How Well do You Know America?

By Carolyn Sayre

Joining team U.S.A. may be getting harder. The government last week said it will revise the citizenship test to focus less on memory and more on understanding. "Rather than asking how many branches of government there are, we would ask why we have three branches of government," says Emilio Gonzalez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (Answer: checks and balances.) Good thing you don't have to take the test to keep your passport. According to Gallup, 83% of Americans can't name the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Can you? Here are 10 of the proposed new questions. You need to get six right to pass.

1 What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution?

2 The House of Representatives has how many voting members?

3 What Cabinet-level agency advises the President on foreign policy?

4 Who is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court now?

5 What does it mean that the U.S. Constitution is a constitution of limited powers?

6 What is the current minimum wage in the U.S.?

7 What are "inalienable rights"?

8 Name one of the writers of the Federalist Papers.

9 What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?

10 What is the tallest mountain in the United States?

Answers: 1) the Bill of Rghts; 2) 435; 3) the State dDepartment; 4) John Roberts; 5) the Federal Government has only the powers that the Constitution states that it has, or the states have all powers that the Federal Government does not; 6) $5.15; 7) rights that people are born with; 8) James Madison, Alexander Hamilton or John Jay; 9) Louisiana, or the Louisiana Territory; 10) Mount McKinley, or Denali