As we celebrate our nation’s 236th birthday, here are 25 questions developed for American Profile readers by the American Historical Association, the nation’s oldest and largest society of history teachers, professors and historians:
1. We celebrate the Fourth of July to commemorate:
a. The day of the Continental Army’s victory at Yorktown
b. The adoption of the Declaration of Independence
c. The first day the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia
d. The day the Constitution of the United States took effect
2. Which of these North American cities is oldest?
a. Montreal, Quebec
b. Jamestown, Va.
c. St. Augustine, Fla.
d. Plymouth, Mass.
3. Which American Indian tribe has never been native to the Atlantic Coast?
a. Wampanoag
b. Powhatan
c. Cherokee
d. Sioux
4. What nearly destroyed the British colonies of New England in 1675-76?
a. Metacom’s (or King Philip’s) War
b. The French and Indian War
c. The Boston Massacre
d. Barbary pirates
5. Which city was the first U.S. capital under the Constitution?
a. Washington, D.C.
b. Philadelphia, Pa.
c. Boston, Mass.
d. New York, N.Y.
6. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are on permanent public display in what building in Washington, D.C.?
a. Smithsonian Institution
b. National Archives
c. Library of Congress
d. Washington Monument
7. The number of congressional representatives each state can send to the U.S. House of Representatives is determined by:
a. State population
b. Amount of land in the state
c. When the state ratified the U.S. Constitution
d Every state has the same number of U.S. representatives: five
8. Which of the following states include land from the Louisiana Purchase of 1803?
a. Oregon, Washington and Alaska
b. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and California
c. Missouri, Arkansas, Minnesota, Montana, Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming
d. Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois
9. What happened during the War of 1812?
a. Poet Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
b. U.S. troops attacked and burned York, Ontario, the capital of Upper Canada.
c. British forces invaded Washington, D.C., and burned the White House.
d. All of the above
10. Passed by Congress in 1820, the Missouri Compromise included the following provision:
a. Missouri would be the starting point of the transcontinental railroad.
b. Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
c. Missouri would become part of Indian Territory.
d. All of the above
11. The Underground Railroad carried Americans:
a. From Manhattan to Brooklyn
b. Across the Mississippi River
c. Under the Chesapeake Bay
d. From slavery to freedom
12. What was the first Southern state to secede, or declare it was no longer part of the United States, in 1860?
a. Texas
b. Mississippi
c. South Carolina
d. North Carolina
13. During the 1860s, the federal government:
a. Provided an easy way for Americans to acquire land from the federal government to start farms
b. Provided land grants as a way for states to raise money for colleges and universities
c. Purchased Alaska from Russia
d. All of the above
14. The 100th anniversary of the nation’s founding was in 1876, when this important event took place:
a. The Battle of Little Bighorn (Custer’s Last Stand)
b. The invention of the automobile
c. The Gadsden Purchase
d. The founding of the National Hockey League
15. When was the women’s suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified?
a. 1869
b. 1898
c. 1920
d. 1934
16. More than 25 million passengers and members of ships’ crews entered the United States between 1892 and 1924 through which facility?
a. Port of Los Angeles, Calif.
b. Ellis Island and the Port of New York, N.Y.
c. Angel Island and the Port of San Francisco, Calif.
d. Port of Galveston, Texas
17. All of the following were created as part of the New Deal response to the Great Depression of the 1930s except the:
a. Social Security Administration
b. National Labor Relations Board
c. Federal Reserve System
d. Securities and Exchange Commission
18. June 6, 1944, became known as D-Day, marking a major turning point in World War II when:
a. Japan attacked U.S. naval targets in Hawaii.
b. 156,000 American, British, Canadian and other troops invaded Nazi-occupied France.
c. Germany surrendered to Soviet forces in Berlin, ending the war in Europe.
d. Scientists in New Mexico tested the world’s first nuclear weapon.
19. In 1950, the Treaty of Detroit settled a dispute between:
a. The Sauk Indians and the French
b. Canada and the United States
c. The Temptations and Elvis Presley
d. The United Auto Workers and General Motors
20. American scientist Dr. Jonas Salk discovered:
a. DDT
b. Quinine
c. The polio vaccine
d. Penicillin
21. An important aspect of the 1950s and 1960s “space race” was the goal of the United States and the Soviet Union to:
a. Achieve an arms control agreement
b. Build missile defense shields
c. Establish an international space station
d. Increase their world reputations in science
22. The nonviolent ideas of Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy and Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi inspired what noted civil rights leader of the 1950s and 1960s?
a. Huey Newton
b. Martin Luther King, Jr.
c. Malcolm X
d. All of the above
23. The founders of the United Farm Workers in 1962 included:
a. Cesar Chavez
b. Sam Yorty
c. Harry Bridges
d. John Steinbeck
24. The Internet originated in the United States from:
a. Defense Department efforts to streamline communication with scientists at universities and laboratories during the 1960s
b. A presidential initiative to streamline broadcasting regulations during the 1970s
c. The antitrust lawsuit that broke up telephone giant AT&T into smaller regional companies in 1984
d. Congressional initiatives to encourage entrepreneurs during the 1990s
25. Which U.S. presidents also served as presidents of the American Historical Association?
a. Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe
b. Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson
c. William McKinley and Dwight D. Eisenhower
d. Herbert Hoover and John F. Kennedy
Answers:
1. We celebrate the Fourth of July to commemorate:
b. The adoption of the Declaration of Independence
2. Which of these North American cities is oldest?
c. St. Augustine, Fla.
3. Which American Indian tribe has never been native to the Atlantic Coast?
d. Sioux
4. What nearly destroyed the British colonies of New England in 1675-76?
a. Metacom’s (or King Philip’s) War
5. Which city was the first U.S. capital under the Constitution?
d. New York, N.Y.
6. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are on permanent public display in what building in Washington, D.C.?
b. National Archives
7. The number of congressional representatives each state can send to the U.S. House of Representatives is determined by:
a. State population
8. Which of the following states include land from the Louisiana Purchase of 1803?
c. Missouri, Arkansas, Minnesota, Montana, Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming
9. What happened during the War of 1812?
d. All of the above
10. Passed by Congress in 1820, the Missouri Compromise included the following provision:
b. Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
11. The Underground Railroad carried Americans:
d. From slavery to freedom
12. What was the first Southern state to secede, or declare it was no longer part of the United States, in 1861?
c. South Carolina
13. During the 1860s, the federal government:
d. All of the above
14. The 100th anniversary of the nation’s founding was in 1876, when this important event took place:
a. The Battle of Little Bighorn (Custer’s Last Stand)
15. When was the women’s suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified?
c. 1920
16. More than 25 million passengers and members of ships’ crews entered the United States between 1892 and 1924 through which facility?
b. Ellis Island and the Port of New York, N.Y.
17. All of the following were created as part of the New Deal response to the Great Depression of the 1930s except the:
c. Federal Reserve System
18. June 6, 1944, became known as D-Day, marking a major turning point in World War II when:
b. 156,000 American, British, Canadian and other troops invaded Nazi-occupied France.
19. In 1950, the Treaty of Detroit settled a dispute between:
d. The United Auto Workers and General Motors
20. American scientist Dr. Jonas Salk discovered:
c. The polio vaccine
21. An important aspect of the 1950s and 1960s “space race” was the goal of the United States and the Soviet Union to:
d. Increase their world reputations in science
22. The nonviolent ideas of Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy and Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi inspired what noted civil rights leader of the 1950s and 1960s?
b. Martin Luther King Jr.
23. The founders of the United Farm Workers in 1962 included:
a. Cesar Chavez
24. The Internet originated in the United States from:
a. Defense Department efforts to streamline communication with scientists at universities and laboratories during the 1960s
25. Which U.S. presidents also served as presidents of the American Historical Association?
b. Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson
The American Historical Association is a nonprofit organization founded in 1884 and incorporated by Congress in 1889 for the promotion of historical studies. It is the nation’s oldest and largest society for the study of the past, with members who include working professionals, students and anyone with an abiding interest in history.
