American History: True or False Quiz

Answer: False

Key called it an "abominable war" and "a lump of wickedness".

Answer: False

John Scopes volunteered to be a test case for Tennessee's Butler Act outlawing teaching evolution as a scientific fact. He was convicted and fined $100. The conviction was later overturned on a technicality. This was the first "Trial of the Century" and showed the public the apparent contradictions in a fundamentalist view of the Bible.

The true irony was that Scopes later admitted he NEVER taught evolution. He was a substitute teacher and taught a different lesson that day.

Answer: False

It was Marriner Eccles who told the Senate that the key to stopping the Depression was spending. Roosevelt later rewarded him with the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve. Keynes' work did not come out until 3 years later (1936).

Answer: False

Thoreau was an author most noted for his work "Civil Disobedience". Far from being a loner, he lived at home his entire life except for two years at Walden Pond. He had visitors almost daily as Concord was only two miles away. Most people now view "Walden" as a meticulously edited piece of fiction rather than autobiographical.

Answer: False

The mob was armed with rock and clubs and THEY were the ones the started the fight with the Redcoats. Also, it is not know if Crispus Attucks was truly the first one to die.

Answer: False

He said, "Our nation has deliberately taken a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far reaching in purpose." It was the Democrats that claimed he made the shorter (and more memorable) phrase.

Answer: False

Each soldier had 3 pounds of flour and 3 pounds of meat PER DAY. General Washington made up this myth to counter people who thought that the army should spend the winter marching.

Answer: False

"Tokyo Rose" never existed. A group of American women of Japanese ancestry were trapped in Japan at the beginning of the war. Some were given jobs at Radio Tokyo, but none were involved in propaganda (unlike "Axis Sally").

Answer: False

The creation of the flag was considered unimportant and was only introduced as a bill so that the country would have a naval ensign on the High Seas. It was quickly passed so that Congress could move on to something important.

Answer: False

This is one question where ignorance is bliss. On 25 September 1789, the Congress sent to the states 12 proposed amendments to the Constitution. In 2 years, ten of them passed. An eleventh one (A Congressional pay raise cannot start during the term it was passed) was finally passed on 7 May 1992 but it is not considered part of the Bill of Rights since it does not deal with personal freedoms.

The twelfth one (Setting the size of the House of Representatives) will probably never pass. If it did, the effect would be to assure there were at least 200 representatives and to cap the number of representatives at about 6000.

The current number is set by law at 435.