Part of the process of becoming a naturalized United States citizen is demonstrating knowledge of your new country’s history and government. During your interview, you will be asked up to 10 questions from a list of 100, and must get six correct to pass. Applicants 65 years old and up who have been living as a lawful permanent resident for at least 20 years follow a “20 for 20″ rule: They are only required to study 20 of the 100 civics test questions, with a minimum of six correct required to pass. We’ll mark these with bold text. More information can be found in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services booklet M-638 (revised 12/09), called  ”Learn About the United States: Quick Civics Lessons for the Naturalization Test.”

SECTION A: Principles of American Democracy (continued)

Question 5. “What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution?

Answer:  The Bill of Rights

When the authors of the Constitution — the Framers — wrote it in 1787, their focus was on drawing up a blueprint for a new country and creating a system and structure for its government. Many of them felt the Constitution should also protect and guarantee the rights of the people, and they wanted these rights formally written down so they could not be disputed. Escaping from colonial rule by the British in the Revolutionary War, they wanted to ensure no king or government could ever deny these rights. James Madison, one of the Framers, wrote a list of 10 individual rights and limits on the government, which came to be known as the Bill of Rights. It was ratified in 1791. These rights are the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, and make up the backbone and heart of the United States of America. They include freedom of speech and expression, the right to bear arms (own guns), freedom from illegal search (the police must obtain a search warrant before entering your home), freedom from being tried twice in court for the same crime, the right not to testify against yourself, the right to a trial by a jury of your peers, the right to be represented in court by a lawyer, and protection against “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Q6.  ”What is ONE right from the First Amendment?*

Answer:  Speech, religion, assembly, press, to petition the government.  The First Amendment protects the freedom of expression. Freedom of expression allows the people to openly discuss and debate issues affecting the public. The people can criticize the government and its leaders openly and in public, without fear of being thrown in jail. This open debate is crucial to the principle of democracy, where the people hold the power to govern themselves. The First Amendment also protects the freedom of religion. Congress can’t pass a law establishing an official or state religion, and the government can’t tell people what religion to follow, even if they decide to have no religion at all.  The Amendment also guarantees the right to legally and peacefully assemble in rallies or marches or large groups to protest or raise awareness about an issue.  Under the First Amendment, the government can’t tell newspapers or magazines or radio and television news departments what stories to cover, or how they should cover and report them. There is no government-run media in the United States. Finally, the First Amendment gives the people the right to challenge lawmakers to change laws that are not fair or that discriminate against certain people. It gives the people the right to petition, or gather up signatures from people to prove to the government that many agree a law should be changed. The Bill of Rights are set in stone, and can’t ever be changed. Government can never take away these 10 principles that have been in effect for over 219 years.

Throughout its history, millions of immigrants have landed at America’s shores. Their practical contributions are still felt in every field of endeavor including agriculture, industry, and the service trades, but within the great immigrant migration to America there also came gutsy and talented individualists, artists, and dreamers. Many of these exceptional talents have gone on to win worldly renown, and their names have lived on in history.

Ellis Island’s Famous Immigrants tells the story of some of the best known of these legendary characters and records their actual immigration experience at Ellis Island. Celebrities featured within Ellis Island’s records include such entrepreneurs as Max Factor, Charles Atlas, and Etorre Boiardi; painters Arshile Gorky and Joseph Stella; authors Isaac Asimov and Ludwig Bemelmans; spiritual figures Father Flanagan and Krishnamurti; Hollywood actors Claudette Colbert, Rudolph Valentino, and Bob Hope; sports figures Knute Rockne and Johnny Weissmuller; and Supreme Court jurist Felix Frankfurter. The United States no longer processes immigrants through Ellis Island, but there probably has never been a more famous immigrant to come to the United States than Arnold Schwarzeneggar.

Arnold Schwarzeneggar was born in a small village of Austria in 1947 where his father was the local chief of police. Raised in a strict Roman Catholic household, it is common public knowledge that Schwarzeneggar never got along with his father or older brother. Seeking a better life for himself, he took to body building where he quickly excelled at an early age being the youngest ever to win Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia bodybuilding titles. To this day, he has remained a prominent face in the bodybuilding sport long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. After winning the Mr. Universe contest for the first time, he immigrated to the United States where he eventually won four more Mr. Universe and seven Mr. Olympia titles. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1983.

After one of the most storied bodybuilding careers ever, Schwarzeneggar moved on to realize his life long ambition of starring in the movies where he has been the lead role in over thirty. Probably his most famous roles have been in the “Terminator” movies. For a couple of his movie roles, he was nominated twice to receive awards from the Golden Globes, but never won.

After his movie career, Arnold chose to enter the political arena. Choosing to be an active Republican ever since he was naturalized a citizen, Schwarzeneggar came to public light politically in the late 1980′s. In 2003, he ran for California Governor in a special recall election winning handily, and was re-elected in 2006 where he remains Governor to this day. Along the way during these three successful careers, Arnold put himself through college via correspondence, learned English, and entered into many successful business relationships making himself a millionaire by age 30, long before his Hollywood career.

Since the Ellis Island years, the immigration laws have changed, and it is much harder to immigrate to America today than it was in the days of the famous Ellis Island immigrants mentioned in this story. Whether you live in Sacramento, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange County, or any of their surrounding areas in California, you may be interested in becoming a permanent resident, or becoming one of its citizens. You may also be outside the United States and in a place where you know someone who has had a difficult time immigrating to the United States, becoming a permanent resident, or a citizen. If you or your acquaintances do not understand our immigration laws, you should probably seek legal counsel. Contact us at www.immigrationlawstation.com, and we will help you find an immigration attorney in your area who will answer any legal questions you may have about immigration law.

America is known as the land of opportunity. Arnold Schwarzeneggar new that fact about America and seized his opportunity. Who knows, maybe you, your relative, or someone you know who wants to be a legal resident in the United States will get the opportunity to immigrate just like Arnold Schwarzeneggar. So, seize the opportunity and contact us today!