Can You Ace the U.S. Citizenship Test?

The Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 fixed the number of House members at 435, and called for at least one Representative from each state, with no more than one for every 30,000 people. This new law capped the number at 435 based on the results of the 1910 Census, and allowed for future reapportionment in the wake of every decennial census.

In 2021, the federal government declared Juneteenth (June 19) as a federal holiday. There are 10 additional federal holidays, though that number doesn't include Election Day, despite ongoing efforts to declare it as such. If a federal holiday falls on a weekend, an adjacent weekday is designated so that people are given time off to observe the occasion.

The U.S. Constitution came into force in 1789, and since then it has been amended 27 times, including edicts to abolish slavery, grant women and people of color the right to vote, and add income tax. The most recent amendment was ratified in 1992 and prevents Senators and Representatives from increasing their pay during the term they are serving.

World War II lasted from 1939 to 1945, with the U.S. joining the effort in 1941 in the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The war pitted the Allied forces — including the United States, France, Great Britain, and Russia — against the Axis powers — Japan, Germany, and Italy. World War II is considered the largest conflict in global history, and resulted in a decisive shift in global supremacy that saw the U.S. and Soviet Union rise to greater international prominence.

In 1803, the United States purchased 828,000 square miles of land from France at less than three cents per acre, which became known as the Louisiana Purchase. The acquisition doubled the size of the U.S. and led to greater westward expansion. The land area extended all the way from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border, and went as far west as the current northeastern border of Idaho.

Guam is a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean, close to the Mariana Trench. It is the westernmost territory of the United States, closer to Japan than to California. Due to its proximity to the International Date Line, the island is often described by its unofficial motto, “Where America's Day Begins.”

The U.S. Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 give a long list of government officials who take the presidency in case of an emergency. After the Vice President comes the Speaker of the House, then the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. After that, the line of succession continues with each member of the President's cabinet in the order that their agencies were created.

Article 1, section 3 of the Constitution says that senators are elected to six-year terms, with the whole Senate being divided into three groups, so there is a senatorial election every two years. Senators must be U.S. citizens, live in the state they represent, and be at least 30 years of age.

The 13 original colonies were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. At the time of the American Revolution, Maine was a part of Massachusetts. It didn't become its own state until the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which made Maine the 23rd state of the Union.

In 1845, Congress established that Election Day will annually occur on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Prior to this law, states could hold elections anytime over the course of the 34-day period leading up to the first Wednesday in December. The current timing for Election Day was chosen to accommodate our country's farmers, as the date was the most convenient time to not interfere with planting, harvesting, or selling crops.

The U.S.-Mexico border is a 1,954-mile stretch of land stemming from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, with a large portion of it made up by the Rio Grande. The border separates American states California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas from Mexican states Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja California. The current boundaries were formed on December 30, 1853, in the wake of the Gadsden Purchase, where the U.S. agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico.

George Washington led the newly formed United States through the American Revolutionary War, helped form the laws of the land at the Constitutional Convention, and served two terms as the first U.S. President. He earned the nickname the "Father of Our Country" in 1777 when his friend and fellow military hero Henry Knox wrote to Washington that "the People of America look up to you as their Father, and into your hands they entrust their all."

In September 1789, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution were proposed, and two years later they were ratified, creating the Bill of Rights. Among these amendments are guarantees of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to a speedy and public trial, and protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the longest-serving President in U.S. history, having been elected four times. He first took office in 1933, during the height of the Great Depression. After helping the country recover economically, FDR faced an even greater challenge with the onset of World War II. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, he made the difficult decision to fully enter the war.

In 1787, America's Supreme Court was first conceived of during the Constitutional Convention, and was formally established by the Judiciary Act in 1789. From 1789 to 1807, the court was composed of six justices, though judges were added and subtracted over the years before an 1869 law set the permanent number at nine. Appointees to the Supreme Court are determined by the President and undergo Senate confirmation hearings.

Dedicated in 1886, "The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World" was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States and was designated as a National Monument in 1924. The copper statue is 305 feet tall from ground level to torch and is one of the most recognizable structures in the U.S. It sits on the aptly named Liberty Island in New York Harbor.

After a series of taxes and transgressions by the British government, the citizens of the 13 American Colonies decided that they had had enough. It took a few months, but on July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to declare its independence from Great Britain. Two days later, they approved the final wording of the declaration. The United States has celebrated Independence Day on July 4 every year since.

According to Article II of the U.S. Constitution, "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several states." Though it doesn't explicitly say so, the law also covers the President as Commander in Chief of the Air Force, Marines, and all other branches of the U.S. military. If POTUS gives a military order, no one has a higher authority.

In 1814, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was penned by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812 (which lasted through 1815). Key's poem was accompanied by the tune of a British drinking song called "To Anacreon in Heaven," which was attributed to John Stafford Smith. Though the song contains four verses, only the first is commonly sung during modern performances.

Washington, D.C., is the capital of the United States, and serves as the political epicenter of the country. But D.C. wasn’t always the U.S. capital. Before the District of Columbia was established in 1790, the cities of Baltimore, New York City, and Philadelphia served as the home base of the federal government at various times during the American Revolution.

The Constitution of the United States begins with "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..." The first three words, "We the People," show the citizens are in charge of the country, not a king or queen.