Social Studies STAAR Test

Question 1

What is civics?

Answer 1

Civics is the study of what it means to be the citizen of a country.

Question 2

What is equality?

Answer 2

Equality means that every person has something to contribute to our society.

Question 3

What is a dictatorship?

Answer 3

A dictatorship is when one person has all the power and maintains a very rigid control over a country by force.

Question 4

What is an oligarchy?

Answer 4

An oligarchy is a government by a small group of people similar to a dictatorship.

Question 5

What is a direct democracy?

Answer 5

A direct democracy everyone gathers together to agree about all the laws and decisions.

Question 6

What is a representative democracy?

Answer 6

In a representative democracy representatives are chosen to make the laws and decisions for the rest of the people.

Question 7

When did the pilgrims leave the Mayflower?

Answer 7

November of 1620

Question 8

What is the Mayflower Compact?

Answer 8

An agreement made by the pilgrims that “just and equal” laws would be made for the “general good of the colony.”

Question 11

Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia are part of what colony?

Answer 11

Royal colonies

Question 12

Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania are part of what colony?

Answer 12

Proprietary colonies

Question 13

Connecticut and Rhode Island are part of what colony?

Answer 13

Charter colonies

Question 14

When was the Constitution ratified?

Answer 14

Mid-1788

Question 15

When was the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution?

Answer 15

1791

Question 16

What is the First Amendment?

Answer 16

The first amendment includes freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government.

Question 17

What is the Second Amendment?

Answer 17

The second amendment gives americans the right to own weapons and allows them to organize state militias.

Question 18

What is the Third Amendment?

Answer 18

The third amendment protects us from having to give room and board to soldiers without our consent.

Question 19

What is the Fourth Amendment?

Answer 19

The fourth amendment protects us from government or law-enforcement officials searching our homes or taking our possessions without probable cause.

Question 20

What is the Fifth Amendment?

Answer 20

The fifth amendment says that you cannot be forced to testify against yourself in court or be tried for a serious crime without evidence.

Question 21

What is the Sixth Amendment?

Answer 21

The sixth amendment an accused person a speedy and public trial as well as being entitled to a lawyer.

Question 22

What is the Seventh Amendment?

Answer 22

The seventh amendment says that if the value of a contract or damage is over $20, the participants have the right to have a trial by jury.

Question 23

What is the Eighth Amendment?

Answer 23

The eighth amendment guarantees that bail for jail or fines cannot be excessively high and forbids cruel and unusual punishment.

Question 24

What is the Ninth Amendment?

Answer 24

The ninth amandment helps protect our privacy.

Question 25

What is the Tenth Amendment?

Answer 25

The tenth amendment gives any powers that are not specifically given to the federal government by the constitution are in the hands of the states.

Question 26

What was the Homestead Act of 1862?

Answer 26

The act promised free land to those who lived on the land for five years and made improvements to it.

Question 27

When were the Miranda Rules created?

Answer 27

1966

Question 28

When did Christopher Columbus discover the continent of North America?

Answer 28

1492

Question 29

What did the English want to find in the New World(North America)?

Answer 29

Wealth and gold

Question 30

When did the Virginia Company receive the charter from King James I, which gave them permission to start a colony in America which was called Jamestown?

Answer 30

1607

Question 31

When did the pilgrims travel to America on the Mayflower?

Answer 31

1620

Question 32

What is a representative?

Answer 32

A representative is a person who has chosen to speak for another individual or group.

Question 33

When was the Magna Carta created?

Answer 33

1215

Question 34

What was the Magna Carta?

Answer 34

The Magna Carta placed limits on the power of English kings.

Question 35

When was the new English Bill of Rights created?

Answer 35

1689

Question 36

What was the new English Bill of Rights?

Answer 36

The new English Bill of Rights guaranteed basic rights to all British citizens.

Question 37

What is Salutary Neglect?

Answer 37

Salutary Neglect was the name given to the time when the British government ignored the colonies and let them govern themselves.

Question 38

Who wrote the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut?

Answer 38

Thomas Hooker

Question 39

What was the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut?

Answer 39

It was the first document to protect the system of elections and self-government for its colony.