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US Citizenship Civics Test Political Science — practice questions

Explore 26 free Political Science questions in US Citizenship Civics Test Civics. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Political Science questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–26 of 26.

Power in the United States is shared between the national government and the states. That structure is called:Read the answer and worked solution →The document that replaced the Articles of Confederation in 1787 was the:Read the answer and worked solution →Within their own borders, states hold supreme and independent authority over counties, municipalities and school districts. That authority is:Read the answer and worked solution →A legal principle holding that state actions trump local ones and have supremacy is known as:Read the answer and worked solution →Some cities are granted extra independence, spelled out in a charter. That added independence is called:Read the answer and worked solution →Local governments cannot pass their costs up to another level of government because they lack:Read the answer and worked solution →One practical advantage of local government is that citizens find it easier to:Read the answer and worked solution →Compared with cities and towns, the geographical area served by a county government is:Read the answer and worked solution →County systems usually take one of how many basic forms?Read the answer and worked solution →Municipal governments overwhelmingly use one of how many governing models?Read the answer and worked solution →Under one of those models voters elect both a mayor and the members of the council. That is the:Read the answer and worked solution →A sizeable chunk of local revenue does not come from local taxes at all, but from grants and transfers from:Read the answer and worked solution →The revenue that tax yields is unstable because property values vary with school quality, desirability and the:Read the answer and worked solution →Counties fund their services from property tax, intergovernmental transfers and a portion of:Read the answer and worked solution →A large municipality filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in 2013, showing that cities can fail financially. That city was:Read the answer and worked solution →A measure passed by a state legislature and then sent to voters for final approval is a legislative:Read the answer and worked solution →A citizen-driven measure capped real estate tax at 1 percent of a property's cash value. Such a voter-launched measure is an:Read the answer and worked solution →After independence, states gained the power to establish local governments and set out their structure within their own:Read the answer and worked solution →Catch the local unitsRead the answer and worked solution →Pop the revenue sourcesRead the answer and worked solution →Run the government gatesRead the answer and worked solution →Slice the civics wordsRead the answer and worked solution →State or localRead the answer and worked solution →Sort the government wordsRead the answer and worked solution →Type the numberRead the answer and worked solution →Local government bingoRead the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

Power in the United States is shared between the national government and the states. That structure is called:

  1. Federalism
  2. Feudalism
  3. Formalism
  4. Fatalism
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Correct answer: A. Federalism

1. Neither level holds all authority by itself. 2. Each has powers the other cannot simply override. 3. That shared structure is federalism. _Source: OpenStax American Government 4e, Chapter 14, State and Local Government._

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The document that replaced the Articles of Confederation in 1787 was the:

  1. Compact paper
  2. Constitution
  3. Convention doc
  4. Commission doc
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Correct answer: B. Constitution

1. The Articles left the national government very weak. 2. A new framework was drafted to replace them. 3. That document was the Constitution. _Source: OpenStax American Government 4e, Chapter 14, State and Local Government._

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Within their own borders, states hold supreme and independent authority over counties, municipalities and school districts. That authority is:

  1. Sovereignty
  2. Solvency
  3. Seniority
  4. Simplicity
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Correct answer: A. Sovereignty

1. Local units are created by the state, not the other way round. 2. The state's word is final over them. 3. That authority is sovereignty. _Source: OpenStax American Government 4e, Chapter 14, State and Local Government._

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More Civics topics

CivicsConstitutionGovernmentPublic AdministrationState and Local GovernmentUS GovernmentCivil LibertiesFederalism