Can You Score 27/35 On This Difficult American History Quiz?

By: Gavin Thagard
Estimated Completion Time
3 min
Can You Score 27/35 On This Difficult American History Quiz?
Image: VisionsofAmerica/Joe Sohm/DigitalVision/Getty Images

About This Quiz

Wars, foreign relations, internal struggles, leaders, legislation; American history can teach us a lot about ourselves and where we come from. However, that history can also be quite difficult to fully grasp sometimes. Are you an expert on American history? Here's a quiz where you can find out just how much you know!

Even before the founding of the United States as an independent country, America's history was complicated, from colonial times to the American Revolution, and even when it comes to more recent history, that hasn't changed. The history of America, of course, has been marred by some grim segments, particularly related to Indian removal and slavery, but it's also been inspirational, displaying the triumphs of a country still finding itself and its place in the world. 

Are you ready to test your knowledge on American history with this difficult quiz? Can you recall some of the lesser-known facts relating to the most significant events that shaped the United States? Do you know which presidencies were defined by important legislation or acts? 

This quiz will challenge you on all aspects of American society from culture to economics to politics. If you are up for the challenge, get started and put your American history knowledge on display for everyone to see!

Who was the first European to explore the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River?
John Cabot
Jacques Cartier
Francis Drake
Vasco da Gama
What settlement did Walter Raleigh attempt to establish?
Saint Augustine
Jamestown
Roanoke
Hampton
After Jamestown, where was the capital of the Virginia colony moved to?
Richmond
Petersburg
Onancock
Williamsburg

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Where did the Proclamation of 1763 limit colonial settlement to?
The Appalachian Mountains
The Mississippi River
The Rocky Mountains
The Pacific Ocean
Which group was organized in opposition to the Stamp Act?
Abolitionists
Freedom Fighters
The Dough Boys
The Sons of Liberty
What did Benedict Arnold offer the British for money and a higher military position?
West Point
New York
Washington D.C.
Jamestown

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What was the first U.S. state?
Georgia
Delaware
North Carolina
Virginia
Which president signed into law the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793?
James Monroe
Thomas Jefferson
George Washington
Alexander Hamilton
The Louisiana Purchase was made with which foreign country?
Spain
France
Britain
Russia

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What year did the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves go into effect?
1808
1813
1821
1833
Which future president organized a battalion of free blacks in the War of 1812?
John Tyler
James Polk
Andrew Jackson
Rutherford Hayes
What treaty ended the War of 1812?
Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Tordesillas
Treaty of Ghent

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Where was the gold which sped up the Indian Removal Act found?
Georgia
Florida
Virginia
Delaware
Who was sent to the Alamo to receive the troops and supplies before destroying the fort?
James Polk
Winfield Scott
James Bowie
Zachary Taylor
In which Mexican city did General Winfield Scott land his troops during the invasion of Mexico in 1847?
Havana
Merida
Cuernavaca
Veracruz

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What were the migrants who headed to California in 1849 for the Gold Rush called?
Scaliwags
Forty-niners
Carpetbaggers
Dough Boys
What book did Harriet Beecher Stowe write?
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
"The Known World"
"Uncle Tom's Cabin"
"Up from Slavery"
Which state was acquired in the Gadsden Purchase?
Oregon
Montana
Arizona
Wisconsin

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Who was the president of the Confederacy?
Robert E. Lee
James Longstreet
Stonewall Jackson
Jefferson Davis
What was the name of General Winfield Scott's plan to suffocate the South during the Civil War?
Anaconda plan
Carpetbagger
Operation Overlord
Magic Carpet
What battle marked the bloodiest day of the Civil War?
First Battle of Bull Run
Battle of Shiloh
Siege of Vicksburg
Battle of Antietam

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Which amendment gave all male citizens the right to vote regardless of race?
13th Amendment
14th Amendment
15th Amendment
16th Amendment
Which Civil War general became president of the United States?
Ulysses S. Grant
Robert E. Lee
George B. McClellan
William T. Sherman
A leader in the Great Sioux War of 1876, what tribe did Sitting Bull belong to?
Cherokee
Lakota
Seminole
Navajo

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What year was the first official World Series in MLB?
1903
1908
1915
1920
Where did Theodore Roosevelt go after the death of his mother and wife?
Europe
Asia
The American West
The American South
Who directed the 1915 film "Birth of a Nation?"
Alfred Hitchcock
John Ford
Charlie Chaplin
D.W. Griffith

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What year was the stock market crash that led to the Great Depression?
1924
1929
1933
1936
Who was the first female aviator to fly by herself across the Atlantic Ocean?
Jane Addams
Susan B. Anthony
Amelia Earhart
Clara Barton
Where was the attack that led America into WWII?
New York
Washington D.C.
Los Angeles
Pearl Harbor

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Who commanded Allied forces in the Pacific Campaign during WWII?
Douglas MacArthur
Dwight Eisenhower
George Patton
Gerald Ford
What doctrine stated that the United States would counter the Soviet expansion of communism during the Cold War?
Monroe Doctrine
Truman Doctrine
Roosevelt Corollary
Eisenhower Doctrine
Which president established NASA?
Dwight Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Richard Nixon
Ronald Reagan

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Which act ended segregation in public places?
Homestead Act
National Origins Act
Wagner Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Where did the National Guard fire on U.S. students protesting the Vietnam War?
Harvard University
Kent State University
Stanford University
The University of Southern California