Practice test 2

Correct answer: Soviet Union

The Soviet Union was the main rival during the Cold War, a decades-long standoff that stopped short of direct war between the two.

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Correct answer: President (of the United States)

The executive branch is more than the president: it includes the Cabinet and the federal departments and agencies that carry out the law day to day.

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Correct answer: Equality

Both documents rest on the same ideas: people are equal and free, government exists by their consent, and its powers are limited.

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Correct answer: Citizens from their (congressional) district

Voters living in the district elect their representative. Nobody outside the district gets a say.

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Correct answer: Give up loyalty to other countries

New citizens promise to give up loyalty to other countries, to defend the Constitution and obey U.S. law, and to serve the nation if called upon.

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Correct answer: (Because of) the 22nd Amendment

The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, limits a president to two elected terms. The rule was written into the Constitution after Franklin Roosevelt won four.

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Correct answer: General during World War II

Dwight Eisenhower commanded Allied forces in Europe in World War II, became the 34th president, and signed the 1956 law that created the interstate highway system.

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Correct answer: Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Lucretia Mott and Lucy Stone all led the fight for women's rights.

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Correct answer: A holiday to honor soldiers who died in military service

Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, honors the men and women who died serving in the military.

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Correct answer: Declaration of Independence

That phrase is from the Declaration of Independence, where Jefferson names life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as rights nobody grants and nobody may remove.

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Correct answer: Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. is the capital. It sits in a federal district that belongs to no state, by design.

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Correct answer: New Year's Day

Federal holidays include New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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Correct answer: Equal representation (for small states)

The Great Compromise of 1787 settled the fight between large and small states: equal representation in the Senate, representation by population in the House.

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Correct answer: 14th Amendment

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, made people born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction citizens, and guaranteed them equal protection of the laws. It was written after the Civil War to secure citizenship for formerly enslaved people.

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Correct answer: The President (of the United States)

Only the president can veto a bill. A vetoed bill goes back to Congress, which can still make it law by overriding the veto with a two-thirds vote in both chambers.

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Correct answer: (It states that the) powers not given to the federal government belong to the states or to the people.

The 10th Amendment reserves every power not given to the federal government, and not denied to the states, for the states or the people.

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Correct answer: Africans

Africans were captured, transported across the Atlantic and sold as slaves, mostly to work on plantations in the South.

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Correct answer: (James) Madison

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers, publishing them under the shared pen name Publius.

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Correct answer: Founded the first free public libraries

Benjamin Franklin founded the first free public library, served as the first Postmaster General, helped write the Declaration, and was an inventor and diplomat.

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Correct answer: New Hampshire

The original thirteen states were the former colonies along the Atlantic coast, from New Hampshire in the north to Georgia in the south.

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