Virginia Standards of Learning Civics and Economics

1.From whom does the Declaration of Independence say governments receive their just powers?

2.Which statement matches the rule of law?

3.What does limited government mean in the United States?

4.Why is the government of the United States called a representative government?

5.Which part of Virginia government makes state laws?

6.Which idea is the heart of democracy?

7.Which goal in the Preamble is met by raising and supporting a national military?

8.A federal court decides a dispute by applying the law. Which Preamble goal does that work serve?

9.What did many Anti-Federalists insist on before they would support the Constitution?

10.What did the Federalists argue during the ratification debate?

11.What is the Bill of Rights?

12.The Preamble's goal to form a more perfect union responded to weakness in which earlier plan of government?

13.Which idea from the Magna Carta of 1215 later shaped constitutional government?

14.What did the Charters of the Virginia Company of London guarantee to the settlers?

15.What was the House of Burgesses, which first met in 1619?

16.Who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776?

17.What did the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom do?

18.Who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence?

19.Which rights does the Declaration of Independence call unalienable?

20.Which weakness of the Articles of Confederation left Congress struggling to pay the nation's debts?

21.Residents gather peacefully in a public park to protest a proposed highway. Which First Amendment freedom protects that gathering from government punishment?

22.Under the Fourteenth Amendment, which persons are citizens of the United States?

23.What is naturalization?

24.Which action is a legal duty of citizenship?

25.Street repair, courts, and public schools depend on public revenue. Why is paying taxes a duty of citizenship?

26.A circuit court clerk sends a summons that orders a citizen to hear a case and decide the facts. Which duty is that?

27.Which act belongs to the duty to defend the nation?

28.How is voting treated for adult citizens of the United States?

29.Before election day, a voter reads the text of a local bond measure and a neutral summary of its cost. Which responsibility is the voter carrying out?

30.A neighbor argues for a different candidate and posts a lawful yard sign. Which response respects differing opinions?

31.Which activity is voluntary community service aimed at the public good?

32.Which amendment requires state governments to provide due process of law?

33.What does the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment require of a state?

34.Which amendment bars unreasonable searches and seizures by the government?

35.What is a central job of political parties in the United States?

36.Which pair has been the two major parties in modern national elections?

37.What is a familiar role of third parties in American elections?

38.A newsroom spends weeks examining how a state agency spent a public grant, then publishes the records. Which media role is that?

39.How does Virginia award its electoral votes for president?

40.What did the Twenty-sixth Amendment change?

41.How is an interest group different from a political party?

42.What is lobbying?

43.Which set of conditions must a person meet to vote in a Virginia general election?

44.How does political party appear on Virginia's voter registration?

45.Who casts the official votes that elect the president of the United States?

46.How many electoral votes does a candidate need to become president?

47.What is the main job of the United States Congress?

48.Why is Congress described as bicameral?

49.A candidate wins a voting seat in the United States House of Representatives. How large is that house, and how long is the term?

50.How is membership in the United States Senate set up?

51.Which power is an expressed power of Congress?

52.Which power is reserved to the states?

53.Which power is concurrent, so both the national government and the state governments may use it?

54.A state statute conflicts with the United States Constitution. Which law controls?

55.What does separation of powers mean?

56.Which action is a check by the president on Congress?

57.What principle comes from Marbury v. Madison in 1803?

58.What is the president's main job as chief executive?

59.Who is commander in chief of the United States armed forces?

60.What vote lets Congress make a bill law after the president has vetoed it?

61.How does someone become a cabinet secretary?

62.What limit does the Twenty-second Amendment place on the presidency?

63.How is the lawmaking branch of Virginia organized?

64.A delegate files a bill to fund a mental-health program. What has to happen before that proposal becomes a Virginia law?

65.Every seat in the Virginia House of Delegates is filled by election, and the whole house is elected again after a short term. What is that house's size and term?

66.A candidate wins a seat in the Senate of Virginia at a regular election. Which description fits that chamber?

67.The governor sends the General Assembly a budget bill and directs agencies as they carry out statutes. Which duties do those acts show?

68.A governor of Virginia comes to the end of a four-year term and wants to stay in office without a break. What does the state constitution require?

69.An appropriation bill reaches the governor with several spending lines. The governor approves most of the lines and rejects one. Which power allows that?

70.A roll call in the Senate of Virginia ends in a tie. Who presides over that body and may vote to break the tie?

71.Virginia is sued over a new statute, and a lawyer must represent the state. Which elected official is the state's lawyer?

72.A party loses in the Court of Appeals of Virginia and asks the highest court in the state to review the decision. Which court is that?

73.A vacancy opens on the Supreme Court of Virginia. Who selects the new justice?

74.An adult accused of a felony in Fairfax County asks for a jury. Which Virginia court tries that case?

75.A town council wants to exercise a power that no state law has given the town. Under Dillon's Rule, as Virginia applies it, what follows?

76.How do Virginia's cities and towns relate to counties?

77.Who adopts ordinances and the county budget in a Virginia county?

78.Which local body sets policy for a Virginia locality's public schools?

79.A science class has 10 microscopes and 28 students who each need one at the same moment. Which term names that situation?

80.Maya has one free Saturday. She can work a shift that pays $60 or go to a concert with a free ticket. She chooses the concert. What is her opportunity cost?

81.A county can pay for a bridge repair or a library wing, and it cannot pay for both. It repairs the bridge. What is the opportunity cost of that choice?

82.Which item is a natural resource?

83.Which item is a capital resource for a bakery?

84.A resident of Hampton risks her savings to open a repair shop, hires two workers, and buys tools. Which factor of production is she supplying by organizing the shop and taking that risk?

85.Economists say every society must answer three basic questions. What are those questions?

86.In a coastal village, children grow up to do the same fishing work as their parents because that is the long-standing custom. Which kind of economy is that?

87.In one economy, a central authority sets production quotas and decides who receives the goods. Which kind of economy is that?

88.Shop owners decide what to stock by watching what buyers are willing to pay, and buyers choose among sellers. Which kind of economy is that?

89.Most production in the United States responds to buyers and sellers, while government taxes, regulates, and supplies some public services. What kind of economy is that?

90.A campus store raises the price of a notebook from $2 to $4, and students buy fewer notebooks. Which statement describes that result?

91.When the market price of local tomatoes rises, growers bring more tomatoes to sell. Which statement describes that response?

92.What is the equilibrium price of a good?

93.During a storm, a city holds the price of a snow shovel below the price that would clear the market. More people want shovels than stores have on the shelves. What is that result called?

94.A widely read health article praises peanuts grown in Virginia, and buyers want more jars at every price. What is the likely result in that market?

95.A peanut plant installs a faster packing line and can offer more jars at every price. Other things equal, what is the likely result?

96.Which tax is a major source of revenue for Virginia's cities and counties?

97.Five stands at a farmers' market sell similar peaches next to one another, and shoppers can see every price. What should the owners expect from that competition?

98.What does Virginia's right-to-work rule mean for someone who takes a job?

99.Lena owns a dog-walking service by herself. A lawsuit against the service seeks more money than the business account holds. Which description fits her firm?

100.Two cousins both own a lawn company, share its profits, and both signed the loan for its truck. Which kind of business is this?

101.Hundreds of people buy shares in a ship-repair company. If the company cannot pay its debts, a shareholder can lose the money paid for the shares, but lenders cannot take that shareholder's house for the company debt. Which trait of a corporation is that?

102.A food truck in Richmond takes in $900 in a day and pays $640 in costs that same day. What is the day's profit?

103.In the circular flow of a market economy, which pair of actions belongs to households?

104.Why does a government, rather than a private toll collector, often provide a streetlight on a public road?

105.During a national slowdown, federal lawmakers want households and firms to spend more. Which action is expansionary fiscal policy?

106.Inflation is picking up, and the Federal Reserve wants slower growth in the money supply. Which action matches that goal?

107.Nia borrows $500 for one year at a simple interest rate of 6 percent. How much interest does she owe, and how much does she repay in all?

108.In one day, Ade can bake 8 loaves or sew 4 shirts. Bo can bake 6 loaves or sew 6 shirts. Who has the comparative advantage in shirts?