History Of The United States! Toughest Trivia Quiz
180 Questions
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Questions and Answers
- 1.Was the first permanent English settlement founded in 1607
- 2.True or false: The Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact in 1620.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 3.When was the Declaration of Independence signed?
- 4.True or False: The Constitution of the United States was written in 1789.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 5.When did President Thomas Jefferson purchase the Louisiana Territory from France?
- 6.When was the Civil War fought?
- 7.True or False: The first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired at Lexington, Massachusetts in April 1775.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 8.Where was the site of the first battle of the American Revolution?
- 9.What was the earliest rebellion of colonists against English colonial control?
- A.
Farmer's Rebellion
- B.
Bacon's Rebellion
- C.
Francisco's Rebellion
- D.
Adam's Rebellion
- 10.Where did George Washington take the American troops in the winter of 1777-1778 during the Revolutionary War?
- 11.Who trained Washington's troops at Valley Forge?
- 12.The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the American Revolution.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 13.Where did Washington defeat the British and signal the end of the Revolutionary War?
- 14.What rebellion allows the National government to prove that it has the power to enforce the law?
- 15.How did the War of 1812 begin?
- 16.When did Britain and the United States fight the War of 1812?
- 17.In which battle did Andrew Jackson and his troops defeat the British two weeks after a peace treaty had been signed to end the war?
- A.
Battle of New Orleans
- B.
Battle of Lundy's Lane
- C.
Battle of Fort Sumter
- D.
Battle of the Thames
- 18.What states did the U.S. - Mexican War result in the cession of by Mexico to the U.S.?
- 19.When was the US-Mexican War fought?
- 20.The first shots of the Civil War were fought at Fort Sumter, in South Carolina.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 21.What was the bloodiest day in the Civil War and the first battle in Union Territory?
- A.
Battle of Gettysburg
- B.
Battle of Vicksburg
- C.
Battle of Antietam
- D.
Battle of Lake Erie
- 22.What was the turning point of the Civil War where the Confederates were forced to retreat and never invade the North again?
- 23.What city did the North capture in 1863 that split the Confederacy in two?
- 24.The capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi gave control of what river to the Union?
- 25.Where did Robert E. Lee surrender the Confederate Army to Ulysses S. Grant and end the Civil War?
- 26.What did the Second Great Awakening influence?
- 27.In the Second Great Awakening, countless people were converted and many churches were changed and revived.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 28.What are the Three Branches of Government?
- 29.What is a system set up by the Constitution in which each branch of the federal government has the power to check, or control, the actions of the other branches?
- 30.What are rights that cannot be given up, taken away or transferred?
- 31.What are examples of unalienable rights?
- 32.What is the rights of the Supreme Court to judge laws passed by Congress and determine whether they are constitutional or not?
- 33.What is the refusal to obey a government law or laws as a means of passive resistance because of one's moral conviction or belief?
- 34.True or False: Primary Sources are the original records of an event. They include eyewitness reports, records created at the time of an event, speeches, and letters by people involved in the event, photographs and artifacts.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 35.True or False: Secondary Sources are the later writings and interpretations of historians and writers. Often secondary sources, like textbooks and articles, provide summaries of information found in primary sources.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 36.What is an attitude toward society in the late 1700s based on the belief that the good virtue and morality of the people was essential to sustain the republican form of government?
- 37.What was a Constitutional struggle between some states and President Andrew Jackson where the states didn't want to pay the protective tariff that Jackson wanted, and the states claimed the right to "nullify," or declare void the tariff. This would have meant that the states didn't have to pay the tariff.
- 38.What was the era in which a change from household industries to factory production using powered machinery took place?
- A.
Machine Revolution
- B.
Factory Revolution
- C.
Mechanical Revolution
- D.
Industrial Revolution
- 39.What is the idea that the power of the states should not be trampled on by the national government?
- 40.What was a plan to make the US economically self sufficient?
- 41.What gave the US more land that had been northern Mexico and completed the acquisition of land that makes up the present day borders of the US?
- 42.What were the painters of the Hudson River School influenced by?
- 43.True or False: The painters of the Hudson River School painted works that depicted the beauty and grandeur of areas such as the Hudson River Valley, the Catskill Mountains, and Niagara Falls.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 44.When were the painters of the Hudson River School active?
- A.
1825-1875
- B.
1837-1845
- C.
1850-1900
- D.
1810-1868
- 45.What was a continuous rail line connecting a location on the U.S. Pacific coast with one or more of the railroads of the nation's eastern trunk line rail systems operating between the Missouri or Mississippi Rivers and the U.S. Atlantic coast?
- 46.What was the first document that limited the power of the ruler?
- 47.When was the Magna Carter signed; and by whom?
- 48.What protected the rights of English citizens and became the basis for the American Bill of Rights?
- 49.What was a Puritan plan of government adopted in 1639 and the first constitution in North America?
- 50.Who drafted the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut?
- 51.What was a document written by Thomas Jefferson, declaring the colonies' independence from England?
- 52.What was the first American constitution that limited the power of Congress by giving states the final authority over all decisions?
- 53.What set out the laws and principles of the government of the United States?
- 54.Which president's farewell address advised the United States to stay "neutral in its relations with other nations" and to avoid "entangling alliances".
- A.
Thomas Jefferson
- B.
Andrew Jackson
- C.
George Washington
- D.
John Tyler
- 55.What was a foreign policy statement stating that 1) the U.S. would not interfere in European affairs, and 2) that the western hemisphere was closed to colonization and/ or interference by European nations?
- 56.True or False: The Monroe Doctrine was a foreign policy statement by President James Monroe.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 57.What ended the French and Indian War and effectively kicked the French out of North America?
- 58.What ended the American Revolution and forced Britain to recognize the United States as an independent nation?
- 59.What established a government for the Northwest Territory and describes rules that a territory would follow in order to become a state?
- 60.What was the agreement signed in 1620 by the Pilgrims in Plymouth, to consult each other about laws for the colony and a promise to work together to make it succeed?
- 61.What were a series of essays defending the Constitution and the principles on which the government of the United States was founded?
- 62.Who wrote the Federalist Papers?
- 63.Who wrote Common Sense, a pamphlet written to convince colonists that it was time to become independent from Britain?
- 64.True or False: the Declaration of Independence was written during the Second Continental Congress.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 65.What was the document written at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 that was subsequently ratified by the original thirteen states that established the set up of our government and laws?
- 66.True or False: The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the Constitution and detail the protection of individual liberties.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 67.True or False: The Virginia Compromise preserved the balance between free and slave states.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 68.What speech dedicated a cemetery for soldiers who died at the Battle of Gettysburg and is considered to be a profound statement of American ideals?
- 69.Who wrote the Gettysburg Address?
- 70.What did President Lincoln issue, setting all slaves in the Confederate's states free?
- 71.When did President Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation?
- A.
January 22, 1863
- B.
January 1, 1863
- C.
January 17, 1863
- D.
January 30, 1863
- 72.What address touches on several topics including a pledge to "hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government", an argument that the Union was undissolvable and thus that secession was impossible, and a promise that while the Union would never be the first to attack, any use of arms against the United States would by regarded as rebellion and met with force?
- 73.What was meant to help, heal, and restore the country after four years of Civil War?
- 74.True or False: In Jefferson Davis's Inaugural Address, he argued that Southerner's were not given the "unalienable rights" promised to all American people and sought to fix that, just as the colonists had before them; and that separation from the Union was a "necessity, not a choice".
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 75.Who believed that independence must be pursued, but "appeal to arms" must be the last solution, and wanted "little rivalry", which would call for "good-will and kind offices on both parts"; and knew that the Confederacy, an agricultural society, needed the Union, a manufacturing society, to succeed?
- 76.What created two houses of Congress?
- 77.True or False: The Great Compromise created two houses of Congress, one based on population, and one based on giving equal representation to each state.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 78.What agreement reached at the constitutional convention allowed slaves to be counted as 3/5 of a white person for population purposes?
- 79.What placed restrictions on the immigrants in the country and restricted the freedom of speech and the press?
- 80.With what treaty did Spain give Florida to the US for $5 million?
- 81.What required the Indians east of the Mississippi River to be moved to new lands in the west?
- 82.What ended the war with Mexico and the US acquired the Mexican Cession?
- A.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
- B.
Treaty of Mexico and US
- C.
Treaty of Guadalupe River
- D.
Treaty of Cession
- 83.What was a strict plan formed by the Radical Republicans who wanted to have a very strict plan for reconstruction in the south?
- 84.What declared that everyone born in the US was a citizen and entitled to equal rights regardless of race?
- 85.What imposed military control over southern states and stated that they had to ratify the 14th amendment and allow all former slaves to vote?
- 86.What was a book written by Adam Smith discussing government and democracy?
- A.
Adam Smith: An Auto Biography
- B.
Wealth of Nations
- C.
Government and Democracy
- D.
The United States Government
- 87.True or False: the name given to the Tariff of 1828 by outraged southerners who felt the tax on imports was excessive and unfairly targeted their region of the country was Tariff of Abominations.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 88.What act allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether or not to allow slavery within their borders and served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and infuriated many in the North and the pro slavery South it was strongly supported?
- 89.True or False: The Homestead Act was a special act of Congress 1862 that made public lands in the West available to settlers without payment, usually in lots of 160 acres, to be used as farms.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 90.True or False: The Hawk Act allowed for the President to break up reservation land, which was held in common by the members of a tribe, into small allotments to be parceled out to individuals. Thus, Native Americans registering on a tribal "roll" were granted allotments of reservation land.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 91.What act made it possible for new western states to establish colleges for their citizens and opened opportunities to thousands of farmers and working people previously excluded from higher education?
- 92.Who was banished from the Massachusetts colony and became the first Puritan female minister and co-founder of Rhode Island?
- 93.Who was a Quaker leader and founder of Pennsylvania?
- 94.Who was a member of the Sons of Liberty who started the Committee of Correspondence to stir public support for American independence?
- 95.Who was an inventor, statesman, diplomat, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and delegate to Constitutional Convention, Albany Plan of Union?
- 96.Who was the King of England who disbanded the colonial legislatures, taxed the colonies, and refused the Olive Branch Petition leading to the final break with the colonies?
- 97.Who wrote the Declaration of Independence; became the 3rd President of the United States and purchased the Louisiana territory, doubling the size of the United States?
- 98.What pamphlets did Thomas Paine write to encourage American independence and resolve?
- 99.Who was the leader of the Continental Army who became the first President of the United States?
- 100.True or False: Mercy Otis Warren wrote plays with anti-British sentiment.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 101.Who was an African American killed at the Boston Massacre?
- 102.True or False: George Mason insisted on the protection of individual rights in the Constitution leading to the creation of the Bill of Rights.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 103.True or False: Bernardo de Galvez sealed off the port of New Orleans so that British ships could not utilize the Mississippi River and sent supplies to aid the Patriots.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 104.Who was a Jewish banker who loaned money to the American Revolution without being repaid?
- 105.Who was a French nobleman who aided Washington during the Revolutionary war?
- 106.Who was the leader of the original Democratic Party and a "President of the people" and responsible for the Trail of Tears?
- 107.What forced Native Americans west of the Mississippi River?
- 108.Who led the Continental Navy during the American Revolution and was known as the "father of the U.S. Navy"?
- 109.True or False: Charles de Montesquieu was one of the great political philosophers of the Enlightenment whose theory of the separation of powers had an enormous impact on liberal political theory, and on the framers of the constitution.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 110.Who published Commentaries on the Laws of England, a work that would dominate the common law legal system, whose words would shape the Declaration of Independence and Constitution?
- 111.Who displayed civil disobedience by not paying taxes and was a transcendentalist?
- 112.True or False: James Armistead was an African American who spied on the British during the American Revolution.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 113.Who was a South Carolina Congressman and Senator who spoke for the South before and during the Civil War?
- 114.Who was a powerful Kentucky Congressman and Senator who proposed the American System and the Compromise of 1850?
- 115.True or False: Daniel Webster was a lawyer who won major constitutional cases before the Supreme Court such as, Gibbons v. Ogden and McCulloch v. Maryland. He was elected to the House of Representatives due to his opposition to the War of 1812.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 116.Who was the President of the Confederacy during the Civil War?
- A.
Jefferson Davis
- B.
Ulysses S. Grant
- C.
Robert E. Lee
- D.
Abraham Lincoln
- 117.Who was the General of the Union Army and responsible for winning the Civil War for the North?
- 118.Who was the General of the Confederate Army?
- 119.Who was the 16th President of the United States who successfully put the Union back together only to be assassinated 5 days after the Civil War?
- 120.Who was a leader of the Federalists, first Treasurer of the United States, creator of the Bank of the U.S., and killed in a duel by the Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr?
- 121.Who was a passionate patriot who became famous for his fiery speeches in favor of American independence and his famous quote that included the words, "Give me liberty or give me death!"
- 122.Who is considered to be the "Father of the Constitution"?
- 123.Who was a former slave who became the best-known black abolitionist in the country and owner of the publication, The North Star?
- 124.Who was a former slave, abolitionist, first black women to speak out for women's rights and used the words "Ain't I a woman!"
- 125.Who was the author of the Monroe Doctrine, which shut down the western hemisphere to European expansion or interference?
- 126.Who was an escaped slave who became a Conductor on the Underground Railroad and helped over 300 slaves to freedom in the North?
- 127.Who organized the Seneca Falls Convention creating the Women's Rights Movement in the United States?
- 128.Who was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats?Hint: Audubon Society
- 129.Who was an African American soldier during the American Civil War who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Fort Wagner?
- 130.Who was on board the U.S.S. Santiago de Cuba during the assault on Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865 and bravely accompanied his party in carrying dispatches at the height of the battle?
- 131.Who was a famous writer of short stories and poems and named the father of the American detective novel?
- 132.Who was the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court who handed down the decision of Marbury v. Madison?
- 133.Who was the most popular American poet of the 19th century with works like Song of Hiawatha and Paul Revere's Ride?
- 134.Who was an American revolutionary patriot who was president of the Continental Congress and was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence (1737-1793)?
- 135.Who was a political leader and signer of the Declaration of Independence in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and our second president from 1797-1801?
- 136.True or False: The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed while John Adams was president.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 137.Who was the wife to President John Adams and mother to John Quincy Adams and known for giving advice regarding women's rights "Remember the Ladies"?
- 138.Who was Secretary of State under Monroe and assisted in writing the Monroe Doctrine and negotiated with Great Britain after the War of 1812 and was essential in the signing of the Treaty of Ghent?
- 139.Which president's victory in the Election of 1824 was known as the 'Corrupt Bargain'?
- 140.Who was an American silversmith remembered for his midnight ride (celebrated in a poem by Longfellow) to warn the colonists in Lexington and Concord that British troops were coming?
- 141.Who was a seventeenth-century English philosopher who argued against the belief that human beings are born with certain ideas already in their minds such as life, liberty, and property and argued that governments depend on the consent of the governed?
- 142.Who was an African-American teacher, American Revolutionary War veteran, assessor, auditor, selectman and Justice of the Peace in Newmarket, New Hampshire who served in local government almost every year until he died and served as town constable in 1768?
- 143.Who was the publisher of the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator and founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and was one of the most fiery and outspoken abolitionists of the Civil War period?
- 144.Who was a social reformer who pioneered in the reform of prisons and in the treatment of the mentally ill and superintended women army nurses during the American Civil War?
- 145.Who was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a politician as well as being the first person of color to serve in the United States Senate and in the US Congress, representing Mississippi in 1870 and 1871 during Reconstruction?
- 146.Who was a pioneer nurse who founded the American Red Cross?
- 147.Who was the sponsor of the Kansas-Nebraska Act as well as the most vocal supporter of popular sovereignty and ran against Lincoln to become Senator of Illinois?
- 148.Who was a general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War whose troops at the first Battle of Bull Run stood like a stone wall (1824-1863)?
- 149.Who was the writer of the uplifting "Battle Hymn of the Republic" that was sung by Union troops during the Civil War?
- 150.What amendment states that "Congress shall make no law" restricting freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition?
- 151.What amendment guarantees the right of states to organize militias, or armies, and the right of individuals to bear arms?
- 152.What amendments forbids the government to order private citizens to allow soldiers to live in their homes?
- 153.What amendment requires that warrants be issued if property is to be searched or seized by the government?
- 154.What amendment protects an accused person from having to testify against him or herself (self-incrimination); bans double jeopardy, and guarantees that no person will suffer the loss of life, liberty, or property without due process of law?
- 155.What amendment guarantees the right to a speedy public trial by an impartial jury; the right to a lawyer; the right to cross examine witnesses; and the fight to force witnesses at a trial to testify?
- 156.What amendment guarantees the right to a jury trial in civil suits?
- 157.What amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail or fines?
- 158.What amendment states that the people have rights other than those specifically mentioned in the Constitution?
- 159.What amendment states that powers not given to the federal government belong to the states?
- 160.What amendment abolished slavery?
- 161.What amendment guarantees citizenship and rights to all people born or naturalized in the United States?
- 162.What amendment guarantees the right to vote to all citizens regardless of race?
- 163.In what court case was the 1803 Court decision that gave the Supreme Court the right to determine whether a law violates the Constitution and set up the principle of judicial review?
- 164.In what court case was the Supreme Court decision that said slaves were property and not citizens?
- 165.In what court case did the Supreme Court make a landmark decision that held the power to regulate interstate commerce was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution?
- 166.What court case established the principles that the federal government possesses broad powers to pass a number of types of laws, and that the states cannot interfere with any federal agency by imposing a direct tax upon it?
- 167.What court case declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional?
- 168.What court case upheld the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal"?
- 169.In which court case where the U.S. Supreme Court held in 1832 that the Cherokee Indians constituted a nation holding distinct sovereign powers?
- 170.What was an invention that speeded the cleaning of cotton fibers and in effect, increased the need for slaves?
- 171.Who invented the Cotton Gin?
- 172.What revolutionized transportation and trade in the United States?
- 173.Who built the Clermont steamboat?
- 174.Who invented the steel plow?
- 175.What is a method of making stronger steel at lower cost?
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