Plymouth, Mayflower & Founders
32 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set
1.Which nursery rhyme did Sarah Josepha Hale write?
- A. "Row Row Row Your Boat"
- B. "Humpty Dumpty"
- C. "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
- D. "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
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"Mary Had a Little Lamb"
Did you know? Hale's enduring verse is "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
2.In which month does Thanksgiving always fall in the United States?
- A. October
- B. December
- C. September
- D. November
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November
Did you know? The holiday is always the fourth Thursday of November.
3.The Mayflower's Atlantic crossing took about how many days?
- A. 66
- B. 21
- C. 30
- D. 120
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66
Did you know? The 1620 crossing lasted about 66 days.
4.The colonists named their settlement after which English port city, their last departure point?
- A. Plymouth
- B. Southampton
- C. Bristol
- D. London
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Plymouth
Did you know? The Mayflower's final English departure was from Plymouth.
5.Which shell beads served as currency and record-keeping in Wampanoag country?
- A. Turquoise
- B. Cowries
- C. Amber
- D. Wampum
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Wampum
Did you know? Purple and white wampum beads carried value and meaning.
6.For roughly how many years did Sarah Hale campaign for a national Thanksgiving?
- A. Five
- B. Ten
- C. Fifty
- D. Thirty-six
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Thirty-six
Did you know? Hale pressed the cause for about 36 years, state by state.
7.Lincoln's 1863 proclamation set Thanksgiving for which day of November?
- A. The last Thursday
- B. November 11
- C. The second Tuesday
- D. The first Thursday
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The last Thursday
Did you know? The last Thursday of November became the national custom.
8.Which companion ship leaked twice and turned back before the Mayflower sailed alone?
- A. The Fortune
- B. The Speedwell
- C. The Discovery
- D. The Arabella
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The Speedwell
Did you know? The Speedwell's leaks forced the famous single-ship crossing.
9.Roughly what share of the Mayflower colonists died during the first winter?
- A. Only a handful
- B. About one in ten
- C. About half
- D. Nearly all
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About half
Did you know? About half of the 102 colonists survived the first winter.
10.The historic Wampanoag homeland covered which region?
- A. Southern Virginia
- B. Western New York
- C. Northern Maine
- D. Southeastern Massachusetts
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Southeastern Massachusetts
Did you know? Wampanoag lands spanned southeastern Massachusetts and nearby coasts.
11.Which women's magazine did Sarah Josepha Hale edit for four decades while campaigning for Thanksgiving?
- A. Harper's Bazaar
- B. McCall's
- C. The Ladies' Home Journal
- D. Godey's Lady's Book
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Godey's Lady's Book
Did you know? Hale edited Godey's Lady's Book from 1837 to 1877.
12.The Continental Congress declared a national thanksgiving in 1777 after which Revolutionary victory?
- A. Trenton
- B. Saratoga
- C. Yorktown
- D. Bunker Hill
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Saratoga
Did you know? The surrender at Saratoga prompted the 1777 thanksgiving.
13.The Mayflower's first landfall in the New World was at which cape?
- A. Cape Hatteras
- B. Cape Cod
- C. Cape May
- D. Cape Charles
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Cape Cod
Did you know? The ship first sighted land at Cape Cod on November 9, 1620.
14.How many days did the 1621 harvest celebration last?
- A. Three
- B. One
- C. Ten
- D. Seven
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Three
Did you know? Winslow's letter describes a three-day celebration.
15.What are the dome-shaped bark homes of the Wampanoag called?
- A. Tipis
- B. Hogans
- C. Wetus
- D. Longhouses
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Wetus
Did you know? A wetu is the rounded Wampanoag dwelling.
16.Which region ignored Lincoln's 1863 holiday at first?
- A. The New England states
- B. The Pacific coast states
- C. The western territories
- D. The Confederate states
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The Confederate states
Did you know? Confederate states had no part in Lincoln's 1863 proclamation.
17.How many passengers sailed on the Mayflower in 1620?
- A. 102
- B. 150
- C. 66
- D. 50
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102
Did you know? The Mayflower carried 102 passengers across the Atlantic.
18.Which Abenaki visitor startled the colonists in March 1621 by greeting them in English?
- A. Massasoit
- B. Samoset
- C. Squanto (Tisquantum)
- D. Hobbamock
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Samoset
Did you know? Samoset walked in saying "Welcome, Englishmen," learned from fishermen.
19.Which trio of crops, central to regional Indigenous agriculture, is known as the Three Sisters?
- A. Rice, wheat and barley
- B. Corn, beans and squash
- C. Potatoes, corn and peppers
- D. Apples, pears and plums
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Corn, beans and squash
Did you know? Corn, beans and squash grow together as the Three Sisters.
20.Which president issued the first national Thanksgiving proclamation under the Constitution, in 1789?
- A. George Washington
- B. James Monroe
- C. Thomas Jefferson
- D. John Adams
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George Washington
Did you know? Washington proclaimed November 26, 1789 a day of thanksgiving.
21.Who served as Plymouth Colony's first military leader?
- A. John Carver
- B. Stephen Hopkins
- C. William Brewster
- D. Myles Standish
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Myles Standish
Did you know? Myles Standish organized the colony's defenses.
22.Massasoit's peace alliance with Plymouth lasted about how long?
- A. Five years
- B. More than forty years
- C. A single season
- D. Ten years
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More than forty years
Did you know? The 1621 alliance held until Massasoit's death around 1661.
23.Which colonist wrote the 1621 letter describing the feast to a friend in England?
- A. Edward Winslow
- B. Myles Standish
- C. John Alden
- D. William Bradford
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Edward Winslow
Did you know? Edward Winslow's letter to England is the only eyewitness account.
24.Who wrote "Of Plymouth Plantation", the colony's great chronicle?
- A. Roger Williams
- B. John Winthrop
- C. John Smith
- D. William Bradford
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William Bradford
Did you know? Governor William Bradford wrote the colony's history.
25.In which decade did Sarah Hale begin advocating a national Thanksgiving?
- A. The 1840s
- B. The 1820s
- C. The 1850s
- D. The 1860s
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The 1820s
Did you know? Hale took up the cause in the 1820s, decades before Lincoln.
26.On what date was Washington's 1789 thanksgiving observed?
- A. December 25
- B. November 26
- C. July 4
- D. October 31
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November 26
Did you know? Washington set the day for Thursday, November 26, 1789.
27.In which month of 1621 did the Mayflower sail back to England?
- A. September
- B. April
- C. June
- D. January
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April
Did you know? The Mayflower departed for England in April 1621.
28.Which fur trade, booming in the 1630s, paid off Plymouth's debts?
- A. The tobacco trade
- B. The whaling trade
- C. The silver trade
- D. The beaver fur trade
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The beaver fur trade
Did you know? Beaver pelts became the colony's economic engine.
29.About how many Wampanoag men joined the 1621 feast?
- A. About 500
- B. About 250
- C. About 20
- D. About 90
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About 90
Did you know? Winslow counted about 90 Wampanoag men at the feast.
30.Hale's Northwood is noted as one of the first American novels to depict what?
- A. A whaling voyage
- B. A railroad disaster
- C. A Thanksgiving dinner
- D. A Gold Rush camp
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A Thanksgiving dinner
Did you know? Northwood's feast scene spread the Thanksgiving ideal.
31.Which president was the last to proclaim a thanksgiving before Lincoln revived the practice in 1863?
- A. James Madison
- B. James Monroe
- C. John Quincy Adams
- D. Andrew Jackson
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James Madison
Did you know? Madison's 1815 proclamation was the last before Lincoln's.
32.Which baby, born aboard the Mayflower in Provincetown Harbor, was the colony's first English-born child?
- A. Peregrine White
- B. Resolved White
- C. Love Brewster
- D. Oceanus Hopkins
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Peregrine White
Did you know? Peregrine White was born in the harbor before Plymouth was settled.
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