US Constitution Jeopardy

Turn Constitution review into a game show: branches, amendments, and checks and balances, free for any civics class to copy and buzz through by phone.

6 categories · 30 clues · Final Jeopardy · everyone buzzes in from their phone

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Every clue on this board

This page is public, so anyone can read the answers — copy the board and swap a few clues before game day.

The Convention of 1787

$200
Delegates gathered in this Pennsylvania city in summer 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation and ended up writing a new constitution.
What is Philadelphia?
$400
This man, who took detailed notes and is often called the Father of the Constitution, was a key architect of the document's structure.
Who is James Madison?
$600
This compromise resolved the dispute between large and small states by creating a two-chamber legislature.
What is the Great Compromise?
$800
This clause, a compromise over slavery, counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation.
What is the Three-Fifths Compromise?
$1,000
This oldest delegate at the Convention, then in his eighties, lent his prestige to urge unity and eventual approval of the new document.
Who is Benjamin Franklin?

The Three Branches

$200
This branch of government, made up of Congress, is responsible for writing and passing laws.
What is the legislative branch?
$400
This branch of government, headed by the president, is responsible for enforcing and carrying out the laws.
What is the executive branch?
$600
This branch of government, headed by the Supreme Court, is responsible for interpreting the laws.
What is the judicial branch?
$800
Congress is split into two chambers: the House of Representatives and this other body, where each state elects two members.
What is the Senate?
$1,000
This chamber of Congress bases its membership on each state's population and must originate all revenue bills.
What is the House of Representatives?

Checks and Balances

$200
This power lets the president reject a bill passed by Congress, though a two-thirds vote in both chambers can override it.
What is a veto?
$400
This Senate power requires a two-thirds vote to approve treaties the president has negotiated.
What is advice and consent?
$600
This judicial power, established in the 1803 case Marbury v. Madison, lets courts strike down laws that conflict with the Constitution.
What is judicial review?
$800
This power lets Congress remove a president or other official from office through a House vote followed by a Senate trial.
What is impeachment?
$1,000
This presidential power to lead the armed forces is balanced by Congress's exclusive constitutional authority to formally declare war.
What is commander in chief?

The Bill of Rights

$200
This amendment protects freedom of speech, religion, the press, assembly, and petition.
What is the First Amendment?
$400
This amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms.
What is the Second Amendment?
$600
This amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures and generally requires a warrant.
What is the Fourth Amendment?
$800
This amendment guarantees the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury in criminal cases.
What is the Sixth Amendment?
$1,000
This amendment states that powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states or to the people.
What is the Tenth Amendment?

Amendments Beyond Ten

$200
This amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery throughout the United States.
What is the Thirteenth Amendment?
$400
This amendment extended the right to vote to women in 1920.
What is the Nineteenth Amendment?
$600
This amendment established a federal income tax in 1913.
What is the Sixteenth Amendment?
$800
This amendment lowered the voting age to eighteen, ratified in 1971 partly in response to the Vietnam War draft.
What is the Twenty-Sixth Amendment?
$1,000
This amendment, ratified in 1933, moved the president's inauguration date from March to January.
What is the Twentieth Amendment?

We the Vocabulary

$200
This term describes a political system in which power is divided between a national government and individual states.
What is federalism?
$400
This process, requiring approval from three-fourths of the states, is how the Constitution is formally amended.
What is ratification?
$600
This term describes the system in which each branch of government can limit the powers of the other branches.
What are checks and balances?
$800
This term names the formal written change or addition to the Constitution, of which there have been twenty-seven.
What is an amendment?
$1,000
This founding-era term describes a supporter of a strong central government who favored approving the Constitution.
Who is a Federalist?

Final Jeopardy — Ratification

In 1790 this smallest state became the last of the original thirteen to ratify the Constitution, more than a year after Washington took office.

What is Rhode Island?

How to run this board

Built for civics review, this board splits the Constitution into the pieces students actually get tested on: how the document was written, what each branch does, how the branches check each other, and what the amendments changed.

We the Vocabulary is the deliberate softball column - terms like federalism, veto, and ratify - so weaker teams can get on the scoreboard early. Send confident teams to Checks and Balances, where the clues make them reason instead of recall.

Play Final Jeopardy on paper and you have a graded warm-up for the next day ready to go.

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