Sample pickWho wrote Common Sense, the 1776 pamphlet that argued for independence in plain language?
American History Trivia Questions and Answers, Era by Era: how it works
In whose parlor did Lee surrender, and which word was carved into a post at Roanoke? These 250 American history trivia questions and answers run in ten eras of 25, from Cahokia to 2000. Tap a choice, press Check answer, and read the reason.
Run one era as a round
Set Topic to an era and the round stays inside it, from First peoples and colonies, to 1763 through From Watergate to the millennium, 1968 to 2000. The host reads the question and its four choices, teams write a letter, and Check answer shows the answer with its reason. Keep scores on paper: the card does not track teams.
Start basic, then print
Of the 250, 80 are basic American history questions, eight in every era: who wrote the Declaration, which city burned in October 1871. We mark 101 medium and 69 hard, our estimate. Print question sheet lays out 20 questions with lettered choices, and Print answer key adds the reasons.
Tips
Run two neighbors for a themed night: Civil War and Reconstruction then The Gilded Age and Progressive Era covers 1860 to 1914 in 50 questions.
Read the reason aloud on hard ones. Strom Thurmond's 1957 filibuster began at 8:54 p.m. and ended at 9:12 p.m. the next day.
Share this set copies a link that opens the same questions in the same order on every phone.
Questions and answers
Are these US history trivia questions with answers checked?
Yes. Each answer, and every extra fact in its explanation, was read on September 19, 2026 in the Wikipedia article linked under the question. A detail the article did not state plainly was cut, or the question was dropped.
Where do these United States history trivia questions and answers stop?
At 2000, and no living politician is an answer. The last era runs from the Watergate break-in of 1972 to the Dayton Agreement of 1995 and the first woman to serve as secretary of state, in 1997.
How hard is the hard level?
Hard asks which of the thirteen colonies sent no delegates to the First Continental Congress in 1774. It was Georgia, and the other twelve met at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia. Each era holds six or seven questions at that level.
The 1735 trial of which New York printer became a landmark for freedom of the press?Wikipedia: John Peter Zenger
Banished from Massachusetts Bay, which minister founded Providence in 1636?Wikipedia: Roger Williams
Benjamin Franklin's 1754 cartoon of a snake cut into pieces carried which caption?Wikipedia: Join, or Die
Cahokia, the largest city built north of Mexico before Columbus, stood across the Mississippi from which modern city?Wikipedia: Cahokia
Founded in 1636, which is the oldest college in the United States?Wikipedia: Harvard University
From 1619 Virginia settlers elected members to the colony's assembly. What were those elected members called?Wikipedia: House of Burgesses
In 1609 Henry Hudson sailed up the river that now carries his name. Which company paid for the voyage?Wikipedia: Henry Hudson
In Bacon's Rebellion of 1676, Nathaniel Bacon's followers burned which colonial capital?Wikipedia: Bacon's Rebellion
The Iroquois Confederacy began as five nations. Which people joined in 1722 as the sixth?Wikipedia: Iroquois
King Charles II granted William Penn the land for Pennsylvania in 1681. What was the grant meant to settle?Wikipedia: William Penn
The only clue left at the abandoned Roanoke colony in 1590 was a word carved into a post. What was the word?Wikipedia: Roanoke Colony
Pocahontas was the daughter of which paramount chief in Virginia?Wikipedia: Pocahontas
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 barred colonists from settling west of which mountains?Wikipedia: Royal Proclamation of 1763
The Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693 took place in which colony?Wikipedia: Salem witch trials
St. Augustine, Florida, founded in 1565, was settled by which European country?Wikipedia: St. Augustine, Florida
The Wampanoag leader the English called King Philip gave his name to a war in 1675. What was his own name?Wikipedia: King Philip's War
When the English took New Amsterdam in 1664, what did they rename it?Wikipedia: New Amsterdam
Which cash crop, first grown for export by John Rolfe, made the Virginia colony pay?Wikipedia: John Rolfe
Which colony did the Calvert family, the Lords Baltimore, found as a refuge for English Catholics?Wikipedia: Province of Maryland
Which European country planted a colony on the Delaware River in 1638?Wikipedia: New Sweden
Which preacher of the Great Awakening gave the 1741 sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God?Wikipedia: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Which war between Britain and France in North America ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763?Wikipedia: French and Indian War
Who built the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde in Colorado?Wikipedia: Mesa Verde National Park
Who led the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, which drove the Spanish out of New Mexico for twelve years?Wikipedia: Pueblo Revolt
Show all 250 questions (226 more)
First peoples and colonies, to 1763, continued
Who was the first English child born in the Americas, at Roanoke in 1587?Wikipedia: Virginia Dare
The Revolution, 1763 to 1783 25
After crossing the icy Delaware on Christmas night 1776, Washington surprised Hessian troops in which town?Wikipedia: George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River
The American victory at Saratoga in 1777 persuaded which country to join the war as an ally?Wikipedia: Battles of Saratoga
Benedict Arnold plotted in 1780 to hand which fort on the Hudson to the British?Wikipedia: Benedict Arnold
The first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired on April 19, 1775, at Lexington and which other Massachusetts town?Wikipedia: Battles of Lexington and Concord
From which ship did John Paul Jones fight HMS Serapis in 1779?Wikipedia: John Paul Jones
In June 1775 the Continental Congress picked a commander for its new army. Who was he?Wikipedia: Continental Army
In which city did Patrick Henry give his Give me liberty, or give me death speech in 1775?Wikipedia: Give me liberty or give me death!
Most of the fighting in the Battle of Bunker Hill took place on which neighboring hill?Wikipedia: Battle of Bunker Hill
The treaty that ended the Revolutionary War in 1783 was signed in which European city?Wikipedia: Treaty of Paris (1783)
What did the Stamp Act of 1765 tax?Wikipedia: Stamp Act 1765
Where did the Continental Army camp through the hard winter of 1777 to 1778?Wikipedia: Valley Forge
Which American spy, hanged in 1776, is remembered for regretting that he had but one life to lose for his country?Wikipedia: Nathan Hale
Which British general surrendered his army at Yorktown in October 1781?Wikipedia: Siege of Yorktown
Which French nobleman was made a major general in the Continental Army at the age of 19?Wikipedia: Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
Which future president defended the British soldiers tried after the Boston Massacre of 1770?Wikipedia: Boston Massacre
Which Massachusetts woman served in the Continental Army for more than a year disguised as a man?Wikipedia: Deborah Sampson
Which of the thirteen colonies sent no delegates to the First Continental Congress in 1774?Wikipedia: First Continental Congress
Which Prussian officer drilled the Continental Army into shape at Valley Forge?Wikipedia: Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben
Which slogan summed up the colonists' complaint about taxes passed by a Parliament they had no vote in?Wikipedia: No taxation without representation
Which South Carolina militia leader was known as the Swamp Fox?Wikipedia: Francis Marion
Who was king of Great Britain throughout the American Revolution?Wikipedia: George III
Who was the main author of the Declaration of Independence?Wikipedia: United States Declaration of Independence
Who wrote Common Sense, the 1776 pamphlet that argued for independence in plain language?Wikipedia: Common Sense
Whose large, bold signature on the Declaration of Independence turned his name into a word for a signature?Wikipedia: John Hancock
Whose tea went into Boston Harbor on the night of December 16, 1773?Wikipedia: Boston Tea Party
The early republic, 1783 to 1824 25
As the British closed in on Washington in 1814, which First Lady saw to it that a portrait of George Washington was saved?Wikipedia: Dolley Madison
The Era of Good Feelings is the name given to the years of which president's administration?Wikipedia: Era of Good Feelings
In his Farewell Address of 1796, George Washington warned against the spirit of party and what else?Wikipedia: George Washington's Farewell Address
In the election of 1800 Thomas Jefferson tied in the Electoral College with his own running mate. Who was he?Wikipedia: 1800 United States presidential election
In the XYZ Affair of 1797 and 1798, agents of which country demanded bribes from American diplomats?Wikipedia: XYZ Affair
In which city was George Washington sworn in as the first president in 1789?Wikipedia: First inauguration of George Washington
In which New Jersey town did Aaron Burr shoot Alexander Hamilton in their duel of 1804?Wikipedia: Burr–Hamilton duel
Lewis and Clark began their journey west in 1804 by traveling up which river?Wikipedia: Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 barred slavery in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of which line of latitude?Wikipedia: Missouri Compromise
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 banned what in the territory north of the Ohio River?Wikipedia: Northwest Ordinance
The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and which country?Wikipedia: War of 1812
What is the nickname of the frigate USS Constitution?Wikipedia: USS Constitution
Where did Lewis and Clark spend the winter of 1805 to 1806, near the mouth of the Columbia River?Wikipedia: Fort Clatsop
Which battle of the War of 1812 was fought after the peace treaty had already been signed?Wikipedia: Battle of New Orleans
Which city was the national capital from 1790 until the government moved to Washington in 1800?Wikipedia: Residence Act
Which French leader sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States in 1803?Wikipedia: Louisiana Purchase
Which laws of 1798 made it a crime to publish false, scandalous and malicious writing against the government?Wikipedia: Alien and Sedition Acts
Which Shawnee leader built a confederacy of tribes and died at the Battle of the Thames in 1813?Wikipedia: Tecumseh
Which uprising of indebted Massachusetts farmers in 1786 and 1787 convinced many leaders that the national government was too weak?Wikipedia: Shays' Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion of the 1790s was a revolt against what?Wikipedia: Whiskey Rebellion
Who served as the first vice president, under George Washington?Wikipedia: John Adams
Who was president during the War of 1812?Wikipedia: James Madison
Who was the first chief justice of the United States?Wikipedia: John Jay
Who was the first secretary of the treasury?Wikipedia: Alexander Hamilton
Who wrote the words of The Star-Spangled Banner in 1814?Wikipedia: The Star-Spangled Banner
Expansion and reform, 1825 to 1860 25
The 1840s slogan Fifty-four Forty or Fight was about the northern border of which territory?Wikipedia: Oregon boundary dispute
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas held seven debates in 1858 while running for a Senate seat in which state?Wikipedia: Lincoln–Douglas debates
The Baltimore and Ohio, chartered in 1827, was one of the first American examples of what?Wikipedia: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The California gold rush began when James W. Marshall found gold at whose sawmill?Wikipedia: California gold rush
The Gadsden Purchase of the 1850s added land to the south of which two present-day states?Wikipedia: Gadsden Purchase
Under the Compromise of 1850, which state joined the Union as a free state?Wikipedia: Compromise of 1850
What did the Illinois blacksmith John Deere make from steel in 1837 that helped farmers break the prairie?Wikipedia: John Deere (inventor)
What nickname was given to the gold seekers who rushed to California?Wikipedia: California gold rush
Which 1852 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe turned many Northern readers against slavery?Wikipedia: Uncle Tom's Cabin
Which 1854 law let settlers in two new territories vote on whether to allow slavery?Wikipedia: Kansas–Nebraska Act
Which former president argued before the Supreme Court in 1841 for the Africans who had seized the ship La Amistad?Wikipedia: United States v. The Amistad
Which frontiersman and former Tennessee congressman died at the Alamo in 1836?Wikipedia: Davy Crockett
Which Kentucky senator was called the Great Compromiser?Wikipedia: Henry Clay
Which mail service of 1860 and 1861 used relays of horseback riders between Missouri and California?Wikipedia: Pony Express
Which phrase of the 1840s named the belief that the United States was meant to spread across the whole continent?Wikipedia: Manifest destiny
Which president signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830?Wikipedia: Indian Removal Act
Which reformer of the 1840s pressed state legislatures to build hospitals for people with mental illness?Wikipedia: Dorothea Dix
Which religious group followed Brigham Young to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847?Wikipedia: Mormon pioneers
Which wagon route ran more than 2,000 miles from the Missouri River to the valleys of Oregon?Wikipedia: Oregon Trail
Which war was ended by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848?Wikipedia: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Who began publishing the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator in Boston in 1831?Wikipedia: The Liberator (newspaper)
Who commanded the Texan army that won the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836?Wikipedia: Battle of San Jacinto
Who led the 1859 raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry?Wikipedia: John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
Who published An American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828?Wikipedia: Noah Webster
Who was the first president born as a citizen of the United States, not as a British subject?Wikipedia: Martin Van Buren
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860 to 1877 25
After the war, many freed families farmed a landowner's fields in return for a part of the harvest. What is this system called?Wikipedia: Sharecropping
Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868. By how many votes did the Senate fall short of removing him?Wikipedia: Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
The first major battle of the war, in July 1861, was fought near which Virginia rail junction?Wikipedia: First Battle of Bull Run
In March 1862 the USS Monitor fought the first battle between ironclad warships. What was the Confederate ship called?Wikipedia: Battle of Hampton Roads
In whose parlor did Robert E. Lee surrender to Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865?Wikipedia: Wilmer McLean
Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address in November 1863 at the dedication of what?Wikipedia: Gettysburg Address
Pickett's Charge was the failed Confederate assault on the last day of which 1863 battle?Wikipedia: Battle of Gettysburg
Union soldiers mostly wore blue. Which color is linked with Confederate uniforms?Wikipedia: Uniforms of the Confederate States Armed Forces
Which 1862 battle in Maryland remains the bloodiest day in American history?Wikipedia: Battle of Antietam
Which 1862 law offered settlers 160 acres of public land if they lived on it and farmed it?Wikipedia: Homestead Acts
Which aging general drew up the Anaconda Plan to blockade the South and seize the Mississippi?Wikipedia: Anaconda Plan
Which city was the first capital of the Confederacy, before Richmond?Wikipedia: Confederate States of America
Which city, the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, surrendered on July 4, 1863?Wikipedia: Siege of Vicksburg
Which Civil War nurse was known as the Angel of the Battlefield?Wikipedia: Clara Barton
Which Confederate general was known as Stonewall?Wikipedia: Stonewall Jackson
Which secretary of state negotiated the purchase of Alaska in 1867?Wikipedia: Alaska Purchase
Which speech by Lincoln closes with a passage that begins With malice toward none?Wikipedia: Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address
Which state was formed in 1863 from the western counties that refused to leave the Union with Virginia?Wikipedia: West Virginia
Which state was the first to secede from the Union, in December 1860?Wikipedia: South Carolina in the American Civil War
Which Union admiral captured New Orleans in 1862 and won the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864?Wikipedia: David Farragut
Which Union general led the March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah in 1864?Wikipedia: Sherman's March to the Sea
Which Union general went on to become the 18th president?Wikipedia: Ulysses S. Grant
Who became president when Abraham Lincoln died?Wikipedia: Andrew Johnson
Who shot Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865?Wikipedia: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Who was declared the winner of the disputed presidential election of 1876?Wikipedia: 1876 United States presidential election
The Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 1870 to 1914 25
The Brooklyn Bridge, opened in 1883, links Brooklyn with which other part of New York City?Wikipedia: Brooklyn Bridge
The Gilded Age takes its name from an 1873 novel that Charles Dudley Warner wrote with which other author?Wikipedia: Gilded Age
In the Oklahoma land rush of 1889, what were settlers called who slipped in to claim land before the legal start?Wikipedia: Land Rush of 1889
The sinking of which battleship in Havana harbor in February 1898 pushed the United States toward war with Spain?Wikipedia: USS Maine (1889)
Under the 1898 treaty that ended the Spanish-American War, the United States paid Spain $20 million for which islands?Wikipedia: Treaty of Paris (1898)
Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle exposed conditions in which industry?Wikipedia: The Jungle
What did the Dawes Act of 1887 do to tribal lands?Wikipedia: Dawes Act
What did the Seventeenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, change?Wikipedia: Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
What nickname was given to the volunteer cavalry regiment that Theodore Roosevelt helped lead in Cuba in 1898?Wikipedia: Rough Riders
Which 1882 law barred laborers from one country from entering the United States?Wikipedia: Chinese Exclusion Act
Which amendment, ratified in 1913, let Congress tax incomes without dividing the tax among the states by population?Wikipedia: Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Which Apache leader surrendered to the United States Army for the last time in 1886?Wikipedia: Geronimo
Which battle of June 1876 is also known as Custer's Last Stand?Wikipedia: Battle of the Little Bighorn
Which inventor was known as the Wizard of Menlo Park?Wikipedia: Thomas Edison
Which island in San Francisco Bay held the main immigration station on the West Coast from 1910 to 1940?Wikipedia: Angel Island Immigration Station
Which leader of the women's suffrage movement was arrested for voting in the 1872 presidential election?Wikipedia: Susan B. Anthony
Which Midwestern city was swept by a great fire in October 1871 that left more than 100,000 people homeless?Wikipedia: Great Chicago Fire
Which president signed the Federal Reserve Act in December 1913?Wikipedia: Federal Reserve Act
Which president was shot in a Washington railroad station in July 1881, only four months into his term?Wikipedia: James A. Garfield
Which steel magnate gave away most of his fortune, much of it to build public libraries?Wikipedia: Andrew Carnegie
Who co-founded Hull House, the Chicago settlement house that opened in 1889?Wikipedia: Jane Addams
Who founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870?Wikipedia: Standard Oil
Who gave the Cross of Gold speech at the Democratic convention of 1896?Wikipedia: Cross of Gold speech
Who led the American Railway Union during the Pullman Strike of 1894?Wikipedia: Pullman Strike
Who was the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, overthrown in 1893?Wikipedia: Liliʻuokalani
Boom, bust and two world wars, 1914 to 1945 25
At which New Hampshire resort did delegates plan the postwar money system in July 1944?Wikipedia: Bretton Woods Conference
In which year did the United States enter World War I?Wikipedia: American entry into World War I
Marines from which Native American nation sent battlefield messages in their own language in the Pacific war?Wikipedia: Code talker
On which Pacific island did Marines raise the flag on Mount Suribachi in February 1945?Wikipedia: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
The Scopes trial of 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, was about the teaching of what?Wikipedia: Scopes trial
The Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s involved secret leases of what?Wikipedia: Teapot Dome scandal
What name did Franklin Roosevelt give to his programs to fight the Great Depression?Wikipedia: New Deal
What name was given to the drought-stricken southern plains of the 1930s, where the wind carried off the topsoil?Wikipedia: Dust Bowl
What nickname was given to American infantrymen in World War I?Wikipedia: Doughboy
What was the name of the B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima?Wikipedia: Enola Gay
Which 1924 act made all Native Americans born in the United States citizens?Wikipedia: Indian Citizenship Act
Which 1935 law set up old-age pensions funded by a payroll tax?Wikipedia: Social Security Act
Which 1941 program let the United States supply Britain and other allies with war material before it entered the war?Wikipedia: Lend-Lease
Which 1944 law helped returning veterans pay for college?Wikipedia: G.I. Bill
Which amendment brought in national Prohibition?Wikipedia: Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Which battle of June 1942 cost Japan four aircraft carriers?Wikipedia: Battle of Midway
Which British ocean liner was sunk by a German submarine in May 1915 with 128 Americans among the dead?Wikipedia: RMS Lusitania
Which executive order of February 1942 led to the wartime internment of Japanese Americans?Wikipedia: Executive Order 9066
Which general commanded the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I?Wikipedia: John J. Pershing
Which lieutenant colonel led the April 1942 air raid on Tokyo?Wikipedia: Doolittle Raid
Which New Deal program put young men to work planting trees and building trails in parks and forests?Wikipedia: Civilian Conservation Corps
Which tariff act of 1930 raised duties on more than 20,000 imported goods?Wikipedia: Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act
Which world body did Woodrow Wilson champion, only for the United States never to join it?Wikipedia: League of Nations
Who, in 1916, became the first woman elected to Congress?Wikipedia: Jeannette Rankin
The Zimmermann Telegram of 1917 proposed a German alliance with which country?Wikipedia: Zimmermann telegram
The Cold War, 1945 to 1991 25
The Cold War hotline set up in 1963 linked Washington with which city?Wikipedia: Moscow–Washington hotline
How did the fighting in the Korean War end in July 1953?Wikipedia: Korean Armistice Agreement
In which city did John F. Kennedy say "Ich bin ein Berliner" in June 1963?Wikipedia: Ich bin ein Berliner
In which city were 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days from November 1979?Wikipedia: Iran hostage crisis
In which German city did Harry Truman meet Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill in July 1945?Wikipedia: Potsdam Conference
In which joint mission of July 1975 did American and Soviet crews dock their spacecraft in orbit?Wikipedia: Apollo–Soyuz
In which Texas city was John F. Kennedy assassinated on November 22, 1963?Wikipedia: Assassination of John F. Kennedy
The treaty that Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed in December 1987 scrapped which class of weapons?Wikipedia: Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
What did Dwight Eisenhower warn Americans about in his farewell address of January 1961?Wikipedia: Eisenhower's farewell address
What name is given to the surprise attacks across South Vietnam that began during the lunar new year of 1968?Wikipedia: Tet Offensive
What was the failed April 1961 landing in Cuba by CIA-trained exiles called?Wikipedia: Bay of Pigs Invasion
What was the first satellite launched by the United States, early in 1958?Wikipedia: Explorer 1
Which 1947 doctrine pledged American help to countries resisting communism, starting with Greece and Turkey?Wikipedia: Truman Doctrine
Which 1964 resolution let Lyndon Johnson widen the war in Vietnam without a declaration of war?Wikipedia: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Which 1973 law limits how long a president may keep forces in combat without the approval of Congress?Wikipedia: War Powers Resolution
Which agency was created in 1947 to gather foreign intelligence for the United States?Wikipedia: Central Intelligence Agency
Which American pilot was shot down over the Soviet Union in a U-2 spy plane in May 1960?Wikipedia: 1960 U-2 incident
Which Apollo 11 astronaut stayed in lunar orbit while his two crewmates walked on the Moon?Wikipedia: Apollo 11
Which Caribbean island did American forces invade in October 1983?Wikipedia: United States invasion of Grenada
Which general did Harry Truman dismiss in April 1951 during the Korean War?Wikipedia: Relief of Douglas MacArthur
Which policy, set out by the diplomat George Kennan, aimed to hold back Soviet expansion and not to roll it back?Wikipedia: Containment
Which two territories became the 49th and 50th states in 1959?Wikipedia: List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union
Which volunteer program did John F. Kennedy set up in 1961 to send Americans to work overseas?Wikipedia: Peace Corps
Which Wisconsin senator gave his name to the anti-communist accusations of the early 1950s?Wikipedia: Joseph McCarthy
Who, in June 1965, became the first American to walk in space?Wikipedia: Ed White (astronaut)
Civil rights and the Great Society, 1954 to 1968 25
The 23rd Amendment, ratified in 1961, gave which voters a say in presidential elections?Wikipedia: Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution
The first televised presidential debates, in 1960, set John F. Kennedy against which candidate?Wikipedia: 1960 United States presidential debates
In which city was Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated on April 4, 1968?Wikipedia: Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Since the Miranda ruling of 1966, what must police do before questioning a suspect in custody?Wikipedia: Miranda v. Arizona
What did the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolish?Wikipedia: Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
What name did Lyndon Johnson give to his program of laws against poverty and racial injustice?Wikipedia: Great Society
What name is given to the state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the South?Wikipedia: Jim Crow laws
What was notable about the Civil Rights Act of 1957?Wikipedia: Civil Rights Act of 1957
Which 1962 Supreme Court ruling barred public schools from holding official prayers?Wikipedia: Engel v. Vitale
Which 1963 book by Betty Friedan is widely credited with starting the second wave of American feminism?Wikipedia: The Feminine Mystique
Which 1963 law made it illegal to pay women less than men for the same work?Wikipedia: Equal Pay Act of 1963
Which 1963 ruling said a state must provide a lawyer for a defendant who cannot afford one?Wikipedia: Gideon v. Wainwright
Which 1964 act created the National Wilderness Preservation System?Wikipedia: Wilderness Act
Which 1964 campaign brought more than 1,000 volunteers from other states to Mississippi to register Black voters?Wikipedia: Freedom Summer
Which 1964 law launched Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty and set up the Job Corps?Wikipedia: Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
Which 1964 Supreme Court ruling required state legislative districts to be roughly equal in population?Wikipedia: Reynolds v. Sims
Which 1968 report warned that the nation was moving toward two societies, one Black and one white, separate and unequal?Wikipedia: Kerner Commission
Which Alabama governor stood in a university doorway in June 1963 to block two Black students from enrolling?Wikipedia: Stand in the Schoolhouse Door
Which amendment, ratified in 1967, sets out what happens when a president is disabled or the vice presidency falls vacant?Wikipedia: Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Which chief justice led the Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969?Wikipedia: Earl Warren
Which civil rights organization chose Martin Luther King Jr. as its first president in 1957?Wikipedia: Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Which labor leader co-founded the union that became the United Farm Workers?Wikipedia: Cesar Chavez
Which religious movement did Malcolm X speak for until he left it in 1964?Wikipedia: Malcolm X
Which senator spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957?Wikipedia: Strom Thurmond filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957
Which two health programs, for older Americans and for people on low incomes, were created in 1965?Wikipedia: Social Security Amendments of 1965
From Watergate to the millennium, 1968 to 2000 25
The 1995 agreement that ended the war in Bosnia was negotiated at an air force base near which Ohio city?Wikipedia: Dayton Agreement
The 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age from 21 to what?Wikipedia: Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Camp David Accords of 1978, brokered by Jimmy Carter, led to a peace treaty between which two countries?Wikipedia: Camp David Accords
In August 1971 Richard Nixon ended the direct conversion of the US dollar into what?Wikipedia: Nixon shock
In August 1981 Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 striking workers in which job?Wikipedia: Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (1968)
In which year did the United States mark its bicentennial?Wikipedia: United States Bicentennial
The North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994 joined the United States with which two countries?Wikipedia: North American Free Trade Agreement
The United States led a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics in protest at the Soviet invasion of which country?Wikipedia: 1980 Summer Olympics boycott
What did Jimmy Carter do for Vietnam War draft evaders on his first full day in office?Wikipedia: Proclamation 4483
When its final deadline passed in 1982, how many states short of ratification was the Equal Rights Amendment?Wikipedia: Equal Rights Amendment
Which 1972 law bars sex discrimination in schools and colleges that receive federal money?Wikipedia: Title IX
Which 1990 law bars discrimination against people with disabilities in jobs, transport and public places?Wikipedia: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Which cabinet department was split off from Health, Education and Welfare under a 1979 law?Wikipedia: United States Department of Education
Which country did Iraq invade in August 1990, leading to the Gulf War?Wikipedia: Gulf War
Which federal agency began work in December 1970 to enforce the nation's environmental laws?Wikipedia: United States Environmental Protection Agency
Which island in San Francisco Bay did Native American activists occupy from November 1969?Wikipedia: Occupation of Alcatraz
Which memorial in Washington, dedicated in 1982, is made of two black granite walls engraved with the names of the dead and missing of one war?Wikipedia: Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Which NASA spacecraft made the first successful landing on Mars, in July 1976?Wikipedia: Viking 1
Which nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania suffered a partial meltdown in March 1979?Wikipedia: Three Mile Island accident
Which research network, first linked up in 1969, was a forerunner of the internet?Wikipedia: ARPANET
Which scandal began with a break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices in June 1972?Wikipedia: Watergate scandal
Which secret Defense Department history of the Vietnam War was leaked to newspapers in 1971?Wikipedia: Pentagon Papers
Which Watergate special prosecutor was fired in the Saturday Night Massacre of October 1973?Wikipedia: Saturday Night Massacre
Who in 1984 became the first woman nominated for vice president by a major party?Wikipedia: Geraldine Ferraro
Who in 1997 became the first woman to serve as secretary of state?Wikipedia: Madeleine Albright
How this list was compiled: Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Every question, wrong choice and explanation is our own wording. Each answer was checked on 2026-09-19 against the page named and linked beside the question: the text of that English Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org) was fetched that day, and the passage that states the fact was read before the question was kept. Every extra claim in an explanation was checked the same way, and a detail the article did not state plainly was cut or the question was dropped. Examples: the Korean armistice explanation says no formal peace treaty was signed, as the article does; the hotline explanation says teletype, not a red telephone; the Thurmond filibuster gives the clock times and makes no record claim; the Explorer 1 question says early in 1958 because the launch date differs by time zone. Left out on purpose: anything after 2000, living politicians as answers, death tolls as answers, brands, and records or rankings that change. No question repeats one in another trivia set on this site as of 2026-09-19. The levels basic, medium and hard are our estimate: basic is fair for a table of casual players, and hard will stump most of them. Licence: own work