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US History Trivia Questions
The colonies, the Constitution, the Civil War and the twentieth century. Play the US history round, then read every question and answer below.
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US history trivia has a rhythm to it: a handful of founding dates, a run of presidents, then the amendments that people mix up under pressure. The 13th, 18th and 21st are the three that decide quiz nights, because everyone knows roughly what they did and nobody is sure of the numbers.
The set below runs chronologically in spirit, from the Mayflower and the thirteen colonies through the Louisiana Purchase and the Civil War to the Moon landing and the Civil Rights Act. Every question rests on a documented date, ruling or result, so nothing here shifts. Where a fact is commonly misremembered — who wrote the Federalist Papers, which state was last of the lower 48 — the note explains what actually happened.
Founding and the Revolution: us history trivia questions
In which year was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
Answer: 1776 EasyThe Continental Congress approved it on July 4, 1776.
How many original colonies formed the United States?
Answer: 13 EasyThey are the thirteen stripes still on the flag.
Which founding document begins with the words "We the People"?
Answer: The Constitution EasyThe preamble was drafted at the Philadelphia convention in 1787.
Who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence?
Answer: Thomas Jefferson EasyHe was 33 at the time and later became the third president.
The Pilgrims arrived in 1620 aboard which ship?
Answer: The Mayflower EasyThey landed at Plymouth in what is now Massachusetts.
In which year did the Boston Tea Party take place?
Answer: 1773 MediumProtesters dumped 342 chests of East India Company tea into the harbour.
The first shots of the American Revolution were fired in 1775 at which places?
Answer: Lexington and Concord HardEmerson later called it "the shot heard round the world".
Who served as the first Vice President of the United States?
Answer: John Adams HardHe called it the most insignificant office ever invented.
Besides Hamilton and Madison, who wrote the Federalist Papers?
Answer: John Jay HardJay wrote five of the 85 essays before falling ill.
The First Continental Congress met in 1774 in which city?
Answer: Philadelphia HardDelegates gathered at Carpenters' Hall to respond to the Coercive Acts.
The Salem witch trials of 1692 took place in which colony?
Answer: Massachusetts HardTwenty people were executed before the governor shut the court down.
Presidents: us history trivia questions
Who was the first President of the United States?
Answer: George Washington EasyHe took office in 1789 and declined to serve a third term.
Besides Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, which president is carved on Mount Rushmore?
Answer: Theodore Roosevelt EasySculptor Gutzon Borglum picked him to represent national development.
Who was president when the Wall Street Crash hit in 1929?
Answer: Herbert Hoover MediumHe had been in office barely seven months.
Which president was elected to four terms?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt MediumThe 22nd Amendment later capped presidents at two terms.
Which president resigned from office?
Answer: Richard Nixon MediumHe stepped down in August 1974 over the Watergate scandal.
Which president signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law?
Answer: Lyndon B. Johnson HardHe pushed it through Congress after Kennedy's assassination.
Civil War and slavery: us history trivia questions
Who was president during the American Civil War?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln EasyLincoln was elected in 1860 and assassinated days after the war ended.
The American Civil War ended in which year?
Answer: 1865 EasyLee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in April 1865.
Which amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery?
Answer: The 13th MediumIt was ratified in December 1865, months after the war ended.
The Emancipation Proclamation took effect in which year?
Answer: 1863 MediumIt declared enslaved people in rebelling states free from January 1, 1863.
Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in which state?
Answer: Pennsylvania MediumThe speech lasted about two minutes at the dedication of a soldiers' cemetery.
The Missouri Compromise was passed in which year?
Answer: 1820 HardIt admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free one.
Which 1863 battle is widely seen as the turning point of the Civil War?
Answer: Gettysburg HardLee's invasion of the North was stopped over three days in July.
Growing the nation: us history trivia questions
The United States bought Alaska in 1867 from which country?
Answer: Russia EasyThe price was 7.2 million dollars, about two cents an acre.
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 bought territory from which country?
Answer: France MediumNapoleon sold it cheaply to fund his wars, doubling the size of the country.
The 1836 siege of the Alamo took place in which future state?
Answer: Texas MediumThe mission is in San Antonio, and the defeat became a rallying cry.
Nineteenth-century settlers heading west followed which famous overland route?
Answer: The Oregon Trail MediumIt ran roughly 2,000 miles from Missouri to the Willamette Valley.
Which president commissioned the Lewis and Clark expedition?
Answer: Thomas Jefferson MediumHe sent them to map the land bought in the Louisiana Purchase.
Which was the last of the contiguous 48 states admitted to the Union?
Answer: Arizona MediumArizona joined in February 1912, weeks after New Mexico.
"Seward's Folly" was a nickname for the purchase of what?
Answer: Alaska HardCritics mocked Secretary of State William Seward until gold was found there.
The USS Maine exploded in 1898 in which harbour?
Answer: Havana HardThe blast helped push the United States into war with Spain.
Constitution and the courts: us history trivia questions
The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, guaranteed women the right to do what?
Answer: Vote MediumIt barred states from denying the vote on the basis of sex.
The 1803 case Marbury v. Madison established which principle?
Answer: Judicial review HardIt gave the Supreme Court power to strike down unconstitutional laws.
Which amendment introduced Prohibition?
Answer: The 18th HardIt banned the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors from 1920.
Which amendment repealed Prohibition?
Answer: The 21st HardRatified in 1933, it is the only amendment to undo another one.
Which 1954 Supreme Court ruling declared segregated public schools unconstitutional?
Answer: Brown v. Board of Education HardIt overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine set in 1896.
Symbols and the modern era: us history trivia questions
Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States?
Answer: France EasyIt was dedicated in 1886 to mark a century of American independence.
Which American was the first person to walk on the Moon?
Answer: Neil Armstrong EasyApollo 11 landed on July 20, 1969, with Aldrin following him out.
Which president appears on the one dollar bill?
Answer: George Washington EasyLincoln is on the five and Jackson on the twenty.
What is the capital city of the United States?
Answer: Washington, D.C. EasyThe capital moved there from Philadelphia in 1800.
Pearl Harbor was attacked in which year?
Answer: 1941 MediumThe attack on December 7 brought the United States into the Second World War.
Answer key
- George Washington
- 1776
- 13
- Abraham Lincoln
- France
- The Constitution
- Russia
- Thomas Jefferson
- 1865
- Neil Armstrong
- Theodore Roosevelt
- George Washington
- Washington, D.C.
- The Mayflower
- France
- The 13th
- 1773
- Herbert Hoover
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 1863
- Pennsylvania
- Vote
- Texas
- 1941
- Richard Nixon
- The Oregon Trail
- Thomas Jefferson
- Arizona
- Lexington and Concord
- John Adams
- Judicial review
- Alaska
- 1820
- The 18th
- The 21st
- Havana
- John Jay
- Brown v. Board of Education
- Gettysburg
- Philadelphia
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Massachusetts
How to play
- Pick a mode: multiple choice, true or false, a 60-second sprint, or the daily quiz.
- Answer with a tap, or press 1 to 4 on a keyboard. The right answer appears straight away with a line explaining it.
- Finish the round to see your score, copy the result grid, and step up a difficulty.
- Hosting a night? The full us history list and a separate answer key are printed below, and the print layout drops the game and keeps the paper.
Tiebreaker questions
Closest guess wins. Read one out when two tables finish level.
In what year was the United States Constitution signed in Philadelphia?
Answer: 1787 Signed on 17 September 1787; ratification followed in 1788.
How many delegates signed the Declaration of Independence?
Answer: 56 signers John Hancock signed first and largest.
In what year was Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America, founded?
Answer: 1607 Thirteen years before the Mayflower reached Plymouth.
Common mistakes in us history trivia
- The Declaration of Independence was signed on 4 July 1776.
Congress adopted the text on 4 July. Most delegates signed the engrossed copy on 2 August 1776, and a few signed later.
- Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed all enslaved people in the United States.
It applied only to states in rebellion and could not be enforced there at the time. Slavery ended nationwide with the 13th Amendment in December 1865.
- The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620 and it was the first English colony.
Jamestown, Virginia, was settled in 1607, thirteen years earlier. The Plymouth Rock landing itself is a later tradition, first recorded in the 1740s.
- Paul Revere rode alone shouting that the British were coming.
Revere was one of several riders, including William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, and he was captured before reaching Concord. The colonists still considered themselves British, so the famous phrase is a later invention.
- The Civil War began when the Confederacy attacked at Gettysburg.
The war opened with the bombardment of Fort Sumter in South Carolina in April 1861. Gettysburg was fought in July 1863, more than two years later.
Running this round at a quiz night
US history rewards a chronological run: open with two founding questions, move through the Civil War and westward expansion, and finish in the twentieth century so the round tells a story. Keep presidents to two or three per round or the round turns into a list. The usual disputes are dates that are close together, so say up front that a year must match exactly and that a civil war ending in 1865 means the surrender at Appomattox. For amendments, write the ordinal on the sheet, not the wording. Tiebreakers work best as fixed years or fixed counts such as the number of Declaration signers; ask for the closest guess and read the correct figure with its source.
Frequently asked questions
Are these US history questions suitable for school use?
Yes. The easy and medium bands line up closely with middle and high school American history topics, and each answer carries a short explanatory note, so the round doubles as revision rather than just a game.
Do you include recent political events?
No. Every question is settled history — completed events, ratified amendments and decided court cases. Nothing here depends on who currently holds office, which keeps the round neutral and keeps the answers correct.
How far back does the set go?
The earliest question covers the Mayflower's arrival in 1620 and the Salem witch trials of 1692, and the latest covers the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1969 Moon landing. The bulk sits between 1776 and 1945.
Not in a quiz mood?
The question games are a different kind of round: no right answers, just prompts you read out and argue about. Would You RatherNever Have I EverTruth or DareThis or That