to veto parts of appropriations bills. Most state governors have this power.






43. Legislative house responsible for impeachment trials.






44. ________ of voters identify with one political party in advance of the campaign.






45. A tax on voting abolished by the Twenty-fourth Amendment in 1964 - long used by southern states to keep blacks (and - in some cases - poor whites) from participating in elections.






46. When neither political party is dominant.






47. The view advocated by Supreme Court Justices Hugo Black and William O. Douglas that there are provisions of the Bill of Rights that cannot be diluted by judicial decisions.






48. Article I of the Constitution establishes the ___________________ branch.






49. Puerto Rico has ____________ status.






50. The 1892 platform of the Populist party repudiating laissez-faire and demanding economic and political reform