AMERICA250 | Test your 1776 knowledge about the Founding in our semiquincentennial quiz
Follow famous moments in American history, from a New Year's Day bombardment by the British to Washington's raid across the Delaware on Christmas in our founding year
The Dakota Scout holds these truths to be self-evident: We are all created equal, life, liberty and property remain unalienable rights, and the United States of America is still history’s best example of these virtues being reflected by people through representative government. We celebrated America’s enduring spirit with a June 26 special section focusing on the 56 men who risked life, liberty and treasure 250 years ago in signing OUR Declaration of Independence.
Our annual Independence Day quiz was included in that edition and is reposted here to challenge your Revolution-era trivia skills. Answers are at the bottom.
Happy 250th birthday, America!
The Dakota Scout’s fourth annual Independence Day quiz will take you through the revolutionary year of 1776, with some events you have heard and read about — and a few you probably have not.
1. On Jan. 1, the British attempted to burn this coastal town, shelling it day and night in this mid-Atlantic colony. When the British tried to land and burn more homes, the Patriots there ended up burning far more Loyalist homes and estates, and it is counted as a Patriot victory. What was the name of the town and the colony that endured this carnage on the very first day of 1776?
A. Baltimore, Maryland
B. Norfolk, Virginia
C. Cape May, New Jersey
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2. This British former corsetmaker was invited to Pennsylvania by Benjamin Franklin to come to the colonies. He was an avowed atheist, but skilled at writing, and he burned with thoughts of the inequality he felt as a Briton back home in England. On Jan. 10, he published this hugely important tract that was so fundamental, so important and so foundational to Americans’ thoughts about the Revolution that we still read it and quote from it today. Who was this writer, and what was this famous tract?
A. Thomas Paine, Common Sense
B. John Dickinson, Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania
C. Edmund Burke, Speech on Conciliation With America
3. We tend to think that the Revolution primarily was fought in the New England and mid-Atlantic states, often ignoring the Southern theater. This is absolutely untrue. Although it was a minor skirmish, this particular battle down South was significant because it crystallized the idea that an irregular force from a colony could actually beat a British full-on charge and win (with overwhelming musket fire), to the point where this colony wasn’t threatened significantly by the British again until 1780. What was the battle, and colony, that engaged in this pivotal skirmish on Feb. 27?
A. Battle of King’s Mountain, North Carolina
B. Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge, North Carolina
C. Battle of Camden, South Carolina
4. The American Revolution was fought outside of the 13 colonies, too. Specifically, there was a raid on this British island in the Bahamas on March 3–4. What was the name of this island that Commodore Esek Hopkins and a force of determined Continental Marines raided in order to get more gunpowder for the Patriots?
A. Nassau
B. St. Eustatius
C. St. Kitts
5. Also on March 4, Continental Gen. Henry Knox fortified this mountaintop area with cannons, threatening Gen. Howe’s troops in Boston. Howe decided to evacuate British forces, leaving for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on March 17. Boston has never been occupied again to this day. Where was this fortification that precipitated the end of the siege of Boston staged?
A. Dorchester Heights
B. Amherst Heights
C. Brooklyn Heights
6. On March 9, a book was published that changed the world. Written by a Scot, it was the first full-length treatise of modern economics, and it supplied the intellectual firepower against the dominant policy of mercantilism — the source behind many of the grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence. What was the name of this historic work, and who was its renowned author?
A. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume
B. Two Treatises of Government, John Locke
C. The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith
7. This royal colony, on April 4, approved the “Halifax Resolves,” making it the first British colony to officially authorize the Continental Congress to vote for independence from Great Britain. Which colony was this?
A. Massachusetts
B. Pennsylvania
C. North Carolina
8. Not to be outdone by the answer in the previous question, on May 4, this American colony was the first to entirely formally renounce allegiance to George III, regardless of the vote in the Continental Congress. Which colony was it?
A. New Jersey
B. Rhode Island
C. South Carolina
9. On May 15, the Second Continental Congress passed this signer’s preamble, explaining why a Declaration of Independence was being proposed in the first place. Which signer wrote this preamble?
A. John Adams
B. Thomas Jefferson
C. George Mason
10. On June 7, this resolution, written by this signer, proposed to the Continental Congress that “these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.” What was this resolution termed?
A. The (Richard Henry) Lee Resolution
B. The (Roger) Sherman Resolution
C. The (Benjamin) Franklin Resolution
11. On June 11, this committee was appointed to actually draft the Declaration of Independence. What was this committee’s name?
A. Committee to Draft the Declaration
B. Committee of Five
C. Committee of The Continental Congress
12. Who were the members of the committee in Question 11?
A. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason, Roger Sherman
B. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Charles Lee, George Mason, Roger Sherman
C. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston
13. On July 2, this southern colony reversed its position, and its delegates were instructed to vote for independence. The tie vote in another colony’s delegation was broken in favor of independence by Caesar Rodney. (New York, however, still abstained from voting.) Which two colonies’ key switches opened the door to Independence for our nation?
A. North Carolina and New Jersey
B. South Carolina and Delaware
C. Georgia and Maine
14. The date itself: July 4. What actually happened on that historic day in Philadelphia?
A. The Declaration of Independence was presented to the public and signed by the delegates.
B. The Declaration of Independence was presented to the public but was NOT signed by the delegates (yet).
C. The Declaration of Independence wasn’t finished yet, and the Signers told everyone “Sorry. We have more work to do!”
15. What happened on Aug. 2 in Philadelphia?
A. All of the signers got scared and decided not to sign the Declaration, thinking it was way too risky and dangerous after all.
B. Many of the signers came back to Philadelphia to sign the Declaration (though some wouldn’t make it back to sign until 1777), starting with John Hancock (the Continental Congress President) and Charles Thomson, the Congressional Secretary, followed by most of the rest of the signers.
16. On Aug. 27, in New York City, the Continental Army under George Washington was almost completely routed in this battle. It was actually the largest battle of the entire Revolution. The Revolution could have ended right then and there, not even two months after the Declaration of Independence, but it didn’t. Washington got out of there fast (thank you, Gen. John Glover of Connecticut, and your longboats) to live to fight again (one should never give George Washington an opening; he’ll take it). What was the name of the battle and the British General who always waited just a little too long (to our country’s enormous benefit) to pursue in battles just like this one?
A. Battle of Queens, Richard Howe
B. Battle of Staten Island, Henry Clinton
C. Battle of Long Island, William Howe
17. On Sept. 7, the American Revolution saw the world’s first submarine attack. An American submersible craft attempted to attach explosives to the hull of the British Admiral Richard Howe’s HMS Eagle in New York Harbor. It didn’t work (the vessel could only be submerged for 30 minutes, and the explosives failed), but it was still a world-changing development in warfare (which George Washington himself personally bankrolled to make sure it was built and tested). What was the name of the first submarine, and who invented it for the Continentals?
A. The Turtle, David Bushnell
B. The Eel, David Justice
C. The Squid, David Copperfield
18. On Sept. 16, in the heart of New York City, Gen. Nathanael Greene and Gen. John Sullivan helped Washington win his first actual Revolutionary War victory. Washington’s Continentals executed a quick flanking attack that caught Major Gen. Henry Clinton flat-footed, and the British retreated. What was the name of this battle?
A. Battle of Manhattan
B. Battle of The Bronx
C. Battle of Harlem Heights
19. On Oct. 11, the first real naval battle of the Revolution was fought on Lake Champlain in New York. Unfortunately, the man commanding the expedition would go on to become our most infamous traitor, and the Continental boats were later captured by forces under the direction of British Gen. Guy Carleton. But this action did stall British plans to reach the upper Hudson River valley. What was the name of the Continental commander and the naval battle?
A. Gen. Charles Lee, Battle of Lake Champlain
B. Gen. Benedict Arnold, Battle of Valcour Island
C. Gen. James Wilkinson, Battle of Lake Erie
20. On Oct. 28, British Gen. William Howe landed troops in Westchester County, New York, intending to trap Washington’s retreat north out of New York City. But Washington was too quick. He fought both Howe and Hessians under Col. Johann Rall, but it was a huge, panicky retreat for the Continentals from this mountaintop area. What was the name of this battle?
A. Battle of White Plains, New York
B. Battle of Long Island, New York
C. Battle of Staten Island, New York
21. On Nov. 20, there was an invasion of New Jersey by British and Hessian forces and subsequent general retreat of the Continental Army. They were just outgunned, and many of the militia units alongside them, honestly, just weren’t trained as well as the most powerful armies on the planet at that time. What was the name of this rout of our troops in New Jersey?
A. Battle of Atlantic City, New Jersey
B. Battle of Fort Lee, New Jersey
C. Battle of Jersey City, New Jersey
22. On Dec. 7, a 19-year-old French idealist attempted to enter the Continental Army as a major general, paying his own way. He ended up becoming quite a good general, fighting in both the Battles of Brandywine and the siege at Yorktown. Washington himself took a fatherly interest in him. He later became a hero in the French Revolution (initially, though those crazy Jacobins wanted to kill him) and took a tour of America years later, in 1824, to the great delight of Americans everywhere, who remembered him from the Revolution. Who was this amazing Frenchman whom we Americans remember fondly and with reverence to this day?
A. The Marquis de Lafayette
23. On Dec. 19, Thomas Paine, living with Washington’s Continental troops, published the first in a series of this other famous pamphlet of his in the Pennsylvania Journal, opening with the stirring phrase, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” What was this famous pamphlet’s name?
A. The Age of Reason
B. The American Crisis
C. Rights of Man
24. On Christmas night, George Washington and the Continental Army executed arguably the most daring mission of the Revolution. It is memorably depicted in the 1851 Emmanuel Leutze painting, “Washington Crossing the Delaware” (which is great to look at but not historically accurate at all). The American troops crossed overnight and surprised 1,500 Hessians in the morning. The Continentals took 948 prisoners and suffered only five wounded, with no Continental soldiers killed. Washington and his army then skedaddled back across the Delaware the next morning, prisoners in tow, exhausted but completely victorious. What was the name of this famous battle?
A. Battle of Trenton, New Jersey
B. Battle of the Delaware
C. Battle of the Longboats
25. What was the name of the 2000 TV movie which depicted that Christmas raid from Question 24, in which Jeff Daniels played Washington?
A: The Crossing
B. Battle of Trenton
C. The Boats of Trenton
Answers: 1. B. Norfolk, Virginia; 2. A. Thomas Paine, Common Sense; 3. B. Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge, North Carolina; 4. A. Nassau; 5. A. Dorchester Heights; 6. C. The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith; 7. C. North Carolina; 8. B. Rhode Island; 9. A. John Adams; 10. A. The (Richard Henry) Lee Resolution; 11. B. Committee of Five; 12. C. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston; 13. B. South Carolina and Delaware; 14. B. The Declaration of Independence was presented to the public but was NOT signed by the delegates (yet); 15. B. Many of the signers came back to Philadelphia to sign the Declaration (though some wouldn’t make it back to sign until 1777), starting with John Hancock (the Continental Congress President) and Charles Thomson, the Congressional Secretary, followed by most of the rest of the signers; 16. C. Battle of Long Island, William Howe; 17. A. The Turtle, David Bushnell; 18. C. Battle of Harlem Heights; 19. B. Gen. Benedict Arnold, Battle of Valcour Island; 20. A. Battle of White Plains, New York; 21. B. Battle of Fort Lee, New Jersey; 22. Answer: The Marquis de Lafayette; 23. B. The American Crisis; 24. A. Battle of Trenton, New Jersey; 25. A: The Crossing
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