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. Voting based on looking back and making judgments about the way things have gone and the kind of government experienced during a political leader's time in office.






2. A 1972 treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union limiting the number of defensive missiles each country could build. In 2001 President George W. Bush withdrew the United States from the treaty.






3. Cabinet positions must be ____________ by the Senate






4. He United States Constitution was opposed by which group?






5. Concurrent resolution - adopted by both Houses of Congress - that sets forth a Congressional budget plan for the budget year and at least four out-years.






6. Laws on Schools - Marriage - and owning property;Licensee Lawyers - Doctors - and Teachers.






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






8. Protects against unreasonable search and seizure.






9. The name commonly given to a private group - regardless of size - organized to elect political candidates. An organization becomes one by receiving contributions or making expenditures in excess of $1 -000 for the purpose of influencing a federal ele






10. The 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act - the 1965 Highway Beautification Act and the 1964 Civil Rights Act are all examples of ____________________.






11. The responsibility of the President to appoint federal judges when vacancies occur on the bench is referred to as






12. Article VII of the Constitution outlines the process of ____________________.






13. A system in which the national government provides grants-in-aid to states using conditions to elicit control.






14. The binding decisions that the government makes whether in the form of laws -regulations - or judicial decisions






15. Which committee assignments would confer the most power and influence on members of the Senate?






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






17. 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.






18. The foreign policy of the United States during the period after the Second World War - designed to contain the expansion of Soviet power.






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






20. This act prohibited Discrimination because of race - color - sex - religion - or national origin by employers or labor unions; The adoption by voting registrars of different standards for black and white applicants; and Racial or religious discrimina






21. 1976 Law requiring all governmental agency meetings to be open to the public unless classified information will be discussed.






22. 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.






23. Age requirement for President






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






25. The Jacksonian Era marked an important change in the process used to nominate Presidential candidates with the emergence of party _________________ - eliminating caucuses.






26. An ideology that cherishes individual liberty and insists on a sharply limited government - promoting a free market economy - a non-interventionist foreign policy - and an absence of regulation in the moral and social spheres.






27. The total amount of money that the United States owes to its creditors.






28. An extraordinary writ commanding an official to perform a ministerial act that the law recognizes as an absolute duty and not a matter for the official's discretion






29. The possible tendency of some voters or convention delegates to support the candidate who is leading in the polls and seems likely to win.






30. The absent colony at the 2nd Continental Congress.






31. In a 1943 case - the Supreme Court upheld the right to refuse to salute the American flag on the basis of the constitutional guarantee of _________________.






32. Law enacted in 1939 to prohibit civil servants from taking activists roles in partisan campaigns .This act prohibited federal employees from making political contributions - working for a particualr party -or campaining for a particualr canidate






33. 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






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






35. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 required states in the covered jurisdiction to attain _________________ from the Attorney General before making changes to voting standards - practice - or procedure






36. Signed the executive order banning segregation in the armed forces.






37. In Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969) - the Supreme Court established precedents for ___________________ in schools and government institutions.






38. In 2002 - a federal appeals court struck down the Pledge of Allegiance on the grounds that it violated ________________.






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






40. Guarantees that any rights not explicitly outlined heretofore are reserved for the states.






41. A legislative leader of each party who is responsible for rounding up party members for important votes.






42. Powerful standing committee that puts bills on the legislative calendar and establishes the processes by which the bill will be discussed on the floor.






43. Love of country and a desire for independence; it can also mean an excessive form of patriotism exploited by political leaders.






44. In this case - a gay man from Georgia charged with committing sodomy in his own home with a consenting adult. The court ruled that the Constitution does not explicitly grant the right for homosexuals to practice their lifestyle and that laws against






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






46. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments provide for _____________.






47. In the 1925 Gitlow case - the Supreme Court began a process of ______________ of the Bill of Rights to the states.






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






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






50. 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.