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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. Prompted by FDR's 4th election to the Presidency - the 22nd Amendment limited the number of Presidential terms to _____ terms.
Party Activists
Misdemeanors
2
Freedom of Speech
2. In the last 30 years - voter turnout among American 18- to 24-year-olds has been
Blacks
Declining
Selective Incorporation
Judicial Restraint
3. Presides over the Senate without voting privileges except in the case of a tie.
Mallory Rule
Cold War
Antitrust Legislation
Vice President
4. The 1896 case of Plessy v. Fergusan established the racial segregation policy of __________________.
Legislative
Conglomerates
Secondary Group
Separate but Equal
5. Cabinet department that includes the Coast Guard - Border Patrol - FEMA - Transportation Security Administration - INS and the Secret Service. Established in 2001 in response to 9/11.
Winston Churchill
Probable Cause
Impartial
Homeland Security
6. Powerful standing committee that puts bills on the legislative calendar and establishes the processes by which the bill will be discussed on the floor.
Equality
Article II
Rules Committee
Smith Act
7. Groups named for the section of the Internal Revenue Service code under which they must report their expenditures. The tax-exempt groups were created to exploit a loophole in the law regulating campaign finance.
527 Organizations
Eminent Domain
Majority Rule
Independent Regulatory Agencies
8. Presidential refusal to allow an agency to spend funds that Congress authorized and appropriated.
Weber
Pre-clearance
Clear and Present Danger
Impoundment
9. Responsibilities include: Coordinating the nation's intelligence activities and Evaluating and disseminating intelligence that affects national security
Soft money
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
de jure
Decreased
10. A form of city government under which power is divided between a mayor and an elected city council.
Mayor-Council Plan
Rousseau
Political Socialization
Preamble
11. Ruling by the Supreme Court in 1954 that racial segregation in public schools violates the Fourteenth Amendment's requirement of equal protection of the laws for all persons.
Common Sense
House of Representatives
Political Party
Brown v. Board of Education Topeka - Kansas
12. _____________ are expected to specialize in a few policy areas rather than claim expertise in the whole range of legislative concerns
Members of Congress
Joint Committee
5
Lafolette's Progressive s
13. An elected office that is predictably won by one party or the other - so the success of that party's candidate is almost taken for granted
Committees of Correspondence
Antitrust Legislation
Safe seat
Parallel
14. 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
Quid Pro Quo
Increased competition
Joint Chiefs of Staff
Selective Incorporation
15. Laws on Schools - Marriage - and owning property;Licensee Lawyers - Doctors - and Teachers.
English Bill of Rights
State Government
Isolationism
Senate
16. 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
Filibuster
Family
Pluralist
Committees
17. Federal grants in which the recipient has a lot of discretion over how the money is spent. These grants are issued in support of general government functions such as education and law enforcement.
Block Grant
Nuclear Proliferation
Closed
Supply Side Economics
18. Amendment that delegated the election of Senators to popular vote.
Mugwumps
1964 Civil Rights Act
Affirmative Action
17th
19. This powerful House committee is in charge of determining under what rule other bills will come to the floor.
Permanent Registration
Rules Committee
Enumerated Powers
Fixed
20. The median income of women is ___________ percent of men.
President Pro Tempore
Sub-government
77
4th Amendment
21. 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.
Television
Committees of Correspondence
Campaign Contributions
Increased competition
22. The proceeding before a judge in which the formal charges of an indictment or information are read to an accused person - who may plead guilty or not guilty.
Arraignment
Confederation
Sub-government
Ex Post Facto
23. Southern whites prevented blacks from ____________ through use of poll taxes - literacy tests and intimidation tactics after the Civil War.
Party Purists
Voting
Legislative Courts
Amicus Curiae Brief
24. A system in which the national government sets requirements that are then implemented by state and local governments.
Regulatory Federalism
Elite
The Federal Reserve Board
Third Parties
25. Guarantees that citizens cannot be compelled by the government to act in a way that is contrary to their religious beliefs. (ex. Conscientious objection to military service required by the draft is the execution of ______________)
Social Regulation
Free Exercise Clause
Local
4th Amendment
26. Included are Ways and Means - Veteran's Affairs - Transportation and Infrastructure - Standards of Official Conduct - Small Business - Science - Judiciary - Rules - Resources - Oversight of Government Reform - House Administration - Homeland Security
Bundling
Public Opinion
Legislative
House Standing Committees
27. 1946 Act requiring bureaucratic agencies to appeal to the affected parties before adopting new policies. Legislative check on Bureaucracy.
3
Administrative Procedure Act
Entitlement Spending
Negative
28. Number of current cabinet positions under GW Bush.
Clear and Present Danger
15
Decreased
Due Process
29. By far - the largest amount of federal aid to state and local governments comes in the form of:
Categorical Grants
Social Contract
Poll Tax
527 Organization
30. 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.
Hold
Constituencies
Fixed
527 Organization
31. A place of work in which any person may be hired provided that he or she joins the union within a specified time.
Smith Act
Referendum
Union Shop
Unitary System
32. Funds spent for or against a candidate by committees not formally connected to the candidate's campaign and without coordination with the campaign.
Patriot Act
Clean bill
Grand Jury Indictment
Independent Expenditures
33. Age Requirement for House of Representatives.
Concurrent
Blanket Primary
25
Shay's Rebellion
34. Committees created by Congress to conduct special investigations. Although normally temporary - some become - in effect - permanent.
Select Committee
Ratification
Demands
Sub-government
35. Cabinet department responsible for managing school lunch programs and food safety. Established in 1862.
Voting
Pocket Veto
Agriculture
Gross Domestic Product
36. A provision of law in which Congress asserts the power to nullify actions of the executive branch. In 1983 the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional - but Congress continued to pass laws containing such provisions.
Legislative Veto
Labor
John Locke
Unicameral
37. The individuals - institutions - and processes that make the rules for society and possess the power to enforce them.
Government
Containment
Due Process of Law
Recommit the Bill to Committee
38. A compulsory national insurance program - financed by taxes on employers and employees. The insurance falls into four categories: old-age and survivors insurance - disability insurance - Medicare - and unemployment insurance.
High
Line-Item Veto
Social Security
Checks and Balances
39. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was somewhat undermined by racist practices in the real estate market such as _____________ and ______________ - which continued illegally in many areas following passage of the Act.
Political Efficacy
Double Jeopardy
blockbusting and redlining
Smith Act
40. Constitutionally required address by the President typically given in a joint session of Congress.
9
House Standing Committees
State of the Union
National
41. Form of obstruction in the Senate where an attempt is made to infinitely extend debate upon a proposal in order to delay the progress or completely prevent a vote on the proposal taking place.
Filibuster
Office of Management and Budget
Political Action Committees
Scottsboro Boys Case
42. A federal law passed by Congress in 1939 to restrict political activities by federal workers. The law prevents federal employees while on duty from taking an active part in party politics or campaigns and also bars federal employees from running for
25
Declining
Hatch Act
Custom
43. A philosophy that the Supreme Court should avoid constitutional questions when possible and uphold acts of Congress unless they clearly violate a specific section of the Constitution.
Court of Appeals
Supreme Court
Judicial Restraint
Mugwumps
44. 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 _______________.
Equity
Enact a Bill of Rights
Transnational Relations
Horse race
45. Guarantees the right to a speedy and public trial.
Senate Standing Committees
Open
Republicans
6th Amendment
46. _____________ was the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics and helping immigrants (most notably the Irish) rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s.
Tammany Hall
Interest groups
Mugwumps
Decreased
47. 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.
National Chair
Electoral College
Caucuses
Commission Plan
48. A political candidate who is thought to have only an outside chance of gaining the nomination.
Presidential Veto
Budget Resolutions
Dark Horse
Automobiles
49. An economy in which most economic decisions result from the interaction of buyers and sellers in markets - but in which the government plays a significant role in the allocation of resources.
Shay's Rebellion
Dynamic Conservatism
Gross Domestic Product
Mixed Economy
50. Powers of government that the national government may exercise simply because it exists as a government - such as the right to conduct foreign relations.
Populous
Katz. v US
Inherent Powers
Spoils System