I wrote in another thread that people ought to have to pass an exam before they can vote. Well, I wasn't really serious -- the problem is, who sets the exam, who grades it, and who elects THEM -- but I promised a sample exam. You need 70%, 7 out ot 10 correct, to qualify to vote in MY world.
1) Which state was the first to secede in the Civil War?
2) Name three countries that border on Pakistan.
3) According to the constitution, who is next in succession to the presidency after the vice president?
4) How many Federal Reserve Banks are there? And who owns them?
5) What is a subsidy? Give an example.
6) Name a prominent general in the Punic wars.
7) In what year was Adam Smith's book, The Wealth of Nations, published? What else happened that year?
8) Which of the 13 original colonies was settled first?
9) Name the five original nations of the League of the Iroquois.
10) Name the president who preceded Lincoln and his home state.
Answers. Check me, these are from memory – but I'm pretty sure.
1) South Carolina
2) Iran, Afghanistan, India, -- and, arguably, China.
3) The constitution does not prescribe the succession after the vice president, leaving that decision to congress.
4) There are twelve. Legally, they are owned by the member banks as a cooperative, although their "excess" profits revert to the government.
5) A subsidy is a payment made by the government to a private individual or company. Agricultural support payments to farmers by many national governments have been a controversial issue in recent trade negotiations and are an example.
6) Hannibal or Fabius.
7) 1776. The American colonies declared their independence in that year.
8) Virginia.
9) The Seneca, the Mohawk, the Cayuga, the Oneida, and the Onondaga. In 1722, the League was joined by the Tuscarora. OK, I checked that one at
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CULAMRCA/IRLEAGUE.HTM-- my memory failed.
10) James Buchanan of Pennsylvania. Some believe he was our first gay president.