CLEP American Government Practice Test
1. Punch cards: Type of voting system that became well known immediately following the 2000 election
2. Prospective voting: A person who votes based on what candidate says he or she will do in the future is said to be engaged in this
type of voting
3. House of Representatives: Should presidential candidates receive an equal number of electoral votes, the election is decided
by___________
4. Democracy: "A form of government in which the people (defined broadly to include all adults or narrowly to exclude women and
slaves, for example) are the ultimate political authority"
5. Direct democracy: New England town's meetings are examples of this type of democracy
6. The Federalist Papers: Under the pen name "Publius," Alexander Hamilton,
James Madison, and John Jay wrote this
7. The Mayflower Compact: In the seventeenth century, the signers of which document agreed to live under the colony's
recognized authority and to wait for a royal charter, such as the Virginians had?
8. Rhode Island: The last state to ratify the U.S. Constitution
9. U.S. President: The purpose of the electoral college is to choose the_________
10. Interest groups: In the debates over the Constitution, federalist sand anti-federalist a spoke of factions the way we today
speak of _________
11. Article I: "All Bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." These words appear in which article of the
U.S. Constitution?
12. John Locke: The English philosopher whose words are heavily drawn on in the
Declaration of Independence
13. U.S. Treasury: Insofar as the Constitution is concerned, members of Congress receive payment for their work from_______
14. Senate: The Vice President of the United States is the president of what government body?
15. 25: What is the minimum age specified in the Constitution for members of the House of Representatives?
16. Oregon: In recent decades, which state has relied most heavily on mail-in voting?
17. The Constitution: In which of the nation's founding documents could one point to an "elastic clause" to justify the existence of
vast government agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services?
18. State legislatures and the people: The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution states that government powers "not delegated
to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States," are reserved for_____, ______, and _______. 19
Administrative discretion: Term for when Congress sets guidelines for government agencies to follow
1/5
, CLEP American Government Practice Test
20. Unfunded mandate: The Real ID Act of 2005 was an example of an_______ 21. Filibuster: Senators have the power to "talk a bill
to death." What is the formal term for this procedure?
22. Bill: A piece of legislation proposed to Congress is called_________
23. End debate in the Senate: What do Unanimous consent agreements accomplish?
24. Congress: Article I is the longest section contained in the U.S. Constitution. What is the subject matter of this article?
25. Punch-card ballots: Created a controversy following the 2000 presidential election; the "hanging" and "dimpled" chads that
resulted when voters did not punch through the cards completely were difficult for vote counters to assess
26. Prospective voting: Forward-looking voting: when a voter supports a candidate based on what the candidate plans to do once
in office
27. Retrospective voting: Voting based on an informed view of a candidate's or political party's past
28. Attack and contrast ads: Designed, respectively, to create negative feelings toward a candidate's opponent and to draw
distinctions between opponents
29. Republicanism: Advocates a political system without a monarch
30. "Mobocracy": Rule by the mob
31. Oligarchy: A government run by a few people
32. Democratic socialism: Distinguished from tyrannical forms of socialism in that it guarantees basic rights (e.g. Free speech) and
free elections
33. Concurrence: Refers to a judge's agreement with the decision of a majority of judges on the court, through different reasons.
34. The Anti-Federalist Papers: Were written in opposition to ratification of the Constitution
35. Common Sense: Written by Thomas Paine in the early stage of the Revolution.
It's purpose was to rouse the American public against the British
36. Leviathan: An important work in political philosophy by the English theorist Thomas Hobbes.
37. Second Treatise on Government: By John Locke, another work in political philosophy, was highly influential on the American
revolutionaries and Constitutional framers.
38. Mayflower Compact: Was agreed to by Pilgrim leaders who had landed at
Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts
39. Magna Carta: Is a document from medieval England that established certain rights for British citizens.
40 The Federalist: a series of essays written to address the American controversy over ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
41. The English Bill of Rights of 1689: Set an important precedent for the Americans who desired a federal Bill of Rights.
2/5
1. Punch cards: Type of voting system that became well known immediately following the 2000 election
2. Prospective voting: A person who votes based on what candidate says he or she will do in the future is said to be engaged in this
type of voting
3. House of Representatives: Should presidential candidates receive an equal number of electoral votes, the election is decided
by___________
4. Democracy: "A form of government in which the people (defined broadly to include all adults or narrowly to exclude women and
slaves, for example) are the ultimate political authority"
5. Direct democracy: New England town's meetings are examples of this type of democracy
6. The Federalist Papers: Under the pen name "Publius," Alexander Hamilton,
James Madison, and John Jay wrote this
7. The Mayflower Compact: In the seventeenth century, the signers of which document agreed to live under the colony's
recognized authority and to wait for a royal charter, such as the Virginians had?
8. Rhode Island: The last state to ratify the U.S. Constitution
9. U.S. President: The purpose of the electoral college is to choose the_________
10. Interest groups: In the debates over the Constitution, federalist sand anti-federalist a spoke of factions the way we today
speak of _________
11. Article I: "All Bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." These words appear in which article of the
U.S. Constitution?
12. John Locke: The English philosopher whose words are heavily drawn on in the
Declaration of Independence
13. U.S. Treasury: Insofar as the Constitution is concerned, members of Congress receive payment for their work from_______
14. Senate: The Vice President of the United States is the president of what government body?
15. 25: What is the minimum age specified in the Constitution for members of the House of Representatives?
16. Oregon: In recent decades, which state has relied most heavily on mail-in voting?
17. The Constitution: In which of the nation's founding documents could one point to an "elastic clause" to justify the existence of
vast government agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services?
18. State legislatures and the people: The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution states that government powers "not delegated
to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States," are reserved for_____, ______, and _______. 19
Administrative discretion: Term for when Congress sets guidelines for government agencies to follow
1/5
, CLEP American Government Practice Test
20. Unfunded mandate: The Real ID Act of 2005 was an example of an_______ 21. Filibuster: Senators have the power to "talk a bill
to death." What is the formal term for this procedure?
22. Bill: A piece of legislation proposed to Congress is called_________
23. End debate in the Senate: What do Unanimous consent agreements accomplish?
24. Congress: Article I is the longest section contained in the U.S. Constitution. What is the subject matter of this article?
25. Punch-card ballots: Created a controversy following the 2000 presidential election; the "hanging" and "dimpled" chads that
resulted when voters did not punch through the cards completely were difficult for vote counters to assess
26. Prospective voting: Forward-looking voting: when a voter supports a candidate based on what the candidate plans to do once
in office
27. Retrospective voting: Voting based on an informed view of a candidate's or political party's past
28. Attack and contrast ads: Designed, respectively, to create negative feelings toward a candidate's opponent and to draw
distinctions between opponents
29. Republicanism: Advocates a political system without a monarch
30. "Mobocracy": Rule by the mob
31. Oligarchy: A government run by a few people
32. Democratic socialism: Distinguished from tyrannical forms of socialism in that it guarantees basic rights (e.g. Free speech) and
free elections
33. Concurrence: Refers to a judge's agreement with the decision of a majority of judges on the court, through different reasons.
34. The Anti-Federalist Papers: Were written in opposition to ratification of the Constitution
35. Common Sense: Written by Thomas Paine in the early stage of the Revolution.
It's purpose was to rouse the American public against the British
36. Leviathan: An important work in political philosophy by the English theorist Thomas Hobbes.
37. Second Treatise on Government: By John Locke, another work in political philosophy, was highly influential on the American
revolutionaries and Constitutional framers.
38. Mayflower Compact: Was agreed to by Pilgrim leaders who had landed at
Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts
39. Magna Carta: Is a document from medieval England that established certain rights for British citizens.
40 The Federalist: a series of essays written to address the American controversy over ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
41. The English Bill of Rights of 1689: Set an important precedent for the Americans who desired a federal Bill of Rights.
2/5
