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Understanding the Federal Government of the United States

This quiz tests your knowledge on the structure and function of the federal government of the United States, including its branches, key officials, and historical facts.

#Federal Government #United States #Government Structure #Civics #Political Science

1 A judge who commits an offence while in office may be ________ in the same way as the President or other officials of the federal government.

2 Each state maintains its own ________ system.

3 The President may, with the consent of two-thirds of the Senate, make ________ with foreign nations.

4 There are also independent agencies such as the United States Postal Service, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the ________ (CIA), the Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States Agency for International Development.

5 Nearly every president is threatened with the idea of impeachment, but only two Presidents (________ and Bill Clinton) have ever been successfully impeached, and neither was convicted by the Senate.

6 The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the ________.

7 The forty-fourth and current president is ________.

8 The federal regime dates from 1790 and is considered to be the first modern national ________ government in the world.

9 It is ________, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate.

10 There is one delegate each from the District of Columbia, Guam, Virgin Islands, and ________, and the resident commissioner is from Puerto Rico.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • the Erie Land Light (pictured) was the first lighthouse built by the United States Government on the Great Lakes.
  • the United States Supreme Court held in Moyer v. Peabody (1909) that the U.S. government may imprison citizens without probable cause during an insurrection so long as it acts in good faith.
  • the US government took control of the Alaska Steamship Company's fleet during World War II.
  • the ten Revenue Marine cutters authorized by the U.S. Congress in 1790 – including the Vigilant, Active, General Green, Massachusetts, Scammel, South Carolina and Eagle – comprised the U.S. Federal government's first "armed force afloat".
  • the Ineligibility Clause of the U.S. Constitution places limitations upon the ability of members of the U.S. Congress to serve in other branches of the U.S. Federal Government.
  • when Barry Cohen sued under the Hyde Amendment, the U.S. Government was forced to pay a record-setting $2.9 million in legal fees for the "vexatious, frivolous" prosecution of his client.
  • there are ninety-four federal district and territorial courts in the United States.
  • the Prairie Habitat Joint Venture in Canada has received nearly $200 million of funding from the United States federal government.
  • the U.S. Federal Government's largest provider of HIV/AIDS services, the Ryan White Care Act, is named after Ryan White, a teenager who was expelled from his Indiana middle school in 1985 for having AIDS.
  • the 2004 Dean v. Utica U.S. federal case expanded the First Amendment rights of high school journalists, which had been limited by the Supreme Court's 1988 Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier ruling.
  • Philip Elman wrote the U.S. Government's brief in the case of Brown v. Board of Education.
  • Jimmy Fratianno was the highest-ranking member of the Mafia to become an informant for the U.S. government until Sammy Gravano in 1991.
  • James B. Longacre's design for the Shield nickel (pictured) symbolizes the strength of the US federal government through the unity of the states.
  • Robert S. Vance was the third American federal judge to be assassinated as the result of his judicial service.
  • after a year as Assistant Secretary to the Treasury under Franklin D. Roosevelt, James H. Douglas, Jr. left the government and founded a committee opposing Roosevelt's monetary policies.
  • in 1918, the National Federation of Federal Employees became the first labor union in the United States to win the legal right to represent federal employees.
  • although the damages by Hurricane Dennis in Mississippi in 2002 were mostly minor, 41 counties in the state were declared federal disaster areas.
  • US-CERT developed the Einstein program that monitors and protects the computer networks of U.S. departments and agencies.
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