GED Social Studies cheat sheet

Congress is bicameral: the House of Representatives has 435 members serving 2-year terms; the Senate has 100 members serving 6-year terms.

A bill becomes law with a majority vote in both chambers plus the president's signature; a veto is overridden by a two-thirds vote in each chamber.

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land (Article VI); amendments require two-thirds of both chambers and ratification by three-fourths of the states.

The Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments (ratified 1791) and protects speech, press, religion, assembly, petition, and fair-trial rights.

The president serves a 4-year term and is limited to two elected terms by the 22nd Amendment; the Electoral College has 538 votes, and 270 are needed to win.

Voting-rights amendments: 15th (race, 1870), 19th (sex, 1920), 23rd (D.C. presidential vote, 1961), 24th (bans poll taxes, 1964), 26th (age 18, 1971).

Federalism: the 10th Amendment reserves powers not delegated to the federal government to the states or to the people.

Judicial review, established in Marbury v. Madison (1803), lets courts declare laws or executive actions unconstitutional.

The Fifth Amendment requires grand jury indictment and bars double jeopardy and self-incrimination; the Sixth guarantees a speedy public trial and the right to counsel.

Declaration of Independence adopted July 4, 1776; Constitution written in 1787 and ratified in 1788; Bill of Rights ratified in 1791.

The Louisiana Purchase (1803) bought about 828,000 square miles from France for $15 million, doubling U.S. territory.

Civil War lasted 1861-1865; the Emancipation Proclamation took effect January 1, 1863; the 13th Amendment (1865) abolished slavery.

Reconstruction amendments: the 14th (1868) granted citizenship and equal protection; the 15th (1870) protected voting rights regardless of race.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) upheld 'separate but equal' segregation; Brown v. Board of Education (1954) declared school segregation unconstitutional.

Progressive-era amendments: 16th (income tax), 17th (direct election of senators), 18th (prohibition, repealed by the 21st in 1933), 19th (women's suffrage).

The stock market crash of October 1929 began the Great Depression; New Deal programs (1933-1939) included Social Security (1935) and job-creation agencies.

The United States entered World War II in December 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor and ended the war in 1945.

Civil Rights Movement milestones: Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56), March on Washington (1963), Civil Rights Act (1964), Voting Rights Act (1965).

Latitude measures degrees north or south of the Equator (0 degrees); longitude measures degrees east or west of the Prime Meridian (0 degrees).

Earth rotates 360 degrees in 24 hours, so time zones are roughly 15 degrees of longitude wide and one hour apart.

Tectonic plate boundaries: convergent (mountains, subduction, volcanoes), divergent (mid-ocean ridges, rifts), transform (earthquakes along faults).

Rain shadow: moist air rises on a mountain's windward side and drops precipitation, leaving the leeward side dry.

Population density equals total population divided by land area, usually reported as people per square mile or square kilometer.

Push factors drive migration away from a place (war, famine, persecution); pull factors attract people to a place (jobs, safety, freedom, family).

Map projections distort shape, area, distance, or direction; a map's scale converts map distance into real ground distance.

Renewable resources (sunlight, wind, water, timber) replenish faster than they are used; nonrenewable resources (coal, oil, minerals) do not.

Scarcity forces choices; opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative given up when a choice is made.

Law of demand: as price rises, quantity demanded falls. Law of supply: as price rises, quantity supplied rises.

Equilibrium price occurs where the supply and demand curves intersect; above it there is a surplus, below it a shortage.

A change in the good's own price moves along the curve (change in quantity); a change in income, tastes, or related goods' prices shifts the curve.

GDP = consumption + investment + government spending + (exports minus imports).

Inflation is a sustained rise in the general price level, commonly measured by the CPI, and it reduces the purchasing power of money.

The Federal Reserve conducts monetary policy through open market operations, reserve requirements, and the discount rate to influence the money supply and interest rates.

Fiscal policy is the use of federal taxes and spending by Congress and the president; expansionary policy raises spending or cuts taxes to fight recession.

Comparative advantage: countries gain from trade by specializing in goods they can produce at a lower opportunity cost than trading partners.