Civics Questions

Showing 128 questions for Washington

  • Republic
  • Constitution-based federal republic
  • Representative democracy

Principles of American Government

What is the form of government of the United States?
1
  • (The) Constitution

Principles of American Government

What is the supreme law of the land?
2
  • Forms the government
  • Defines powers of government
  • Defines the parts of government
  • Protects the basic rights of Americans

Principles of American Government

Name one thing the U.S. Constitution does.
3
  • Self-government
  • Popular sovereignty
  • Consent of the governed
  • People should govern themselves
  • (Example of) social contract

Principles of American Government

The U.S. Constitution starts with the words “We the People.” What does “We the People” mean?
4
  • Amendments
  • The amendment process

Principles of American Government

How are changes made to the U.S. Constitution?
5
  • (The) basic rights of Americans
  • (The) basic rights of people living in the United States

Principles of American Government

What does the Bill of Rights protect?
6
  • 27

Principles of American Government

How many amendments does the U.S. Constitution have?
7
  • It says America is free from British control.
  • It says all people are created equal.
  • It identifies inherent rights.
  • It identifies individual freedoms.

Principles of American Government

Why is the Declaration of Independence important?
8
  • Declaration of Independence

Principles of American Government

What founding document said the American colonies were free from Great Britain?
9
  • Equality
  • Liberty
  • Social contract
  • Natural rights
  • Limited government
  • Self-government

Principles of American Government

Name two important ideas from the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
10
  • Declaration of Independence

Principles of American Government

The words “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” are in what document?
11
  • Capitalism
  • Free market economy

Principles of American Government

What is the economic system of the United States?
12
  • Everyone must follow the law.
  • Leaders must obey the law.
  • Government must obey the law.
  • No one is above the law.

Principles of American Government

What is the rule of law?
13
  • Declaration of Independence
  • Articles of Confederation
  • Federalist Papers
  • Anti-Federalist Papers
  • Virginia Declaration of Rights
  • Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
  • Mayflower Compact
  • Iroquois Great Law of Peace

Principles of American Government

Many documents influenced the U.S. Constitution. Name one.
14
  • So one part does not become too powerful
  • Checks and balances
  • Separation of powers

Principles of American Government

There are three branches of government. Why?
15
  • Legislative, executive, and judicial
  • Congress, president, and the courts

System of Government

Name the three branches of government.
16
  • Executive branch

System of Government

The President of the United States is in charge of which branch of government?
17
  • (U.S.) Congress
  • (U.S. or national) legislature
  • Legislative branch

System of Government

What part of the federal government writes laws?
18
  • Senate and House of Representatives

System of Government

What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
19
  • Writes laws
  • Declares war
  • Makes the federal budget

System of Government

Name one power of the U.S. Congress.
20
  • 100

System of Government

How many U.S. senators are there?
21
  • 6 years

System of Government

How long is a term for a U.S. senator?
22
  • Maria Cantwell
  • Patty Murray

System of Government

Who is one of your state’s U.S. senators now?
23
  • 435

System of Government

How many voting members are in the House of Representatives?
24
  • 2 years

System of Government

How long is a term for a member of the House of Representatives?
25
  • To more closely follow public opinion

System of Government

Why do U.S. representatives serve shorter terms than U.S. senators?
26
  • 2

System of Government

How many senators does each state have?
27
  • Equal representation (for small states)
  • The Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise)

System of Government

Why does each state have two senators?
28
  • Rick Larsen
  • Adam Smith
  • Suzan K. DelBene
  • Dan Newhouse
  • Pramila Jayapal

System of Government

Name your U.S. representative.
29
  • Mike Johnson
  • Johnson
  • James Michael Johnson (birth name)

System of Government

What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?
30
  • Citizens of their state
  • All people of the state

System of Government

Who does a U.S. senator represent?
31
  • Citizens from their state

System of Government

Who elects U.S. senators?
32
  • Citizens in their (congressional) district
  • All people in their (congressional) district

System of Government

Who does a member of the House of Representatives represent?
33
  • Citizens from their (congressional) district

System of Government

Who elects members of the House of Representatives?
34
  • Because of the state’s population
  • Because they have more people
  • Because some states have more people

System of Government

Some states have more representatives than other states. Why?
35
  • 4 years

System of Government

The President of the United States is elected for how many years?
36
  • 2 terms

System of Government

The President of the United States can be elected to how many full terms?
37
  • Donald J. Trump
  • Donald Trump
  • Trump

System of Government

What is the name of the President of the United States now?
38
  • JD Vance
  • Vance

System of Government

What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?
39
  • The Vice President

System of Government

If the President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
40
  • The Speaker of the House

System of Government

If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
41
  • The President

System of Government

Who is the Commander in Chief of the U.S. military?
42
  • The President

System of Government

Who signs bills to become laws?
43
  • The President

System of Government

Who vetoes bills?
44
  • The President

System of Government

Who appoints federal judges?
45
  • President
  • Vice President
  • Cabinet
  • Federal departments and agencies

System of Government

The executive branch has many parts. Name one.
46
  • Advises the President

System of Government

What does the President’s Cabinet do?
47
  • Attorney General
  • Secretary of Agriculture
  • Secretary of Commerce
  • Secretary of Defense
  • Secretary of Education
  • Secretary of Energy
  • Secretary of Health and Human Services
  • Secretary of Homeland Security
  • Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
  • Secretary of the Interior
  • Secretary of Labor
  • Secretary of State
  • Secretary of Transportation
  • Secretary of the Treasury
  • Secretary of Veterans Affairs
  • Vice-President

System of Government

What are two Cabinet-level positions?
48
  • It decides who is elected President.
  • It provides a compromise between the popular election of the President and congressional selection.

System of Government

Why is the Electoral College important?
49
  • Supreme Court
  • Federal Courts

System of Government

What is one part of the judicial branch?
50
  • Reviews laws
  • Explains laws
  • Resolves disputes (disagreements)
  • Decides if a law goes against the Constitution

System of Government

What does the judicial branch do?
51
  • Supreme Court

System of Government

What is the highest court in the United States?
52
  • 9

System of Government

How many seats are on the Supreme Court?
53
  • 5

System of Government

How many Supreme Court justices are usually needed to decide a case?
54
  • For life
  • Lifetime appointment
  • Until retirement

System of Government

How long do Supreme Court justices serve?
55
  • To be independent (of politics)
  • To limit outside (political) influence

System of Government

Supreme Court justices serve for life. Why?
56
  • John Roberts
  • John G. Roberts, Jr.
  • Roberts

System of Government

Who is the Chief Justice of the United States now?
57
  • Print money
  • Mint coins
  • Declare war
  • Create an army
  • Make treaties
  • Set foreign policy

System of Government

Name one power that is only for the federal government.
58
  • Provide schooling and education
  • Provide protection (police)
  • Provide safety (fire departments)
  • Give a driver’s license
  • Approve zoning and land use

System of Government

Name one power that is only for the states.
59
  • It says that the powers not given to the federal government belong to the states or to the people.

System of Government

What is the purpose of the 10th Amendment?
60
  • Bob Ferguson

System of Government

Who is the Governor of your state now?
61
  • Olympia

System of Government

What is the capital of your state?
62
  • Citizens 18 and older (can vote).
  • You don’t have to pay (a poll tax) to vote.
  • Any citizen can vote. (Women and men can vote).
  • A male citizen of any race (can vote).

Rights and Responsibilities

There are four amendments to the U.S. Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.
63
  • Citizens
  • United States citizens
  • U.S. citizens

Rights and Responsibilities

Who can vote in federal elections, run for federal office, and serve on a jury in the United States?
64
  • Freedom of expression
  • Freedom of speech
  • Freedom of assembly
  • Freedom to petition the government
  • Freedom of religion
  • The right to bear arms

Rights and Responsibilities

What are three rights of everyone living in the United States?
65
  • The United States
  • The flag

Rights and Responsibilities

What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?
66
  • Give up loyalty to other countries
  • Defend the Constitution and laws of the United States
  • Obey the laws of the United States
  • Serve in the U.S. military (if needed)
  • Serve (do important work for) the nation (if needed)
  • Be loyal to the United States

Rights and Responsibilities

Name two promises that new citizens make in the Oath of Allegiance.
67
  • Naturalize
  • Derive citizenship
  • Be born in the United States

Rights and Responsibilities

How can people become United States citizens?
68
  • Vote
  • Run for office
  • 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)
  • Contact elected officials
  • Write to a newspaper
  • Publicly support or oppose an issue or policy

Rights and Responsibilities

What are two examples of civic participation in the United States?
69
  • Vote
  • Pay taxes
  • Obey the law
  • Serve in the military
  • Run for office
  • Work for local, state, or federal government

Rights and Responsibilities

What is one way Americans can serve their country?
70
  • Required by law
  • All people pay to fund the federal government
  • Required by the (16th Amendment) Constitution
  • Civic duty

Rights and Responsibilities

Why is it important to pay federal taxes?
71
  • Required by law
  • Civic duty
  • Makes the draft possible, if needed

Rights and Responsibilities

It is important for all men age 18 through 25 to register for the Selective Service. Name one reason why.
72
  • Freedom
  • Political liberty
  • Religious freedom
  • Economic opportunity
  • Escape persecution

Colonial Period and Independence

The colonists came to America for many reasons. Name one.
73
  • American Indians
  • Native Americans

Colonial Period and Independence

Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?
74
  • Africans
  • People from Africa

Colonial Period and Independence

What group of people was taken to the Gulf Coast or East Coast of America and sold as slaves?
75
  • American Revolution
  • The Revolutionary War

Colonial Period and Independence

What war did the Americans fight to win independence from Great Britain?
76
  • High taxes
  • Taxation without representation
  • British army stayed in their houses (boarding, quartering)
  • They didn't have self-government
  • Boston Massacre
  • Boston Tea Party (Tea Act)
  • Stamp Act
  • Sugar Act
  • Townshend Acts
  • Intolerable (Coercive) Acts

Colonial Period and Independence

Name one reason why the Americans declared independence from Great Britain.
77
  • Thomas Jefferson

Colonial Period and Independence

Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
78
  • July 4, 1776

Colonial Period and Independence

When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
79
  • Battle of Bunker Hill
  • Declaration of Independence
  • Washington Crossing the Delaware (Battle of Trenton)
  • Battle of Saratoga
  • Valley Forge (Winter Encampment)
  • Battle of Yorktown (British surrender at Yorktown)

Colonial Period and Independence

The American Revolution had many important events. Name one.
80
  • New Hampshire
  • Massachusetts
  • Rhode Island
  • Connecticut
  • New York
  • New Jersey
  • Pennsylvania
  • Delaware
  • Maryland
  • Virginia
  • North Carolina
  • South Carolina
  • Georgia

Colonial Period and Independence

There were 13 original states. Name five.
81
  • U.S. Constitution

Colonial Period and Independence

What founding document was written in 1787?
82
  • (James) Madison
  • (Alexander) Hamilton
  • (John) Jay
  • Publius

Colonial Period and Independence

The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.
83
  • They helped people understand the Constitution.
  • They supported passing the U.S. Constitution.

Colonial Period and Independence

Why were the Federalist Papers important?
84
  • First Postmaster General of the United States
  • U.S. diplomat
  • Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention
  • Author of "Poor Richard’s Almanack"
  • Started the first free libraries
  • Scientist / Inventor

Colonial Period and Independence

Benjamin Franklin is famous for many things. Name one.
85
  • “Father of Our Country”
  • First President of the United States
  • General of the Continental Army
  • President of the Constitutional Convention

Colonial Period and Independence

George Washington is famous for many things. Name one.
86
  • Writer of the Declaration of Independence
  • Third President of the United States
  • Doubled the size of the United States (Louisiana Purchase)
  • First Secretary of State
  • Founded the University of Virginia
  • Author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

Colonial Period and Independence

Thomas Jefferson is famous for many things. Name one.
87
  • “Father of the Constitution”
  • Fourth President of the United States
  • President during the War of 1812
  • One of the writers of the Federalist Papers

Colonial Period and Independence

James Madison is famous for many things. Name one.
88
  • First Secretary of the Treasury
  • One of the writers of the Federalist Papers
  • Helped establish the First Bank of the United States
  • Aide to General George Washington
  • Member of the Continental Congress

Colonial Period and Independence

Alexander Hamilton is famous for many things. Name one.
89
  • Louisiana Territory
  • Louisiana

1800s

What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?
90
  • War of 1812
  • Mexican-American War
  • Civil War
  • Spanish-American War

1800s

Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.
91
  • The Civil War

1800s

Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.
92
  • Battle of Fort Sumter
  • Emancipation Proclamation
  • Battle of Vicksburg
  • Battle of Gettysburg
  • Sherman’s March
  • Surrender at Appomattox
  • Battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg
  • Lincoln was assassinated

1800s

The Civil War had many important events. Name one.
93
  • Freed the slaves (Emancipation Proclamation)
  • Saved (or preserved) the Union
  • Led the United States during the Civil War
  • 16th President of the United States
  • Delivered the Gettysburg Address

1800s

Abraham Lincoln is famous for many things. Name one.
94
  • Freed the slaves
  • Freed slaves in the Confederacy
  • Freed slaves in the Confederate states
  • Freed slaves in most Southern states

1800s

What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
95
  • The Civil War

1800s

What U.S. war ended slavery?
96
  • 14th Amendment

1800s

What amendment gives citizenship to all persons born in the United States?
97
  • After the Civil War
  • During Reconstruction
  • With the 15th Amendment
  • 1870

1800s

When did all men get the right to vote?
98
  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton
  • Susan B. Anthony
  • Sojourner Truth
  • Harriet Tubman
  • Lucretia Mott
  • Lucy Stone

1800s

Name one female leader of the women’s rights movement in the 1800s.
99
  • World War I
  • World War II
  • Korean War
  • Vietnam War
  • (Persian) Gulf War

Recent American History

Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.
100
  • Because Germany sank U.S. ships
  • To support the Allied Powers (England, France, Italy, and Russia)
  • To make the world safe for democracy

Recent American History

Why did the United States enter World War I?
101
  • 1920
  • After World War I
  • With the 19th Amendment

Recent American History

When did all women get the right to vote?
102
  • Longest economic recession in modern history

Recent American History

What was the Great Depression?
103
  • The Stock Market Crash of 1929
  • Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929)

Recent American History

When did the Great Depression start?
104
  • (Franklin) Roosevelt

Recent American History

Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?
105
  • (Bombing of) Pearl Harbor
  • Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
  • To support the Allied Powers (England, France, and Russia)
  • To fight fascism and nazism

Recent American History

Why did the United States enter World War II?
106
  • General during World War II
  • President at the end of the Korean War
  • 34th President of the United States
  • Signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 (Interstate Highway System)

Recent American History

Dwight Eisenhower is famous for many things. Name one.
107
  • Soviet Union
  • USSR
  • Russia

Recent American History

Who was the United States’ main rival during the Cold War?
108
  • Communism
  • Nuclear war

Recent American History

During the Cold War, what was one main concern of the United States?
109
  • To stop the spread of communism

Recent American History

Why did the United States enter the Korean War?
110
  • To stop the spread of communism

Recent American History

Why did the United States enter the Vietnam War?
111
  • Fought to end racial discrimination

Recent American History

What did the civil rights movement do?
112
  • Fought for civil rights
  • Worked for equality for all Americans
  • Worked to ensure that people would “not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”

Recent American History

Martin Luther King, Jr. is famous for many things. Name one.
113
  • To force the Iraqi military from Kuwait

Recent American History

Why did the United States enter the Persian Gulf War?
114
  • Terrorists attacked the United States
  • Terrorists hijacked two planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York City
  • Terrorists hijacked a plane and crashed it into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia
  • Terrorists hijacked a plane originally aimed at Washington, D.C., and crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania

Recent American History

What major event happened on September 11, 2001, in the United States?
115
  • Global War on Terror
  • War in Afghanistan
  • War in Iraq

Recent American History

Name one U.S. military conflict after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
116
  • Apache
  • Blackfeet
  • Cayuga
  • Cherokee
  • Cheyenne
  • Chickasaw
  • Choctaw
  • Comanche
  • Crow
  • Hopi
  • Huron
  • Iroquois
  • Lakota
  • Mohawk
  • Mohegan
  • Navajo
  • Oneida
  • Onondaga
  • Ottawa
  • Pawnee
  • Pueblo
  • Seminole
  • Seneca
  • Shawnee
  • Sioux
  • Teton
  • Tuscarora

Recent American History

Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.
117
  • Light bulb
  • Automobile (cars, Bessemer process)
  • Skyscrapers
  • Airplane
  • Assembly line
  • Landing on the moon
  • Integrated circuit (IC)

Recent American History

Name one example of an American innovation.
118
  • Washington, D.C.

Symbols

What is the capital of the United States?
119
  • New York (Harbor)
  • Liberty Island

Symbols

Where is the Statue of Liberty?
120
  • Because there were 13 original colonies
  • Because the stripes represent the original colonies

Symbols

Why does the flag have 13 stripes?
121
  • Because there is one star for each state
  • Because each star represents a state
  • Because there are 50 states

Symbols

Why does the flag have 50 stars?
122
  • The Star-Spangled Banner

Symbols

What is the name of the national anthem?
123
  • Out of many, one
  • We all become one

Symbols

The Nation’s first motto was “E Pluribus Unum.” What does that mean?
124
  • A holiday to celebrate U.S. independence (from Britain)
  • The country’s birthday

Holidays

What is Independence Day?
125
  • New Year’s Day
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
  • Presidents’ Day (Washington’s Birthday)
  • Memorial Day
  • Independence Day
  • Labor Day
  • Columbus Day
  • Veterans Day
  • Thanksgiving Day
  • Christmas Day

Holidays

Name three national U.S. holidays.
126
  • A holiday to honor soldiers who died in military service

Holidays

What is Memorial Day?
127
  • A holiday to honor people in the (U.S.) military
  • A holiday to honor people who have served in the (U.S.) military

Holidays

What is Veterans Day?
128