Colonial America & the Founding

40 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.Which amendment abolished slavery in the United States?
- A. the Twelfth Amendment
- B. the Thirteenth Amendment
- C. the Fifteenth Amendment
- D. the Fourteenth Amendment
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the Thirteenth Amendment
Did you know? The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in December 1865.
2.Which settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America in 1607?
- A. Plymouth
- B. Jamestown
- C. Roanoke
- D. Boston
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Jamestown
Did you know? Jamestown, founded in Virginia in 1607, was the first permanent English settlement.
3.How many amendments make up the Bill of Rights ratified in 1791?
- A. ten
- B. twelve
- C. seven
- D. thirteen
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ten
Did you know? Twelve were proposed; ten were ratified in 1791.
4.Who became the first Secretary of State of the United States?
- A. Edmund Randolph
- B. James Monroe
- C. Alexander Hamilton
- D. Thomas Jefferson
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Thomas Jefferson
Did you know? Jefferson left the State Department in 1793.
5.Which act of 1773, that kept the East India Company's tea duty, set off colonial protest?
- A. the Tea Act
- B. the Sugar Act
- C. the Declaratory Act
- D. the Stamp Act
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the Tea Act
Did you know? Colonists answered the Tea Act by dumping tea into Boston Harbor.
6.Which amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States?
- A. the Thirteenth Amendment
- B. the Fourteenth Amendment
- C. the Fifteenth Amendment
- D. the Sixteenth Amendment
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the Fourteenth Amendment
Did you know? Ratified in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment redefined citizenship.
7.Which colony did Roger Williams found as a haven of religious liberty?
- A. Georgia
- B. Connecticut
- C. Rhode Island
- D. Maryland
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Rhode Island
Did you know? Roger Williams founded Rhode Island after being banished from Massachusetts.
8.How many senators does each state have under the Constitution?
- A. one
- B. four
- C. three
- D. two
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two
Did you know? Each state elects two senators regardless of population.
9.Which party did Alexander Hamilton's allies organize in the 1790s?
- A. the Democratic-Republican Party
- B. the Whig Party
- C. the Know-Nothing Party
- D. the Federalist Party
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the Federalist Party
Did you know? The Federalist Party backed Hamilton's financial program.
10.Which British law of 1765 required tax stamps on printed materials in the colonies?
- A. the Stamp Act
- B. the Tea Act
- C. the Sugar Act
- D. the Townshend Acts
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the Stamp Act
Did you know? The Stamp Act of 1765 provoked the slogan "no taxation without representation."
11.In which year was the Thirteenth Amendment ratified?
- A. 1868
- B. 1870
- C. 1863
- D. 1865
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1865
Did you know? Georgia's ratification completed the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865.
12.The Dutch colony of New Amsterdam was seized by the English and renamed what?
- A. New York
- B. Boston
- C. New Jersey
- D. New Haven
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New York
Did you know? New Amsterdam became New York when the English took it in 1664.
13.Which institution did the Constitution create to formally elect the president?
- A. the Supreme Court
- B. the Senate
- C. the House of Representatives
- D. the Electoral College
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the Electoral College
Did you know? Electors chosen by the states formally elect the president.
14.Which party did Thomas Jefferson and James Madison found in opposition to Hamilton?
- A. the Federalist Party
- B. the Democratic Party
- C. the National Republican Party
- D. the Democratic-Republican Party
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the Democratic-Republican Party
Did you know? Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans championed agrarian interests and states' rights.
15.Which pamphlet did Thomas Paine publish in January 1776 to argue plainly for independence?
- A. The American Crisis
- B. The Rights of Man
- C. Common Sense
- D. Poor Richard's Almanack
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Common Sense
Did you know? Paine's Common Sense sold over 100,000 copies in months.
16.Which amendment barred denying the vote because of race, color, or previous enslavement?
- A. the Seventeenth Amendment
- B. the Fifteenth Amendment
- C. the Nineteenth Amendment
- D. the Fourteenth Amendment
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the Fifteenth Amendment
Did you know? The Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in February 1870.
17.Which city did colonial leaders designate as the meeting place for both Continental Congresses?
- A. Philadelphia
- B. Boston
- C. New York
- D. Richmond
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Philadelphia
Did you know? Philadelphia hosted both Continental Congresses and the Constitutional Convention.
18.Which 81-year-old statesman was the oldest delegate at the Constitutional Convention?
- A. Roger Sherman
- B. Benjamin Franklin
- C. Elbridge Gerry
- D. George Washington
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Benjamin Franklin
Did you know? Franklin, 81, signed the Constitution as the oldest delegate.
19.The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 protested a federal tax on what?
- A. whiskey
- B. tobacco
- C. paper
- D. tea
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whiskey
Did you know? Washington himself led troops to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion.
20.In which city was the treaty that ended the Revolutionary War signed in 1783?
- A. New York
- B. London
- C. Philadelphia
- D. Paris
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Paris
Did you know? The Treaty of Paris was signed in September 1783.
21.In which colony did the Salem witch trials of 1692 take place?
- A. New York
- B. Virginia
- C. Connecticut
- D. Massachusetts
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Massachusetts
Did you know? The Salem witch trials convulsed Massachusetts in 1692.
22.Which amendment protects freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition?
- A. the First Amendment
- B. the Fifth Amendment
- C. the Second Amendment
- D. the Tenth Amendment
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the First Amendment
Did you know? The First Amendment heads the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791.
23.Which president, the only one elected unopposed, received every electoral vote in 1789 and 1792?
- A. John Adams
- B. Thomas Jefferson
- C. George Washington
- D. James Monroe
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George Washington
Did you know? Washington remains the only president elected unanimously.
24.Which American general plotted to hand West Point to the British in 1780?
- A. Charles Lee
- B. Benedict Arnold
- C. Horatio Gates
- D. William Howe
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Benedict Arnold
Did you know? Arnold's plot failed and his name became a byword for treason.
25.Which colony established the House of Burgesses in 1619, the first elected lawmaking assembly in English America?
- A. Maryland
- B. New York
- C. Massachusetts
- D. Virginia
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Virginia
Did you know? Virginia's House of Burgesses first met in 1619.
26.What did the Anti-Federalists demand before ratifying the Constitution?
- A. a stronger presidency
- B. a bill of rights
- C. a national bank
- D. an end to slavery
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a bill of rights
Did you know? Several states ratified only on the promise of amendments protecting rights.
27.Which president was the first to live in the White House?
- A. George Washington
- B. Thomas Jefferson
- C. John Adams
- D. James Madison
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John Adams
Did you know? Adams moved into the unfinished White House in November 1800.
28.Which document served as the United States' first frame of government from 1781?
- A. the Bill of Rights
- B. the Articles of Confederation
- C. the Declaration of Independence
- D. the Northwest Ordinance
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the Articles of Confederation
Did you know? The Articles of Confederation created a loose league of thirteen states.
29.Which assembly met in 1774 in Philadelphia to coordinate colonial response to British rule?
- A. the House of Burgesses
- B. the First Continental Congress
- C. the Stamp Act Congress
- D. the Constitutional Convention
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the First Continental Congress
Did you know? Twelve colonies sent delegates to the First Continental Congress in 1774.
30.Which amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms?
- A. the Second Amendment
- B. the Fourth Amendment
- C. the First Amendment
- D. the Fourteenth Amendment
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the Second Amendment
Did you know? The Second Amendment speaks of "a well regulated Militia".
31.Which two-term tradition, begun by Washington, held until Franklin D. Roosevelt?
- A. the State of the Union address
- B. the two-term presidency
- C. the inaugural parade
- D. the presidential veto
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the two-term presidency
Did you know? Washington declined a third term, setting a precedent broken only by FDR.
32.Which October 1777 battle, with a British surrender of some 6,000 troops, is called the turning point of the war?
- A. the Battle of Yorktown
- B. the Battle of Saratoga
- C. the Battle of Monmouth
- D. the Battle of Trenton
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the Battle of Saratoga
Did you know? Saratoga's surrender convinced France to enter the war as an American ally.
33.Which ship carried the Pilgrims across the Atlantic to Plymouth?
- A. the Mayflower
- B. the Arbella
- C. the Santa Maria
- D. the Endeavour
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the Mayflower
Did you know? The Pilgrims sailed to Plymouth aboard the Mayflower in 1620.
34.Which co-author of The Federalist Papers became the first Secretary of the Treasury?
- A. Alexander Hamilton
- B. James Madison
- C. John Jay
- D. Thomas Jefferson
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Alexander Hamilton
Did you know? Hamilton wrote most of the 85 Federalist essays.
35.In Washington's Cabinet, Hamilton and Jefferson clashed over what basic question?
- A. the abolition of the postal service
- B. the location of the capital
- C. the strength of federal power
- D. war with Spain
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the strength of federal power
Did you know? The Hamilton-Jefferson split seeded America's first party system.
36.Which president of the Continental Congress signed the Declaration with the largest signature?
- A. John Adams
- B. John Hancock
- C. Benjamin Franklin
- D. Thomas Jefferson
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John Hancock
Did you know? "John Hancock" became a synonym for signature because of his bold signing.
37.Which colony was founded by Lord Baltimore as a refuge for Catholics?
- A. Rhode Island
- B. Massachusetts
- C. Maryland
- D. Pennsylvania
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Maryland
Did you know? Maryland was founded in 1632 as a refuge for English Catholics.
38.Who presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787?
- A. Benjamin Franklin
- B. James Madison
- C. George Washington
- D. Alexander Hamilton
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George Washington
Did you know? Washington's presence lent the Convention crucial prestige.
39.At which Virginia site did Cornwallis surrender on October 19, 1781?
- A. Williamsburg
- B. Richmond
- C. Saratoga
- D. Yorktown
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Yorktown
Did you know? Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown effectively ended the Revolutionary War.
40.Which leader of Jamestown enforced the rule that those who would not work would not eat?
- A. John Rolfe
- B. John Smith
- C. John Winthrop
- D. William Bradford
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John Smith
Did you know? John Smith's strict rule kept the early Jamestown colony alive.

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