2025 Civics Study Guide
A plain-language guide to the topics on the 2025 civics test, adapted from the USCIS study guide One Nation, One People (M-1175). Each chapter explains the background in a few minutes of reading and ends with the facts worth remembering.
This is a review draft: all 12 chapters are ready for review. Each chapter follows the same format and ends with the facts worth remembering.
Chapter 1
The U.S. Constitution
How the Constitution was written, what it sets up, and why it is the supreme law of the land.
Chapter 2
The Legislative Branch
How Congress makes federal laws, how the House and Senate differ, and how a bill becomes law.
Chapter 3
The Executive Branch
The President, the Cabinet, the Vice President, and how the executive branch enforces federal law.
Chapter 4
The Judicial Branch
The Supreme Court, the lower federal courts, and how the judicial branch reviews laws and decides cases.
Chapter 5
Rights and Responsibilities
The Bill of Rights, the freedoms everyone has, and the duties and rights of U.S. citizens, including voting and naturalization.
Chapter 6
U.S. Geography
The 50 states, the five territories, the borders, the major mountains and rivers, and Washington, D.C.
Chapter 7
Early American History
Native Americans before 1776, the Jamestown settlement, slavery in the colonies, and the 13 original colonies.
Chapter 8
The Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence
Why the colonies went to war, the Declaration of Independence, and how the United States won the Revolutionary War.
Chapter 9
A New Government and an Expanding Nation
The Constitutional Convention, the Louisiana Purchase, the Trail of Tears, the Mexican-American War, and westward expansion.
Chapter 10
The Civil War
Slavery in the 1800s, the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the end of slavery.
Chapter 11
American History: 1900-2001
The World Wars, the Great Depression, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Chapter 12
American Symbols and Holidays
The Statue of Liberty, the flag, the Pledge of Allegiance, the national anthem, and the national holidays.
Adapted from One Nation, One People: The USCIS 2025 Civics Test Study Guide (M-1175), a U.S. government publication. Download the original PDF from USCIS.