Test Your Civics Knowledge!
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The Three Branches of Government
The U.S. Constitution establishes three separate but equal branches of government to ensure a balance of power, often referred to as "checks and balances".
- Legislative Branch (Congress): Makes the laws. It is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Congress controls federal funding and has the power to declare war.
- Executive Branch (President): Enforces the laws. Headed by the President, this branch also includes the Vice President, the Cabinet, and federal agencies. The President can veto laws, declare states of emergency, and appoints federal judges.
- Judicial Branch (Courts): Interprets the laws. Headed by the Supreme Court, this branch evaluates laws to determine if they are constitutional and resolves legal disputes.
Source: Based on information from U.S. Courts, House.gov Kids, Truman Library
The Bill of Rights (First 10 Amendments)
Ratified on December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights guarantees essential rights and freedoms to American citizens.
- Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.
- Right to keep and bear arms in order to maintain a well regulated militia.
- No quartering of soldiers in private homes without consent.
- Freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.
- Right to due process of law, freedom from self-incrimination, double jeopardy.
- Rights of accused persons (e.g., right to a speedy and public trial).
- Right of trial by jury in civil cases.
- Freedom from excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishments.
- Enumeration of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
- Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Source: Based on information from USHistory.org, Cornell LII, National Constitution Center
Quotes from the Founding Fathers
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary...
Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people...
The accumulation of all powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.
The very idea of the power and the right of the People to establish Government presupposes the duty of every Individual to obey the established Government.
Source: Based on information from Monticello.org, Constitution Center, Ammo.com, Bill of Rights Institute