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Back
to the High School History Test
1999
High School History Quiz Answers
The
American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a Washington-based nonprofit
group that promotes liberal-arts study, posed 34 high-school level
questions randomly to 556 seniors at 55 leading colleges and universities,
including Harvard, Princeton and Brown. Only one student answered
all the questions correctly, and the average score was 53 percent.
1. When was the Civil War?
c. 1850-1900
60% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
2. Who said Give me liberty
or give me death?"
c. Patrick Henry
66% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
3. What is the Magna Carta?
a. The
foundation of the British parliamentary system
56% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
4. The term Reconstruction
refers to
c. Readmission
of the Confederate states and the protection of the rights of
black citizens
29% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
5. Are Beavis and Butthead...
b. Television
cartoon characters
99% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
6. The Scopes trial was about:
b. Teaching
evolution in the schools
61% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
7. The Emancipation Proclamation
issued by Lincoln stated that:
a. Slaves
were free in areas of the Confederate states not held by the Union
26% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
8. The purpose of the authors
of the Federalist Papers was to:
d. Gain
ratification of the U.S. Constitution
53% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
9. Sputnik was the name given
to the first:
d. Man-made
satellite
89% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
10. The Missouri Compromise
was the act that:
d. Admitted
Maine into the Union as a free state and Missouri as a slave state
52% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
11. Which document established
the division of powers between the states and the federal government?
b. The
Constitution
60% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
12. When was Thomas Jefferson
president?
b. 1800-1820
45% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
13. What was the lowest point
in American fortunes in the Revolutionary War?
c. Valley Forge
38% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
14. In his farewell address,
President George Washington warned against the danger of:
c. Entering
into permanent alliances with foreign governments
52% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
15. The Monroe Doctrine declared
that:
b. Europe
should not acquire new territories in Western Hemisphere
62% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
16. Who was the European who
traveled in the United States and wrote down perceptive comments
about what he saw in Democracy in America?
b. Tocqueville
49% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
17. Identify Snoop Doggy Dog.
a. A
rap singer
98% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
18. Abraham Lincoln was president
between:
e. 1860-1880
44% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
19. Who was the American general
at Yorktown?
d. George
Washington
34% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
20. John Marshall was the author
of:
c. Marbury
v. Madison
33% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
21. Who was the Father of the
Constitution?
d. James
Madison
23% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
22. Who said, I regret that
I have only one life to give for my country?
d. Nathan
Hale
40% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
23. What was the source of
the following phrase: "Government of the people, by the people,
for the people?"
d. Gettysburg
Address
22% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
24. Who was the second president
of the U.S.?
c. John
Adams
73% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
25. Who was president when
the U.S. purchased the Panama Canal?
a. Theodore
Roosevelt
53% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
26. Who was the leading advocate
for the U.S. entry into the League of Nations?
b. Woodrow
Wilson
69% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
27. Who said, "Speak softly
but carry a big stick"?
d. Theodore
Roosevelt
70% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
28. The Battle of the Bulge
occurred during:
b. World
War II
37% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
29. Which of the following
was a prominent leader of the Abolitionist Movement?
d. Frederick
Douglass
73% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
30. Who was the president of
the United States at the beginning of the Korean War?
d. Harry
Truman
35% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
31. When the United States
entered World War II, which two major nations were allied with
Germany?
a. Italy
and Japan
67% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
32. Social legislation passed
under President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society program included:
b. The
Voting Rights Act
30% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
33. Who was "First in
war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen"?
a. George
Washington
42% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
34. Who was the leader of the
Soviet Union when the United States entered World War II?
d. Joseph
Stalin
72% of the respondents answered
this correctly.
This study was based on telephone
interviews conducted by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis
at the University of Connecticut in December 1999.
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