Questions about the Constitution are included in a test non-citizens must pass to obtain citizenship. Many who have passed the test will be naturalized in Constitution Day ceremonies on the anniversary of the Sept. 17, 1787, signing of the document. (Shutterstock),
ACROSS AMERICA — Before they’re granted citizenship, immigrants must pass a test on U.S. history and civics knowledge, including the founding tenets of its government and the governing Constitution, signed 237 years ago on Sept. 17.
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Hundreds of naturalization ceremonies are held across the country every year on Constitution Day, which celebrates the signing Sept. 17, 1787, signing of the document drafted in secret by delegates to the Constitutional Convention, convened in May of that year in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall.
The founding principle behind the Constitution was to create a government with enough power to act on a federal level, but without the power to threaten or deny the fundamental rights it guarantees. Before they take the oath of citizenship, new Americans must score at least 60 percent on a 100-question test of their knowledge on topics including the Constitution and its guarantees, other founding documents, how the U.S. system of government works and the nation’s history.
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About 88 percent of immigrants pass the citizenship test on the first try and 97.5 percent pass it on a re-exam, according to U.S. Citizenship and Naturalization Services.
Can you pass the same test? Various surveys have suggested only about a third of Americans could.
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One, a 2023 survey by Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, showed 1 in 6 Americans could not name any of the three branches of government, and only 1 in 20 could name all five freedoms protected by the First Amendment, a finding the center’s director said was a “worrisome” sign that Americans don’t have the understanding they need to hold government accountable.
Answer These 20 Questions
Without Googling, test your knowledge with these 20 sample questions from the citizenship test (some may have multiple answers):
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1. What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?
2. Why do some states have more representatives than other states?
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3. If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
4. What is the “rule of law?”
5. What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?
6. Name one right only for United States citizens.
7. What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen?
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8. What is one reason colonists came to America?
9. Why did the colonists fight the British?
10. What did the Declaration of Independence do?
11. Name one problem that led to the American Civil War.
12. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
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13. What did Susan B. Anthony do?
14. Who did the United States fight in World War II?
15. Before he was president, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?
16. What did Martin Luther King Jr. do?
17. Name one American Indian tribe in the United States?
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18. Name one U.S. territory.
19. Why does the U.S. flag have 13 stripes?
20. Why does the U.S. Flag have 50 stars?
How did you do? Check your answers.
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