Better Citizenship Test

Last week some students at the Oregon Episcopal School created a new test for citizenship. "Knowing names and dates, the students thought, were the least important things about being a citizen." Here are their questions:

1. What are the essential American values reflected in the Constitution?
2. Why was the absence of religion in the original constitution important?
3. “The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution,” John Adams wrote in 1818. Explain the meaning and value of this statement in two or three paragraphs.
4. If you had been at the Constitutional Convention, what one thing would you change about the Constitution?
5. Why is it important to have a checks and balances system in the original form of the government, and why is it important for the constitution to put this system into place?
6. Was the way Native Americans were treated by the 13 colonies and then the United States representative of American ideals? Explain.
7. Thomas Jefferson said in his Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal”, yet slavery was not officially abolished until 1863 when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, confirmed by the 13th Amendment in 1865. Using your knowledge of history, explain why the Americans were not able to live up to Jefferson's statement until much later.
8. Are factions inevitable, as stated by James Madison in Federalist Paper 10, and if so, how should the citizens of the United States navigate the factions that develop? Are they the best vehicle through which citizens to express their personal opinions?
9. Over time, the Supreme Court has become more and more powerful, based on the Marshall Court's original assertion of "judicial review." Is this consistent with the American ideal of democracy?
10. Is it better for the federal government to have more power, or the states? Why?
11. Why do Americans reject the idea of monarchy? Why are Americans committed to democracy?
12. Which is preferable in a democracy, a multiple party system or single party system? Use examples from American history in your answer.