What Do You Need to Know About Washington? Quiz

Answer: Washington

The Oregon Treaty was ratified by the US Congress in June of 1846 after some warlike talk between Britain and the United States (who had the slogan "54-40 or Fight"). The land boundary goes along the forty-ninth parallel, but it then turns south into the deepest waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, thereby giving Britain Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, but leaving Point Roberts as an exclave of the United States.

Answer: African-American

The 2000 census showed a little over 163,000 people with the last name of Washington. It also showed that most (approximately 146,500) of them were African-American. Washington was 138th of the most common American surnames. Historians have thought that even before the Emancipation Proclamation slaves chose surnames to give themselves an identity. Some used their owner's name; others used Washington's name as a way of asserting themselves.

The Census Bureau did repeat the project for the 2010 census.

Answer: Lake Washington

Lake Washington is the second largest lake in the state of Washington, and got its name in 1854 from a suggestion made by Thomas Mercer, one of the founding fathers of Seattle. Prior to that it had a number of other names, including a Native American one meaning "Great Amount of Water".

The lake is spanned by the first, second and fifth longest "floating bridges" in the world. These are bridges made of concrete pontoons, attached to each other by cables and to the bed of the lake by weights, with the roadway constructed on top of the pontoons.

A long, narrow lake, its surface area is said to be 33.8 square miles.

Answer: Soccer (Association Football)

Formed by local miners from the nearby colliery, the Washington Football Club were a founding member of the North Eastern Football (soccer) League in 1926/27. Despite being a small local club in Tyne and Wear County, former players Ronnie Starling (1930s) and Jimmy Hagan (1940s) went on to play for England.

Their nickname 'The Mechanics' arose from the renaming of the club as the Washington Colliery Mechanics after World War II. The most successful team achievement in the twentieth century was reaching the fourth round of the FA Cup in 1970/71, when they were beaten by the professional team Bradford Park Avenue.

Answer: New Hampshire

Mount Washington Observatory, a private non-profit institution, recorded winds of 231 miles per hour in April 1934. The weather station on the mountain was the first of its kind in the world, established in 1870. Although the relationship with the US Weather Bureau is a close one, the observatory is not a governmental entity.

It serves as an example for other mountaintop weather stations. It also is there to educate people, and with that in mind it offers day or overnight trips, symposia, and long-distance learning programs. Mount Washington is in the Presidential Range and is the highest peak east of the Mississippi and north of North Carolina's Mount Mitchell.

Answer: Dandridge

Martha Dandridge was an attractive young lady of eighteen when she married Daniel Parke Custis who was a rich planter some twenty years older than she. Oddly enough, they lived at the White House Plantation. Custis died when Martha was twenty-five, leaving her and the children financially well-endowed, with five plantations to run. Martha and George had a large, lovely wedding when Martha was 27 and George was close to it.

They honeymooned at the White House and then moved to Mount Vernon. They had no children of their own. George Washington died in 1799 and Martha followed him in 1802.

After her death she was called the "First Lady of the United States".

Answer: False

The Washington Monument is named in honor of George Washington, the man who led the Continental Army to victory in the War of Independence and served as the first president under the Constitution. Construction of the monument, built from marble, granite and gneiss, commenced in 1848 and was completed 36 years later.

It was dedicated in March 1885, with speeches from dignitaries including President Chester Arthur and Virginia Governor John Daniel. Spectacular views of the city and neighboring Virginia and Maryland are obtained from the observation windows at the 500 ft level of the 555 ft 5 1/8" obelisk.

Answer: Delaware

In 1850 Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze finished painting George Washington and his men crossing the Delaware River on the nights of December 25 and 26, 1776. That first painting was soon damaged by fire at his studio but was restored and was acquired by an art museum in Bremen, Germany. In 1942, however, it was destroyed by an RAF bombing raid. Fortunately, a second had been completed in 1851 and was, after being traded by a number of people, donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1897.

In 2003 the painting was defaced by a former Metropolitan Museum guard when he glued a picture of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to it. Fortunately, it was not damaged by that nonsensical act.

In 1999, teachers' aides in Muscogee County, Georgia, painted out, on 2,300 copies, the watch fob in Washington's hand. It seems they, and at least two other school administrators, felt it was painted too close to his crotch and could possibly look like male genitalia.

Answer: Boston Redskins

The Washington Redskins were the Boston Redskins who had been the Boston Braves but changed their name when they moved to where the Boston Red Sox played. In 1937 they moved to Washington, DC, and didn't have to worry about Boston anymore.

The name was changed to the Washington Commanders in 2022, after many years of controversy over the term "redskin" being an ethnic slur. For a short time the team was known as the Washington Football Team.

They are a member of the NFL, with uniform colors of burgundy, white and gold. To their credit they won the 1982, 1987 and 1991 Super Bowl Championship games.

Answer: April 30, 1789

Although John Adams had taken the office of the vice presidency on April 21, and the first presidential term had begun on March 4, 1789, neither Washington or Adams were voted in until April 6, 1789, the first time both the House of Representatives and the Senate each had a quorum. Washington was not aware he had been voted to be the president until April 14.

He set off, two days later, for New York City arriving on April 23. Finally, on April 30, 1789, George Washington became the first president of the United States after a 1,419 word inaugural address.