Friday, July 1, 2011

Constitution Quiz


True or false:

The Constitution does not limit the Federal Government.

The Constitution is not law.

The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment emancipated the slaves.

The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment granted the right to vote to African Americans.

The original Constitution declared that black people were to be counted as three-fifths of a person.

The original, unamended Constitution prohibited women from voting.

The Commerce Clause grants Congress the power to tax individuals based on whether they buy a product or service.

Inter arma enim silent leges translates as “in time of war, the Constitution is silent.”

The War Powers Act allows the president to unilaterally wage war for sixty days.

We have only declared war five times.

Alexander Hamilton wanted a king for America.

Social Security is a debt within the meaning of Section Four of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Naturalization depends on your birth.

The Obamacare mandate is a tax.



The rest of the story is even more interesting. Think of this next time someone gets on their high horse about "certain people" muffing their historical facts.

9 comments:

Phil Johnson said...

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Looks like some of the questions are a little on the tricky side. Answers could be either way and be correct or false.
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But,anyway, I'll bet most Americans would be completely bamboozled by them.
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I'm not sure how I would come out.
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Tom Van Dyke said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tom Van Dyke said...

I'm not sure how I would come out.

Well, I guess we'll never know, Phil, until you give your answers or follow the links. ;-)

But thanks for responding, sort of.

Phil Johnson said...

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O.K. Printed it out and read it.
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Not too surprised. I always considered Time magazine to be conservative amd Newsweek to be liberal in their outputs. So, I expect Time to show support for the Republican Party's clap trapping.
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Jason Pappas said...

I would hope every educated person would know some of the key points. That the constitution limits federal government. This has got to be a major point in understanding the rule of law.

I could understand the second mistake (i.e. "The Constitution is not law") if the writer meant "statue law." It is, of course, constitutional law. I'd expect that mistake in oral presentation when a word is dropped but not a fact-checked written article.

Some of the others could easily be checked. The one about "three-fifths of a person" is common mistake due to general mis-education.

jimmiraybob said...

"The Constitution does not limit the Federal Government."

True. The Federal government can do anything it wants.

Well, that was a fun fling - I hope blood pressures are starting to drop back to normal. Apparently I often do more research for a blog comment than the high-priced talent does for a cover article at Time.

When I saw this cover at the grocery store checkout I was almost tempted. But then I remember it was Time.

*On a side note, apparently some celebrities have cellulite problems and space aliens run the world. Whoda thunk.

craig2 said...

Interesting quote in a list at foxnews: 3.) It Was a States Thing First: Independence was not something that was confined to Congress. It started out as a state and local thing. In fact, the very first Declaration of Independence came on Oct. 4, 1774 (21 months before the Continental Congress declared independence) from the town of Worcester, Mass. During the next 21 months a total of 90 state and local declarations of independence would be made. When Virginia declared its independence in May 1776, they sent Rep. Richard Henry Lee to the Continental Congress with specific instructions to put forth a resolution of independence for Congress to vote on, thus allying all the colonies -- soon to become states -- against the British Empire in the War for Independence.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/04/10-things-might-not-know-about-our-independence/#ixzz1R9lrrsBz

Any of you historianics have links to the more local/independent, so to speak, declarations?

Tom Van Dyke said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffolk_Resolves

"Massachusetts had unmistakably emerged as the leader of the resistance against British policies. In particular, its decisions to establish a separate government, to collect and retain taxes, and to raise and arm military forces were clearly revolutionary steps and exceeded the actions taken previously by the other colonies."

craig2 said...

thanks for the link TVD.