Do you have a child taking American History? Perhaps, it has been a while since you or your employees, sat in such a class in school.
If so, I invite you, your child, or your employees, to take this brief Constitutional quiz. It is a good test of your knowledge of the laws that govern this nation, and equally important, of your child's education.
Should you find yourself a bit rusty, NHCCS would like you to know that they offer a one-day seminar on the American Founding called The Making of America. This course covers the period starting in 1400 B.C. to the present time.
Now try taking the quiz. It consists of fifteen rather basic questions and only you will know how you do. HINT: You see the answers are given on the next page.
NHCCS CONSTITUTIONAL QUIZ
1. What document established the United States of America?
2. What document did the Constitution replace?
3. In what year was the Constitution debated?
4. What form of government did the Constitution set up for America?
5. New Hampshire was the __th state to ratify the Constitution with __________________ and _______________signing as New Hampshire's Founding Fathers.
6. What aspects of the government do the first three Articles of the U.S. Constitution cover?
7. What is the Bill of Rights?
8. What is the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution?
9. What is the practice of judicial review?
10. What Article of the constitution authorizes Presidential executive orders?
11. What Article of the Constitution authorizes federal education programs?
12. What is the Interstate Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution? What was its original intent?
13. What is the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution?
14. How many signers in all to the U.S. Constitution?
15. How many signers to the Declaration of Independence? Can you name New Hampshire's?
For more information on our one-day course, please call 603-679-1320. We would happy to answer any questions you may have regarding the instruction, and/or to discuss the possibilities of having The Making of America course be delivered in your general area.
QUIZ ANSWERS
1. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, signed by John Hancock on July 4, 1776 and signed by the congress on August 4, 1776.
2. The U.S. Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation, which were the original agreements made between the states after they had won their independence from England in 1784. Originally, the Constitutional Convention, called in 1787 and during which the Constitution was drafted, was only supposed to have been a meeting to revise the Articles of Confederation. In fact, through a great deal of political intrigue, an entirely new document was written, and this is what we now know as the United States Constitution.
3. In 1787, starting in May and lasting until September 17, 1787. For four long arduous months, in the heat of the summer, they debated at Independence Hall, in Philadelphia PA. Hammering out what is now considered the most perfect political document in the history of the world.
4. The Constitution set up a Constitutional Republic. This established a republican form of government, which guarantees individual rights to a minority of one! Article IV Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution also guarantees that each State joining the Union will provide a republican form of government. Many people think that America is a democracy but it is not. The Framers loathed that form of government and said it could only be used to elect our representatives. After that task, ALL people would be ruled equally under the law and so in America we follow the RULE of LAW in running the government.
5. 9th State. Once NH signed; the Constitution was approved by the required 2/3 majority. Nicholas Gilman of Exeter and John Langdon of Portsmouth represented NH. Their names appear among the 39 Founding Fathers attached to the bottom of the Constitution.
6. The first three Articles cover, respectively, the Legislative branch, the Executive branch, and the Judicial branch. Each Article enumerates the boundaries of the Federal Government. Many people think that the purpose of the Constitution gives them their rights when, in fact, the Constitution merely protects the people's God given rights, as stated in The Declaration of Independence, from an over reaching central government. Since the people and the states had ALL the rights and ALL the authority and ALL the power to run their state and govern themselves, the Founding Fathers did not want to infringe on any authority the people were not willing to turn over to a central government. Hence, the Framers wrote the Constitution to read like a sort of job description. In this way, if the Constitution did not mention a specific grant of authority to the Federal government it was not to take it for itself. Each Article specifically lists the authority the people were willing to entrust to each branch of the government. The people effectively granted this authority, in convention, state by state, when the Constitution was signed into the Supreme law of the land.
7. The Bill of Rights is composed of the first TEN Amendments of the Constitution. These ten amendments were passed in the year following the adoption of the Constitution. Having suffered under a tyrannical king, many Americans were frightened of a central government and refused to sign the Constitution if a Bill of Rights explicitly stating certain basic rights, without limiting others they took as "inalienable," was not attached. George Washington convinced the people they should pass the Constitution and trust him to make certain a Bill of Rights was delivered as the next order of business. The people so loved and trusted the General that they went ahead and did just as he said. And, as President, George Washington kept his word to the people.
8. The first amendment to the Constitution guarantees that the Federal government can NEVER interfere in religion, freedom of speech and peaceable assembly. It states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free practice thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." It is very important that the people understand this amendment, as with the others, apply ONLY to the federal government.
9. The practice of judicial review is where the Supreme Court not only adjudicates cases brought to it by the people, through the appeal process as a result of decisions made at the lower levels of the judicial system, but also determines the "Constitutionality" of certain laws. The Supreme Court started doing this under John Marshall, Thomas Jefferson's cousin, back in the early 1800s. This encroachment upon the Congress infuriated Jefferson, as well as James Madison, the father of our Constitution. It happened in just one case called "Marbury vs. Madison." This case was heard by the Supreme Court with Chief Justice John Marshal writing the majority opinion. In writing the decision, Marshall established the precedent that the Supreme Court could not only decide the winner of a case, but could also determine if the law being applied was Constitutional. Since this "authority" was not expressly written into the Constitution (see Article III) Jefferson and others said the Supreme Court was not allowed to just take it for themselvs. It was the subject of great debate and since that time, numerous Supreme Court decisions have given greater and greater power to the Federal government. This has had a major impact on individual rights for with the Court asserting the right to interpret the "meaning" of the Constitution, in order for the Federal government to take more power for the other two branches, they only have to ensure that they appoint judges who favor a very strong central government. James Madison said that the Constitution must only be interpreted according to the context in which it was written and accepted in convention. We have already seen that the people did not want a Federal government that was too strong; that is why they insisted on a Bill of Rights!
10. None. The practice of Executive Orders was originally restricted to apply to a President's staff and department officers. They were administrative in nature and dealt only with internal executive branch operations. However, the scope and influence of Executive Orders has grown over the years. We know this is not acceptable because Article I of the Constitution states that all lawmaking authority rests with the Congress, the two branches consisting of the House and the Senate.
11. None. Although the Founding Fathers highly valued education and even had ideas on how and what it should consist of, they felt it was a better idea to entrust the educating of America's young to the states and to the children's parents.
12. The Interstate Commerce Clause is found in Article I Section 8 if the Constitution. It says, "…the Congress of the United States shall have the power to… Regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states…" In fact, commerce between the states was one of the reasons Madison, Washington, Franklin and the other founding fathers decided to write a Constitution. After fighting so hard with Britain for their independence, and so many lives being sacrificed to win their independence, it saddened Washington, who went through that war and knew the suffering his men endured, to see the bickering which had developed between the states over border tariffs. The remedy was to lift control of this and other issues like coinage of money to a central source in order to bring order to this young confederation. The clause was originally written to correct a flaw in the Articles of Confederation, a flaw that allowed each state to coin its own money and to establish tariffs against products coming from other states. The Founding Fathers recognized that the states were coining money at inflationary rates in order to pay their debts, and that the tariffs they were imposing on one another were counter-productive, destroying productivity, and suppressing job growth. In writing the clause, the Founding Fathers intended only to allow the congress to stop such harmful tariffs and trade laws, and to give the power to coin money solely to the Congress. The Founders intended the Congressional strictures over "interstate commerce" to apply to the states themselves, not to individual businesses within them. They did not intend on allowing the Congress the power to regulate private business in any way. Interestingly, this was one of the most contentious points debated during the convention; many states did not want to turn this authority over to the Federal government. This clause very nearly cost us the Constitution; the very idea of it was so despised by the delegates.
13. The second amendment provides for "a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." The Founding Fathers fought the revolution initially with the guns that the colonists kept and owned themselves. Had the people not had arms, we might not enjoy our freedom today. Not only does this amendment strictly forbid any government, be it State or Federal, from establishing any law infringing upon the right to keep and bear arms, it mentions the Militia. At the time of the writing of the Constitution, it was widely understood that the term Militia referred to every individual capable of bearing a firearm. The Militia was not understood under the current revisionist concept of the National Guard. It was understood to be a spontaneously generated body of free individuals living in the United States.
14. Out of the 13 states, 12 states appointed a total of 72 delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Only 55 actually showed up, as many States appropriated no money to cover travel, food and lodging expenses. Many could not afford to attend without financial help from their respective state, so they stayed at home. Of the 55 delegates who did attend, 39 actually signed the Constitution.
15. There are 56 Signers to the Declaration of Independence. The 56 men who signed this document committed "treason" in the eyes of the mother country England. The British Crown ordered their deaths; if caught, they would be hanged to unconsciousness, cut down and revived, disemboweled, quartered, their body parts burned in oil and scattered about. Knowing this could be their fate; these men pledged their lives, their honor and their fortunes that America might be free from the oppressive tyranny of King George III. These men so loved the thought of being a free nation, that they were willing to risk not only their lives, but their entire fortunes. Some of them did lose their lives and almost all lost their fortunes helping America to become an independent nation; but, none ever lost their sacred honor. They all became heroes to the cause of freedom. The New Hampshire Signers are: Matthew Thornton, Josiah Barlett and William Whipple.
American History 100 Facts TO STUDY FOR TAKS TEST
Important dates
1. Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement, was founded in 1607.
2. The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.
3. The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787.
4. President Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803.
5. The Civil War was fought from 1861-1865.
Important Places and Events
6. The first shots of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington, Massachusetts in April 1775.
7. Concord, Massachusetts was the site of the first battle of the American Revolution.
8. The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the American Revolution.
9. The British defeat at Yorktown, Virginia by George Washington’s troops signaled the end of the American Revolution.
10. The first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter, in South Carolina.
11. The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point in the Civil War for the North. Confederate troops were forced to retreat and never invaded the North again.
12. The capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi by the North in 1863, effectively split the Confederacy in two and gave control of the Mississippi River to the Union.
13. Appomattox Court House is the small town in Virginia where Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army to Ulysses S. Grant ending the Civil War.
Important Vocabulary
14. Mercantilism is an economic theory that a country’s strength is measured by the amount of gold it has, that a country should sell more than it buys and that the colonies exist for the benefit of the Mother Country.
15. An abolitionist was a person who wanted to end slavery in the United States.
16. A tariff is a tax on goods brought into a country.
17. A protective tariff is a tax placed on goods from another country to protect the home industry.
18. Sectionalism is a strong sense of loyalty to a state or section instead of to the whole country.
19. Manifest Destiny is the belief that the United States should own all of the land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
20. The Temperance Movement was a campaign against the sale or drinking of alcohol.
21. Representative Government is a system of government in which voters elect representatives to make laws for them.
22. A Republic is a nation in which voters choose representatives to govern them.
23. The House of Burgesses was the first representative assembly in the new world.
24. The Three Branches of Government are the Legislative Branch, the Judicial Branch, and the Executive branch.
25. Checks and Balances is a system set up by the Constitution in which each branch of the federal government has the power to check, or control, the actions of the other branches.
26. Free Enterprise is the freedom of private businesses to operate competitively for profit with minimal government regulation.
27. Federalism is the sharing of power between the states and the national government.
28. Separation of Powers is a system in which each branch of government has it’s own powers.
29. Popular Sovereignty is the practice of allowing each territory to decide for itself whether or not to allow slavery.
30. Amend means to change.
31. Unalienable rights are rights that cannot be given up, taken away or transferred. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, are some of those rights.
32. Tyranny is a cruel and unjust government.
33. A Democracy is a form of government that is run for and by the people, giving people the supreme power.
34. Ratify means to approve by vote.
35. Judicial Review is the right of the Supreme Court to judge laws passed by Congress and determine whether they are constitutional or not.
36. Civil Disobedience is the refusal to obey a government law or laws as a means of passive resistance because of one’s moral conviction or belief.
37. Federalists were supporters of the Constitution who favored a strong national government.
38. Antifederalists were people opposed to the Constitution, preferring more power be given to the state governments than to the national government.
39. Nullification is the idea of a state declaring a federal law illegal.
40. Primary Sources are the original records of an event. They include eyewitness reports, records created at the time of an event, speeches, and letters by people involved in the event, photographs and artifacts.
41. Secondary Sources are the later writings and interpretations of historians and writers. Often secondary sources, like textbooks and articles, provide summaries of information found in primary sources.
42. Republicanism was an attitude toward society in the late 1700s based on the belief that the good virtue and morality of the people was essential to sustain the republican form of government.
43. Industrial Revolution was the era in which a change from household industries to factory production using powered machinery took place.
Important Documents and Policies
44. The Magna Carta, signed in 1215 by King John, was the first document that limited power of the ruler.
45. The English Bill of Rights protected the rights of English citizens and became the basis for the American Bill of Rights.
46. The Declaration of Independence was a document written by Thomas Jefferson, declaring the colonies independence from England.
47. The Articles of Confederation was the first American constitution. It was a very weak document that limited the power of the Congress by giving states the final authority over all decisions.
48. The Constitution of the United States sets out the laws and principles of the government of the United States.
49. George Washington’s Farewell Address advised the United States to stay “neutral in its relations with other nations” and to avoid “entangling alliances”.
50. The Monroe Doctrine was a foreign policy statement by President James Monroe stating that 1) the U.S. would not interfere in European affairs, and 2) that the western hemisphere was closed to colonization and/ or interference by European nations.
51. The Treaty of Paris of 1763 ended the French and Indian War and effectively kicked the French out of North America.
52. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 ended the American Revolution and forced Britain to recognize the United States as an independent nation.
53. The Northwest Ordinance was a policy of establishing the principles and procedures for the orderly expansion of the United States.
54. The Mayflower Compact was the agreement signed in 1620 by the Pilgrims in Plymouth, to consult each other about laws for the colony and a promise to work together to make it succeed.
55. The Federalist Papers were a series of essays written by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton, defending the Constitution and the principles on which the government of the United States was founded.
56. Common Sense was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine to convince colonists that it was time to become independent from Britain.
57. The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the Constitution and detail the protection of individual liberties.
58. The Gettysburg Address was a short speech given by Abraham Lincoln to dedicate a cemetery for soldiers who died at the Battle of Gettysburg. It is considered to be a profound statement of American ideals.
59. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, setting all slaves in the Confederate states free.
60. Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address stated that, “no state…can lawfully get out of the Union”, but pledged there would be no war unless the South started it.
61. Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address was meant to help heal and restore the country after four years of Civil War.
62. The Great Compromise created two houses of Congress. One based on population, the other gave equal representation to each state.
Important People
63. Sam Adams was a member of the Sons of Liberty who started the Committee of Correspondence to stir public support for American independence.
64. Ben Franklin was an inventor, statesman, diplomat, signer of the Declaration of Independence and delegate to Constitutional Convention.
65. King George III was the King of England who disbanded the colonial legislatures, taxed the colonies, and refused the Olive Branch Petition leading to the final break with the colonies.
66. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence; became the 3rd President of the United States and purchased the Louisiana territory, doubling the size of the United States.
67. Thomas Paine wrote pamphlets like Common Sense and The Crisis to encourage American independence and resolve.
68. George Washington was the leader of the Continental Army who became the first President of the United States.
69. Andrew Jackson was the leader of the original Democratic Party and a “President of the people”. He was also responsible for the Trail of Tears, which forced Native Americans west of the Mississippi River.
70. John C. Calhoun was a South Carolina Congressman and Senator who spoke for the South before and during the Civil War.
71. Henry Clay was a powerful Kentucky Congressman and Senator who proposed the American System and the Compromise of 1850.
72. Daniel Webster was a Massachusetts Congressman and Senator who spoke for the North and the preservation of the Union.
73. Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
74. Ulysses S. Grant was the General of the Union Army and was responsible for winning the Civil War for the North.
75. Robert E. Lee was the General of the Confederate Army.
76. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States who successfully put the Union back together only to be assassinated 5 days after the Civil War ended.
77. Alexander Hamilton was a leader of the Federalists, first Treasurer of the United States, creator of the Bank of the U.S., and killed in a duel by the Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr.
78. Patrick Henry was a passionate patriot who became famous for his fiery speeches in favor of American independence. His most famous quote included the words, “Give me liberty or give me death!”
79. James Madison is considered to be the “Father of the Constitution”.
80. Frederick Douglass was a former slave who became the best-known black abolitionist in the country.
81. James Monroe was the author of the Monroe Doctrine, which shut down the western hemisphere to European expansion or interference.
82. Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave who became a Conductor on the Underground Railroad and helped over 300 slaves to freedom in the North.
83. Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the Seneca Falls Convention creating the Women’s Rights Movement in the United States.
Amendments to the Constitution
84. The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law” restricting freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition.
85. The Second Amendment guarantees the right of states to organize militias, or armies, and the right of individuals to bear arms.
86. The Third Amendment forbids the government to order private citizens to allow soldiers to live in their homes.
87. The Fourth Amendment requires that warrants be issued if property is to be searched or seized (taken) by the government.
88. The Fifth Amendment protects an accused person from having to testify against him or herself (self-incrimination); bans double jeopardy, and guarantees that no person will suffer the loss of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
89. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a speedy public trial by an impartial jury; the right to a lawyer; the right to cross examine witnesses; and the right to force witnesses at a trial to testify.
90. The Seventh Amendment guarantees the right to a jury trial in civil suits.
91. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail or fines.
92. The Ninth Amendment states that the people have rights other than those specifically mentioned in the Constitution.
93. The Tenth Amendment states that powers not given to the federal government belong to the states.
94. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery.
95. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship and rights to all people born or naturalized in the United States.
96. The Fifteenth Amendment guarantees the right to vote to all citizens regardless of race.
Supreme Court Cases
97. Marbury v. Madison was the 1803 Court decision that gave the Supreme Court the right to determine whether a law violates the Constitution. It set up the principle of judicial review.
98. Dred Scott v. Sanford was the Supreme Court decision that said slaves were property and not citizens.
Inventions
99. The Cotton Gin was an invention by Eli Whitney that speeded the cleaning of cotton fibers and in effect, increased the need for slaves.
100.The successful use of the steamboat by Robert Fulton revolutionized
transportation and trade in the United States.
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