50 Fun Facts About Civics

Which Schoolhouse Rock! song, first aired on ABC in 1976, follows a piece of legislation hoping to become law?

I'm Just a Bill was written by Dave Frishberg and sung by Jack Sheldon. The bill in the cartoon would make school buses stop at railroad crossings.

Which practice of drawing voting districts for party gain is named after a salamander-shaped Massachusetts district?

Gerrymandering blends 'salamander' with the name of Elbridge Gerry, who signed the 1812 map into law. The word first appeared in the Boston Gazette that March.

The Eighteenth Amendment, the only amendment ever repealed, banned the production, transport and sale of what?

Alcohol was not illegal to possess or drink under the amendment itself, only to make, transport or sell. The Twenty-first Amendment ended the ban in December 1933.

Which two words did Congress add to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, at the height of the Cold War?

Under God was added on Flag Day in 1954 and signed into law by Dwight Eisenhower. Supporters wanted to set the United States apart from the state atheism of communist countries.

Which president's four election victories led to the Twenty-second Amendment and its two-term limit?

Franklin Roosevelt is the only president elected to a third and fourth term. He died 82 days into that fourth term, and the amendment took effect in 1951.

The Third Amendment, rarely tested in court, bars forcing homeowners to house whom during peacetime?

Soldiers were a sore point after Britain's Quartering Acts made the colonies lodge and feed its troops. The amendment has never been the main basis of a Supreme Court decision.

Which animal, popularized by cartoonist Thomas Nast in the 1870s, is the best-known symbol of the Democratic Party?

Donkey imagery began as an insult: Andrew Jackson's enemies twisted his name into 'jackass'. Nast did not invent the symbol, but his cartoons made it stick.

Which bird did Benjamin Franklin call 'a bird of bad moral character' in a 1784 letter to his daughter?

The bald eagle, on the Great Seal since 1782, drew Franklin's scorn. Despite the legend, there is no evidence he ever publicly backed the wild turkey as a national symbol instead.

Under the Miranda warning, born from a 1966 Supreme Court case, police must tell suspects in custody they may do what?

Remain silent, the warning says, because it protects suspects from incriminating themselves. Ernesto Miranda's case reached the justices from Arizona, where he was later retried and convicted again.

Which war, fought by drafted 18-year-olds who could not yet vote, spurred the 1971 amendment lowering the voting age?

The Vietnam War draft gave new force to the slogan 'Old enough to fight, old enough to vote'. The states ratified the Twenty-sixth Amendment just over three months after Congress proposed it.

What name is given to the brief opening statement of the US Constitution, which begins 'We the People'?

The Preamble was mainly written by Gouverneur Morris, a Pennsylvania delegate to the 1787 convention. It introduces the document's purposes but assigns no powers to the federal government.

Which British king, who reigned for 59 years, is the target of the 27 grievances in the Declaration of Independence?

George III is blamed for every grievance on the list, drafted by the Committee of Five. He remains Britain's longest-reigning king; only two queens have reigned longer.

Which document, sealed by England's King John at Runnymede in 1215, later influenced the framers of the US Constitution?

Magna Carta, Latin for 'Great Charter', was forced on an unpopular king by rebel barons. Pope Innocent III annulled it, yet it survived as a lasting symbol of liberty.

What collective name is given to the first ten amendments to the US Constitution, ratified together in December 1791?

The Bill of Rights began as twelve proposed articles sent to the states in 1789, of which ten were ratified two years later. James Madison drafted them to answer Anti-Federalist critics.

Which system, tied to the separation of powers, lets each branch of US government respond to the others' actions?

Checks and balances means Congress can confirm or reject a president's nominees, while justices chosen by presidents can overturn unconstitutional laws. The idea draws on Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws.

Which philosopher, the 'father of liberalism', wrote the Two Treatises echoed in the Declaration of Independence?

John Locke is often credited with describing private property as a natural right. He trained as a physician as well as a philosopher.

Which 1786 uprising of indebted Massachusetts farmers showed how weak the Articles of Confederation had left Congress?

Shays' Rebellion had to be put down by Massachusetts militia because the national government could not finance troops. It became further evidence for those calling the 1787 convention.

Article IV of the US Constitution guarantees every state in the Union which form of government?

Republican government is promised by the Guarantee Clause, but the Supreme Court has ruled that enforcing it is a political question for Congress or the president, not for judges.

Which principle, resting on 'the consent of the governed', says a government's authority comes from its citizens?

Popular sovereignty was summed up by Benjamin Franklin: 'In free governments, the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns.'

Which president warned against partisanship and permanent foreign alliances in a 1796 Farewell Address?

George Washington never gave the address as a speech: it was printed in a newspaper, Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser. Alexander Hamilton helped him revise an earlier draft.

Which presidential power, named from the Latin for 'I forbid', lets a president return a bill to Congress unsigned?

Veto is not the last word on a bill: the president must put the objections in writing, and Congress is then required to reconsider the legislation.

Which process, begun by a House of Representatives majority vote, was used against Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton?

Impeachment is only the charge: a Senate trial follows, and conviction takes a two-thirds vote. In 1868 Andrew Johnson escaped removal by a single vote.

Which officer of the House of Representatives stands second in line for the presidency, after the vice president?

The Speaker has always been a sitting member, yet the Constitution does not explicitly require the House to choose one of its own.

Which Cabinet member, whose office dates from the Judiciary Act of 1789, heads the US Department of Justice?

The Attorney General worked without a department for 81 years: the Department of Justice was only established in 1870 to support the office.

Which power of US courts to strike down unconstitutional laws was established by Marbury v. Madison in 1803?

Judicial review grew out of a row over judges' commissions that John Marshall, then the outgoing secretary of state, had been unable to deliver. The ruling is often called the most important in American constitutional law.

Which Senate delaying tactic did Strom Thurmond use for more than 24 hours against the Civil Rights Act of 1957?

The filibuster failed: the bill passed two hours after Thurmond finished and was signed within two weeks. He had spoken for 24 hours and 18 minutes.

Which kind of presidential directive did Harry Truman issue in 1948 to end racial discrimination in the US armed forces?

An executive order needs no vote in Congress, but courts can overturn one that lacks support in a statute or the Constitution. Truman's was numbered 9981.

Which Latin-named writ does the US Supreme Court grant when at least four of its nine justices agree to hear a case?

Certiorari is rarely granted: the court receives thousands of petitions each term and turns the vast majority away. The name comes from the Latin for 'to be made more certain'.

Which 1883 law, passed after a frustrated office-seeker killed James Garfield, began filling federal jobs on merit?

The Pendleton Act broke the spoils system, in which officeholders rewarded allies with government jobs. It was signed by Chester Arthur, who had been Garfield's running mate.

Which 1973 law requires a president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing US armed forces to military action?

The War Powers Resolution became law only after two-thirds of both chambers overrode Richard Nixon. It also caps deployments without approval at 60 days, plus 30 more to withdraw.

Which amendment, originally third on the list sent to the states in 1789, protects speech, religion and the press?

The First Amendment took top billing only because the two articles listed ahead of it were not ratified with the rest in 1791. It also protects peaceable assembly and the right to petition.

Which Fifth Amendment protection stops prosecutors from retrying a defendant for the same offense after an acquittal?

Double jeopardy has a well-known exception: a state and the federal government are treated as different authorities, so each can prosecute a person for the same act.

Under the Fourth Amendment, what must police generally obtain from a judge, on probable cause, before searching a home?

A warrant must particularly describe the place to be searched and the things to be seized. The amendment is enforced partly by keeping illegally seized evidence out of trials.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) ruled that states must provide what to criminal defendants who cannot afford one?

A lawyer was exactly what Clarence Gideon had been refused at his Florida trial. He appealed from his prison cell, writing to the Supreme Court in pencil on prison stationery.

Which doctrine from Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) let states segregate rail cars, schools and other facilities by race?

Separate but equal was upheld in a ruling against Homer Plessy, who deliberately boarded a whites-only train car in New Orleans in 1892 to test the law.

Which unanimous 1954 Supreme Court ruling, argued by Thurgood Marshall, outlawed racial segregation in public schools?

Brown v. Board was named for Oliver Brown, a Topeka father whose daughter was refused a place at the school closest to her home.

Which government power to take private property for public use is limited by the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause?

Eminent domain reached its most disputed limit in Kelo v. City of New London (2005), when the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 that land could be taken for private economic development.

Which 1969 Supreme Court case, sparked by black armbands worn to class, protected the free-speech rights of students?

Tinker v. Des Moines held that neither students nor teachers 'shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate'. Five Iowa pupils had worn the armbands in December 1965.

Which test did Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes set out in Schenck v. United States (1919) for speech the state may punish?

Clear and present danger comes from the same opinion as the famous line about falsely shouting fire in a theatre. Charles Schenck had handed out flyers urging draft-age men to resist induction.

Which four-word principle, applied in Reynolds v. Sims (1964), requires voting districts of roughly equal population?

One person, one vote was summed up by Chief Justice Earl Warren in the ruling: 'Legislators represent people, not trees or acres.'

Which body chose the winners of the 2000 and 2016 presidential elections, though each lost the nationwide popular vote?

The Electoral College's 538 electors meet and vote in December, weeks after Election Day. A candidate needs 270 of their votes to win the presidency.

Which process, governed by the Immigration and Nationality Act, turns a lawful permanent resident into a US citizen?

Naturalization normally requires five years as a permanent resident. Applicants must also show good moral character and pass a test on United States history and civics.

Which 1965 law, signed by Lyndon Johnson after protests in Selma, Alabama, outlawed literacy tests for voters?

The Voting Rights Act is considered by the Department of Justice to be the most effective piece of federal civil rights legislation ever enacted. Congress later amended it five times to expand its protections.

Which US territory's all-male legislature voted in 1869 to give women the right to vote and to hold office?

Wyoming kept its suffrage law even when it could have jeopardized its bid for statehood. It joined the Union in 1890 with women still voting, and its official nickname is the Equality State.

Which word did James Madison use in Federalist No. 10 for groups whose interests work against the public good?

Factions, Madison argued, are inevitable given human nature. His cure was a large republic, where the sheer variety of interests makes it harder for any one majority to trample the rest.

Which economist described the market's 'invisible hand' in The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776?

Adam Smith used the famous phrase just once in the whole book. He had made his name teaching moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow.

Which central banking system of the United States was created in 1913 after a series of financial panics?

The Federal Reserve was prompted above all by the Panic of 1907. It works through twelve regional banks located in cities across the country.

Which economic concept, summed up in the saying 'no free lunch', is the value of the best alternative given up?

Opportunity cost explains the 'free lunch' that American saloons once gave to anyone who bought a drink: the meal was never really free. Milton Friedman helped spread the saying.

Which economist's 1936 General Theory made the case for government spending to lift economies out of depressions?

John Maynard Keynes first found fame with The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919), which predicted damage from the treaty that ended World War I. He also belonged to the Bloomsbury Group.

The secret ballot, first adopted statewide by Massachusetts in 1888, is nicknamed after which country that pioneered it?

Australia's secret ballot appears to have been used first in Tasmania, in February 1856. Louisville, Kentucky, was the first American city to adopt it.