How much do you know about the content and the history of the U.S., Constitution? If your answer is “Not much,” you are not alone. Public opinion surveys, quizzing Americans of all ages, often find many with a low comprehension of the United States government.
A 2005 survey by Harris Interactive, on behalf of the American Bar Association, found that only a narrow majority of Americans could identify the three branches of their government as the legislative, executive and judicial branches.
Fortunately, if you are interested in learning more about the Constitution, and about America’s “Founding Era,” there are many resources available online.
|
There is no substitute, when studying the U.S. Constitution, for reading the document itself, and other documents of its era. The Avalon Project at Yale University at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/18th.asp has an extensive list of eighteenth-century documents online that accompany the Constitution.
Of special interest are the online notes that James Madison took of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, located at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/debcont.asp, where you can read the actual debates surrounding the Constitution. |
| 1a. What did the Founding Fathers in Philadelphia have to say about slavery? Read the discussion on August 22, 1787, and summarize the debate.
|
|
| 1b. What did the Founding Fathers say about the possibility of impeaching the executive branch? Read the discussion on July 20, 1787, and summarize the debate.
|
|
After you have done some research, test your “Constitution IQ” at ConstitutionFacts.com. This website provides several quizzes that test basic facts about the Constitution and American government.
Take the quick, 10-question Constitution I.Q. quiz located at: http://www.constitutionfacts.com/index.cfm?page=quiz.cfm |
| 2a. What does it mean for an accused person to invoke the Fifth Amendment? |
|
| 2b. How old do you have to be to be elected a U.S. senator?
|
|
| 2c. How did you score on the quiz? What is your Constitution I.Q. according to the quiz results? What is the average score for people from your state? What is the average score nationally?
|
|