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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. 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
Elastic Clause
Pluralist
Free Exercise Clause
Spoiler Candidate
2. Executive office responsible for negotiating trade with foreign powers.
Oligopoly
Majority Opinion
Residual
US Trade Representatives
3. The President's role in the armed forces which during the 20th century has allowed Presidents to circumvent Congress' refusal to declare war.
Cruel and Unusual
Unlimited
Commander in Chief
Enumerated Powers
4. Also known as the Indiana ballot - lists the candidates of each party in a row or column - beside or under the party emblem. In most cases - the voter can make one mark at the top of the column - or pull one lever - and thus vote for all the party's
Negative
Party Column Ballot
Balance of Trade
Jus Sanguinis
5. In California v. Avecedo (1991) - The Supreme Court established that authorities may search ____________________ without a warrant providing reasonable suspicion.
Veto
Voting
14
Automobiles
6. A public policy that takes something away from one person or group and gives it to another person or group.
Committees of Correspondence
Speaker of the House
It Failed to be Ratified
Redistributive Policy
7. Th joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the twelfth amendment
English Bill of Rights
Gay
Presidential Ticket
National Security Council
8. 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.
Criminal Cases
Magna Carta
Lose
Flexible Construction
9. A political candidate who is thought to have only an outside chance of gaining the nomination.
Decreased
Caucus
Dark Horse
Foreign Policy
10. This 1964 case established strict standards for proving slander and libel - court must prove intent of malice on the part of the publisher.
Ways and Means Committee
NY Times v. Sullivan
2
Interest groups
11. A public assistance program established in 1965 to help pay hospital - doctor - and medical bills for people with low incomes.
7
Bandwagon
Whigs
Medicaid
12. Contacts - coalitions - and interactions across national boundaries
Transnational Relations
3
Open
25
13. A place of work in which any person may be hired provided that he or she joins the union within a specified time.
Executive
Union Shop
Selective exposure
35
14. Included are Agriculture - Nutrition - and Forestry; Appropriations; Armed Services; Banking - Housing and Urban Affairs; Commerce - Science and Transportation; Energy and Natural Resources; Environment and Public Works; Finance; Health - Education -
Television and Radio
Popular Sovereignty
Senate Standing Committees
Elite and Class Theory
15. A small group of voters chosen by a political campaign for their demographic similarities who are brought together to gauge how the group they represent feels about the candidate.
Proportional Representation
Focus Groups
Mixed Economy
Felonies
16. Total number of Representatives apportioned to the states based on population and reapportioned with the census every 10 years
7th Amendment
Interest Groups
435
Article III
17. Representing - characterized by - or including members from two parties or factions
Criminal Cases
Bipartisanship
Welfare State
Bull Moose Progressives
18. 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
Ways and Means Committee
a senior senator of the majority party
Discharge Petition
Delegated Powers
19. Bills passed by Congress to pay for the spending it has authorized.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Foreign Policy
Appropriation Bills
Periodic Registration
20. Political party lead by Andrew Jackson from 1828 to 1856. Campaigned against strong central government and fought to end elitism.
Democrats
Freedom of Information Act
27th Amendment
Proportional Representation
21. Agencies that were at one time semi-autonomous but that through legislation have been placed under presidential control since 1945.
Royal Colonies
6
Joint Committee
Government Corporations
22. 1963 ruling prohibiting prayer in public schools.
Murray v. Curlett
55
Increased competition
Bill of Rights
23. Organizations or groups - such as labor unions or fraternal - professional - or religious groups - that may influence an individual's opinion.
Secondary Group
Virginia Plan
Pocket Veto
Selective Incorporation
24. Procedure typically requiring 3/5 vote of the entire Senate to end a filibuster.
Cloture
Negative Advertising
Oligopoly
Conference Committee
25. At one time - the press generally refrained from publishing personal information that would be damaging. FDR - Eisenhower - and JFK all benefited from this reluctance to engage in _____________________. However - the American publics appetite for sen
Due Process of Law
Scandal Mongering
Common Law
Maintaining Elections
26. James Madison proposed to deal with the threat of political factions by ______________________.
Political Patronage
Separation of Powers
Pork Barrel Spending
Article IV
27. When the President's own party gains power and influence - it more puts pressure on the President to conform to the will of the party - leading to________________ between the President and the party to define their public identities
Mayflower Compact
Increased competition
General Purpose Grants
Statutory Law
28. 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
Categorical Grants
Baron de Montesquieu
Patriot Act
Federal District
29. A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that prohibits any amendment to bills or provides that only memebers of the committee reporting the bill may offer amendments
Closed rule
Pre-clearance
25th Amendment
Unicameral
30. A legislature with only one house.
Unicameral
State of the Union
Negative
Coast Guard
31. This Supreme Court case infamously decided that a slave was not a citizen but property to be 'used in subservience to the interests - the convenience - or the will of his owner'
Dred Scott
National Committee
New Deal Era
Earmarks
32. The European political philosophers whose writings influenced the concepts of liberty and government contained in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution belonged to the intellectual and cultural movement known as
Bicameral
Deficit
The Enlightenment
Lafolette's Progressive s
33. The Constitution requires that state governments - like the federal government - must be _____________ in form - with final authority resting with the people.
Democratic
Enact a Bill of Rights
Flexible Construction
Free Exercise Clause
34. Cabinet department oversees nuclear reactors.Established in 1973 in response to the Energy Crisis.
Energy
Senate
Hatch Act
Affirmative Action
35. Petition that - if signed by a majority of the members of the House of Representatives - will pry a bill from committee and bring it to the floor for consideration
Impartial
Due Process
Discharge Petition
Arraignment
36. The power to tax is an example of _______________ powers.
Adversarial
Concurrent
Joint Committees
Bicameral
37. The Equal Rights Amendment was defeated in 1982 because ____________________________.
Article III
It Failed to be Ratified
Pendleton Civil Service Act
Union Shop
38. Guarantees the right to a speedy and public trial.
Legislative
Low
Gay
6th Amendment
39. An opinion of one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment.
Dissenting Opinion
Welfare State
Straight Ticket Voting
Chief Justice
40. 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
Local
Federal District
Categorical Grant
Furman v. Georgia
41. Protects against unreasonable search and seizure.
Party Regulars
4th Amendment
US Trade Representatives
Redistributive Policy
42. Political commercials that strongly attack a rival candidate.
77
Increased
Television and Radio
Negative Advertising
43. 1798 Act that criminalized speech that was derisive to the government. Later ruled unconstitutional - Andrew Jackson issued blanket pardon in 1801
Bureaucracy
Constituencies
Alien and Sedition Acts
Veteran's Affairs
44. Article VII of the Constitution outlines the process of ____________________.
Ratification
Earmarks
National Supremacy
Appropriations
45. Broadly worded warrants used by British soldiers during colonial America to search for contraband and prevent smuggling.
Writ of Assistance
Budget Resolutions
Family
Oligopoly
46. Powers of the national government that flow from its enumerated powers and the 'elastic clause' of the Constitution.
Detente
Spoils System
Mark Up Session
Implied Powers
47. The principle that the government - as provided in the Fifth Amendment - can take property for 'public use' with 'just compensation' to the owners.
Separate but Equal
Joseph McCarthy
Gitlow v. New York
Eminent Domain
48. In Argersinger v. Hamlin (1972) - the Supreme Court extended the right to counsel to those accused of misdemeanors if the defendant is _____________.
imprisoned
Retrospective Voting
Enact a Bill of Rights
Gender Gap
49. Cabinet department that includes the FAA and the National Hwy Traffic Safety Administration. Established in 1966.
Transportation
Elastic Clause
Supply Side Economics
Incorporation Doctrine
50. Test whereby the Supreme Court established criteria by which state may provide aid to religious groups.
Lemon Test
Precedent
Joint Committee
Negative