Q 01/05

How many voting members does Congress have in total?

A) 235

B) 535

C) 1,100

D) 2,500

Answer · why

B) 535

535 is 100 senators plus 435 representatives; add the three electors given to Washington, D.C., and you reach the Electoral College's 538.

Q 02/05

After 1913 the House briefly grew from 435 seats to 437 when which two states joined the Union?

A) Arizona and New Mexico

B) Alaska and Hawaii

C) Idaho and Wyoming

D) North and South Dakota

Answer · why

B) Alaska and Hawaii

Alaska and Hawaii each got one seat on joining in 1959, and the House dropped back to 435 in 1963; a 1929 law had made that cap permanent after a rura...

Q 03/05

How long is a single U.S. Senate term?

A) Two years

B) Four years

C) Six years

D) Eight years

Answer · why

C) Six years

Six years was a Convention compromise between delegates who wanted short terms and those after long ones, among them Alexander Hamilton, who proposed ...

Q 04/05

Which future president was elected to the Senate at 29?

A) John F. Kennedy

B) Barack Obama

C) Joe Biden

D) Harry Truman

Answer · why

C) Joe Biden

Joe Biden won in November 1972 and turned 30, the Constitution's minimum, thirteen days later, well before the oath; back in 1806 the Senate had simpl...

Q 05/05

House members need not live in their district, only where?

A) Washington, D.C.

B) The state they represent

C) Anywhere in America

D) Their birth state

Answer · why

B) The state they represent

The state they represent is the Constitution's only residence test, and states may not add qualifications of their own, so state laws tying candidates...