American History

Question 1

What is one reason colonists came to America?

Answer 1

freedom
political liberty
religious freedom
economic opportunity
practice their religion
escape persecution

Question 2

Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?

Answer 2

American Indians

Native Americans

Question 3

What group of people was taken to America and sold as slaves?

Answer 3

Africans

people from Africa

Question 4

Why did the colonists fight the British?

Answer 4

because of high taxes (taxation without representation)
because the British army stayed in their houses (boarding, quartering)
because they didn’t have self-government

Question 5

Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

Answer 5

(Thomas) Jefferson

Question 6

When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?

Answer 6

July 4, 1776

Question 7

There were 13 original states. Name three.

Answer 7

New Hampshire
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia

Question 8

What happened at the Constitutional Convention?

Answer 8

The Constitution was written.

The Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution.

Question 9

When was the Constitution written?

Answer 9

1787

Question 10

The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.

Answer 10

(James) Madison
(Alexander) Hamilton
(John) Jay
Publius

Question 11

What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?

Answer 11

U.S. diplomat
oldest member of the Constitutional Convention
first Postmaster General of the United States
writer of “Poor Richard’s Almanac”
started the first free libraries

Question 12

Who is the “Father of Our Country”?

Answer 12

(George) Washington

Question 13

Who was the first President?*

Answer 13

(George) Washington

Question 14

What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?

Answer 14

the Louisiana Territory

Louisiana

Question 15

Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.

Answer 15

War of 1812
Mexican-American War
Civil War
Spanish-American War

Question 16

Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.

Answer 16

the Civil War

the War between the States

Question 17

Name one problem that led to the Civil War.

Answer 17

Slavery
Economic reasons
States’ rights

Question 18

What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

Answer 18

freed the slaves
freed slaves in the Confederacy
freed slaves in the Confederate states
freed slaves in most Southern states

Question 19

What did Susan B. Anthony do?

Answer 19

fought for women’s rights

fought for civil rights

Question 20

Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.*

Answer 20

World War I
World War II
Korean War
Vietnam War
(Persian) Gulf War

Question 21

Who was President during World War I?

Answer 21

(Woodrow) Wilson

Question 22

Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?

Answer 22

(Franklin) Roosevelt

Question 23

Who did the United States fight in World War II?

Answer 23

Japan, Germany, and Italy

Question 24

Before he was President, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?

Answer 24

World War II

Question 25

During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?

Answer 25

Communism

Question 26

What movement tried to end racial discrimination?

Answer 26

civil rights (movement)

Question 27

What did Martin Luther King, Jr. do?*

Answer 27

fought for civil rights

worked for equality for all Americans

Question 28

What major event happened on September 11, 2001, in the United States?

Answer 28

Terrorists attacked the United States.

Question 29

Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.

Answer 29

Cherokee
Navajo
Sioux
Chippewa
Choctaw
Pueblo
Apache
Iroquois
Creek
Blackfeet
Seminole
Cheyenne
Arawak
Shawnee
Mohegan
Huron
Oneida
Lakota
Crow
Teton
Hopi
Inuit

Question 30

What was one important thing Abraham Lincoln did?

Answer 30

Freed the slaves
Saved the Union
Led the US during the Civil War