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50 free Random US History trivia questions with answers. Random US History trivia lives in two places on BrainPickle. This page is the shorter set; the main quiz is U.S. History trivia, with our deepest question pool on the topic and a source behind every answer.
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Q 01Which document, adopted July 4, 1776, announced the thirteen colonies' separation from Britain?
The Declaration of Independence
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.
Q 02Who served as the first President of the United States?
George Washington
George Washington took office in 1789 and is the only president elected unanimously by the Electoral College, a feat he repeated in 1792.
Q 03In what year did the United States purchase the Louisiana Territory from France?
1803
In 1803 the US paid fifteen million dollars, about eighteen dollars a square mile, for some 828,000 square miles.
Q 04Which amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in the United States?
13th
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.
Q 05What was the name of the first permanent English settlement in North America, established in 1607?
Jamestown
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.
Q 06Which US-British conflict, sparked partly by impressment of American sailors, ended with the Treaty of Ghent?
The War of 1812
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.
Q 07On which date did Japan attack the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, bringing America into World War II?
December 7, 1941
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.
Q 08At which Washington, D.C. venue was the president shot on April 14, 1865, one month into his second term?
Ford's Theatre
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.
Q 09What is the December 1773 protest called in which colonists dressed as Mohawks dumped 342 chests of tea?
The Boston Tea Party
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.
Q 10Which president signed the Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863?
Abraham Lincoln
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.
Q 11What was the main goal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which set out in 1804?
To explore the land acquired from France
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.
Q 12What territory did the United States gain under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
The Mexican Cession
The Mexican Cession, roughly 525,000 square miles, gave the United States California, Nevada, Utah and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.
Q 13Which amendment gave women the right to vote in the United States?
Q 21Which 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
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.
Q 22Which president signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, leading to the Trail of Tears?
Andrew Jackson
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.
Q 23What event on October 29, 1929, is often considered the start of the Great Depression?
19th
The 19th Amendment was ratified in August 1920, seven decades after the first women's rights convention called for the vote.
Q 14What was the significance of the Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison?
It established judicial review
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.
Q 15The 1823 Monroe Doctrine warned whom against further colonization in the Western Hemisphere?
European powers
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.
Q 16Where did the ceremonial Golden Spike complete the first Transcontinental Railroad in 1869?
Promontory Summit, Utah
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.
Q 17Which event is considered the turning point of the Civil War, fought in Pennsylvania in July 1863?
Battle of Gettysburg
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.
Q 18What did the Homestead Act of 1862 offer to settlers?
Up to 160 acres of public land
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.
Q 19Which civil rights leader delivered the I Have a Dream speech during the March on Washington in 1963?
Martin Luther King Jr.
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.
Q 20Which U.S. president secured the Canal Zone and began construction of the Panama Canal in 1904?
Theodore Roosevelt
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.
The 'Black Tuesday' stock crash
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.
Q 24The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, linked Lake Erie with which waterway at Albany?
The Hudson
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.
Q 25Which 1857 Supreme Court decision ruled that people of African descent could not be U.S. citizens?
Dred Scott v. Sandford
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'.
Q 26Which 1890 law, named for an Ohio senator, prohibits anticompetitive agreements and monopolies?
The Sherman Antitrust Act
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.
Q 27Which June 17, 1775 engagement near Boston cost the victorious British about 1,000 casualties?
Battle of Bunker Hill
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.
Q 28Which FDR program of the 1930s aimed at relief, recovery and reform during the Great Depression?
The New Deal
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.
Q 29What diplomatic scandal of 1797-1798 involved French agents demanding bribes from American envoys?
The XYZ Affair
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.
Q 30Which Chicago labor protest on May 4, 1886, ended with a bomb explosion?
The Haymarket Affair
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.