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100 free American trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This is the American trivia everyone is supposed to know, and a few things most people don't. The 100 free questions with answers cover the flag and its stars, the bald eagle, the Great Seal, the national anthem, the White House and Capitol, Independence Day and Thanksgiving, the money in your wallet, and the landmarks on every road trip: Route 66, Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, the Hollywood Sign and the Statue of Liberty. Most questions are genuinely basic and suit kids, new citizens practising for the civics test, or a warm-up round at a Fourth of July party. A handful dig deeper: which president officially named the White House, who painted the 'I Want You' poster, and when 'under God' entered the Pledge. Every answer is verified against Wikipedia's articles on the United States, its symbols and its landmarks, and each question carries its source.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The 13 stripes on the flag of the United States stand for what?
The thirteen original colonies
The 13 stripes stand for the thirteen original colonies that declared independence in 1776; the stars, one per state, have been added as new states joined.
Q 02The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from the people of which country?
France
The copper-clad statue was designed by sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, its metal framework built by Gustave Eiffel, and it was dedicated on 28 October 1886.
Q 03In which year did the United States complete the Louisiana Purchase?
1803
The Louisiana Purchase treaty was signed in Paris on 30 April 1803 and the United States took formal possession at New Orleans that December, roughly doubling the nation for about $15 million.
Q 04Who was the first president to live in the White House?
John Adams
John Adams moved into the unfinished White House on 1 November 1800, only months before losing the 1800 election to his own vice president, Thomas Jefferson.
Q 05Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem in 1814 after the British bombarded which Baltimore fort?
Fort McHenry
Fort McHenry guarded Baltimore harbour; Key watched the Royal Navy shell it on 13-14 September 1814 and wrote the poem 'Defence of Fort M'Henry', later set to music as the anthem.
Q 06Which was the first national park in the United States, created in 1872?
Yellowstone
Yellowstone became the first national park when President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act on 1 March 1872; it is generally considered the world's first national park.
Q 07The Golden Gate Bridge spans a one-mile strait between the Pacific Ocean and which bay?
San Francisco Bay
The Golden Gate strait links the Pacific to San Francisco Bay; the bridge across it opened on 27 May 1937 with the world's longest suspension span at the time, 4,200 feet.
Q 08Which amendment to the US Constitution, adopted in 1920, bars denying the vote on account of sex?
The Nineteenth
The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified on 18 August 1920, when Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to approve it, and was certified on 26 August 1920.
Q 09Mount Rushmore carries the faces of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and which fourth president?
Theodore Roosevelt
Sculptor Gutzon Borglum oversaw the carving from 1927 to 1941, and the four heads were chosen to represent the nation's foundation, expansion, development and preservation.
Q 10The first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 at Promontory Summit, in which territory?
Utah
The golden spike was driven at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, on 10 May 1869, where the Central Pacific's 690 miles of track from Sacramento met the Union Pacific's line from Omaha.
Q 11When it first went up in 1923, the Hollywood Sign spelled out which word?
HOLLYWOODLAND
The sign read HOLLYWOODLAND, a temporary advertisement for a hillside real-estate development, put up in 1923 in 50-foot-tall white letters; the final four letters were removed in 1949.
Q 12How many amendments to the United States Constitution have been ratified?
Twenty-seven
Twenty-seven amendments have been ratified, the last of them in 1992; Congress has sent thirty-three to the states in total, and six of those were never ratified.
Q 13In which city can visitors see the Liberty Bell?
Philadelphia
The Liberty Bell hung in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, now Independence Hall, and since 2003 it has been displayed nearby in the Liberty Bell Center.
Q 21What is the street address of the White House?
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
The White House stands at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.; its cornerstone was laid in 1792 and every president since 1800 has lived there.
Q 22Which president had the first telephone installed in the White House, in 1877?
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes had the first telephone installed in the White House in 1877, the year after Alexander Graham Bell patented the device.
Q 23What is the title of the US national anthem?
The Star-Spangled Banner
Q 14The trophy handed to the Super Bowl champions is named after which coach?
Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi coached the Green Bay Packers to victory in the first two Super Bowls, and the trophy was renamed for him in 1970, the year he died.
Q 15The United States bought Alaska in 1867 from which country?
Russia
Russia sold Alaska for $7.2 million under a treaty signed on 30 March 1867; Tsar Alexander II had sought a buyer after the Crimean War showed the territory could not be defended.
Q 16How many states make up the United States?
50
The last two, Alaska and Hawaii, both joined in 1959; the 48 'contiguous' states are the ones on the mainland between Canada and Mexico.
Q 17Which city is the federal capital of the United States?
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. became the seat of government in 1800; the federal district is not a state, and Philadelphia served as the temporary capital through the 1790s while the new city was built.
Q 18Which flower was named the national floral emblem of the United States in 1986?
Rose
The rose became the national floral emblem when Ronald Reagan signed a joint resolution of Congress and proclaimed it on 20 November 1986, in a White House Rose Garden ceremony.
Q 19Which bird is the national bird of the United States?
Bald eagle
The bald eagle has appeared on the Great Seal since 1782, but Congress only made it the official national bird in a law signed on 24 December 2024.
Q 20On what date is Independence Day celebrated?
July 4
Independence Day is July 4, the date printed on the Declaration; Congress actually voted for independence on July 2, 1776, and approved the Declaration's final text two days later.
It only became the official anthem in 1931, when Herbert Hoover signed the resolution; the poem has four stanzas but only the first is usually sung.
Q 24In which year did 'The Star-Spangled Banner' officially become the national anthem?
1931
Congress passed a joint resolution making it the national anthem in 1931, and President Herbert Hoover signed it on 3 March 1931, more than a century after Key wrote the words.
Q 25What does the motto on the scroll in the Great Seal eagle's beak mean?
Out of many, one
The scroll reads E pluribus unum, 'Out of many, one'; the seal's reverse carries the other two Latin mottos, Annuit cœptis and Novus ordo seclorum, and both sides have been on the $1 bill since 1935.
Q 26How many arrows does the eagle on the Great Seal hold in its talon?
13
The eagle grips 13 arrows, echoing the original states; the olive branch in its other talon is drawn with 13 leaves and 13 olives too.
Q 27On which day of November is Thanksgiving celebrated?
The fourth Thursday
Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November under a law Franklin D. Roosevelt signed in 1941; Lincoln had proclaimed the national holiday in 1863, on the last Thursday of November.
Q 28In which year did the Pilgrims hold their famous harvest feast at Plymouth?
1621
The Pilgrims' three-day harvest feast at Plymouth took place in the autumn of 1621; it was only labelled the 'first Thanksgiving' by editor Alexander Young in 1841.
Q 29Which artist created the famous 'I Want You' Uncle Sam recruiting poster in 1917?
James Montgomery Flagg
James Montgomery Flagg reportedly used his own face as the model; the character itself is traditionally traced to meat-packer Samuel Wilson of Troy, New York.
Q 30In which year were the words 'under God' added to the Pledge of Allegiance?
1954
Eisenhower signed the change on Flag Day, 14 June 1954, partly to set the United States apart from Cold War state atheism; Francis Bellamy's original 1892 pledge had no religious reference.