Florida Civic Literacy Exam Questions
and Answers 100% Correct
What form of government does the US use? - answer Representative Democracy
What was one of the main reasons the English colonists came to the New World? -
answerLand Acquisition, religious persecution, political liberty, economic opportunity
What rights are stated in the Declaration of Independence? - answerlife, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness
What were the reasons the colonists separated from England? - answerFive reasons
the American colonists separated from Britain are the Proclamation of 1763, the Sugar
Act, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, and the Quartering Act.
How did the French and Indian War (1763) affect the colonists? - answerchanged the
relationship between England and its American colonies in that its outcome eliminated
the colonies' need for the British military and led to the Proclamation of 1763, the
Quartering Act, and various taxes, all of which angered the colonists and contributed to
the American Revolution
What was the Virginia House of Burgesses? - answerThe House of Burgesses was the
first assembly of elected representatives of English colonists in North America.
What are the three branches of the US government? - answerExecutive, Legislative,
Judicial
What is the system of checks and balance of the US government? - answerstops one
branch of government from becoming too powerful. This means that each branch can
block, or threaten to block, the actions of the other branches
What are the three levels of the US government? - answerlocal, state, federal
What are the powers of Congress? - answer1. taxing
2. printing money
3. declaring war
What are the powers of the president? - answerCommander of military, nominate
Federal judges, ambassadors, and other high ranking officials, negotiate treaties,
Pardon citizens (forgive a crime), Represent the United States for other countries
, What are the powers of the Supreme Court? - answerDeclare laws unconstitutional and
declare presidential acts unconstitutional, interpret the meaning of a law, to decide
whether a law is relevant to a particular set of facts, or to rule on how a law should be
applied
What was the "Great Compromise"? - answerSmall-state delegates demanded, with
comparable intensity, that all states be equally represented in both houses. Also called
Connecticut Compromise of 1787
How are the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate chosen? -
answerDirectly elected by the public
How are the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate allocated? -
answerAfter extensive debate, the framers of the Constitution agreed to create the
House with representation based on population and the Senate with equal
representation. 2 Senators from each state and Representatives based off of population
What is the process of Presidential succession? - answerIf the President of the United
States is incapacitated, dies, resigns, is for any reason unable to hold his/her office, or
is removed from office, he/she will be replaced in the following order: Vice President.
Speaker of the House. President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
What is the Electoral College? - answerA body of electors who represent the people's
vote in choosing the president.
What is gerrymandering? - answerwhen a political group tries to change a voting district
to create a result that helps them or hurts the group who is against them. It is named
after Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814).
Proclamation of 1763 - answerA proclamation from the British government which
forbade British colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, and which
required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east.
Sugar Act of 1764 - answerAn act that raised tax revenue in the colonies for the crown.
It also increased the duty on foreign sugar imported from the West Indies.
Stamp Act of 1765 - answerThis act required colonists to pay for an official stamp, or
seal, when they bought paper items.
Townshend Acts (1767) - answerpassed by Parliament, put a tax on glass, lead, paper,
and tea. The acts caused protest from the colonists, who found ways around the taxes
such as buying smuggled tea. Due to its little profits, the Townshend Acts were
repealed in 1770, except for the tax on tea. The tax on tea was kept to keep alive the
principle of Parliamentary taxation.