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New York Times reporter Monica Davey took an "unscientific survey" of people at the Cultural Center yesterday, asking them questions from the new citizenship test. People didn't do too well.
We decided to do our own "unscientific survey" of Chicagoist staffers and friends, and ... wow. Somewhere, our history teachers are in a corner gently weeping. Highlights of our wrongness:
42. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states?
"Elect the president through the Electoral College," "The power to prohibit new glarus beer from exiting one state and entering another? The forcing of the bandit to bootleg Coors?" "The allowage/banning of gay marriage"
Possible correct answers: provide schooling and education, provide protection (police), provide safety (fire departments), give a driver’s license, approve zoning and land use
48. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.
"20th Amendment - Women can vote," "the 19th amendment (?) gives women to right to vote," "there's one allowing women to vote. the 21st? there's one about the 2/3rds slave thing. there's one changing the vote from 21 to 18 ... allowing people who could go to war to vote ... that's the 18th amendment. i think."
Not totally sure why so many of us felt the need to guess numbers, but 18 is prohibition, 19 is women's right to vote, 20 is presidential terms and succession. The four amendments are: 15, which gave voting rights to men regardless of race; 19 as we mentioned; 24, which banned poll taxes; and 26, which changed the voting age from 21 to 18.
50. What are two rights only for United States citizens?
"The right to free speech and practice their religion" and a lot of variations on that theme.
To apply for a federal job, vote, run for office, carry a U.S. passport. Those other rights apply to everyone.
66. When was the Constitution written?
"1776," "1783," "1792," "I know that the one we have now is actually the second constitution, so the current one was written in the 1800's, like 1816, maybe?"
1787
Well, that was terrifying. Go try the test yourself.
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The point is in today's modern world it just doesn't seem relevant.
man, we suck.
I've longed believe that modern Americans don't really deserve the glorious document that is the federal Constitution.
I'll claim the New Glarus and bandit answers ... but i got the other ones right!
I actually got every single one of these right.
Margaret just didn't want to post that all over the site and embarrass everyone....
is there anyone who didn't know that it's the responsibility of the state to provide drivers licenses, who can & cannot vote, that only a u.s. citizen can carry a u.s. passport and that the constitution was written a couple hundred years ago?
there are a lot of dumb americans, but most understand the gist of the constitution and our rights. that's really what matters. who gives a fuck what year the constitution was written? history professors? trivia dorks?
To be fair, the number 42 is a bad question... The States have all powers not granted to the U.S. or prohibited to them in the Constitution. (10th Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.")
But you knew that already...
But the beer answers are basically correct. One of the powers explicitly granted to the states is the regulation of liquor within its borders. Take a look at the 21st amendment sometime:
"The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use there in of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited."
I'm a bit distressed by the "correct" answer to #42. The accurate answer for "what powers are reserved to the states" is "anything not explicitly assigned to the Federal Government elsewhere in the Constitution.
10th Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved for the States respectively, or to the people.