American Cultural Literacy - Meaning of Cultural Terms and Cultural Literacy Test

Cultural literacy is a cognitive acquaintance and working relationship within a system of language and culture that is dependent on history and heritage; in the United States , since the 1980s, cultural literacy has been defined as the knowledge and foundations of Western society from a Eurocentric perspective, correlational to the English language and the Anglo-centric formations of sociopolitical, religious, and economic institutions.

A person needs more than basic literacy, that is, the ability to read and write. Every citizen should possess a common body of knowledge that allows them to communicate effectively, govern themselves, and share in their society's rewards.

Find out how much you know about American culture. If you got the perfect answer you're already culturaly literate. If you got below 75% of the correct answers, you better go further to this site to learn more.

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1)He is an american professional baseball player and a former member of the Negro American League's and the awardee of National League Most Valuable Player 1957.

a) Hank Aaron
b) Mickey Mantle
c) Ted Williams

2) A small country (especially in Central America) that is politically unstable and whose economy is dominated by foreign companies and depends on one export (such as bananas).

a) Dominican Republic
b) Banana Republic
c) Federal Republic of Central America

3) A state of political hostility that existed from 1945 until 1990 between countries led by the Soviet Union and countries led by the United States.

a) Cold War
b) Civil War
c) Hot War

4) The prosecution of a defendant for a criminal offense for which he has already been tried; prohibited in the fifth amendment to the United States Constitution.

a) double jeopardy
b) double indemnity
c) double prosecution

5) It was the longest and most severe economic slump in North America, Europe, and other industrialized areas of the world that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939.

a) The Great Depression
b) Economic Crisis

6) The revolution against James II; there was little armed resistance to William and Mary in England although battles were fought in Scotland and Ireland (1688-1689).

a) Glorious Revolution
b) Cuban Revolution
c) Green Revolution

7) The decisive battle in which William the Conqueror (duke of Normandy) defeated the Saxons under Harold II (1066) and thus left England open for the Norman Conquest.

a) Battle of Midway
b) Battle of Jericho
c) Battle of Hastings

8) United States federal law that gave one quarter of a section of a township (160 acres, or about 65 hectares) of undeveloped land in the American West to any family head or person who was at least 21 years of age.

a) Homestead Law
b) Homestead Act
c) Volstead Act

9) The third President of the United States (1801–1809) who is the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States.

a) George Washington
b) John Adams
c) Thomas Jefferson

10) An international organization founded after the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. It's goals included disarmament, preventing war through collective security, settling disputes between countries through negotiation diplomacy and improving global welfare.

a) League of Nations
b) League of Iroquois
c) World Organization

11) It's a U.S. doctrine which on December 2, 1823, proclaimed that European powers should no longer colonize or interfere with the affairs of the nations of the Americas.

a) American Foreign Policy
b) Monroe Doctrine
c) World Organization

12) The laws (beginning with the Ten Commandments) that God gave to the Israelites through Moses; it includes many rules of religious observance given in the first five books of the Old Testament.

a) Mosaic Law
b) Natural Law
c) Murphy's Law

13) A group of islands in northeastern West Indies (east of Puerto Rico) discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493; owned by United States and Britain.

a) Virgin Islands
b) South Sea Islands
c) Pacific Islands

14) Another name of National Prohibition Act of 1919 that enforced the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, dealing with the prohibition of alcohol.

a) Homestead Act
b) Volstead Act
c) Stamp Act

15) A communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia; the most populous country in the world.

a) North Korea
b) Red China
c) South Korea

16) An intermittent civil war fought over the throne of England between adherents of the House of Lancaster and the House of York.

a) Wars of the Roses
b) Revolutionary War
c) Thirty Years War

17) He was a navigator and maritime explorer credited as the discoverer of the Americas. Although it is generally accepted that he was Italian, he is also associated with Spain because he was sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs and eventually became an admiral for the Crown of Castile.

a) Christopher Columbus
b) Bartolomeu Dias
c) Amerigo Vespucci

18) Any willful disobedience to, or disregard of, a court order or any misconduct in the presence of a court; action that interferes with a judge's ability to administer justice or that insults the dignity of the court; punishable by fine or imprisonment or both.

a) Contempt of Court
b) Contempt of Congress
c) Contempt Law and Human Rights

19) The federal department in the United States that sets and maintains foreign policies.

a) Department of Treasury
b) Department of Justices
c) Department of State

20) He is a US politician and orator which his heightening nationalistic views and his fabulous articulation led him to become one of the most renowned speakers and influential Whig leaders of the Second Party System.

a) Daniel Webster
b) Daniel Patrick Moynihan
c) Daniel Stevens Dickinson