50 Fun Facts About Random US History

Which document, adopted July 4, 1776, announced the thirteen colonies' separation from Britain?

The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, declaring the colonies free from British rule. It was primarily authored by Thomas Jefferson.

Who served as the first President of the United States?

George Washington took office in 1789 and is the only president elected unanimously by the Electoral College, a feat he repeated in 1792.

In what year did the United States purchase the Louisiana Territory from France?

In 1803 the US paid fifteen million dollars, about eighteen dollars a square mile, for some 828,000 square miles.

Which amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in the United States?

The 13th Amendment, ratified in December 1865, abolished slavery throughout the United States except as punishment for a crime, an exception that underpins prison labour.

What was the name of the first permanent English settlement in North America, established in 1607?

Jamestown, Virginia, was established on May 14, 1607, by the London Company. It preceded the Plymouth Colony (1620) by thirteen years and became the first successful permanent English settlement.

Which US-British conflict, sparked partly by impressment of American sailors, ended with the Treaty of Ghent?

The War of 1812 was fought between the U.S. and Britain from June 1812 to February 1815. Key causes included British impressment of American sailors and trade restrictions during the Napoleonic Wars. It ended with the Treaty of Ghent.

On which date did Japan attack the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, bringing America into World War II?

Japan launched a surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. President Roosevelt called it 'a date which will live in infamy,' and Congress declared war on Japan the following day.

At which Washington, D.C. venue was the president shot on April 14, 1865, one month into his second term?

Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, five days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox; he died the next morning.

What is the December 1773 protest called in which colonists dressed as Mohawks dumped 342 chests of tea?

The Boston Tea Party occurred on December 16, 1773, when colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped 342 chests of British East India Company tea into the harbor to protest taxation without representation.

Which president signed the Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863?

President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect on January 1, 1863. It declared enslaved people in Confederate states to be free, changing the legal status of more than 3.5 million people.

What was the main goal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which set out in 1804?

Jefferson sent the Corps of Discovery to explore the land acquired from France in the Louisiana Purchase and seek a route to the Pacific; it left Camp Dubois on May 14, 1804.

What territory did the United States gain under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?

The Mexican Cession, roughly 525,000 square miles, gave the United States California, Nevada, Utah and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.

Which amendment gave women the right to vote in the United States?

The 19th Amendment was ratified in August 1920, seven decades after the first women's rights convention called for the vote.

What was the significance of the Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison?

It established judicial review when Chief Justice John Marshall's court struck down section 13 of the Judiciary Act, the first time it invalidated an act of Congress.

The 1823 Monroe Doctrine warned whom against further colonization in the Western Hemisphere?

President James Monroe declared in his 1823 address to Congress that the Western Hemisphere was closed to further European colonization and that the U.S. would view any such attempts as threats to its security.

Where did the ceremonial Golden Spike complete the first Transcontinental Railroad in 1869?

The ceremony at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, brought Union Pacific No. 119 and Central Pacific's Jupiter face to face; the golden spike is held at Stanford University.

Which event is considered the turning point of the Civil War, fought in Pennsylvania in July 1863?

The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) was the war's bloodiest battle, with roughly 51,000 casualties; the Union victory ended Lee's second invasion of the North and is widely seen as the turning point.

What did the Homestead Act of 1862 offer to settlers?

The Homestead Act, signed by Lincoln on May 20, 1862, offered up to 160 acres of public land to settlers who lived on and improved it for five years; about 1.6 million homesteads were granted.

Which civil rights leader delivered the I Have a Dream speech during the March on Washington in 1963?

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic I Have a Dream speech on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. An estimated 250,000 people attended the event at the Lincoln Memorial.

Which U.S. president secured the Canal Zone and began construction of the Panama Canal in 1904?

President Theodore Roosevelt championed the Panama Canal project. The U.S. formally took control of canal construction in May 1904, and the canal opened on August 15, 1914. The project cost nearly $500 million.

Which 1820 law paired Maine's admission as a free state with a new slave state and barred slavery north of a fixed line?

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 maintained the balance between free and slave states by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It prohibited slavery north of the 36 degrees 30 minutes line in the Louisiana Territory.

Which president signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, leading to the Trail of Tears?

Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act on May 28, 1830; the forced relocation of the Cherokee in 1838, the Trail of Tears, killed roughly 4,000 of a population of over 16,000.

What event on October 29, 1929, is often considered the start of the Great Depression?

The 'Black Tuesday' stock crash saw some 16 million shares change hands on the New York Stock Exchange, capping a panic that had begun with 'Black Thursday' five days earlier.

The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, linked Lake Erie with which waterway at Albany?

It runs from Albany on the Hudson to Buffalo on the lake; a canal linking the Hudson to the Great Lakes had first been proposed in the 1780s.

Which 1857 Supreme Court decision ruled that people of African descent could not be U.S. citizens?

Dred Scott v. Sandford, decided 7-2 under Chief Justice Roger Taney in 1857, also struck down the Missouri Compromise ban on slavery in territories north of 36°30'.

Which 1890 law, named for an Ohio senator, prohibits anticompetitive agreements and monopolies?

The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, sponsored by Ohio senator John Sherman, bans contracts in restraint of trade and monopolisation; it was used to break up Standard Oil in 1911.

Which June 17, 1775 engagement near Boston cost the victorious British about 1,000 casualties?

The Battle of Bunker Hill, fought mostly on Breed's Hill, cost the British about 1,050 killed and wounded against roughly 450 American casualties, showing colonial militia could stand against regulars.

Which FDR program of the 1930s aimed at relief, recovery and reform during the Great Depression?

The New Deal was a series of programs and policies enacted by President FDR between 1933 and 1939. It created agencies like the CCC, WPA, and Social Security Administration to provide jobs, regulate banks, and establish a social safety net.

What diplomatic scandal of 1797-1798 involved French agents demanding bribes from American envoys?

In the XYZ Affair, Talleyrand's agents demanded bribes and a loan before talks could begin; the outrage at home fed into the undeclared Quasi-War with France of 1798-1800.

Which Chicago labor protest on May 4, 1886, ended with a bomb explosion?

The Haymarket Affair's blast and the police gunfire that followed killed seven officers and at least four civilians; the bomb-thrower was never identified.

Roughly how many militiamen did Washington assemble in 1794 to put down the western Pennsylvania tax revolt?

Washington called up about 13,000 militiamen from Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania against the Whiskey Rebellion; the rebel leaders fled before the army arrived and there was no confrontation.

Which June 1942 US naval victory sank all four Japanese fleet carriers present, a Pacific war turning point?

At Midway, June 4-7, 1942, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu all went down, along with the heavy cruiser Mikuma; US codebreakers had tipped off Admiral Nimitz to the Japanese plan.

Which president signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, 1964. Although President Kennedy had proposed the legislation, Johnson championed it through Congress after Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963.

What Compromise of 1850 provision required free-state citizens to help capture escaped slaves?

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 fined officials $1,000 for failing to arrest an alleged fugitive, and anyone giving a fugitive food or shelter risked six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.

On what date did Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg Address?

Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery on November 19, 1863; his roughly 270-word address took under two minutes and followed a two-hour oration by Edward Everett.

Which two activists primarily organized the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention?

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott called the July 1848 convention; 100 of the roughly 300 attendees signed Stanton's Declaration of Sentiments, modelled on the Declaration of Independence.

In which 1920s scandal did Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall take bribes to lease naval oil reserves?

In the Teapot Dome scandal Fall leased the Wyoming and California reserves to oilmen Sinclair and Doheny; he became the first cabinet member imprisoned, though neither oilman was convicted of paying the bribes.

What was the code name of the first nuclear weapons test, conducted on July 16, 1945, in New Mexico?

The Trinity test, a plutonium implosion device fired in the Jornada del Muerto desert near Alamogordo, was named by J. Robert Oppenheimer, possibly inspired by the poetry of John Donne.

Which 1964 measure gave President Johnson broad authority to escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam?

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of August 1964 let Johnson use conventional military force in Southeast Asia without a declaration of war; Hanoi insisted the reported second naval attack never happened.

Which 1783 agreement ended the Revolutionary War and recognized the independence of the United States?

The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, formally ended the American Revolutionary War. Great Britain recognized American independence and ceded territory east of the Mississippi River to the new nation.

Which US president served two non-consecutive terms, as both the 22nd and 24th president?

Grover Cleveland served as the 22nd president (1885-1889) and the 24th (1893-1897); he lost to Benjamin Harrison in 1888 despite winning the popular vote, then beat Harrison in 1892.

Which 1854 law undid the 1820 line at 36 degrees 30 minutes by allowing popular sovereignty on slavery?

The Kansas-Nebraska Act, championed by Senator Stephen Douglas, let settlers in the two territories vote on slavery, stoking national tensions and leading to the armed clashes known as 'Bleeding Kansas'.

What was the purpose of the Federalist Papers, published in 1787-1788?

Hamilton, Madison and Jay wrote all 85 essays as 'Publius' to promote ratification of the Constitution, publishing them in New York newspapers from October 1787.

Which attorney general led the 1919-1920 raids against suspected radicals and anarchists?

A. Mitchell Palmer ordered the Palmer Raids of November 1919 and January 1920, arresting thousands of suspected anarchists and communists; 249 were deported to Russia aboard the Buford in December 1919.

Under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, what fee arrangement gave commissioners an incentive to rule for slaveholders?

Commissioners received $10 for ruling that a person was a fugitive but only $5 for ruling against the claimant; with no jury and no testimony from the accused, abolitionists called the fee a built-in bribe.

How many delegates signed the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787?

Fifty-five delegates took part in the convention, but thirteen dropped out for personal reasons or in protest, and a few who stayed refused to sign the finished text.

Which future president published his own proof of the Pythagorean theorem in 1876?

James Garfield, then an Ohio congressman and former teacher, published a trapezoid-based proof of the Pythagorean theorem in the New England Journal of Education in 1876.

Which U.S. president fathered the most children, with 15 across two marriages?

John Tyler had eight children with his first wife, Letitia Christian, and seven with Julia Gardiner, the last, Pearl, born in 1860 when he was 70.

What was the name of the secret WWII program that developed the atomic bomb?

The Manhattan Project's weapon designs came out of the Los Alamos Laboratory under J. Robert Oppenheimer, producing the uranium 'Little Boy' and plutonium 'Fat Man' bombs.

Which amendment, ratified in 1933, repealed Prohibition in the United States?

The 21st Amendment, ratified on December 5, 1933, repealed the 18th and is the only amendment whose purpose is to repeal an earlier one.