What 16th & 17th century Christian sect wanted to eliminate religious practices not specifically named in the Bible, and were consequently seen as a threat to the Church of England?
Puritans
The Puritans sought to “purify” Christian religious practices, and constituted a threat to the Church of England.
A subset of these Puritans, known as Separatists, wanted to leave the Church of England entirely.
What is the common term for the puritans who fled from England between 1620 and 1640 to settle in colonial America?
the Pilgrims
Led by John Winthrop, the pilgrims settled largely around Boston and the region that would eventually become the colony of Massachussetts
What is the main reason the English settlers initially coexisted peacefully with the Native Americans of New England?
trade and bartering
For the colonists, trade was about building the infrastructure and relationships they would need to survive the New World. For the Native Americans, it was about building potential alliances.
Over time, relations deteriorated due to disease and other conflicts.
Which famous Native American princess befriended Captain John Smith of the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia?
Pocahontas
(1596-1617)
Pocahontas is said to have prevented Smith’s execution by her father by throwing herself upon him, an anecdote that has since been romanticized.
In many ways, Pocahontas became the bridge between the Native Americans and the English explorers, occasionally bringing the settlers food.
She later moved to England and briefly became something of a celebrity.
What was the first permanent English colony in the New World?
Jamestown, Virginia
(Est. 1607)
The Virginia Company, a joint-stock company, received a charter from King James I.
A previous colony at Roanoke, founded in 1587, had mysteriously disappeared, but the Jamestown colony survived despite disease and poor planning.
What was the form of labor called when a person’s passage to the New World was paid in advance in exchange for several years of labor?
indentured servitude
Colonists, primarily in Maryland and Virginia, used indentured servants to fill labor shortages. Most indentured servants died before obtaining freedom.
What labor-intensive crops were initially responsible for Virginia’s rapid imports of African slaves in the late 1600s?
rice and indigo
Initially, few Africans were imported into Virginia, and by 1650 there were only 400 slaves in the colony.
Over the next few decades, however, Virginia landowners began growing rice and indigo in large quantities, which required large amounts of labor, and slavery increased.
Between 1700 and 1750, which five areas of the world did most American immigrants come from?
- England
- Scotland
- Ireland
- Germany
- Africa
During this period, the colonial population skyrocketed from 250,000 to over 1.2 million (including over 200,000 African slaves).
What war took place from 1754 to 1763, in which Britain fought for control of the American colonial frontier?
The French and Indian War
The war was fought by the British against France and Indian tribes that were allied to the French.
The war was fought mainly for control of the colonial frontier.
The Treaty of Paris (1763) resolved the war, and the English gained control of land east of the Mississippi River Valley, in between Canada and Florida.
What law did the British parliament pass in 1765 to charge a tax on all official documents and newspapers in the American colonies?
The Stamp Act
The British enacted it to raise funds to pay off debts they had incurred as a result of the French and Indian War.
American colonists were not necessarily opposed to the act, but objected that it was passed without their input. This led to the famous grievance about “taxation without representation”, which became a rallying cry for the revolution.
Which famous historical event began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier, but quickly escalated into a bloodbath?
Boston Massacre
(March 5, 1770)
The Boston Massacre resulted in the death of 5 American colonists. It helped spark the colonists’ desire for American independence, while the dead rioters became martyrs for liberty.
The British troops were tried for murder; defended by (future president) John Adams, they were acquitted or given reduced sentences.
In 1773, Massachusetts colonists staged a protest in retaliation to the Crown passing the Tea Act, dumping many tons of tea into the harbor. What did their protest became known as?
Boston Tea Party
(Dec. 16, 1773)
Angry about the crown’s favoring of the British East India Tea Company, American tea traders boarded English ships and dumped many tons of tea into the Boston Harbor.
This triggered Britain’s passing of the retaliatory Coercive Acts, which fueled even louder calls for independence.
What nickname was given to the well-prepared subset of colonial militia that were trained to respond to threats within a moment’s notice?
Minutemen
Although today Minutemen are thought of as connected to just the Revolutionary War in America, their existence came into play during the mid-seventeeth century in Massachusetts.
On April 18, 1775, what American colonist famously rode 13 miles overnight to warn Massachusetts militias that “The Regulars are coming out!”?
Paul Revere
(1735 - 1818)
Revere’s important advance notice helped the Minutemen assemble a small force at Lexington and prevent what would have otherwise resulted in a bloodbath.
The battle at Lexington the following day became known as the start of the Revolutionary War.
What were the names of the first two battles of the American Revolutionary War?
Lexington and Concord
(Apr. 19, 1775)
The first attack by the British became known as the famous “shot heard round the world”.
Colonial newspapers used the outrage to dramatically improve recruiting efforts for rebel militias.
Whom did the Second Continental Congress dispatch to take command of the American soldiers in their fight against the British military in 1775?
George Washington
(1732 - 1799)
As a Virginian, Washington’s appointment signaled colonial unity. Washington was also one of the few colonial soldiers with extensive military experience.
Who wrote the pamphlet Common Sense, which advocated for immediate independence from the British in 1776?
Thomas Paine
(1737 - 1809)
Paine’s work sold hundreds of thousands of copies and persuaded many Americans to favor independence.
Paine later authored Rights of Man, in support of the French Revolution, and The Age of Reason, which supported British deism, derided Christianity as a human invention, and promoted reason.
In 1776, What famous document did the Second Continental Congress send to King George III, asserting the America colonies’ formal separation from Great Britain?
Declaration of Independence
(Jul. 4, 1776)
The Declaration was drafted by a team of five delegates, led by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia.
It severed the 13 American colonies from their political connections to Great Britain
It summarized colonists’ justifications for autonomy and helped secure support from France in the ongoing war against the British.
Which 18th-century American politician and president of the Continental Congress was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence?
John Hancock
(1737 - 1793)
As a result, his name is now synonymous with a signature.
Which American Founding Father and Declaration of Independence signee later became the second President of the United States?
John Adams
(1735-1826)
John Adams was major figure in the Continental Congress (1774–77), the author of the Massachusetts constitution (1780), and a signer of the Treaty of Paris (1783).
He was also was the first person to propose the idea of a U.S. military academy in 1776, and the first vice president (1789–97) and second president (1797–1801) of the United States.
Which American Founding Father co-founded the U.S. financial system and became the first Secretary of the Treasury?
Alexander Hamilton
(1755 or 1757 - 1804)
Hamilton also helped to draft the Constitution and contributed to The Federalist Papers. He was ultimately killed in a duel by Vice President Aaron Burr in 1804.
Fun fact: there is still a dispute among historians about the actual birth year of Alexander Hamilton.
Which Founding Father was the main author of the Declaration of Independence and became the third President of the United States?
Thomas Jefferson
(1743 - 1826)
Jefferson also oversaw the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark Expedition, and founded the University of Virginia.
Which Founding Father was a talented inventor, scientist, statesman, writer, and printer?
Benjamin Franklin
(1706 - 1790)
Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence and made significant advances in the field of electricity.
He also invented bifocals, the lightning rod, and a kind of metal-lined fireplace called the Franklin stove.
His written works include Poor Richard’s Almanack and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
After the United States declared independence from Britain on July 4, 1776, what document was drafted to govern the new nation?
The Articles of Confederation
The Articles governed the United States from 1781 to 1789, when they were replaced by the Constitution.
What was the term for the American Loyalists who fought on the side of the British, or otherwise aided them in the war against the American colonies?
Tories
Approximately 60,000 Tories fought for the British in the Revolutionary War, although over 500,000 Tories were suspected to exist in the colonies. After the war, many Tories fled to Canada.
Which American general of the Revolutionary War famously plotted to betray the Americans by siding with the British in 1779?
Benedict Arnold
(1741 - 1801)
Arnold agreed to turn over the U.S. post at West Point in return for money and a command in the British army.
His name is now synonymous with betrayal.
During the Revolution, which country was America’s most important ally?
France
Following the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga (1777), France recognized the United States and provided naval assistance, supplies, and monetary aid to the fledgling nation.
French assistance proved the decisive factor in the Revolution by forcing the British into a wider war.
Which document is the fundamental law of the U.S. federal system and delineates the national frame of government?
The U.S. Constitution
The Constitution was written in 1787 by 55 delegates when they came together to amend the Articles of Confederation (1781–89), the country’s first written constitution.
The Constitution was the product of political compromise after long and often rancorous debates over issues such as states’ rights, representation, and slavery.
The oldest written national constitution in use, it established the U.S. national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens.
What three branches of American government were established by the Constitution?
- Legislative
- Judiciary
- Executive
Each branch has particular rights and responsibilities, called ‘separation of powers’.
The Constitution uses checks and balances to diffuse power between the branches and make sure no branch becomes too powerful.
3 examples of checks and balances include: 1) The president can exercise a veto over acts of Congress. 2) Congress can override a Presidential veto only with a 2/3 vote in each house. 3) Treaties negotiated by the President must be ratified by the Senate.
What famous agreement was reached at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, which decreed that slaves could count as a fraction of a person when establishing the States’ representation in Congress based on population?
Three-Fifths Compromise
(1787)
The Three-Fifths Compromise was passed during the Constitutional Convention between the northern and southern states.
If they hadn’t been able to agree, the northern and southern states had been ready to adjourn the constitutional convention as a failure.
What legal process is followed to initiate formal charges against an elected official suspected of a crime or impropriety, with the goal of removing them from office?
impeachment
Actual removal requires a conviction in the Senate of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Three Presidents [Andrew Johnson in 1868, William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton in 1998, and Donald J. Trump in 2019 and 2021] have already been impeached. Trump being the first US President to be impeached twice.
What was the name for the U.S. States who wished to ratify the U.S. Constitution in the period 1788-89, while it was still under review?
Federalists
The Federalists, led by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, thought that a strong central government was essential to the survival of the United States.
The Federalist Papers helped sway public opinion in favor of the constiuttion so that it finally became ratified by all first 13 states in 1790.
Anti-Federalists, on the other hand, worried that the strong federal government would impinge upon the rights of the states.
What term is used for the first 10 constitutional amendments, supporting the guarantee of individual liberty?
Bill of Rights
(Ratified by 1790)
- Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.
- Right to keep and bear arms in order to maintain a well regulated militia.
- No quartering of soldiers.
- Freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.
- Right to due process of law, freedom from self-incrimination, double jeopardy.
- Rights of accused persons, e.g., right to a speedy and public trial.
- Right of trial by jury in civil cases.
- Freedom from excessive bail, cruel and unusual punishments.
- Other rights of the people.
- Powers reserved to the states.
Which two Americans led a two-year expedition to explore the American west to study the terrain, wildlife, natural resources, and geography?
Lewis and Clark
The expedition began in 1804, when President Jefferson tasked Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with exploring lands west of the Mississippi River that comprised the Louisiana Purchase.
The journey was a success and provided new geographic, ecological and social information about previously uncharted areas of North America.
What was the term for the American acquisition of a great swath of western territory from France that nearly doubled the former country’s total land area?
The Louisiana Purchase
(1803)
The territory was bought for $15 million and removed a potentially troubling foreign presence from the American frontier.
The newly acquired land contained parts of what would eventually become 15 states.
Which two countries fought in the War of 1812?
The United States fought the United Kingdom
(1812 - 1815)
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America
The war was fought over British violations of U.S. maritime rights. It primarily took place in Upper Canada and the Northwest Territory with victories at Lake Erie and the Thames in 1813.
It ended with the exchange of ratifications of the Treaty of Ghent that restored the pre-war situation.
Who invented the steamboat, revolutionizing travel on America’s waterways?
Robert Fulton
(1765 - 1815)
Fulton’s invention made it possible for farmers in the West to get their products to Eastern ports inexpensively and quickly, and for manufacturers to get their goods to the West.
Which of Eli Whitney’s inventions made it economical to use cotton to manufacture clothing?
cotton gin
Short for “engine,” the gin automatically separated cotton fibers from cotton seed, and greatly sped up the production of cotton.
The gin made slavery more profitable, allowed cotton to replace wool as the dominant material in clothing, and revolutionized the Southern economy.
What was the major source of power for the earliest American factories?
water power
Early factories were located by rivers and water power was used to operate the mills. Water mills were especially useful in early textile mills.
What was the main reason a million Irish immigrants fled their homeland between 1845 and 1852?
the Irish Potato Famine
(1845 - 1852)
Most of the immigration during that time can be attributed to the Irish Potato Famine.
The potato was an Irish dietary staple, and another million inhabitants of Ireland died of starvation.
What were the American South’s three primary exports in the years preceding the Civil War?
- Tobacco
- Cotton
- Rice
Cotton, tobacco, and rice all required large amounts of slave labor and, as a result, drove up demand for slave labor.
Which belief, argued by American philosopher Henry Thoreau, says that one has a duty to disobey when the government enacts laws that violate one’s conscience?
civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is often seen as being a form of nonviolent resistance.
The idea of civil disobedience went on to influence historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
What phrase, coined in 1845, posited that the United States was intended by God to rule all of North America?
Manifest Destiny
The philosophy drove a lot of the 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion and was used to justify the forced removal of Native Americans and other groups from their home territory.
For example, the United States validated acquisitions using Manifest Destiny during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) when they gained immense territory including present-day Arizona, California, western Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah.
In 1831, what massive slave revolt in Virginia was so impactful on the Southern psyche that it ended all meaningful discussion of slavery reform?
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
(1800 - 1831)
Nat Turner and his followers killed some 50-60 whites before being put down by state militia.
His actions exacerbated fears of further slave rebellions and ended all discussion of slavery reform within the South.
What 1836 event and massacre by the Mexican army, fueled the vengeance fire that ultimately resulted in Texas’s independence?
The siege at Alamo
(1836)
The dead soldiers included American heros such as Davey Crockett and Jim Bowie.
Eventually, Texas won independence from Mexico, and then elected to become a U.S. state in 1844.
What driving force attracted 300,000 settlers from the eastern U.S. to California from 1848-1855?
The Gold Rush
A large group of settlers hoping to get rich from gold discovered in California in 1848 were nicknamed the 49ers.
In their wake came thousands of more permanent settlers, who followed the overland trails from Missouri to Oregon and California.
This movement was collectively known as the (California) Gold Rush, and contributed to California’s rapid entry into the union in 1850.
In the 19th century, what was the nickname for the network of secret routes that guided escaped slaves to their freedom?
The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad wasn’t really a “railroad” but was the metaphorical nickname for the careful network of collaborators who helped slaves stealthily travel such long and dangerous distances.
The Underground Railroad was directed by opponents to slavery such as Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman.
What landmark decision by the Supreme Court held that African Americans could not be American citizens, and therefore could not bring suit in federal court?
Dred Scott v. Sandford
(1857)
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri whose master had taken him to Illinois and Wisconsin (free territories) and then returned with him to Missouri. Contending that he’d become liberated once he had crossed into a state where slavery was illegal, Scott sued for his freedom.
Although Scott and his family were eventually liberated from slavery, the Dred Scott Decision overturned the Missouri Compromise and outraged abolitionists in the years leading up to the Civil War.
In 1861, who was elected in early as President of the Confederacy?
Jefferson Davis
(of Mississippi)
Davis was a former Senator, Secretary of War, and Mexican-American War soldier.
Davis did not want the job, preferring instead to lead the Confederate troops into the combat he suspected was coming.
Which 19th-century American politician served as President of the United States and oversaw the Union during the Civil War?
Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865)
Lincoln is also famous for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and delivering the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln was president from 1861 to 1865.
What executive order was issued by Abraham Lincoln to free millions of slaves?
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln announced the Proclamation after the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam.
Which military and political leader served as a Union Army general during the Civil War, and later became the 18th President of the United States?
Ulysses S. Grant
(1822 - 1885)
Grant led the Union Armies to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War from 1869 to 1877.
As an American hero, Grant was elected as the President of the United States and worked to implement Congressional Reconstruction and to remove the vestiges of slavery.
Which American general commanded the Confederate troops during the Civil War?
Robert E. Lee
(1807 - 1870)
Which Civil War battle marked the end of the Confederacy’s offensive capabilities?
The Battle of Gettysburg
(1863)
With over 50,000 casualties, it was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. General Robert E. Lee’s forces were nearly destroyed, and for the remainder of the War the Confederacy was on the defensive.
After the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, President Lincoln gave a speech called the The Gettysburg Address, one of the world’s most famous speeches.
The speech reflected Lincoln’s belief that the Civil War was struggle for freedom and equality for all, rather than just about saving the Union.
What 1866 legislation did Congress pass in response to the South’s Black Codes?
Civil Rights
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 deemed that blacks were citizens, directly contradicting the Dred Scott Decision. The Act’s terms were later embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment.
During the post-war’s Reconstruction Era, what domestic terrorist organization sought to intimidate and suppress newly-freed African Americans?
Ku Klux Klan
Led by former Confederate lieutenant general Nathan Bedford Forrest, the KKK is responsible for lynchings, whippings, and burning black-owned buildings.
Although the Klan disbanded in the late 1860s, a second, more widespread incarnation would come about in the early 20th century and still exists today.
Which 19th century American writer and abolitionist was an escaped slave known for his oratory, antislavery writings, and support of women’s suffrage?
Frederick Douglass
(1818 - 1895)
Douglass published three autobiographies and spent years writing and editing an influential abolitionist newspaper.
He also broke barriers for African Americans in government service and helped combat racial prejudice during the Reconstruction Era.
Which American civil rights organization was founded by W.E.B. DuBois to advance justice for African Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries?
NAACP
(1868 - 1963)
NAACP stands for The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
DuBois insisted that blacks should receive full civil rights and political representation, contrary to the position of Booker T. Washington, who argued that blacks should avoid confrontation over segregation and submit to white political rule.
What was the phrase used by the American South to justify segregation under the Constitution?
“Separate but Equal”
The Supreme Court condoned Separate but Equal in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), holding that racial segregation was legal, as long as the facilities offered to blacks were roughly equal to those offered to whites.
In reality, the separate bathrooms, drinking fountains, schools, railroad cars, and myriad other facilities were never equal.
After the Civil War, which set of laws was passed to continue the discrimination against and disenfranchisment of African Americans in the South?
The Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow Laws included school segregation, poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses.
Which two railroads were joined to create the first Transcontinental Railroad?
Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad
(May 10, 1869)
The two tracks were joined at the Promontory Summit in Utah. The last spike was made of gold, and is now kept at Stanford University.
Going by the nickname “Commodore”, who was the 19th-century American industrialist who made his fortune in railroads and shipping?
Cornelius Vanderbilt
(1794 - 1877)
The patriarch of the wealthy Vanderbilt family, he helped found the Vanderbilt University.
What was the name of the poor Scottish immigrant who became one of the wealthiest and most important American industrialists and philanthropists in the 19th and early 20th centuries due to his success in the steel business?
Andrew Carnegie
(1835 - 1919)
Carnegie founded the Carnegie Steel Company and later sold it to J.P. Morgan, eventually resulting in the creation of U.S. Steel. He is also known for founding Carnegie Hall and Carnegie Mellon University.
Who drastically improved the light bulb and was known as “The Wizard of Menlo Park”?
Thomas Alva Edison
(1847 - 1931)
Working in his laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ, Edison was the most prolific inventor of the late 1800s, inventing the version of the light bulb that we use today, the phonograph, the movie camera, as well as hundreds of other items.
Which notorious New York City politician controlled Tammany Hall during the 1860s and 1870s?
Boss Tweed
(1823 - 1878)
Most of Tweed’s support came from newly arrived Irish immigrants, whom he courted by giving them food and clothing.
Tweed and other political bosses represented the corruption that led Mark Twain to call the period “The Gilded Age.”
Which 19th- and 20th-century American author and activist was deaf and blind but learned to write, read, and communicate through sign language?
Helen Keller
(1880 - 1962)
Keller’s public advocacy had a lasting global impact and she become a symbol of courage in the face of overwhelming odds.
Which American war hero and politician known as “Teddy” was President of the United States from 1901 to 1909?
Theodore Roosevelt
(1858 - 1919)
Roosevelt led a group of volunteer cavalrymen called the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War, famous for their victory at the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba.
Known as an adventurous outdoorsman and hunter, Roosevelt was the youngest person to become president, expanded the system of national parks, and oversaw the construction of the Panama Canal.
Who were the two early leaders of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), formed in 1890?
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
- Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony was best known for her central role in the women’s suffrage movement and was a champion of temperance, abolition, the rights of labor, and equal pay for equal work.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an active abolitionist and suffragist and helped organize the first women’s rights convention in America at Seneca Falls, NY in 1848.
Who developed and led the New York Journal, the nation’s largest newspaper chain, in the early 1900s?
William Randolph Hearst
(1863 - 1951)
Hearst’s methods profoundly influenced American journalism.
Hearst and Pulitzer, who ran the New York World, engaged in a newspaper war, fighting for subscribers with ever-escalating sensationalism.
Critics dubbed their conduct “yellow journalism,” a term stemming from The Yellow Kid comic strip, which was published in both the Journal and the World.
Who was the 28th President of the United States, known for his attempts to keep America out of World War I?
Woodrow Wilson
(1856 - 1924)
Wilson emphasized neutrality during his first term, but the U.S. finally entered the war in 1917.
In 1918 he issued his Fourteen Points, his goals for peace and the prevention of further conflict. After the war, in 1919, he was instrumental to both the Treaty of Versailles and the creation of the League of Nations.
Woodrow Wilson served his presidential term from 1913 to 1921.
During the first few years of World War I, which three nations were the primary Allied Powers?
- France
- Great Britain
- Russia
These three originals were known as the Triple Entente. Italy eventually joined the Allied Powers in 1915.
Which four nations were known as the Central Powers in World War I?
- Germany
- Austria-Hungary
- The Ottoman Empire
- Bulgaria
What treaty formally ended the First World War?
The Treaty of Versailles
(1919)
The Treaty issued crushing terms on Germany, designed to impair its ability to wage war.
Which production method was innovated by Henry Ford to streamline production?
assembly line production
Workers stood in a single spot and performed the same task repetitively.
Assembly line production greatly increased the speed of production, and consequently lowered the cost of the goods produced.
What was the name of the era that took place after the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution banned the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors?
Prohibition
(1919)
Alcohol use continued and it was fashionable to drink in speakeasies or to purchase alcohol from bootleggers who either brewed liquor themselves or imported it from Canada.
As bootlegging grew into a lucrative profession, it was taken over by gangsters, such as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, who thrived in the illegal climate.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, which Chicago-based American gangster led a crime syndicate that was primarily focused on the illegal sale of alcohol?
Al Capone
(1899 - 1947)
Capone was sent to prison in 1931 for tax evasion.
Which pair of outlaws gained considerable attention in the 1930s for robberies they committed in the central United States?
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
The couple was ambushed and killed by authorities in Louisiana in 1934.
Which 20th-century aviator was the first woman to fly an airplane across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932?
Amelia Earhart
(1897 - 1939)
Earhart disappeared in 1937 while flying over the Pacific Ocean.
A court order declared Earhart legally dead in January 1939, 18 months after she disappeared.
The ____ __________ was a 1920s, New York City-based artistic and intellectual movement that expressed pride in African American culture.
Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance artists and intellectuals expressed both African American pride and the pain of racism in their artistic, literary, and musical works.
The Harlem Renaissance included prominent artists like musicians Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, writer James Weldon Johnson, and poet Langston Hughes.
What U.S. president led the country through The Great Depression and most of World War II, serving a record 12 years from 1933 to 1945?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(1882 - 1945)
Roosevelt took office (1933 - 1945) during the Great Depression and instituted major legislative changes as part of the New Deal, establishing government programs (like the FDIC, SEC, and Social Security) meant to reform and boost the economy.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he declared war on Japan and Germany, began the Manhattan Project, and helped lead the Allies to eventual victory, though he died before WWII ended.
Which historic event in 1929 led to the Great Depression?
the Stock Market Crash
(1929)
Many banks had invested in the market and faced significant shortfall; several faced insolvency. The Crash also prompted a run on gold deposits, further reducing the amount of deposits banks had on hand.
As a result, banks curtailed their lending activities, contributing to an economic slowdown.
Which series of relief programs were announced by President Roosevelt to help America recover and reform after the Great Depression?
The New Deal
FDR’s New Deal was composed of the three Rs: relief for the unemployed, recovery of the economy as a whole, and reform of America’s economic institutions.
What U.S. military base did Japan strike in 1941, bringing the U.S. into World War II against the Axis powers?
Pearl Harbor
(December 7, 1941)
Japan’s intent was to destroy America’s three Pacific aircraft carriers in the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, crippling the U.S. Navy.
Fortunately, all the American carriers were at sea, and not present for the attack, which claimed 2,400 American lives.
The next day, President Roosevelt asked for a declaration of war against Japan. One week later, Italy and Germany declared war against the United States.
In World War II, what became the term for the moment in 1944 that the Allies landed on the beach in Normandy, France?
D-Day
(1944)
This was one of the largest seaborne invasions in world history.
By December, almost all of France was freed from German forces, and British, Free-French, and American forces were preparing to drive deep into Germany.
Which bill was passed by the Congress in 1944 to provide a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans?
The G.I. Bill
(1944)
The G.I. Bill helped soldiers rapidly reintegrate after 5 grueling years of war, and is largely credited for igniting a decades-long economic boom of talent in the U.S.
Benefits for World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s) included low-cost mortgages, loans to start a business or farm, and tuition aid to attend vocational school, high school, or college.
Approximately 2.2 million veterans used the G.I. Bill’s education benefits in order to attend colleges or universities, and an additional 6.6 million used the benefits for some kind of training program.
Which American president led the United States in the final months of World War II, and made the controversial decision to use atomic weapons against Japan to end the war?
Harry S. Truman
(1884 - 1972)
Truman oversaw the Berlin Airlift, the creation of NATO, and the start of the Cold War. He also instituted the Marshall Plan to help Europe in its post-war recovery and gained approval for the Korean War in 1950.
Who was the first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)?
J. Edgar Hoover
(1895 - 1972)
Hoover is considered a pioneer in law enforcement for his innovations to police technology, but he is also seen as a controversial figure who abused his power and used illegal and secretive methods to collect evidence.
What is the term given by historians and demographers for the massive growth in population that occurred in the United States between 1946 and approximately 1957?
Baby Boom
Between 1948 and 1953 more babies were born than in the previous 30 years combined.
Who was the President of the United States from 1953-1961, a period marked by great economic prosperity?
Dwight D. Eisenhower
(1890 - 1969)
Before Eisenhower’s became president, he served as a general and commanded Allied forces in Europe during World War II.
His presidency was marked by booming prosperity, the end of McCarthyism, the end of the Korean War, the Suez Crisis, and the ongoing Cold War.
Known as Ike, Eisenhower also served as President of Columbia University for five years.
Which prolonged conflict from 1945 to 1991 was a longstanding state of political and military tension between the Soviet Union and the United States and NATO nations?
The Cold War
(1945-1991)
Neither sides’ allies were limited to the Western world, as both sides had defense arrangements with countries in Africa and Asia as well.
Which American senator led efforts in the 1940s and 1950s to root out Communists in the American government and society ?
Joseph R. McCarthy
(1908 - 1957)
McCarthy’s extreme opposition to Communism led to many accusations of treason or disloyalty without sufficient regard for evidence.
The term “McCarthyism” has come to mean a practice of making allegations via investigative techniques that are unfair or unfounded.
Which African American clergyman and politician was the most prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement until his assassination in April 1968?
Martin Luther King, Jr.
(1929 - 1968)
King, Jr. combatted racial inequality through nonviolence, promoting the use of boycotts or sit-ins.
He is most famous for his 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and for organizing the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
He also lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a civil rights protest in which African Americans refused to ride buses in the city of Montgomery, Alabama in protest of segregated seating.
Which African American civil rights activist famously refused to give up her seat for a white person on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955?
Rosa Parks
(1923 - 2005)
Parks was arrested for civil disobedience, but she and the ensuing Montgomery Bus Boycott became symbols of the Civil Rights Movement.
Who was President of the United States from 1961-1963 and, at 43, the youngest person to be elected to the office?
John F. Kennedy
(1917 - 1963)
Kennedy supported the Space Race and the Civil Rights Movement, negotiated the Cuban Missile Crisis, oversaw the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, and was in office for the building of the Berlin Wall and the early years of the Vietnam War.
He was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963; Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the crime.
Note that while JFK is the youngest person to ever be elected as president at age 43, Teddy Roosevelt was the youngest to become president following McKinley’s assassination at age 42. Kennedy served his presidential term from 1961 to his death in 1963.
In an operation approved by President Kennedy, what event saw Cuban dissidents, funded by the CIA, invading Cuba to overthrow Fidel Castro’s Communist government?
Bay of Pigs Invasion
(1961)
The attack was a miserable failure, embarrassing Kennedy and his administration.
What was the name of the 1962 crisis initiated by an Air Force U-2 spy plane discovering the Soviets preparing to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, 90 miles from the United States?
Cuban Missile Crisis
(1962)
Kennedy responded by placing a blockade around Cuba, and threatening war if any Soviet ship crossed the blockade line.
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev backed down when Kennedy vowed not to invade Cuba. It was the closest the two superpowers came to nuclear war.
Which 20th-century African American Muslim minister and political leader broke with the Nation of Islam in 1964 to work with civil rights leaders?
Malcolm X
(1925 - 1965)
Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 by three members of the Nation of Islam.
Which party advocated militant self-rule for African Americans in the late 1960s, and was characterized by distinct all-black attire?
Black Panthers
The Black Panther Party initially focused on monitoring police behavior, but it also organized health clinics and literacy and food campaigns for inner-city blacks.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover led a program to undermine the Party, and by the late 1970s its membership had waned.
Who was the alleged killer of President John F. Kennedy?
Lee Harvey Oswald
(1939 - 1963)
Oswald was captured but was never tried because he was killed by Jack Ruby two days after the assassination while being moved by police.
There are many conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy despite the official conclusion that he was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.
In 1968, which two U.S. political leaders were assassinated within only a few days of each other?
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Robert F. Kennedy
Martin Luther King Jr. was killed outside a hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray, whose motive remains unclear.
RFK, or “Bobby Kennedy was shot when running for president by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian angered by Kennedy’s pro-Israel stance. He was the brother of president JFK, who had been assassinated 5 years earlier in 1963.
In 1969, which American engineer, pilot, Navy officer, and astronaut became the first person to walk on the Moon?
Neil Armstrong
(1930 - 2012)
Who was the 37th U.S. President whose term became so embroiled in scandal that he resigned in 1974?
Richard Nixon
(1913 - 1994)
During Nixon’s presidency, the United States withdrew troops from Vietnam and opened diplomatic relations with China.
What was U.S. President Nixon’s plot to spy on his opponents for political gain called after it was uncovered?
Watergate Scandal
Nixon was found guilty, but resigned before being impeached. Gerald Ford was sworn in as President and promptly pardoned Nixon.
Which German-born American writer and diplomat served as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under Presidents Nixon and Ford?
Henry Kissinger
(Born in 1923)
Kissinger helped open relations with the People’s Republic of China and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords, putting an end to American involvement in the Vietnam War.
Some of his foreign policy decisions remain controversial, most notably the secret bombings of Cambodia and Laos.
Which American film actor began his political career in the 1960s, becoming Governor of California, and later, the 40th President of the United States?
Ronald Reagan
(1911 - 2004)
Reagan served his presidential term from 1981 to 1989.
Which U.S. lawyer became the first African American Supreme Court judge, serving from 1967 to 1991?
Thurgood Marshall
(1908 - 1993)
Marshall had worked as a lawyer for the NAACP and argued against segregation in Brown v. Board of Education.
Appointed by President Reagan in 1981, who was the the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court?
Sandra Day O’Connor
(1930 - present)
O’Connor retired in 2006.
Which American politician served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993-2001?
Bill Clinton
(1946 - present)
During his presidency Clinton gained considerable popularity thanks in large part to the booming American economy.
He also signed the North American Free Trade Agreement and passed welfare reform, but his second term was marred by a sex scandal and subsequent impeachment.
Which former First Lady and Senator served as the U.S. Secretary of State from 2009-2013?
Hillary Clinton
(Born in 1947)
A graduate of Yale Law School, Clinton was a Senator for New York from 2001-2009 and a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.
She announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 election. Clinton won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College vote and, therefore, lost the election to Donald Trump.
Which Czech-born American diplomat and professor was the first woman to become United States Secretary of State?
Madeleine Albright
(1937 - 2022)
Albright served as the US Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001.
Which American military leader and statesman served as the Secretary of State from 2001-2005 and was the first African American to hold the position?
Colin Powell
(1937 - 2021)
Powell served in the Vietnam War then rose through the American military ranks, becoming a general in the U.S. Army and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Which American political leader and professor was the first woman to serve as National Security Advisor, and the second African American to serve as U.S. Secretary of State?
Condoleezza Rice
(Born in 1954)
Rice previously served as the 66th United States secretary of state from 2005 to 2009 and as the 19th U.S. national security advisor from 2001 to 2005.
Rice has spent her entire career with a series of “firsts” in both higher education and government. She is the youngest, first woman and first African-American to serve as provost of Stanford University and she was named by Time Magazine as one of the World’s Most Influential People.
Who was elected Governor of Texas in 1994, then served as President of the United States from 2001-2009?
George W. Bush
(Born in 1946)
A Republican and the son of former President George H.W. Bush, he narrowly defeated Al Gore in the controversial 2000 election, plagued by charges of irregularities in the counting of votes.
Following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, he launched the War on Terror, resulting in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He signed into law the PATRIOT Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, and general tax cuts.
What terrorist organization hijacked four airplanes on Sep 11, 2001 and flew them into the World Trade Center and the U.S. Pentagon?
al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is multinational militant Sunni Islamic extremist network founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden during the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989).
In the early 1990s, the group established its headquarters in Afghanistan under the patronage of the Taliban militia and aimed to extend Islamic authority and religion into new areas.
This threat united Americans in defiance and led President Bush to declare the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.
After the Democratic Party’s landslide victory in the 2006 U.S. Congressional elections, who became the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives?
Nancy Pelosi
(Born in 1940)
The Democratic Party’s victory stemmed from dissatisfaction with the War in Iraq and Bush’s handling of Hurricane Katrina.
Who is the 44th President of the United States and the first African American to hold the office?
Barack Obama
(Born in 1961)
Obama’s main policy initiatives have been in response to the American economic recession, but he has also sought to reform healthcare via the Affordable Care Act.
In 2010 he repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and in 2012 he publicly supported the legalization of same-sex marriage. He ordered the operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. He was reelected in 2012.
Which infamous businessman became the 45th President of the United States in 2017?
Donald Trump
(Born in 1946)
The Trump Administration, while mired in controversy, made several accomplishments including the fostering of an economic boom, a lowered unemployment rate, and higher income for middle-class families.
