AP US Government Exam Questions
and Answers 100% Pass
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCING GOVERNMENT IN AMERICA - ✔✔...
Democracy - ✔✔a means of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so
that policy represents and responds to the public's preferences.
Elite and class theory - ✔✔argues that society is divided along class lines and that an
upper-class elite rules on the basis of its wealth.
Government - ✔✔institutions that make public policy for a society.
Gross domestic product - ✔✔the total value of all goods and services produced
annually by the United States.
Hyperpluralism - ✔✔argues that too many strong influential groups cripple the
government's ability to make coherent policy by dividing government and its authority.
Linkage institutions - ✔✔institutions such as parties, elections, interest groups, and the
media, which provide a linkage between the preferences of citizens and the
government's policy agenda.
Katelyn Whitman, All Rights Reserved © 2025 1
,Majority rule - ✔✔weighing the desires of the majority in choosing among policy
alternatives.
Minority rights - ✔✔protecting the rights and freedoms of the minority in choosing
among policy alternatives.
Pluralist theory - ✔✔argues that there are many centers of influence in which groups
compete with one another for control over public policy through bargaining and
compromise.
Policy agenda - ✔✔the list of subjects or problems to which people inside and outside
government are paying serious attention at any given time.
Policy gridlock - ✔✔where each interest uses its influence to thwart policies it opposes
so that no coalition forms a majority to establish policy.
Policy impacts - ✔✔the effects a policy has on people and problems.
Policymaking institutions - ✔✔institutions such as Congress, the presidency, and the
courts established by the Constitution to make policy.
Policymaking system - ✔✔institutions of government designed to respond to each other
and to the priorities of the people by governmental action.
Political culture - ✔✔an overall set of values widely shared within a society.
Katelyn Whitman, All Rights Reserved © 2025 2
,Political issue - ✔✔this arises when people disagree about a problem or about public
policy choices made to combat a problem.
Political participation - ✔✔the ways in which people get involved in politics.
Politics - ✔✔determines whom we select as our government leaders and what policies
they pursue; in other words, who gets what, when, and how.
Public goods - ✔✔things that everyone can share.
Public policy - ✔✔a choice that government makes in response to some issue on its
agenda.
Representation - ✔✔the relationship between the leaders and the followers.
Single-issue groups - ✔✔groups so concerned with one matter that their members cast
their votes on the basis of that issue only.
CHAPTER TWO THE CONSTITUTION - ✔✔...
Anti-Federalists - ✔✔opposed the new Constitution, feared the new Constitution would
erode fundamental liberties, and argued that the new Constitution was a class-based
document serving the economic elite.
Articles of Confederation - ✔✔the document that outlined the voluntary agreement
between states and was adopted as the first plan for a permanent union of the United
States.
Katelyn Whitman, All Rights Reserved © 2025 3
, Bill of Rights - ✔✔the first ten Amendments to the Constitution passed after ratification
specifically protecting individual liberties to fulfill promises made by the Federalists to
the Anti-Federalists in return for their support.
Checks and balances - ✔✔each branch requires the consent of the others for many of its
decisions.
Connecticut Compromise - ✔✔the plan adopted at the Constitutional Convention to
provide for two chambers in Congress, one representing states equally and the other
representing states on the basis of their share of the population.
Consent of the governed - ✔✔people must agree on who their rulers will be.
Constitution - ✔✔a nation's basic law creating institutions, dividing power, and
providing guarantees to citizens.
Declaration of Independence - ✔✔the document used by the signers to announce and
justify the Revolutionary War and which was specifically designed to enlist the aid of
foreign nations in the revolt.
Equal Rights Amendment - ✔✔was first proposed in 1923, passed by Congress in 1972,
but was not ratified by three-fourths of the states; this amendment mandated equality
of rights under the law regardless of gender.
Katelyn Whitman, All Rights Reserved © 2025 4
and Answers 100% Pass
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCING GOVERNMENT IN AMERICA - ✔✔...
Democracy - ✔✔a means of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so
that policy represents and responds to the public's preferences.
Elite and class theory - ✔✔argues that society is divided along class lines and that an
upper-class elite rules on the basis of its wealth.
Government - ✔✔institutions that make public policy for a society.
Gross domestic product - ✔✔the total value of all goods and services produced
annually by the United States.
Hyperpluralism - ✔✔argues that too many strong influential groups cripple the
government's ability to make coherent policy by dividing government and its authority.
Linkage institutions - ✔✔institutions such as parties, elections, interest groups, and the
media, which provide a linkage between the preferences of citizens and the
government's policy agenda.
Katelyn Whitman, All Rights Reserved © 2025 1
,Majority rule - ✔✔weighing the desires of the majority in choosing among policy
alternatives.
Minority rights - ✔✔protecting the rights and freedoms of the minority in choosing
among policy alternatives.
Pluralist theory - ✔✔argues that there are many centers of influence in which groups
compete with one another for control over public policy through bargaining and
compromise.
Policy agenda - ✔✔the list of subjects or problems to which people inside and outside
government are paying serious attention at any given time.
Policy gridlock - ✔✔where each interest uses its influence to thwart policies it opposes
so that no coalition forms a majority to establish policy.
Policy impacts - ✔✔the effects a policy has on people and problems.
Policymaking institutions - ✔✔institutions such as Congress, the presidency, and the
courts established by the Constitution to make policy.
Policymaking system - ✔✔institutions of government designed to respond to each other
and to the priorities of the people by governmental action.
Political culture - ✔✔an overall set of values widely shared within a society.
Katelyn Whitman, All Rights Reserved © 2025 2
,Political issue - ✔✔this arises when people disagree about a problem or about public
policy choices made to combat a problem.
Political participation - ✔✔the ways in which people get involved in politics.
Politics - ✔✔determines whom we select as our government leaders and what policies
they pursue; in other words, who gets what, when, and how.
Public goods - ✔✔things that everyone can share.
Public policy - ✔✔a choice that government makes in response to some issue on its
agenda.
Representation - ✔✔the relationship between the leaders and the followers.
Single-issue groups - ✔✔groups so concerned with one matter that their members cast
their votes on the basis of that issue only.
CHAPTER TWO THE CONSTITUTION - ✔✔...
Anti-Federalists - ✔✔opposed the new Constitution, feared the new Constitution would
erode fundamental liberties, and argued that the new Constitution was a class-based
document serving the economic elite.
Articles of Confederation - ✔✔the document that outlined the voluntary agreement
between states and was adopted as the first plan for a permanent union of the United
States.
Katelyn Whitman, All Rights Reserved © 2025 3
, Bill of Rights - ✔✔the first ten Amendments to the Constitution passed after ratification
specifically protecting individual liberties to fulfill promises made by the Federalists to
the Anti-Federalists in return for their support.
Checks and balances - ✔✔each branch requires the consent of the others for many of its
decisions.
Connecticut Compromise - ✔✔the plan adopted at the Constitutional Convention to
provide for two chambers in Congress, one representing states equally and the other
representing states on the basis of their share of the population.
Consent of the governed - ✔✔people must agree on who their rulers will be.
Constitution - ✔✔a nation's basic law creating institutions, dividing power, and
providing guarantees to citizens.
Declaration of Independence - ✔✔the document used by the signers to announce and
justify the Revolutionary War and which was specifically designed to enlist the aid of
foreign nations in the revolt.
Equal Rights Amendment - ✔✔was first proposed in 1923, passed by Congress in 1972,
but was not ratified by three-fourths of the states; this amendment mandated equality
of rights under the law regardless of gender.
Katelyn Whitman, All Rights Reserved © 2025 4
