More states are requiring high school graduates to know at least as much about U.S. founding documents as immigrants passing the citizenship test. Can you ace it?
An applicant must correctly answer six of 10 questions, selected from 100 possible questions, to pass the civics portion. A sample test, with the answers at the bottom:
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QUESTIONS
1. What does the Constitution do?
2. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?
3. What is an amendment?
4. What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution?
5. How many amendments does the Constitution have?
6. What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?
7. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?
8. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the Constitution. Name one of the writers.
9. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.
10. What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?
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ANSWERS
1. Sets up the government, defines the government and protects basic rights of Americans
2. We the People
3. A change or an addition to the Constitution
4. The Bill of Rights
5. 27
6. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness
7. To print money, to declare war, to create an army or to make treaties
8. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay (under the collective pseudonym Publius)
9. Citizens 18 and older can vote; you don’t have to pay to vote; any citizen can vote, a male citizen of any race can vote
10. Speech, religion, assembly, press, petition the government
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SOURCE: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
The Associated Press
