The 100 civics questions (2008 test), with answers

This list is for anyone who filed the N-400 before October 20, 2025. The officer asks up to 10 and you pass with 6.

Principles of American Democracy

1. 1What is the supreme law of the land?Answer: the Constitution
2. 2What does the Constitution do?Answer: sets up the government
3. 3The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?Answer: We the People
4. 4What is an amendment?Answer: a change (to the Constitution)
5. 5What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?Answer: the Bill of Rights
6. 6What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment? ★Answer: speech
7. 7How many amendments does the Constitution have?Answer: twenty-seven (27)
8. 8What did the Declaration of Independence do?Answer: announced our independence (from Great Britain)
9. 9What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?Answer: life
10. 10What is freedom of religion?Answer: You can practice any religion, or not practice a religion.
11. 11What is the economic system in the United States? ★Answer: capitalist economy
12. 12What is the "rule of law"?Answer: Everyone must follow the law.

System of Government

1. 13Name one branch or part of the government. ★Answer: Congress
2. 14What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?Answer: checks and balances
3. 15Who is in charge of the executive branch?Answer: the President
4. 16Who makes federal laws?Answer: Congress
5. 17What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress? ★Answer: the Senate and House (of Representatives)
6. 18How many U.S. Senators are there?Answer: one hundred (100)
7. 19We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?Answer: six (6)
8. 20Who is one of your state's U.S. Senators now? ★Answer: depends on your state
9. 21The House of Representatives has how many voting members?Answer: four hundred thirty-five (435)
10. 22We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years?Answer: two (2)
11. 23Name your U.S. Representative.Answer: depends on your state
12. 24Who does a U.S. Senator represent?Answer: all people of the state
13. 25Why do some states have more Representatives than other states?Answer: (because of) the state's population
14. 26We elect a President for how many years?Answer: four (4)
15. 27In what month do we vote for President? ★Answer: November
16. 28What is the name of the President of the United States now? ★Answer: Donald J. Trump
17. 29What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?Answer: JD Vance
18. 30If the President can no longer serve, who becomes President?Answer: the Vice President
19. 31If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?Answer: the Speaker of the House
20. 32Who is the Commander in Chief of the military?Answer: the President
21. 33Who signs bills to become laws?Answer: the President
22. 34Who vetoes bills?Answer: the President
23. 35What does the President's Cabinet do?Answer: advises the President
24. 36What are two Cabinet-level positions?Answer: Secretary of Agriculture
25. 37What does the judicial branch do?Answer: reviews laws
26. 38What is the highest court in the United States?Answer: the Supreme Court
27. 39How many justices are on the Supreme Court?Answer: nine (9)
28. 40Who is the Chief Justice of the United States now?Answer: John Roberts
29. 41Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?Answer: to print money
30. 42Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states?Answer: provide schooling and education
31. 43Who is the Governor of your state now?Answer: depends on your state
32. 44What is the capital of your state? ★Answer: depends on your state
33. 45What are the two major political parties in the United States? ★Answer: Democratic and Republican
34. 46What is the political party of the President now?Answer: Republican (Party)
35. 47What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?Answer: Mike Johnson

Rights and Responsibilities

1. 48There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.Answer: Citizens eighteen (18) and older (can vote).
2. 49What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens? ★Answer: serve on a jury
3. 50Name one right only for United States citizens.Answer: vote in a federal election
4. 51What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?Answer: freedom of expression
5. 52What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?Answer: the United States
6. 53What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen?Answer: give up loyalty to other countries
7. 54How old do citizens have to be to vote for President? ★Answer: eighteen (18) and older
8. 55What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?Answer: vote
9. 56When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms? ★Answer: April 15
10. 57When must all men register for the Selective Service?Answer: at age eighteen (18)

Colonial Period and Independence

1. 58What is one reason colonists came to America?Answer: freedom
2. 59Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?Answer: American Indians
3. 60What group of people was taken to America and sold as slaves?Answer: Africans
4. 61Why did the colonists fight the British?Answer: because of high taxes (taxation without representation)
5. 62Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?Answer: (Thomas) Jefferson
6. 63When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?Answer: July 4, 1776
7. 64There were 13 original states. Name three.Answer: New Hampshire
8. 65What happened at the Constitutional Convention?Answer: The Constitution was written.
9. 66When was the Constitution written?Answer: 1787
10. 67The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.Answer: (James) Madison
11. 68What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?Answer: U.S. diplomat
12. 69Who is the "Father of Our Country"?Answer: (George) Washington
13. 70Who was the first President? ★Answer: (George) Washington

The 1800s

1. 71What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?Answer: the Louisiana Territory
2. 72Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.Answer: War of 1812
3. 73Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.Answer: the Civil War
4. 74Name one problem that led to the Civil War.Answer: slavery
5. 75What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did? ★Answer: freed the slaves (Emancipation Proclamation)
6. 76What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?Answer: freed the slaves
7. 77What did Susan B. Anthony do?Answer: fought for women's rights

Recent American History and Other Important Historical Information

1. 78Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s. ★Answer: World War I
2. 79Who was President during World War I?Answer: (Woodrow) Wilson
3. 80Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?Answer: (Franklin) Roosevelt
4. 81Who did the United States fight in World War II?Answer: Japan, Germany, and Italy
5. 82Before he was President, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?Answer: World War II
6. 83During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?Answer: Communism
7. 84What movement tried to end racial discrimination?Answer: civil rights (movement)
8. 85What did Martin Luther King, Jr. do? ★Answer: fought for civil rights
9. 86What major event happened on September 11, 2001, in the United States?Answer: Terrorists attacked the United States.
10. 87Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.Answer: Cherokee

Geography

1. 88Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.Answer: Missouri (River)
2. 89What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?Answer: Pacific (Ocean)
3. 90What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?Answer: Atlantic (Ocean)
4. 91Name one U.S. territory.Answer: Puerto Rico
5. 92Name one state that borders Canada.Answer: Maine
6. 93Name one state that borders Mexico.Answer: California
7. 94What is the capital of the United States? ★Answer: Washington, D.C.
8. 95Where is the Statue of Liberty? ★Answer: New York (Harbor)

Symbols

1. 96Why does the flag have 13 stripes?Answer: because there were 13 original colonies
2. 97Why does the flag have 50 stars? ★Answer: because there is one star for each state
3. 98What is the name of the national anthem?Answer: The Star-Spangled Banner

Holidays

1. 99When do we celebrate Independence Day? ★Answer: July 4
2. 100Name two national U.S. holidays.Answer: New Year's Day

We are not USCIS or any government agency. This is an educational course built on the official USCIS lists; it is not legal advice. For your case, talk to an immigration attorney or a Department of Justice (DOJ) accredited representative.