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Free 8th grade social studies worksheets with answers

Written by Dr. Evan J. Hasson, DC — a dad of three who built this curriculum for his own children.

50 questions with the answers, free to print and free to photocopy for your own students. Communities, maps and geography, civics, economics and history, drawn from every topic in the grade.

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History & Social Studies — Grade 8

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  1. 1. How many amendments make up the Bill of Rights?
    1. A. Twelve
    2. B. Five
    3. C. Ten ← Answer
    4. D. Twenty-seven
  2. 2. Which branch of government makes laws?
    1. A. Legislative ← Answer
    2. B. Military
    3. C. Judicial
    4. D. Executive
  3. 3. Who was the main author of the Declaration of Independence?
    1. A. Benjamin Franklin
    2. B. Thomas Jefferson ← Answer
    3. C. James Madison
    4. D. George Washington
  4. 4. From which country did the US buy the Louisiana Territory?
    1. A. Spain
    2. B. Britain
    3. C. Mexico
    4. D. France ← Answer
  5. 5. Which war ended in 1763 and left Britain with a large debt?
    1. A. The French and Indian War ← Answer
    2. B. The War of 1812
    3. C. Queen Anne's War
    4. D. Pontiac's War
  6. 6. About how many people were enslaved in the US in 1860?
    1. A. About 14 million
    2. B. About 40,000
    3. C. Nearly 4 million ← Answer
    4. D. About 400,000
  7. 7. Which amendment abolished slavery?
    1. A. The 13th Amendment ← Answer
    2. B. The 19th Amendment
    3. C. The 14th Amendment
    4. D. The 15th Amendment
  8. 8. What is an abolitionist?
    1. A. A person who worked to end slavery ← Answer
    2. B. A person who owned a large farm in the South
    3. C. A person who sold goods to enslaved families
    4. D. A person who ran for office in a new territory
  9. 9. In what year was the Bill of Rights ratified?
    1. A. 1787
    2. B. 1803
    3. C. 1791 ← Answer
    4. D. 1776
  10. 10. Which branch enforces laws?
    1. A. Legislative
    2. B. Federal
    3. C. Executive ← Answer
    4. D. Judicial
  11. 11. On what date was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
    1. A. December 16, 1773
    2. B. September 17, 1787
    3. C. July 4, 1776 ← Answer
    4. D. April 19, 1775
  12. 12. In what year was the Louisiana Purchase made?
    1. A. 1776
    2. B. 1819
    3. C. 1803 ← Answer
    4. D. 1848
  13. 13. In what year did the French and Indian War begin?
    1. A. 1763
    2. B. 1775
    3. C. 1754 ← Answer
    4. D. 1765
  14. 14. What is secession?
    1. A. Joining the Union
    2. B. Formally leaving the Union ← Answer
    3. C. Electing a president
    4. D. Ending a war through a peace treaty signed by both sides
  15. 15. Which amendment granted citizenship to people born or naturalized in the US?
    1. A. The 14th Amendment ← Answer
    2. B. The 13th Amendment
    3. C. The 15th Amendment
    4. D. The 10th Amendment
  16. 16. What is emancipation?
    1. A. Passing a law about taxes on trade
    2. B. Freeing people from slavery ← Answer
    3. C. Moving to a new territory in the West
    4. D. Joining the army during a war
  17. 17. Who is often called the Father of the Bill of Rights?
    1. A. James Madison ← Answer
    2. B. Thomas Jefferson
    3. C. Benjamin Franklin
  18. 18. Which branch interprets laws and decides cases?
    1. A. Legislative
    2. B. Executive
    3. C. Judicial ← Answer
    4. D. Federal
  19. 19. What are natural rights?
    1. A. Rights earned by serving in the army
    2. B. Rights people have because they are human ← Answer
    3. C. Rights given by courts
    4. D. Rights granted by a king
  20. 20. What effect did the Louisiana Purchase have on the size of the US?
    1. A. It halved it
    2. B. It added only Texas
    3. C. It doubled it ← Answer
    4. D. It had no effect
  21. 21. Who fought in the French and Indian War?
    1. A. Britain and France, with Native allies on both sides ← Answer
    2. B. Britain and Spain, with colonial militias as their main allies
    3. C. France and the colonies
    4. D. Britain and the colonies
  22. 22. Which state was the first to secede from the Union?
    1. A. Virginia
    2. B. Georgia
    3. C. Texas, which joined the Confederacy after South Carolina and others
    4. D. South Carolina ← Answer
  23. 23. Which amendment prohibited denying the vote based on race?
    1. A. The 15th Amendment ← Answer
    2. B. The 19th Amendment
    3. C. The 13th Amendment
    4. D. The 14th Amendment
  24. 24. What was the name of William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper?
    1. A. The Southern Planter
    2. B. The Boston Daily Press
    3. C. The Liberator ← Answer
  25. 25. Who opposed ratifying the Constitution without a list of protected rights?
    1. A. Anti-Federalists ← Answer
    2. B. Federalists
    3. C. Loyalists
    4. D. Patriots
  26. 26. Which article of the Constitution creates Congress?
    1. A. Article I ← Answer
    2. B. Article III
    3. C. Article II
    4. D. Article IV
  27. 27. What does unalienable mean?
    1. A. Cannot be taken away or given up ← Answer
    2. B. Limited to adults
    3. C. Easy to trade away for money or protection
    4. D. Granted by law
  28. 28. What was Manifest Destiny?
    1. A. The belief that the US was meant to expand across the continent ← Answer
    2. B. A treaty with France
    3. C. A plan to move capitals
    4. D. A law ending slavery
  29. 29. What did the Proclamation of 1763 forbid?
    1. A. Building ships
    2. B. Trade with France
    3. C. Printing newspapers without a royal license in the colonies
    4. D. Colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains ← Answer
  30. 30. Where did the first shots of the Civil War take place?
    1. A. Richmond
    2. B. Harpers Ferry
    3. C. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where a major battle was fought in 1863
    4. D. Fort Sumter, South Carolina ← Answer
  31. 31. What years does Reconstruction cover?
    1. A. 1776 to 1789
    2. B. 1877 to 1900
    3. C. 1850 to 1860
    4. D. 1865 to 1877 ← Answer
  32. 32. In which year did Garrison begin The Liberator?
    1. A. 1912
    2. B. 1776
    3. C. 1831 ← Answer
    4. D. 1865
  33. 33. Who supported ratifying the Constitution in 1787 and 1788?
    1. A. Federalists ← Answer
    2. B. Abolitionists
    3. C. Loyalists
    4. D. Anti-Federalists
  34. 34. Which article of the Constitution creates the presidency?
    1. A. Article III
    2. B. Article I
    3. C. Article II ← Answer
    4. D. Article V
  35. 35. What is consent of the governed?
    1. A. A king's power from God, passed down through his family line over generations
    2. B. The idea that a government's power comes from the people's agreement ← Answer
    3. C. A court's power to veto
    4. D. A law that bans protest against the king and Parliament
  36. 36. Which law led to the forced removal of many Native nations?
    1. A. The Homestead Act
    2. B. The Oregon Treaty
    3. C. The Indian Removal Act ← Answer
    4. D. The Louisiana Purchase
  37. 37. Why did colonists dislike the Proclamation of 1763?
    1. A. It ended trade
    2. B. It raised taxes
    3. C. It closed ports
    4. D. They wanted western land ← Answer
  38. 38. What was the Confederacy?
    1. A. The nation formed by seceding Southern states in 1861 ← Answer
    2. B. The Northern army
    3. C. A group of abolitionists who wanted an immediate end to slavery in 1861
    4. D. A branch of Congress
  39. 39. What was the Freedmen's Bureau?
    1. A. A Southern army
    2. B. A Confederate bank
    3. C. A court for the Union that tried Confederate officers and soldiers
    4. D. A federal agency that helped formerly enslaved people ← Answer
  40. 40. What did Garrison demand in The Liberator?
    1. A. Higher taxes on cotton sold overseas
    2. B. Slow and gradual change over a century
    3. C. The sending of all free Black people abroad
    4. D. Immediate emancipation of enslaved people ← Answer
  41. 41. Before agreeing to the Constitution, many Americans in 1787 wanted what added?
    1. A. A national religion
    2. B. A king to lead the new nation and its states
    3. C. A list of protected rights ← Answer
    4. D. A larger army
  42. 42. Which article of the Constitution creates the Supreme Court?
    1. A. Article I
    2. B. Article II
    3. C. Article VI, on national supremacy
    4. D. Article III ← Answer
  43. 43. What is a grievance?
    1. A. A complaint about something unfair ← Answer
    2. B. A treaty
    3. C. A tax on goods
    4. D. A type of law
  44. 44. In what year was the Indian Removal Act passed?
    1. A. 1830 ← Answer
    2. B. 1862
    3. C. 1803
    4. D. 1846
  45. 45. What was the Stamp Act?
    1. A. A ban on tea imported from outside the empire
    2. B. A rule for the militia
    3. C. A law that closed Boston
    4. D. A 1765 tax on printed papers ← Answer
  46. 46. Which abolitionist escaped slavery and became famous as a speaker and writer?
    1. A. Frederick Douglass ← Answer
    2. B. Jefferson Davis
    3. C. John C. Calhoun
    4. D. Andrew Jackson
  47. 47. What did the Freedmen's Bureau help found?
    1. A. Schools ← Answer
    2. B. Plantations
    3. C. Factories
    4. D. Prisons
  48. 48. In which year was the American Anti-Slavery Society formed?
    1. A. 1833 ← Answer
    2. B. 1877
    3. C. 1850
  49. 49. Which amendment protects freedom of speech?
    1. A. The Fourth Amendment
    2. B. The Second Amendment
    3. C. The First Amendment ← Answer
    4. D. The Sixth Amendment
  50. 50. What are the two houses of Congress?
    1. A. The Senate and the Supreme Court
    2. B. The Cabinet and the Senate
    3. C. The Senate and the House of Representatives ← Answer
    4. D. The House of Representatives and the President's Cabinet
UpOnly Learning · uponlylearning.com · free to print and photocopy for your own studentsHistory & Social Studies — Grade 8
UpOnly Learning · uponlylearning.com · History & Social Studies Grade 8

What 8th grade social studies covers

8th grade social studies at UpOnly Learning is 8 topics, taught in this order: the road to the American Revolution, the ideas of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution: three branches, checks and balances, the Bill of Rights and the roles of citizens, westward expansion and its many perspectives, causes of the Civil War, reconstruction: change and continuity, and abolitionists and the Underground Railroad. The 50 questions above are drawn from those topics, with the answer marked beside each one, so you can see what has stuck and what needs another lesson. The workbook teaches each topic with a 40-minute lesson; the free PDF sample has one full topic.

What's inside

  • The road to the American Revolution: Explain the multiple causes, from the French and Indian War to new taxes and protests, that led to the Revolution
  • The ideas of the Declaration of Independence: Analyze natural rights, consent of the governed and the right to alter government, and how the ideas influenced later Americans
  • The Constitution: three branches, checks and balances: Explain the powers and limits of Congress, the President and the courts, and how federalism divides power
  • The Bill of Rights and the roles of citizens: Explain key rights in the first ten amendments and the roles citizens play as voters, jurors and petitioners
  • Westward expansion and its many perspectives: Analyze how land, rivers and trails shaped westward movement and how it affected settlers, Native nations and Mexico
  • Causes of the Civil War: Evaluate the relative influence of slavery, its expansion, sectional economies and political compromises in causing the Civil War
  • Reconstruction: change and continuity: Classify the changes brought by the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and the continuities that limited them after 1877
  • Abolitionists and the Underground Railroad: Explain the historical significance of abolitionists, the Underground Railroad, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman

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History & Social Studies · Grade 8

$19.99. One-time purchase, no subscription.

228 pages · 960 questions with answers · 8 topics

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From the workbook

A real page of History & Social Studies · Grade 8

The Bill of Rights and You

Explain key rights protected by the Bill of Rights and describe the roles citizens play in a democracy, such as voting, jury service and petitioning. · 40 min

Warm-up — say this

“Which freedoms matter most to you? Americans in 1787 asked that question, too.”

Worked example

A town tries to stop a newspaper from printing an article criticizing the mayor. Which amendment applies?

Answer: The First Amendment, which protects freedom of the press. Government generally cannot block publication ahead of time.

A mistake students make

The Bill of Rights means you can say or do absolutely anything.

How the book fixes it

Explain that rights have legal limits set by courts, such as for true threats, fraud or speech that directly incites imminent violence.

Note to the parent

When discussing amendments that people debate, focus on what the text says and how courts work rather than on taking sides.

That is one topic of many. The free questions above check a skill; this is the part that teaches it.

Practice checks. Our history and social studies workbooks teach.

These questions check a skill. The workbook teaches it.

  • TeachesA 40-minute lesson per topic that tells you what to say.
  • ExplainsWorked examples and the common mistakes, with fixes.
  • ReviewsAnswers with short explanations, and fresh questions.
  • PlansEvery topic in teaching order, matched to the standards.
$19.99 each Buy a history and social studies teaching workbook Free sample More free resources

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Yes. All 50 questions and their answers are on this page, free to print and free to photocopy for your own students. Printing needs only a free account. No card.

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Yes. Print and photocopy them for the students you teach. The only thing we ask is that you do not republish them as your own or sell them.

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Marked beside each question on this page, so it prints as its own answer key. For a clean copy, click Hide answers before you print; click Show answers again to print your answer key.

What grade are these for?

Grade 8. Every other grade from kindergarten to grade 8 has its own page, linked at the foot of this one. If your student finds these hard, try the grade below — that is normal and it is not a problem.

What do the paid workbooks add?

These questions check a skill. The workbook teaches it: a forty-minute lesson that tells you what to say, two or three worked examples, the mistakes students actually make on that skill and how to correct each one, and an explanation beside every answer rather than a bare key.