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Test your basic knowledge |
CLEP American Government
Start Test
Study First
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. Voters in a political district - or supporters of an elected official; or interest groups or client groups that are either directly regulated by the bureaucracy or vitally affected by its decisions.
Government Corporations
Pocket Veto
Constituencies
Internationalism
2. The body composed of electors from the 50 states who formally have the power to elect the president and vice president of the United States. Each state has a number of electors and electoral votes equal to its number of senators and representatives i
Atomic Energy Act of 1946
Republican
Distribution
Electoral College
3. 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
Supreme Court
Plurality
Elite
Bowers v. Hardwick
4. 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.
Original Jurisdiction
Espionage Act
Internal Efficacy
Seniority System
5. Presidential refusal to allow an agency to spend funds that Congress authorized and appropriated.
Impoundment
Office of Management and Budget
Energy
Civil Liberties
6. A place of work in which only union members may be hired.
Closed Shop
Residual
Bull Moose Progressives
7
7. This house committee is responsible for Supervising the authority of the federal government to borrow money - Raising the revenue required to finance the federal government by levying taxes - Overseeing Social Security and other social insurance prog
President Pro Tempore
Free Exercise of Religion
State Auditor
Ways and Means Committee
8. The Supreme Court has ruled that Congress_________________ take away a person's citizenship unless it is freely renounced.
Monetary Policy
may not
Speaker of the House
Roe v. Wade
9. 1976 Law requiring all governmental agency meetings to be open to the public unless classified information will be discussed.
Fiscal Policy
Trustee
Unlimited
Open Meeting Law
10. This term refers to the gain in the polls that a candidate often enjoys after a national convention
House of Representatives
Raiding
Convention Bounce
Automobiles
11. Judicial Check on Legislative Branch. Not specifically outlined in the Constitution - but established in the case of Marbury v. Madison through the application of the Supremacy Clause in Article VI.
Judicial Review
Ratification
Lemon Test
Policy
12. The practice of victorious politicians to reward their followers with jobs. Also known as the spoils system.
Federal Appellate
Proprietary Colonies
Democratic
Political Patronage
13. The Supreme Court practice of applying most of the provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states under the 14th Amendment.
Freedom of Information Act
Great Compromise
Selective Incorporation
Lyndon B. Johnson
14. Prompted by FDR's 4th election to the Presidency - the 22nd Amendment limited the number of Presidential terms to _____ terms.
Caucuses
Amicus Curiae Brief
2
National Chair
15. Type of interest group represented in Washington by another individual or organization. (Ex. Ford Motor Company pays a lobbyist in Washington to represent them.)
Discharge Petition
Executive
Institutional
It Failed to be Ratified
16. The practice that allows senators to delay or even kill floor action on legislation - a nomination - or other matters by asking their party leaders not to schedule them.
Party Dealignment
Hold
Unicameral
Democratic-Republicans
17. The response of the rest of society to actions by the authorities.
Feedback
Arraignment
Balance of Trade
Demands
18. This 1973 ruling gave local communities the authority to determine obscenity - established three part test for obscene material. To qualify as obscene - speech must be considered obscene by the 'average' person - depict or describe material that is a
Bill of Attainder
Democrats
Government
Miller v. California
19. Makes sure that funds are used safely and wisely. They oversee the state's financial records
Judicial
Writ of Mandamus
Judicial
State Auditor
20. Control of a market by a single company.
Office Column Ballot
Fixed
Article VI
Monopoly
21. 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
Military-Industrial Complex
Ways and Mean Committee
Jim Crow Laws
Closed
22. The party-column ballot - or Indiana ballot - encourages _______________.
Straight Ticket Voting
Writ of Mandamus
Confirmed
House of Representatives
23. In the area of foreign affairs - _______________ often have the advantage because
Politics
Republicans
Veto
Negative
24. The principle - established by Chief Justice John Marshall in 1819 in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland - that the Constitution must be interpreted flexibly to meet changing conditions.
Balance of Payments
Interstate Compact
Soft Money
Flexible Construction
25. Members of this party typically include women who support liberal policies on abortion and equal pay - Jews - Catholics - Blacks and other minorities - Blue-collar working class - urban - labor unions - and intelligensia
14
Committees
Appropriations
Democrats
26. 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
Substantive Due Process
Little Difference
Interest Groups
Exit Polls
27. The process through which an individual acquires a set of political attitudes and forms opinions about political and social issues.
Class Action Suit
527 Organizations
Fiscal Policy
Political Socialization
28. 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.
Pyramid Model
Pass the fundraising threshold
de jure
Freedom of Speech
29. Special spending projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of Congress for their constituents.
Third Parties
unlimited
Closed Shop
Earmarks
30. Clause of the Constitution (Article 1 - Section 10) intended to prohibit state governments from modifying contracts made between individuals; interpreted as prohibiting state governments from taking actions that adversely affect property rights.
Judicial Selection
Whip
Contract Clause
Northern and Southern
31. The Constitution requires that state governments - like the federal government - must be _____________ in form - with final authority resting with the people.
Common Sense
Local
Democratic
Plurality
32. The Medicaid and Food Stamp programs are examples of two very large
Categorical Grants
Articles of Confederation
Random Sample
National Security Council
33. Courts of original jurisdiction in federal crimes - civil suits under federal law - civil suits between citizens of different states where the amount in question exceeds $50 -000 - bankruptcy proceedings - cases involving some federal administrative
Dred Scott Decision
Federal District
Senatorial Courtesy
Petit Jury
34. The individuals - institutions - and processes that make the rules for society and possess the power to enforce them.
Government
Dual / Layer Cake Federalism
Executive Agencies
Senate
35. The reason that electors are chosen in each state by popular vote is ____________.
Custom
Whip
Interest groups
Issue Networks
36. The 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act banned contributions of soft money to______________.
Statutory Law
National Political Parties
Majority Whip
New Deal Era
37. Includes the 13th - 14th - and 15th Amendments. Abolished slavery and guaranteed due process and equal protection to all citizens.
Regulatory Federalism
Senior Executive Service
77
Civil War Amendments
38. The coming to power of a new coalition - replacing an old dominant coalition of the other party
Intelligence
Privileges and Immunities Clause
Critical Election
Stare Decisis
39. In addition to the doctrine of implied powers - Chief Justice Marshall - in his decision in the Supreme Court case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) - established the key concept of:
8th Amendment
Republicans
National Supremacy
state legislatures
40. Number of original cabinet positions under George Washington.
3
Selective exposure
Lafolette's Progressive s
Politics
41. If 10 days do not remain in session and the president does not sign an act of Congress - the bill __________.
Delegate
Primary
Rhode Island
Dies
42. A course of action decided upon by a government
Family
Policy
Political Socialization
Declining
43. Defamation by oral utterance rather than by writing - pictures
Writ of Assistance
Slander
Third Parties
Republicans
44. A form of city government under which a board of city commissioners is popularly elected (often on a nonpartisan ballot). The commissioners make policy as a city council - but they also run city departments as administrators.
Commission Plan
14
Voting
Federal District
45. Federal grants in which the recipient has little discretion over how the money is spent. The national government sets narrowly defined rules for use of funds and often requires the states or local governments to provide matching funds. These grants a
Private Bills
Judicial Selection
imprisoned
Categorical Grant
46. The drawing of the lines of congressional districts - or of any other political district - in order to favor one political party or group over another.
Voting
Gerrymandering
Dual / Layer Cake Federalism
Issue Networks
47. The 1892 platform of the Populist party repudiating laissez-faire and demanding economic and political reform
Low
Federalist Papers
Omaha platform
Caucuses
48. According to V. O. Key - Jr. - the Populist Party of the 1890s is an example of a ____________________.
Residual
Outputs
Violation of Law
Party of Economic Protest
49. The agency that provides Congress with evaluations of public policies is the
Salient Agenda
Regulatory Federalism
General Accounting Office
Impeachment
50. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 restructured the number of ______________ in both the House and Senate.
Committees
imprisoned
Privileges and Immunities Clause
Bowers v. Hardwick