Arkansas Civics Exam Study Guide

Principles of American Democracy

1. What is the supreme law of the land?

Answer: The Constitution

2. What does the Constitution do?

Answer: Set up and define the government and protect the basic rights of Americans

3. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are

these words?

Answer: We the People

4. What is an amendment?

Answer: A change or addition to the Constitution

5. What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?

Answer: The Bill of Rights

6. Which of the following are rights or freedoms from the First Amendment? [Mark all that

apply.]

Answers:

● Speech

● Religion

● Assembly

● Press

● Petition the government

7. How many amendments does the Constitution have?

Answer: 27

8. What did the Declaration of Independence do?

Answer: Declare our independence from Great Britain

9. What are the rights declared in the Declaration of Independence? [Mark all that apply.]

Answers:

● Life

● Liberty

● Pursuit of happiness

10. What is freedom of religion?

Answer: A person can practice any religion, or no religion

11. What is the economic system in the United States?

Answer: A capitalist (or market) economy

12. What is the “rule of law”?

Answer: The idea that everyone, including leaders, must obey the law

System of Government

13. Which of the following are branches of the government? [Mark all that apply.]

Answers:

● Legislative

● Executive

● Judicial

14. What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?

Answer: Checks and balances

15. Who is in charge of the executive branch?

Answer: The President

16. Who makes federal laws?

Answer: Congress

17. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress? [Mark all that apply.]

Answers:

● The Senate

● The House of Representatives

18. How many U.S. Senators are there?

Answer: 100

19. We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?

Answer: 6

20. Who is one of your state’s U.S. Senators now?

Possible Answers:

● Tom Cotton

● John Boozman

21. The House of Representatives has how many voting members?

Answer: 435

22. We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years?

Answer: 2

23. Select one U.S. Representative from Arkansas.

Possible Answers:

● Steve Womack

● French Hill

● Rick Crawford

● Bruce Westerman

24. Who does a U.S. Senator represent?

Answer: All the people of the state he or she is elected from

25. Why do some states have more Representatives than other states?

Answer: Because some states have more people than other states

26. We elect a President for how many years?

Answer: 4

27. In what month do we vote for President?

Answer: November

28. What is the name of the President of the United States now?

Answer: Joe Biden

29. What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?

Answer: Kamala Harris

30. If the President can no longer serve, who becomes President?

Answer: The Vice President

31. If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes

President?

Answer: The Speaker of the House

32. Who is the Commander in Chief of the military?

Answer: The President

33. Who signs bills to become laws?

Answer: The President

34. Who vetoes bills?

Answer: The President

35. What does the President’s Cabinet do?

Answer: Advise the President

36. What are two Cabinet-level positions?

Possible Answers:

● Secretary of Education

● Attorney General

37. What does the judicial branch do? [Mark all that apply.]

Answers:

● Review laws

● Resolve disputes

● Decide if a law goes against the Constitution

38. What is the highest court in the United States?

Answer: The Supreme Court

39. How many justices are on the Supreme Court?

Answer: 9

40. Who is the Chief Justice of the United States now?

Answer: John Roberts

41. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one

power of the federal government?

Possible Answers:

● To print money

● To declare war

● To create an army

● To make treaties

42. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the

states?

Possible Answers:

● To provide schooling and education

● To provide safety and protection (i.e., fire and police)

● To give a driver’s license

● To approve zoning and land use

43. Who is the Governor of your state now?

Answer: Asa Hutchinson

44. What is the capital of your state?

Answer: Little Rock

45. What are the two major political parties in the United States?Answers:

● Democratic

● Republican

46. What is the political party of the President now?

Answer: Democrat

47. What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives

now?Answer: Nancy Pelosi

Rights and Responsibilities

48. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Which of the

following statements about voting rights is not correct?

Possible Answer: Anyone who has lived here for at least 18 years can vote.

49. What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?

Possible Answer: Serve on a jury

50. Name one right only for United States citizens.

Possible Answer: Vote in a federal election

51. What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?

Possible Answers:

● Freedom of religion

● Freedom to petition the government

52. What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?

Answer: The flag (representing the United States)

53. What is not a promise that you make when you become a United States citizen?

Possible Answer: To speak only English

54. How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?

Answer: 18

55. What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?

Possible Answers:

● Vote

● Help with a campaign

56. When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms?

Answer: April 15

57. When must all men register for the Selective Service?

Answer: At age 18

American History: Colonial Period and Independence

58. What is not a reason colonists came to America?

Possible Answer: Better retirement benefits

59. Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?

Answer: Native Americans/American Indians

60. What group of people was taken to America and sold as slaves?

Answer: Africans

61. Which is not a reason the colonists fought the British?

Possible Answer: Because of restricted access to the Mississippi River

62. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

63. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?

Answer: July 4, 1776

64. There were 13 original states. Name three.

Possible Answers:

● Massachusetts

● New York

● Virginia

65. What happened at the Constitutional Convention?

Answer: The Constitution was written.

66. When was the Constitution written?

Answer: 1787

67. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the

writers.

Possible Answers:

● James Madison

● Alexander Hamilton

● John Jay

68. What is not something Benjamin Franklin is famous for?

Possible Answer: Saying “Give me liberty or give me death.”

69. Who is the “Father of Our Country”?

Answer: George Washington

70. Who was the first President?

Answer: George Washington

American History: 1800s

71. What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?

Answer: The Louisiana Territory

72. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.

Possible Answer: The Civil War

73. Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.

Answer: The Civil War

74. Which was not a factor leading to the Civil War?

Possible Answer: Environmental concerns

75. Which of the following is not an important thing that Abraham Lincoln did?

Possible Answer: Fought in the Revolutionary War

76. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

Answer: Freed the slaves in the Confederate states

77. What did Susan B. Anthony do?

Answer: Fought for women’s rights

Recent American History and Other Important Historical Information

78. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.

Possible Answer: World War II

79. Who was President during World War I?

Answer: Woodrow Wilson

80. Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?

Answer: Franklin Roosevelt

81. Who did the United States fight in World War II? [Mark all that apply.]

Answers:

● Japan

● Germany

82. Before he was President, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?

Answer: World War II

83. During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?

Answer: Communism and the Soviet Union

84. What movement tried to end racial discrimination?

Answer: Civil rights movement

85. What did Martin Luther King, Jr. do?

Answer: Fight for civil rights

86. What major event happened on September 11, 2001?

Answer: Terrorists attacked the United States

87. Which of the following is an American Indian tribe in the United States?

Possible Answer: Navajo

Geography

88. What is the longest river in the United States?

Answer: Mississippi

89. What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?

Answer: Pacific Ocean

90. What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?

Answer: Atlantic Ocean

91. Which of the following is not a U.S. territory?

Possible Answer: Great Britain

92. Which of the following states does not border Canada?

Possible Answer: Kansas

93. Which of the following states does not border Mexico?

Possible Answer: Florida

94. What is the capital of the United States?

Answer: Washington, D.C.

95. Where is the Statue of Liberty?

Answer: New York

Symbols

96. Why does the flag have 13 stripes?

Answer: Because there were 13 original colonies

97. Why does the flag have 50 stars?

Answer: Because there is one star for each state.

98. What is the name of the national anthem?

Answer: The Star-Spangled Banner

Holidays

99. When do we celebrate Independence Day?

Answer: July 4

100. Which of the following is not a U.S. holiday?

Possible Answer: Halloween