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While many of us will mark our patriotism today with barbecues and fireworks, thousands of others are waiting to be allowed to call themselves United States citizens.
Before that can happen, they must demonstrate their knowledge of American history and government in a test administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services department.
Out of 100 possible test questions, applicants for citizenship are asked 10. They must answer at least six correctly.
Before you gaze misty-eyed at the flag today, see how many you can get, from these test questions on the Immigration Services Web site:
1. What is the supreme law of the land?
2. What does the Constitution do?
3. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?
4. What is an amendment?
5. What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution?
6. What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?
7. How many amendments does the Constitution have?
8. What did the Declaration of Independence do?
9. What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?
10. What is freedom of religion?
11. What is the economic system in the United States?
12. What is the “rule of law”?
13. Name one branch or part of the government.
14. What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?
15. Who is in charge of the executive branch?
16. Who makes federal laws?
17. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
18. How many U.S. senators are there?
19. We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?
20. Who is one of your state’s U.S. senators now?
21. The House of Representatives has how many voting members?
22. We elect a U.S. representative for how many years?
23. Name your U.S. representative.
24. Who does a U.S. senator represent?
25. Why do some states have more representatives than other states?
26. We elect a president for how many years?
27. In what month do we vote for president?
28. What is the name of the president of the United States now?
29. What is the name of the vice president of the United States now?
30. If the president can no longer serve, who becomes president?
31. If both the president and the vice president can no longer serve, who becomes president?
32. Who is the commander in chief of the military?
33. Who signs bills to become laws?
34. Who vetoes bills?
35. What does the president’s Cabinet do?
36. What are two Cabinet-level positions?
37. What does the judicial branch do?
38. What is the highest court in the United States?
39. How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
40. Who is the chief justice of the United States now?
41. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?
42. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states?
43. Who is the governor of your state now?
44. What is the capital of your state?
45. What are the two major political parties in the United States?
46. What is the political party of the president now?
47. What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?
48. Describe one of the amendments to the Constitution about who can vote.
49. What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?
50. Name one right only for United States citizens.
51. What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?
52. What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?
53. What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen?
54. How old do citizens have to be to vote for president?
55. What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?
56. When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms?
57. When must all men register for the Selective Service?
58. What is one reason colonists came to America?
59. Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?
60. What group of people was taken to America and sold as slaves?
61. Why did the colonists fight the British?
62. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
63. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
64. There were 13 original states. Name three.
65. What happened at the Constitutional Convention?
66. When was the Constitution written?
67. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.
68. What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?
69. Who is the “Father of Our Country”?
70. Who was the first president?
71. What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?
72. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.
73. Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.
74. Name one problem that led to the Civil War.
75. What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did?
76. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
77. What did Susan B. Anthony do?
78. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.
79. Who was president during World War I?
80. Who was president during the Great Depression and World War II?
81. Who did the United States fight in World War II?
82. Before he was president, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?
83. During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?
84. What movement tried to end racial discrimination?
85. What did Martin Luther King Jr. do?
86. What major event happened on Sept. 11, 2001, in the United States?
87. Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.
88. Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.
89. What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?
90. What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?
91. Name one U.S. territory.
92. Name one state that borders Canada.
93. Name one state that borders Mexico.
94. What is the capital of the United States?
95. Where is the Statue of Liberty?
96. Why does the flag have 13 stripes?
97. Why does the flag have 50 stars?
98. What is the name of the national anthem?
99. When do we celebrate Independence Day?
100. Name two national holidays.
Give up? Here are the answers
Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, www.uscis.gov
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Not Trivial
These things are not what would be called trivia.
Question 55
What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?
The answer is that The U.S. isn't a democracy. It is a representative REPUBLIC. It is governed by the rule of law and not majority rule. You keep telling the same lie over and over again, it is believed to be the truth.
I also agree with Samuel on question 76. How politically incorrect of you Samuel!
Question 76
I realize this will probably ruffle some feathers, but the answer for question 76 (What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?) is wrong. The Proclamation did not free the slaves in the United States. It did not even free all the slaves in the Confederacy. It only "freed" the slaves in the sections of the Confederacy which were not under the control of the United States. This means that the slaves in most of Hampton Roads were still slaves until the end of the war and the passage of the thirteenth ammendment. It might also be of interest to know that Norfolk was a trading spot between the Union and Confederacy during the war, allowing the Union to buy goods like tobacco and food, while allowing Confederates to buy medicine, coffee, and on at least one occasion, slaves.