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. The ______________________ were formed to unite the colonists against Britain.






2. State legislation designed to outlaw the union shop - passed by 21 states acting under Section 14B of the federal Taft-Hartley Act.






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






4. The executive office established in response to intelligence lapses during WWI. Oversees American foreign policy and includes the President - Vice President - Secretary of State - Secretary of Defense and is lead by the National Security Advisor.






5. In which case did the Supreme Court rule that the 1964 Civil Rights Act does not prohibit private affirmative action programs?






6. 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






7. Funds spent for or against a candidate by committees not formally connected to the candidate's campaign and without coordination with the campaign.






8. In order to win support for ratification of the Constitution - the Federalists had to promise that the first order of business under a new government would be to _______________.






9. Devolutionary system in which the national government returns tax dollars to the state and local governments primarily in the form of block grants.






10. A meeting of party leaders to select candidates - elect convention delegates - etc






11. Federal and State Courts function in a _____________manner so that federal courts may receive appeals from state courts.






12. According to the Constitution - the electors in the Electoral College shall be appointed in a manner to be determined by the






13. In 1998 - the Supreme Court struck down the________________ law - declaring it unconstitutional - because Congress did not have the constitutional authority to hand that power to the President.






14. Senators have a __________ rate of re-election than Representatives primarily because of their larger constituency and lack of direct involvement with them.






15. These dissenting Republicans won 17% of the popular vote in 1924 on a platform for public control of national resources and railways - tax reductions - and changes to the staff of the executive department

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16. Washington v. Chrisman (1982) established the _________________ - allowing police officers to seize evidence without a warrant if the evidence is in obvious sight.






17. 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.






18. In Sweatt v. Painter (1950) - The Supreme Court upheld that ___________________ was inherently not the case as is applied to the University of Texas Law School.






19. A system - until modified and reformed in the 1970s - that automatically resulted in the selection as committee chair of those members of the majority party in Congress who had the longest continuous service on a committee.






20. The constitutional requirement (in article II - sec 3) that presidents take care that the laws are faithfully executed - even if they disagree with the purpose of those laws






21. According to V. O. Key - Jr. - the Populist Party of the 1890s is an example of a ____________________.






22. Form of government in which the people are sovereign but their power is exercised by their elected representatives.






23. The 1776 pamphlet by Thomas Paine that prompted King George III's Prohibitory Act and the sending of mercenaries to the colonies.






24. Units of government under the president - within the executive branch - that are not part of a cabinet department.






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






26. Population migration patterns since the second World War have increased the power of _____________.






27. ____________ often influence political appointments in an effort to influence bureaucracy.






28. In the 1990 case OR State Employment Division v. Smith 1990 - the Supreme court allowed the state to fire employees who use peyote during native American religious ceremonies because it is in violation of drug laws. In this case - which clause of the






29. The sum of the goals - decisions - and actions that govern a nation's relations with the rest of the world.






30. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 restructured the number of ______________ in both the House and Senate.






31. The Immigration Act of 1965 abolished the practice of _______________ allowing more diversity among immigrants.






32. Age Requirement for the Senate






33. 14th Amendment is often used to support the right to ____________.






34. A vote in the House of Representatives in which the position of each member is noted and published in the Congressional Record.






35. First Executive Branch






36. First proposed in 1789 - this amendment passed in 1992 prohibits Congress from raising their own pay. Pay raises may not take affect until the beginning of the next term.






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






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






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






40. Defamation by written or printed words - pictures - or in any form other than by spoken words or gestures.






41. Each Senate committee may have ________ subcommittees.






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






43. These two Senate standing committees have existed - largely unchanged - since 1816.






44. Presides over the Senate without voting privileges except in the case of a tie.






45. Private groups that attempt to influence the government to respond to the shared attitudes of their members.






46. In addition to overseeing the activities of one or more federal agencies - a ___________________may also serve as the authorizing committee for federal agencies' programs and operations.






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






48. 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.






49. The fundamental rights of a free society that are protected by the Bill of Rights against the power of the government - such as freedom of speech - religion - press - and assembly.






50. An election in which voters in a jurisdiction select candidates for a subsequent election. In other words - one means by which a political party nominate candidates for the following general election.s