In November 1620, forty-one men aboard a ship anchored off Cape Cod signed the Mayflower Compact. What did that document do?

Settlers in the Connecticut River towns adopted the Fundamental Orders in January 1639. What did that document do?

The Virginia General Assembly enacted the Statute for Religious Freedom, drafted by Thomas Jefferson, on January 16, 1786. What did it do?

American and British negotiators signed the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783. Besides Britain's recognition of American independence, what else did the treaty settle?

Delegates signed the Constitution at Philadelphia on September 17, 1787. What did it do?

The states ratified the first ten amendments to the Constitution on December 15, 1791. What did those amendments do?

Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in May 1830. What did the law authorize?

Congress passed the Homestead Act in May 1862. What did it offer?

The Seventeenth Amendment was ratified in April 1913. What did it change?

Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act in August 1935. What did it create?

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964. What did it do?

"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Which document is this from?

"There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes." This is Article 6 of a measure the Confederation Congress adopted in July 1787. Which measure?

"Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this [agreement] expressly delegated to the United States." This is Article II of which frame of government?

Issued on January 1, 1863, it declared that people held as slaves in the areas then in rebellion "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." Which document is this?

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Ratified in 1868, which amendment opens this way?

"It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is," wrote Chief Justice John Marshall for a unanimous Court in 1803. Which decision is this opinion from?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal." Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted this opening for a women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York, in July 1848. What is the document called?

Deep in debt after the war with France, Parliament in 1765 taxed colonial newspapers, pamphlets, licenses and legal papers, which had to be printed on paper showing the tax was paid. Which law was this?

In 1798, with war against France feared, the Federalist Congress raised the residence needed for citizenship to fourteen years, let the president deport dangerous foreigners, and made scandalous writing against the government a crime. What are these laws?

By 1823 Spain's American colonies had won independence, and European monarchies talked of helping Spain recover them. In his December annual message, the president warned Europe against further colonization in the Americas. What is that statement?

After the Mexican War Congress faced California's request to enter as a free state, a Texas boundary claim, and slave dealing in the national capital. It passed a package answering all three, plus a tougher fugitive slave law. What is the package called?

By early 1941 Britain was running out of dollars to buy American arms. In March, Congress let the president provide war supplies without cash payment to any country whose defense he judged vital to the United States. Which law did that?

Three years after the war, western European economies were still crippled and communist parties were gaining ground. In April 1948 Congress appropriated billions of dollars in aid for European recovery. What is that program usually called?

After Vietnam, Congress moved to limit a president's power to commit troops on his own. The 1973 measure made him report a deployment within 48 hours and end it within 60 days without congressional authorization. What is it?

An 1820 compromise had barred slavery in the Louisiana Purchase north of the line 36 degrees 30 minutes. Which 1854 act set that restriction aside by letting the settlers of two new territories decide the question for themselves?

The Fifteenth Amendment of 1870 barred denial of the vote on account of race, yet literacy tests kept most Black citizens off southern registration rolls for decades. Which law suspended those tests and sent federal examiners to register voters?

In 1896 the Supreme Court upheld a Louisiana law requiring separate railway cars for white and Black passengers, and the separate but equal doctrine stood for decades. Which 1954 decision held that separate schools are inherently unequal?

The Wagner Act of 1935 guaranteed workers the right to organize and bargain collectively. Which 1947 law, passed over President Truman's veto, outlawed the closed shop and let states ban union-security agreements?

Franklin Roosevelt was elected president four times, breaking a two-term custom observed since Washington. Which amendment, ratified in 1951, wrote a two-term limit into the Constitution?