GED Social Studies Concept Review

Overview

This chapter covers the main types of government and the ideas that shaped American democracy. GED questions often give you a short passage, such as a line from the Declaration of Independence, and ask which principle it shows.

Governments differ in who holds power. In a direct democracy, citizens vote on laws themselves. In a representative democracy, or republic, citizens elect officials to make laws. A monarchy is led by a king or queen who usually inherits the job, and a totalitarian government controls almost every part of life. In a parliamentary system the prime minister comes from the legislature, while in a presidential system the president is elected separately.

American democracy rests on a few key principles. Natural rights are rights people are born with, such as life and liberty. Consent of the governed means government gets its power from the people. Rule of law means no one is above the law. Majority rule is balanced by minority rights, and a written constitution limits what government may do.

Overview

This chapter explains how the U.S. government is built. The Constitution splits power among three branches and between the national and state governments, so no single group can hold all power. This is the biggest topic on the test, because civics and government is about half of it.

Congress, the legislative branch, makes laws. It has two parts: the Senate, with two senators from each state serving 6-year terms, and the House of Representatives, with seats based on population and 2-year terms. The President leads the executive branch and carries out laws for 4-year terms. The courts, led by the Supreme Court, form the judicial branch and interpret laws.

Each branch can check the others. The President can veto bills, and Congress can override a veto with a two-thirds vote in both chambers. The Senate confirms judges and Cabinet members. Courts can strike down unconstitutional laws (judicial review). The House impeaches officials and the Senate holds the trial.

Some powers belong only to the federal government, such as printing money and declaring war. Others belong to the states, such as issuing driver's licenses. Some, such as taxing, are shared. Amending the Constitution usually takes a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states.

Overview

This chapter covers the rights protected by the Constitution, mainly the Bill of Rights, and the duties of citizens. GED questions often describe a situation and ask which amendment applies.

The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments, added in 1791. The First Amendment protects religion, speech, the press, assembly, and petition. The Second protects the right to keep and bear arms. The Fourth bans unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fifth protects against self-incrimination and double jeopardy and guarantees due process. The Sixth promises a speedy, public trial and a lawyer, and the Eighth bans excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.

Rights are strong but not unlimited. For example, true threats are not protected speech. Supreme Court cases have applied these rights to new situations: Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) protected students' symbolic speech, and Miranda v. Arizona (1966) requires police to warn suspects of their rights. Citizens also have responsibilities, such as obeying laws, paying taxes, serving on juries, and voting.

Overview

This chapter covers how Americans choose their leaders and try to influence government: political parties, interest groups, campaigns, and elections.

The Democratic and Republican parties are the two major parties; smaller parties are called third parties. Interest groups, such as unions or business groups, try to influence policy by lobbying and supporting candidates. Primary elections choose each party's candidate, and the general election chooses the winner.

The President is chosen through the Electoral College. Each state gets electoral votes equal to its senators plus representatives, and Washington, D.C. gets 3, for a total of 538. A candidate needs 270 to win. Amendments have widened voting rights over time, and campaign messages often use loaded language that you should learn to spot.

Overview

This chapter is about public policy, the actions government takes to deal with public issues, and about how to judge arguments and evidence on those issues.

Different levels of government handle different issues. Local governments run services such as trash pickup and local police, while states and the federal government handle wider issues. Policies include laws, regulations, spending, and programs. Regulations, such as limits on pollution, can protect health but also add costs.

GED questions often ask you to evaluate statements about a policy. A fact can be checked; an opinion is a judgment. Good evidence for a policy's success compares results before and after, with other conditions similar. When two things rise together, that is a correlation, which does not prove that one causes the other.

Overview

This chapter covers the key documents and events behind American government, from the Magna Carta to the early years of the republic. GED questions often quote these documents and ask about their purpose or main idea.

The Magna Carta (1215) set the idea that even the king must follow the law. The Mayflower Compact (1620) was an early agreement to self-government. The Declaration of Independence (1776), written mainly by Thomas Jefferson, stated natural rights and listed complaints against the king to justify independence.

The first national government, under the Articles of Confederation, was weak: Congress could not tax directly. That led to the Constitution in 1787 and the Bill of Rights in 1791. George Washington became the first President and warned against permanent foreign alliances in his Farewell Address (1796). In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase roughly doubled the nation's size.

Overview

This chapter covers European settlement of the Americas and the westward growth of the United States, including its effects on American Indians.

After 1492, the Columbian Exchange moved crops, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas and Europe and Africa. Diseases such as smallpox caused a steep drop in the Native population, because Native peoples had no immunity.

In the 1800s, many Americans believed in Manifest Destiny, the idea that the nation should spread across the continent. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 led to the forced removal of Native nations and the Trail of Tears. The Homestead Act of 1862 offered 160 acres of western land to settlers who lived on it and farmed it for five years.

Overview

This chapter follows the long struggle over slavery and equal rights, from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement.

Sectionalism, or loyalty to the North or South over the nation, grew in the 1800s, mostly over slavery, and helped cause the Civil War (1861-1865). After the war, three amendments changed the Constitution: the 13th ended slavery, the 14th made people born in the U.S. citizens and promised equal protection, and the 15th barred denying the vote because of race.

After Reconstruction, Southern states used Jim Crow laws, poll taxes, and literacy tests to keep Black citizens apart and from voting. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) allowed separate but equal facilities, but Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruled school segregation unconstitutional. The Civil Rights Movement used nonviolent protest and civil disobedience and won the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965). Separately, the women's suffrage movement, begun at Seneca Falls in 1848, won the vote with the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Overview

This chapter covers America's role in the world from World War I through the Cold War.

After World War I, the Senate refused to approve the Treaty of Versailles, and the U.S. never joined the League of Nations, a sign of isolationism. The U.S. entered World War II after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and fought with the Allies against the Axis Powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. At home, about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forced into camps.

After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union became rivals in the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine (1947) set a policy of containment, the Marshall Plan rebuilt Western Europe, and NATO joined the U.S. and Western Europe in a military alliance. The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Overview

This chapter covers the basic ideas economists use to explain choices, businesses, and trade.

Every choice has an opportunity cost: the value of the next best option you give up. Incentives, such as rewards or penalties, shape choices. Entrepreneurs start businesses and take the risk, hoping to earn a profit, which is total revenue minus total costs.

Markets work best with competition; a monopoly is a single seller with no close substitutes. Specialization, where each worker or country focuses on one task, raises productivity. Countries gain by trading when each makes what it has a comparative advantage in, meaning what it gives up the least to produce.

Overview

This chapter covers how prices are set in markets and how the whole economy is measured and managed. GED questions often show a supply and demand graph or describe a government action and ask about its effect.

Demand shows how much buyers want at each price, and supply shows how much sellers offer. Where the curves cross is the equilibrium price and quantity. If the price is above equilibrium, sellers offer more than buyers want, causing a surplus. If it is below, buyers want more than sellers offer, causing a shortage. When demand increases, the demand curve shifts right, and both the equilibrium price and quantity rise.

For the whole economy, GDP measures the value of all final goods and services produced. Inflation is a general rise in prices; deflation is a general fall. Fiscal policy is government taxing and spending, set by Congress and the President. Monetary policy is set by the Federal Reserve, which raises interest rates to slow inflation. A tariff is a tax on imports that raises their price.

Overview

This chapter covers everyday money topics: credit, saving, banking, and laws that protect borrowers.

Credit cards are revolving credit: you can borrow up to a limit, repay, and borrow again. Car loans and mortgages are installment loans with set payments. Savings accounts earn interest; simple interest equals the principal times the rate times the time.

Bank deposits at insured banks are protected by the FDIC up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank, for each ownership category. The Truth in Lending Act requires lenders to tell borrowers the APR and total finance charge before they sign.

Overview

This chapter connects economics to major events in history.

European exploration in the 1400s and 1500s was driven by the search for trade routes to Asia and for wealth such as gold and spices. The Industrial Revolution, beginning in the 1700s, brought factories, and people moved from farms to cities for jobs.

The Great Depression began after the stock market crash of 1929. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal created programs such as Social Security (1935). During World War II, war production and military service put millions to work, and unemployment fell to very low levels.

Overview

This chapter looks at how geography shaped early societies and how people use and change the environment.

Early civilizations, such as Egypt along the Nile and Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates, grew near rivers that gave water, rich soil, and transportation. Classical Athens developed an early direct democracy, and the Roman Republic offered a model of representative government.

People depend on natural resources. Renewable resources, such as wind and sunlight, are replaced naturally, while fossil fuels are not. Technology lets people change the environment, for example by building dams or clearing forests, with both benefits and costs. Sustainability means meeting today's needs without harming future generations' ability to meet theirs.

Overview

This chapter covers the tools geographers use and the ways they divide the world into places and regions.

Most maps put north at the top. Latitude measures distance north or south of the Equator, and longitude measures distance east or west of the Prime Meridian. A map scale converts map distance to real distance, and a topographic map uses contour lines to show elevation.

A region is an area with shared features, such as climate, landforms, language, or economy. Borders can follow physical features like rivers, straight geometric lines, or cultural differences. Population density, the number of people per unit of land area, shows how crowded a place is.

Overview

This chapter is about why people move and what happens to cultures when they do.

Emigration is leaving a country; immigration is moving into one. Push factors, such as war or lack of jobs, drive people away, and pull factors, such as jobs or freedom, draw them in. In the Great Migration (about 1910-1970), millions of Black Americans left the rural South for cities in the North and West, pulled by factory jobs and pushed by Jim Crow.

When cultures meet, ideas and customs spread (cultural diffusion), and newcomers often adopt the culture of their new home over generations (assimilation). A people spread far from their homeland form a diaspora. Over the past century, Americans moved steadily from rural areas to cities, a trend called urbanization.