American History Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 322
In which state capital would you find the re-created 19th century pioneer community known as Old Deseret?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
salt lake city
Who was married to Pocahontas for just three years before she died in 1617?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
john rolfe
Which infamous outlaw and his gang are the focus of a bank museum in Liberty, MO, dedicated to a robbery that took place on February 13, 1866?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
jesse james
What type of animal, owned by Stonewall Jackson, is stuffed and mounted in VMI's museum?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
horse
What was the mail delivery service that charged $5 to send a 1/2-ounce letter when it started in April 1860?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
pony express
In Paul Revere's engraving, which 1770 event was falsified to demonstrate British guilt during the American Revolution?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
boston massacre
In what Kansas town, known as the 'Wickedest Little City' in the West, did Bat Masterson enforce the law?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
dodge
What was the subject of the 1790 petition to Congress that Ben Franklin signed as one of his last public acts?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
slavery
What group, first organized in 1770, sought to harass New Yorkers who claimed land in Vermont?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
green mountain boys
Who was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1937 following the appointments of only one Brown, two Whites, and a Gray?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
hugo black
Who was the last Dutch governor of New Netherland before it became New York?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
peter stuyvesant
In 1919, which law did evangelist Billy Sunday refer to when he said 'Goodbye, John Barleycorn'?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
prohibition
Which U.S. President's administration was marred by scandals such as the Credit Mobilier and the Whiskey Ring?
Medium
Click to reveal answer
ulysses s. grant
Who was the American businessman whose fur company post in the Oregon Country was taken over by the British during the War of 1812?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
john jacob astor
In 1848, a shipping canal completed through an old Indian portage linked Chicago with which mighty river system?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
mississippi river
Who was the dentist that served as one of Virgil Earp's deputies in Tombstone, Arizona?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
doc holliday
Which Shawnee chief, along with his brother known as the Prophet, was defeated in battles by William Henry Harrison?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
tecumseh
Who was the first elected black governor in the United States?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
douglas wilder
What Tennessean famously said, 'You can go to hell. I'm going to Texas' after being defeated for reelection to Congress?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
davy crockett
Who founded the first Baptist church in America in 1639?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
roger williams
What was the name of the 1853 purchase that made the contiguous United States complete?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
gadsden purchase
Which Socialist, released from prison by Woodrow Wilson's successor, is associated with 'THIS IS YOUR LIFE, WOODROW WILSON'?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
eugene v. debs
In 1775, 30 axmen led by Daniel Boone created this route through the Cumberland Gap. What is its name?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
wilderness road
What is estimated to have lost 300 million tons on May 11, 1934 in the Great Plains?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
topsoil
In 1783, what role did Princeton's Nassau Hall serve for the nation?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
capital
Which California governor was named Chief Justice of the U.S. by President Eisenhower on September 30, 1953?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
earl warren
How many stars were on the American flag when Flag Day was established as a national holiday?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
48
In which state did about 200 supporters of the American Indian Movement seize the hamlet of Wounded Knee in the 1970s?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
south dakota
Which Puritan, a contemporary of John Bunyan, was responsible for defending Providence?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
roger williams
What did the abbreviation CSMC stand for during the Civil War, with fewer than 600 men and officers at its greatest enrollment?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
confederate states marine corps
In which city, other than Richmond, is the first White House of the Confederacy located?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
montgomery, alabama
What major Nevada strike was located near Virginia City, which boomed in the 1860s?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
comstock lode
What type of American tree, which has been devastated by disease in recent years, is the wood used for the yoke of the Liberty Bell made from?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
elm
Who crowned Lee Meriwether as Miss America in 1954?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
bert parks
Whose charge at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863 resulted in fewer than 25% of his men returning?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
george pickett
Which general, wearing a mud-splattered private's coat, accepted Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox during the Civil War?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
ulysses s. grant
From which state did brothers Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee sign the Declaration of Independence?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
virginia
What nickname did the Confederate Congress officially give to General Jackson's troops on May 30, 1863?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
stonewall brigade
In which state was the first oil well in the United States located at Titusville?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
pennsylvania
What position did Wild Bill Hickok hold in Abilene, Kansas in 1871?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
marshal
What name did the Colonists give to the series of laws passed by the British in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
intolerable acts
Who was inspired to write 'The Star-Spangled Banner' by the flag that is now in the National Museum of American History?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
francis scott key
What nickname did sea captain William Driver from Salem, Massachusetts give to his U.S. flag?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
old glory
What territory did the U.S. purchase in 1917 that is its only acquisition from a Scandinavian country?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
virgin islands
Who founded Georgia and lived to see it become a state?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
james oglethorpe
Which U.S. state has one of its oldest universities named for Robert Baylor, who contributed to the crafting of its state constitution?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
texas
Which U.S. state was known as the Bear State in pioneer days and later became the 'Land of Opportunity'?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
arkansas
What frontiersman's home in Taos, New Mexico is now a museum and once served as a guide for John C. Fremont?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
kit carson
Who is known for killing Billy The Kid but whose own killer remains unknown?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
pat garrett
What significant silver vein was discovered in 1859 on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson in Nevada?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
comstock lode
During which Indian conflict in 1832 was Abraham Lincoln elected captain of his volunteer company?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
black hawk war
Which fort surrendered to the South after being bombarded with approximately 4,000 shells during a 34-hour period on April 14, 1861?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
fort sumter
Which First Lady sat in on cabinet sessions and participated in the Camp David meetings between Sadat and Begin?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
rosalynn carter
Who was the 'conductor' on the Underground Railroad who often carried a gun for protection?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
harriet tubman
In 1968, the capture of which Navy intelligence ship by North Korea resulted in the death of one American?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
pueblo
Which practice were the founders of Lawrence, Kansas opposed to?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
slavery
What New York immigration station, known as 'The Gateway to the New World,' closed in 1954 after operating for 62 years?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
ellis island
Which First Lady was previously married to Daniel Parke Custis, a wealthy planter who was twice her age?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
martha washington
Which artist painted the portrait of George Washington that is the oldest possession in the White House?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
gilbert stuart
Who was the first woman to serve as Secretary of Transportation after being appointed by President Reagan in 1983?
Hard
Click to reveal answer
elizabeth dole