CLEP American Government Exam Questions and answers with complete solutions Latest
Updated 2025 | Verified
Which of the following is not a standing committee of the United States Congress?
(A) Agriculture
(B) Appropriations
(C) Veterans' Affairs
(D) Investigations
(E) Budget - D. Investigations
A person who votes based on what a candidate says he or she will do in the future is
said to be:
(A) engaging in retrospective voting
(B) responding to attack ads
(C) responding to contrast ads
(D) engaging in prospective voting
(E) responding to name recognition - D. engaging in prospective voting
Should presidential candidates receive an equal number of electoral votes, the election
is decided by:
(A) the legislatures of Maine and Nebraska
(B) a constitutional convention
(C) the House of Representatives
(D) the Senate
(E) the Supreme Court - C. the House of Representatives
"A form of government in which the people are the ultimate political authority." These
words best define what political arrangement?
(A) Republicanism
,(B) Democracy
(C) One person, one vote
(D) Constitutional monarchy
(E) Mobocracy - B. Democracy
New England's town meetings are examples of:
(A) a parliamentary system
(B) oligarchy
(C) direct democracy
(D) democratic socialism
(E) concurrence - C. direct democracy
Under the pen name "Publius," Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay
wrote:
(A) The Federalist Papers
(B) The Anti-Federalist Papers
(C) Common Sense
(D) Leviathan
(E) Second Treatise on Government - A. The Federalist Papers
Federal district court judges are:
(A) nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
(B) nominated by the Chief Justice and confirmed by the Senate.
(C) elected by standing judges of the same circuit.
(D) nominated by a senator and confirmed by the entire Senate.
,(E) elected by the citizens of the district in which they will serve. - A. nominated by the
President and confirmed by the Senate.
In the 17th Century, the signers of which of the following documents agreed to live
under the colony's recognized authority and to wait for a royal charter, such has the
Virginians had?
(A) the Mayflower Compact
(B) the Magna Carta
(C) The Federalist
(D) the English Bill of Rights
(E) the Marshall Plan - A. the Mayflower Compact
A person who believes that the government should do what the majority of people in the
country want to do is advocating
(A) libertarianism
(B) pluralist theory
(C) popular sovereignty
(D) elite theory
(E) majoritarianism - E. majoritarianism
The state officer typically responsible for overseeing federal elections at the state level
is the:
(A) Secretary of State.
(B) Attorney General.
(C) State Auditor.
(D) Governor.
(E) State Treasurer. - A. Secretary of State.
The purpose of the electoral college is to
(A) decide in disputes between the executive and judiciary branches
, (B) choose the US president
(C) break the tie votes in the Senate
(D) promote higher education
(E) regulate state election policies - B. choose the US president
Most Americans believe that:
(A) the needs of the individual should be subordinate to those of the community.
(B) everyone should enjoy equal opportunities for personal and material success.
(C) the government should provide free healthcare for all citizens.
(D) the government rather than industry should be responsible for national economic
development.
(E) Congress rather than the President should determine foreign policy. - B. everyone
should enjoy equal opportunities for personal and material success.
All of the following are principles upon which the United States Constitution was
founded EXCEPT:
(A) Every state is equal and the national government cannot give special rights to an
individual state.
(B) There should be three branches of government to make, execute, and interpret the
nation's laws.
(C) All men are equal before the law regardless of social standing.
(D) The best government is a government by laws not by men.
(E) All citizens should have the right to keep and bear arms. - E. All citizens should have
the right to keep and bear arms.
The Department of Commerce promotes
(A) domestic aggregate demand and supply.
(B) international trade and economic growth.
(C) fair prices and stable markets for producers and consumers.
Updated 2025 | Verified
Which of the following is not a standing committee of the United States Congress?
(A) Agriculture
(B) Appropriations
(C) Veterans' Affairs
(D) Investigations
(E) Budget - D. Investigations
A person who votes based on what a candidate says he or she will do in the future is
said to be:
(A) engaging in retrospective voting
(B) responding to attack ads
(C) responding to contrast ads
(D) engaging in prospective voting
(E) responding to name recognition - D. engaging in prospective voting
Should presidential candidates receive an equal number of electoral votes, the election
is decided by:
(A) the legislatures of Maine and Nebraska
(B) a constitutional convention
(C) the House of Representatives
(D) the Senate
(E) the Supreme Court - C. the House of Representatives
"A form of government in which the people are the ultimate political authority." These
words best define what political arrangement?
(A) Republicanism
,(B) Democracy
(C) One person, one vote
(D) Constitutional monarchy
(E) Mobocracy - B. Democracy
New England's town meetings are examples of:
(A) a parliamentary system
(B) oligarchy
(C) direct democracy
(D) democratic socialism
(E) concurrence - C. direct democracy
Under the pen name "Publius," Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay
wrote:
(A) The Federalist Papers
(B) The Anti-Federalist Papers
(C) Common Sense
(D) Leviathan
(E) Second Treatise on Government - A. The Federalist Papers
Federal district court judges are:
(A) nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
(B) nominated by the Chief Justice and confirmed by the Senate.
(C) elected by standing judges of the same circuit.
(D) nominated by a senator and confirmed by the entire Senate.
,(E) elected by the citizens of the district in which they will serve. - A. nominated by the
President and confirmed by the Senate.
In the 17th Century, the signers of which of the following documents agreed to live
under the colony's recognized authority and to wait for a royal charter, such has the
Virginians had?
(A) the Mayflower Compact
(B) the Magna Carta
(C) The Federalist
(D) the English Bill of Rights
(E) the Marshall Plan - A. the Mayflower Compact
A person who believes that the government should do what the majority of people in the
country want to do is advocating
(A) libertarianism
(B) pluralist theory
(C) popular sovereignty
(D) elite theory
(E) majoritarianism - E. majoritarianism
The state officer typically responsible for overseeing federal elections at the state level
is the:
(A) Secretary of State.
(B) Attorney General.
(C) State Auditor.
(D) Governor.
(E) State Treasurer. - A. Secretary of State.
The purpose of the electoral college is to
(A) decide in disputes between the executive and judiciary branches
, (B) choose the US president
(C) break the tie votes in the Senate
(D) promote higher education
(E) regulate state election policies - B. choose the US president
Most Americans believe that:
(A) the needs of the individual should be subordinate to those of the community.
(B) everyone should enjoy equal opportunities for personal and material success.
(C) the government should provide free healthcare for all citizens.
(D) the government rather than industry should be responsible for national economic
development.
(E) Congress rather than the President should determine foreign policy. - B. everyone
should enjoy equal opportunities for personal and material success.
All of the following are principles upon which the United States Constitution was
founded EXCEPT:
(A) Every state is equal and the national government cannot give special rights to an
individual state.
(B) There should be three branches of government to make, execute, and interpret the
nation's laws.
(C) All men are equal before the law regardless of social standing.
(D) The best government is a government by laws not by men.
(E) All citizens should have the right to keep and bear arms. - E. All citizens should have
the right to keep and bear arms.
The Department of Commerce promotes
(A) domestic aggregate demand and supply.
(B) international trade and economic growth.
(C) fair prices and stable markets for producers and consumers.
