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. Most house committees are limited to _____ subcommittees.






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






3. 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






4. When neither political party is dominant.






5. A government that undertakes responsibility for the welfare of its citizens through programs in public health and public housing and pensions and unemployment compensation etc.






6. Held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November.






7. A broadly based coalition that attempts to gain control of the government by winning elections in order to exercise power and reward its members.






8. The provisions of the Constitution that divide power among three constitutionally equal and independent branches of government






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






10. Responsible for assigning bills to committee in the Senate.






11. Decides which bills will be considered.






12. Executive Check on the Legislative Branch.






13. A Latin phrase meaning 'stand by past decisions -' a principle that judges often use in deciding cases. Ruling based on precedents.






14. This powerful House committee is in charge of determining under what rule other bills will come to the floor.






15. Representing - characterized by - or including members from two parties or factions






16. In which case did the Supreme Court rule that the concept of privacy included the right to a legal abortion?






17. Powers of government exercised independently by both the federal and state governments - such as the power to tax.






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






19. Term limit for House of Representatives.






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






21. Approximately 33% of American voters identify themselves as _______________ party.






22. Today the South is is a two-party battleground - in which the ______________ often have the upper hand






23. Tips the balance between two leading candidates by attracting a minority of voters who otherwise might have voted for one of the leading candidates.






24. In his classic study of community power in New Haven - Connecticut - political scientist Robert A. Dahl concluded that the city was a __________ system dominated by many different sets of leaders






25. Gave authority over atomic energy from military to civilians.






26. The main mechanism used by modern political parties to nominate their candidate for President.






27. An issue on which voters distinguish rival parties by the degree to which they associate each party or candidate with conditions - goals - or symbols the electorate universally approves or disapproves of. Examples of such issues are economic prosperi






28. These candidates win re-election to the House 80-90% of the time.






29. 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.






30. The framers of the Constitution created the Senate to function as a check on the ________________.






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






32. Direct oral or written speech directed at a specific individual or group






33. In lieu of an indictment - the state prosecutor may file a _______________ charging the person with a crime.






34. A provision in a deed to real property prohibiting its sale to a person of a particular race or religion. Judicial enforcement is unconstitutional.






35. 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.






36. This may be done by a national constitutional convention called by Congress on the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures OR By the passage of a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress






37. The 15th Amendment - also know as _________________ - was intended to help recently freed blacks from unconstitutional state laws designed to circumvent federal laws.






38. The median income of women is ___________ percent of men.






39. A group of writers - journalists - and critics who exposed corporate malfeasance and political corruption in the first decade of the 20th century.






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






41. Th joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the twelfth amendment






42. 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






43. The attitudes and actions of people that sustain and buttress the political system at all levels and allows the political system to continue to work.






44. 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.






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






46. 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.






47. ____________________ define Congressional voting districts acting within constraints set down by Congress and the Supreme Court.






48. In WV State BOE v Barnette (1943) - the Supreme Court ruled that compelling citizens to salute the flag violates the principles of a free society - upholding which 1st Amendment rights?






49. The 1896 case of Plessy v. Fergusan established the racial segregation policy of __________________.






50. A coherent set of beliefs about politics - public policy - and public purpose. It helps give meaning to political event - personalities - and policies.