Government Trivia
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170 free Government trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
53 free government trivia questions with answers. This government trivia quiz is a civics class in fifty questions. The American half covers the three branches and their checks and balances, the 535 members of Congress and their qualifications, the nine justices, the Electoral College and contingent elections, how amendments pass and how many there are, vetoes, filibusters, impeachment, the Cabinet, the line of succession, the designated survivor and the shutdown law nobody has heard of. The world half asks about the oldest legislature on Earth, the Westminster model and the first prime minister, the Knesset, the Bundestag and the Diet, the five UN veto powers, Switzerland's seven-headed head of state and the cantons that still vote by show of hands, Magna Carta, absolute monarchies and the longest constitution ever written. Easy questions suit students and citizenship-test candidates looking for civics trivia questions and answers; hard ones will stretch political junkies. Every answer has been checked against the encyclopaedia entry for each institution, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 170 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many branches make up the United States federal government?
Three
Three branches, set out in Articles I, II and III of the Constitution, each given powers to check the others.
Q 02How many voting members does the US Congress have in total?
535
535: 100 senators plus 435 voting representatives, a lower-chamber size in place since 1913; the delegates and the resident commissioner do not count.
Q 03How many senators does each US state send to Washington?
Two
Two: Article I gives every state equal representation of two senators regardless of population, which is why the Senate has 100 members.
Q 04How many justices sit on the US Supreme Court?
Nine
Nine: the Judiciary Act of 1869 fixed the Supreme Court at nine seats, the size it has had for more than 150 years.
Q 05How many electoral votes does a candidate need to win the US presidency?
270
270: a majority of the 538 electors, the total of 435 representatives, 100 senators and the District of Columbia's electors under the 23rd Amendment.
Q 06The first ten amendments to the US Constitution are known collectively as what?
The Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights: James Madison drafted them, Congress sent twelve articles to the states in 1789, and ten were ratified in 1791.
Q 07Which US official presides over the Senate and may vote only to break a tie?
The vice president
In the vice president's absence the president pro tempore, traditionally the majority party's most senior senator, takes the chair.
Q 08Which amendment limits a US president to being elected twice?
The 22nd
The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, bars anyone from being elected president more than twice, and allows only one election to anyone who served over half of another's term.
Q 09What fraction of both houses of Congress is needed to override a presidential veto?
Two-thirds
Two-thirds of each chamber, under Article I, Section 7; a bill left unsigned as Congress adjourns is pocket-vetoed and cannot be overridden at all.
Q 10Who is second in the presidential line of succession?
The Speaker of the House
The Speaker of the House is second under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947; the president pro tempore of the Senate is third, then the Cabinet secretaries in order of their departments' creation.
Q 11Which 1803 Supreme Court case established the power of judicial review?
Marbury v. Madison
Marbury v. Madison: John Marshall's court held Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional, asserting the Court's power to void acts of Congress.
Q 12Which chamber of Congress has the sole power to impeach federal officials?
The House
The Senate then holds the trial, and a two-thirds vote of members present is required to convict.
Q 13How many executive departments have heads in the US Cabinet?
15
15 departments, from State and Treasury, both founded in 1789; Veterans Affairs became the 14th in 1989 and a 15th followed in 2002.
Q 21What is the minimum age to serve in the US Senate?
30
30, under Article I, Section 3; representatives need only be 25 and a president must be 35.
Q 22How many votes are normally needed to invoke cloture and end a Senate filibuster?
60
60 of the 100 senators, as Senate Rule XXII has required since 1975; the 'nuclear option' of 2013 and 2017 lowered it to a simple majority for nominations only.
Q 23Which senator filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1957 for 24 hours and 18 minutes?
Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond of South Carolina spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in August 1957, reading state election laws and Washington's Farewell Address; the bill passed anyway.
Q 14Where do both houses of the US Congress meet?
The United States Capitol
The United States Capitol on Capitol Hill, where Congress first convened in November 1800; the Senate sits in the north wing and the representatives in the south.
Q 15The 'checks and balances' of the US system are meant to keep which three institutions in line?
The executive, legislature and judiciary
The executive, legislature and judiciary: the president can veto, Congress can override and the courts can strike laws down, so no branch acts unchecked.
Q 16How many times has the US Constitution been amended since it took effect in 1789?
27
27 amendments in all: the first ten were ratified together in 1791, the 11th, on suits against states, in 1795, and the 16th, allowing a federal income tax, in 1913.
Q 17What share of the states must ratify a constitutional amendment for it to take effect?
Three-fourths
Three-fourths of the states, as Article V requires; with 50 states that means 38, acting through their legislatures or through state ratifying conventions.
Q 18Which state became the ninth to ratify the Constitution in June 1788, putting it into effect?
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ratified on June 21, 1788, the ninth of the thirteen states and the number Article VII required for the Constitution to take effect.
Q 19Which state refused to send delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention?
Rhode Island
Rhode Island, wary of a stronger central government, sent no one to Philadelphia; every other state did, and 39 delegates signed on September 17, 1787.
Q 20Which 1929 law fixed the size of Congress's lower chamber at 435 members?
The Reapportionment Act
The Reapportionment Act of 1929, also called the Permanent Apportionment Act, capped the chamber at 435; it rose briefly to 437 from 1959 to 1963 after Alaska and Hawaii joined.
Q 24Who was the first US president to be impeached?
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868 chiefly for sacking War Secretary Edwin Stanton in defiance of the Tenure of Office Act; the Senate acquitted him by a single vote.
Q 25Who in 2021 became the first federal officer to be impeached twice?
Donald Trump
Donald Trump, impeached in December 2019 and again on January 13, 2021; the Senate acquitted him both times, the second trial opening after his term had ended.
Q 26Who presides over the Senate when a president is tried on impeachment charges?
The chief justice
The chief justice, under Article I, Section 3, since the Senate's usual presiding officer would inherit the presidency; John Roberts chaired the 2020 trial.
Q 27Which president revived the practice of delivering the State of the Union in person, in 1913?
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson delivered his annual message in person on December 2, 1913; Thomas Jefferson had dropped the spoken address in 1801 as too monarchical, and successors sent written reports.
Q 28Which Cabinet member customarily skips the State of the Union address, and why?
The designated survivor, to preserve the line of succession
The designated survivor, a Cabinet member kept at a secure location to preserve the line of succession if disaster strikes the chamber; the practice dates to the 1980s.
Q 29Which two states split their electoral votes rather than awarding them winner-take-all?
Maine and Nebraska
Maine and Nebraska, since 1972 and 1992 respectively, award a pair of electors statewide and the rest by congressional district, so a split is possible.
Q 30Which amendment barred denying Americans the vote on account of sex?
The 19th
The 19th Amendment, ratified on August 18, 1920, barred denying the vote on account of sex; Tennessee supplied the decisive 36th ratification.