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. Executive office responsible for helping the President write the federal budget and monitoring federal spending.






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






3. The Supreme Court has sometimes used a narrow interpretation of the Establishment Clause allowing the government to provide aid to religious groups as long as it remains ______________ and does not promote one religion at the expense of another. This






4. Presidential staff agency that serves as a clearinghouse for budgetary requests and management improvements for government agencies.






5. The House appropriations committee has ___ subcommittees.






6. A group of high-level administrators and managers at the top of the government bureaucracy. SES members have less job tenure but are eligible for substantial cash bonuses for merit.






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






8. Early civil rights leader established the Niagara Movement and helped to establish the NAACP.






9. In Johnson v. Texas (1989) - the Supreme Court ruled that burning the flag in a manner that does not pose a threat to people or property is allowed as this type of freedom of speech.






10. Which office serves as a watchdog into waste or fraud in the bureaucracy and conducts investigations at the request of congressional committees






11. A system of voter registration in which voters must register every year or at other stated intervals.






12. Plan that proposed bicameral legislature where states were to have representation based on size in both houses.






13. 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






14. The process by which individuals screen out messages that do not conform to their own biases






15. When the population's overall feeling of political efficacy is low - voter turnout is _______.






16. The vote cast by a person who does not like either candidate and so votes for the less objectionable of the two - putting a clothespin over his nose to keep out the unpleasant stench






17. The average voter turnout between 1960 and 2004 was __________ percent






18. After a bill is assigned to a committee - the next step is typically a ______________.






19. Number of original cabinet positions under George Washington.






20. Decides which bills will be considered.






21. A public policy that takes something away from one person or group and gives it to another person or group.






22. The kinds of cases that a court has the authority to decide.






23. Laws must be administered in a fair manner.






24. The right of the Supreme Court - under the Constitution - to hear certain kinds of cases directly - such as cases involving foreign diplomats - or cases in which one of the 50 states is a party.






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






26. A device that allows the House of Representatives to conduct its business with fewer restrictions on debate and a quorum of only 100 members.






27. A system in which the national government sets requirements that are then implemented by state and local governments.






28. The demands of and supports for a political system






29. Agenda that includes issues that affect the daily lives of the people.






30. First Roman Catholic elected President.






31. This group of voters historically supported Republicans - a party founded on an anti-slavery platform. During the 1930's they began supporting the New Deal policies of the Democratic party.






32. 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






33. Presidential management model in which the Chief of Staff plays a prominent role as the head of a military style chain of command. Used successfully by Reagan and Eisenhower.






34. 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.






35. Overturning unjust laws is the responsibility of _________________.






36. Includes the 13th - 14th - and 15th Amendments. Abolished slavery and guaranteed due process and equal protection to all citizens.






37. Executive office responsible for negotiating trade with foreign powers.






38. Cabinet department responsible for insuring mortgages and providing housing subsidies. Established in 1965






39. 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.






40. In the view of W. Lance Bennett - the people who hold and express opinions are constantly changing - as are the issues and conditions to which the public responds. As a result - Bennett suggests that public opinion is______________.






41. Amendment that delegated the election of Senators to popular vote.






42. Serious crimes - such as murder - arson - or rape.






43. Executive Check on the Legislative Branch.






44. Capital punishment is also known as the _________________.






45. States that arrestees must be informed of their right to remain silent - that anything they say can be held against them in a court - that they have a right to an attorney and that an attorney will be appointed to them if they cannot afford one.






46. Defamation by oral utterance rather than by writing - pictures






47. Government agencies that exercise quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative powers and are administratively independent of both the president and Congress (although politically independent of neither).






48. Number of justices of the Supreme Court.






49. A technique polling organizations use in which several people from the same neighborhood are interviewed.






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