American History Quiz

Basic History USA Quiz:

Question: Which document declared the 13 American colonies’ independence from Great Britain?
(a) The Mayflower Compact
(b) The Declaration of Independence
(c) The Bill of Rights
(d) The Constitution

Ans. (b)

Question: In which year did Christopher Columbus first land in the Americas?
(a) 1492
(b) 1776
(c) 1861
(d) 1917

Ans. (a)

Question: When did the American Civil War take place?
(a) 1861-1865
(b) 1776-1783
(c) 1812-1815
(d) 1914-1918

Answer. (a)

Ques. A ”land run” in the current state of the USA began at noon on 22 April 1889, when an estimated 50,000 people lined up to race to claim 160 acres (0.65 km2) pieces of the available 2 million acres (8,000 Km2)?
(a) Alaska
(b) Montana
(c) California
(d) Oklahoma

Ans. (d)

Ques. Who was the first female, the first Californian and the first Italian-American to hold the post of Speaker of the US House of Representatives?
(a) Sandra Day O’Connor
(b) Hillary Clinton
(c) Condoleeza Rice
(d) Nancy Pelosi

Ans. (d)

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Question: The first African-American elected to Congress?
(a) Frederick Douglass
(b) Booker T. Washington
(c) Hiram Rhodes Revels
(d) Martin Luther King Jr.

Answer. (c)

Question: Who led the American forces during the Gulf War in 1991?
(a) George H.W. Bush
(b) Bill Clinton
(c) George W. Bush
(d) Barack Obama

Ans. (a)

Ques. Which of the following is not associated with the American Revolution for independence?
(a) No taxation without representation
(b) Boston Massacre
(c) Battle of Gettysburg
(d) Battle of Lexington and Concord

Ans. (c)

Question: Who was the first African-American to play Major League Baseball?
(a) Jackie Robinson
(b) Willie Mays
(c) Satchel Paige
(d) Hank Aaron

Answer. (a)

Question: What was the name of the movement in the mid-1800s that sought to end slavery in the United States?
(a) Civil Rights Movement
(b) Women’s Suffrage Movement
(c) Abolitionist Movement
(d) Temperance Movement

Ans. (c)

Ques. In 1986, what name was given to a scan­dal in the US administration that arose from the use of proceeds from covert arms sales to Iran via Israel to fund rebels in Nicaragua?
(a) The Whitewater controversy
(b) Watergate
(c) Troopergate
(d) Iran-Contra affair

Ans. (d)

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Ques. What is the generally accepted name for the Puritans who became the earliest set­tlers in the Plymouth colony in America, in 1620?
(a) Plymouth Brethren
(b) Plymouth Rocks
(c) Pilgrim Fathers
(d) Huguenots

Ans. (c)

Question: Who was the first president of the United States?
(a) John Adams
(b) Thomas Jefferson
(c) George Washington
(d) James Madison

Ans. (c)

Question: Which of the following battles marked the turning point of the American Revolution?
(a) Battle of Bunker Hill
(b) Battle of Saratoga
(c) Battle of Gettysburg
(d) Battle of Antietam

Ans. (b)

Question: Who was the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize?
(a) Toni Morrison
(b) Maya Angelou
(c) Alice Walker
(d) Rita Dove

Answer. (a)

Ques. What city was founded on the island of Manhattan by Peter Minuit in 1626?
(a) New Amsterdam
(b) Pittsburg
(c) New Holland
(d) Van Diemen’s Land

Ans. (a)

Ques. Which city was settled by the French in 1718, ceded to Spain in 1763, fell to France in 1800, and was bought by the USA in 1803?
(a) Tallahassee
(b) Quebec
(c) New Orleans
(d) Fort Saint Louis

Ans. (c)

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Question: Which famous speech by Martin Luther King Jr. called for racial equality and an end to discrimination in the United States?
(a) “I Have a Dream”
(b) “Give me Liberty or Give me Death”
(c) “Ask not what your country can do for you”
(d) “Four Score and Seven Years Ago”

Ans. (a)

Question: Who was the first African-American to serve as the Secretary of State of the United States?
(a) Colin Powell
(b) Condoleezza Rice
(c) Jesse Jackson
(d) Shirley Chisholm

Answer. (b)

Ques. What event took place at Yasgur’s farm, New York, from 15 to 18 August 1969?
(a) Until then, the world’s worst plane crash
(b) New York World’s Fair
(c) First public demonstration of the M16 rifle
(d) Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Ans. (d)

Question: In what year was the first iPhone released by Apple?
(a) 2005
(b) 2007
(c) 2009
(d) 2011

Ans. (b)

Ques. Silver Thursday on 27 March 1980 refers to a reaction by USA regulators to activities by what or whom?
(a) The Hunt brothers (attempting to cor­ner the world market in silver)
(b) Warren Buffett (divested his company of major stocks of silver)
(c) JP Morgan Chase and HSBC (manipu­lation of the gold and silver markets)
(d) London Silver Fix (plunging devalua­tion of the Indian rupee)

Ans. (a)

Question: What was the name of the court case that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional?
(a) Brown v. Board of Education
(b) Plessy v. Ferguson
(c) Loving v. Virginia
(d) Roe v. Wade

Answer. (a)

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Question: In what year did the American Revolution begin?
(a) 1763
(b) 1773
(c) 1775
(d) 1783

Ans. (c)

Question: Which President authorized the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II?
(a) Franklin D. Roosevelt
(b) Harry S. Truman
(c) Dwight D. Eisenhower
(d) John F. Kennedy

Ans. (b)

Ques. What name was applied to legislation regarding the sale of liquor in the USA between 1919 to 1933?
(a) Speakeasy Act
(b) Embargo
(c) Freedom of Spirit
(d) Prohibition

Ans. (d)

Question: Who was the African-American woman who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
(a) Maya Angelou
(b) Rosa Parks
(c) Fannie Lou Hamer
(d) Coretta Scott King

Answer. (b)

Question: Who was the first African American president of the United States?
(a) Barack Obama
(b) George W. Bush
(c) Bill Clinton
(d) Ronald Reagan

Ans. (a)

Question: What was the primary cause of the American Civil War?
(a) Slavery
(b) Economic differences between the North and South
(c) States’ rights
(d) Political disagreements over tariffs

Ans. (a)

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Ques. In the 1960s Raymond Davis Jr. set up a deep underground laboratory. Under what was the laboratory built?
(a) The Mammoth Site near Hot Springs, South Dakota
(b) Henderson Mine near Empire, Colorado
(c) The Black Hills, South Dakota
(d) Homestake gold mine, South Dakota

Ans. (d)

Question: Who was the African-American leader who advocated Black nationalism and separatism?(
(a) W.E.B. Du Bois
(b) Malcolm X
(c) Martin Luther King Jr.
(d) Frederick Douglass

Answer. (b)

Question: In which year was the Declaration of Independence signed, declaring the United States’ independence from Great Britain?
(a) 1776
(b) 1787
(c) 1812
(d) 1865

Ans. (a)

Question: In what year did the United States enter World War II?
(a) 1914
(b) 1939
(c) 1941
(d) 1945

Ans. (c)

Ques. In 1867, USA purchased Alaska from –
(a) Canada
(b) Mexico
(c) France
(d) Russia

Ans. (d)

Question: Who was the first African-American Supreme Court justice?
(a) Thurgood Marshall
(b) Clarence Thomas
(c) Sonia Sotomayor
(d) Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Answer. (a)

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Question: Which U.S. president is responsible for implementing the New Deal during the Great Depression?
(a) Franklin D. Roosevelt
(b) Harry S. Truman
(c) Dwight D. Eisenhower
(d) John F. Kennedy

Ans. (a)

Question: Which Supreme Court case in 1954 declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional?
(a) Dred Scott v. Sandford
(b) Brown v. Board of Education
(c) Roe v. Wade
(d) Miranda v. Arizona

Ans. (b)

Ques. Martin Luther is known in history as the leader of
(a) Scientific Revolution
(b) Renaissance
(c) Reformation
(d) Unification of Germany

Ans. (c)

Question: Who was the African-American mathematician and NASA scientist whose work was instrumental in the success of the first manned spaceflights?
(a) Katherine Johnson
(b) Dorothy Vaughan
(c) Mary Jackson
(d) Mae Jemison

Answer. (a)

Question: In what year did the Civil Rights Act become law, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, or national origin?
(a) 1865
(b) 1920
(c) 1955
(d) 1964

Ans. (d)

Ques. Who was the English king during the course of the American War of Independence?
(a) George III
(b) James III
(c) Charles II
(d) George IV

Ans. (a)

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Ques. The World Trade Centre complex that was in New York City’s downtown financial district until 2001 was made up of how many buildings when the last was built in 1985?
(a) 2
(b) 1
(c) 7
(d) 3

Ans. (c)

Question: Who was the African-American poet and author who was a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance?
(a) James Baldwin
(b) Langston Hughes
(c) Zora Neale Hurston
(d) Richard Wright

Answer. (b)

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