Last year, our Fourth of July quiz was on patriotic music. The year before, it was about the Declaration of Independence.
This year, we’re presenting questions taken from the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services’ civics quiz.
Basically we’re asking, “Are you smarter than an immigrant?”
There are 100 questions on the test. The proctor can ask up to 10 questions. The applicant must answer six of those 10 questions correctly. It is an oral exam.
Here's a sample of 25 questions. You can find the 75 others at www.uscis.gov on the Internet.
The answers are at the end of the column.
1. What is the supreme law of the land?
2. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are those words?
3. What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment? (Can you name all five?)
4. What is the economic system in the United States?
5. What is the “rule of law”?
6. What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?
7. Who makes federal laws?
8. Why do some states have more representatives than other states?
9. If both the president and the vice president no longer can serve, who becomes president? (Do you know that person’s name? Other questions in the test ask for the name of the current president and vice president.)
10. Who is the commander in chief of the military?
11. What are two cabinet-level positions? (Can you name all 16?)
12. How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
13. Who is the chief justice of the United States?
14. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government? (Four possible answers.)
15. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states? (Five possible answers.)
16. What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?
17. What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?
18. What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy? (There are 10 answers. We especially like the last one on the list.)
19. There were 13 original states. Name three. (Can you name all 13?)
20. What happened at the Constitutional Convention?
21. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers. (Bonus points if you can name all three.)
22. What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?
23. What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?
24. Who was president during World War I?
25. Before he was president, Dwight Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?
So, how did you do? Could you ace this test?
Answers:
1. The Constitution
2. We the People
3. Speech, religion, assembly, press, petition the government
4. Capitalist economy or market economy
5. Everyone must follow the law
6. Checks and balances or separation of powers
7. Congress
8. Because of the state’s population
9. The speaker of the House (John Boehner)
10. The president
11. Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of State, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Attorney General, Vice President
12. Nine
13. John Roberts
14. To print money, declare war, create an army and make treaties
15. Provide schooling and education, protection (police), safety (fire departments), give a driver’s license, approve zoning and land use
16. Serve on a jury or vote in a federal election
17. The United States or the flag
18. Vote, join a political party, help with a campaign, join a civic group, join a community group, give an elected official your opinion on an issue, call senators and representatives, publicly support or oppose an issue or policy, run for office or write to a newspaper
19. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia
20. The Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution.
21. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay
22. U.S. diplomat, oldest member of the Constitutional Convention, first postmaster general of the United States, writer of Poor Richard’s Almanac, started the first free libraries
23. Louisiana
24. Woodrow Wilson
25. World War II