Old Glory: III Trivia Quiz

Answer: Congress

The Connecticut Compromise laid the foundation for Congress, which is divided into the upper house (Senate) and the lower house (House of Representatives). Prior to the compromise, the larger states felt that since they had more people to represent, they deserved more representation.

The smaller states felt that such a system was unfair and advocated for equal representation. To compromise, both the Senate and the House were formed. The Senate has equal representation between the states (2 Senators for each state) and the House has representation for each state based on population.

Answer: Slaves

The Three-Fifths Comprise was designed to balance the political power of states that had few or no slaves with states with a high population of slaves. As a result, it was agreed that slaves would count to the number of representatives a state could have, but would only count as three-fifths of a person.

Answer: James Madison

James Madison, also known as the "Father of the Constitution", wrote the Bill of Rights to reform the Constitution so that it would be more agreeable to non-Federalists. The Bill of Rights contains 10 amendments to the Constitution. The 1st Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, the press, and religion.

The 2nd Amendment states the right to bear arms. The 3rd Amendment prevents the quartering of soldiers in a person's house without consent. The 4th Amendment prevents unlawful searches, requiring a warrant that can only be issued with probable cause.

The 5th Amendment prevents being tried twice on the same charge and self-incrimination. It also guarantees the accused a trial. The 6th Amendment guarantees a public trial with an unbiased jury and the right to a lawyer.

The 7th Amendment states that any case involving a settlement of at least $20 is guaranteed the right to a trial by jury. The 8th Amendment prevents excessive fines and excessive bail, and cruel and unusual punishment. The 9th Amendment exists to protect rights that aren't specifcally mentioned in the Constitution.

The 10th Amendment delegates any powers not granted to the federal government to the states or individuals.

Answer: a political deal

The northern states wanted to have the capital in the North and the southern states wanted it to be in the South. At the same time, Alexander Hamilton wanted the federal government to take over all the states' debts. However, the South generally paid off most of their debt so the Compromise of 1790 was born.

The capital was to be placed between Virginia and Maryland, which was a location considered to be in the middle between North and South. At the time, the area was mostly marshland.

Answer: Independent

While George Washington was independent of the two major political parties of the time, he did generally agree with the Federalists more than he did with the Democratic-Republicans. On political parties, Washington felt that political parties would weaken the country and its democratic spirit, pitting man against fellow man, which would lead to foreign influence and corruption.

Answer: It established the future creation of new states

The Northwest Ordinance played an important part in the expansion of the USA. The Treaty of Paris had not only guaranteed the sovereignty of the original Thirteen Colonies, but granted the Northwest Territory (what is now the Midwest) to the United States. Land in the Northwest Territory had been sold through the Land Ordinance of 1785 in order to raise money for the government since at the time, the government had no power to tax individuals. What the Northwest Ordinance did was set the precedent that new states would be created from this land rather than expanding existing states.

A new state could be created once a region reached a population of 60,000. Also of note was the fact that slavery, as per the Northwest Ordinance, was prohibited on this land.

Answer: John Jay

John Jay was formerly the President of the Continental Congress and was a noteworthy Federalist. The Supreme Court was established in the Judiciary Act of 1789. At the time, only 6 judges formed the Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice. The Judiciary Act met the ire of Anti-Federalists like Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams.

They disliked the idea of centralizing that much power to the federal government.

Answer: Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton, the 1st Secretary of the Treasury, was another noteworthy Federalist. He was very adamant in forming a strong central central government, which involved the creation of a national bank as well. The First Bank of the United States was created to handle the nation's credit and help manage the financial operations of the government.

While it was branded as unconstitutional by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, Hamilton argued his case through the implied powers granted by the Constitution.

Answer: Necessary and Proper Clause

The Necessary and Proper Clause states, "The Congress shall have Power ... To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof." The Federalists used this clause to back up the idea of the implied powers in order to argue for the expansion of the government. Democratic-Republicans such as Thomas Jefferson, however, argued for a strict interpretation of the Constitution.

Answer: whiskey

The Whiskey Rebellion occurred as a result of excise taxes (also known as "sin taxes") placed on whiskey in order to raise money to pay off war debts. Farmers in Pennsylvania, of which many were veterans of the revolution, rose up against the tax collectors. In response, George Washington personally led soldiers/milita to put down the rebellion. The rebellion lasted until 1794.

Answer: a diplomat

In Europe, the French Revolution had resulted in the toppling of the French monarchy and the institution of a new republic. The French Republic, however, soon found itself at war with the surrounding European kingdoms, afraid of the potential precedent a successful revolution against a monarchy would set. Edmond-Charles Genêt was a French Republican diplomat sent to the United States in order to bring the U.S. into war on the French side, just as the French had previously helped the Americans. However, President Washington wanted to stay neutral, as stated in the Neutrality Proclamation. Yet Edmond-Charles Genêt's activities, ranging from hiring American privateers to capturing British ships, were damaging to America's wishes to remain neutral.

These events became known as the Citizen Genêt Affair.

Answer: Britain would compensate American slaveholders for slaves released during the war

John Jay, the treaty's namesake, was a vocal opponent of slavery. As such, to the ire of many slaveholders, Britain did not need to compensate the slaveholders for the slaves that were released during the American Revolutionary War. The treaty was unpopular with Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans (who favored France) as it strengthened ties with Britain.

The treaty managed to ease tensions between the U.S. and Britain, at least for the moment.

Answer: Spain

Pinckney's Treaty established friendly relations with Spain. At the time, Spain controlled the Louisiana Territory and most of the land that makes up the modern state of Florida. The treaty gave the U.S. free access to the Mississippi River and established the borders between the U.S. and the Spanish colonies.

Answer: the French demanded a bribe from the diplomats

The XYZ Affair was a political scandal in which Talleyrand sent three representatives to attempt to extort bribes and a loan from the Americans. The American diplomats, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry, were deeply offended and left France despite Talleyrand's attempts to force them to stay. Back in America, news of the scandal promoted heavy anti-French sentiment and led to the Quasi-War, an undeclared war between the U.S. and France that was mostly waged at sea.

Answer: John Adams

The Alien and Sedition Acts were a controversial set of laws enacted as a result of anti-French sentiment. The Naturalization Act extended the time a person had to live in the U.S. before applying for citizenship from five to fourteen years. The Alien Act gave the president the power to deport any non-U.S. citizen in the U.S. deemed a threat.

The Alien Enemies Act gave the government the power to arrest or deport immigrants from a nation at war with the USA. The Sedition Act made any writings considered to be either false, scandalous, or malicious against the government illegal.

The public was massively opposed to the Alien and Sedition Acts, a sentiment that would be reflected on John Adams and the Federalist Party during the election of 1800 (John Adams lost to Thomas Jefferson).

Answer: Virginia

Virginia was one of two states that refused to enforce the Alien and Sedition Acts; the other was the relatively recently created state of Kentucky. The Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions, written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, considered the Alien and Sedition Acts to be unconstitutional and that since the acts were unconstitutional, the states did not have to follow those laws.

This is the first case in which the idea of nullification, denying the enforcement of a law deemed unconstitutional, was put into practice.

Answer: Marbury v. Madison

The Supreme Court's ability to judge the constitutionality of government actions, also known as judicial review, was established in a case involving one of John Adam's last actions as president. Adams attempted to install several new judges (the "Midnight Judges") into the judicial system before Jefferson took over the presidency, yet the letters confirming their appointments did not reach their recipients in time. Jefferson ordered Madison, then the Secretary of State, to block the appointment of those judges. One of those judges, William Marbury, took the case to the Supreme Court yet lost because the part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 Marbury was making his case on was deemed unconstitutional by Chief Justice John Marshall.

Answer: $15,000,000

The Louisiana Purchase took place during Jefferson's presidency. Ironically for Jefferson, who pushed a strict interpretation of the Constitution, the Louisiana Purchase was alleged by some to be unconstitutional as the Constitution never mentioned anything about acquiring new territory. Napoleon sold the land to America for a fairly low price (around 3 cents per acre) involving direct cash and the cancellation of French debts.

This was because French colonies in the Caribbean were more lucrative and Napoleon needed the money to finance the wars ongoing in Europe.

Answer: Sacagawea

Jefferson sanctioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition in primarily to map out the new territory. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led a band of explorers all the way to the Pacific coast. On their journey they encountered Toussaint Charbonneau, a French explorer who was also married to the Shoshone woman, Sacagawea.

Her main role in the expedition was to help negotiate with the native tribes as she would be able to communicate with them. Interestingly, she was pregnant before joining the expedition and gave birth during the journey.

Answer: Alexander Hamilton

Aaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. What had happened was that Burr, who was Vice-President during Jefferson's 1st term, was going to be dropped in favor of George Clinton in the Election of 1804. Burr decided to move on by campaigning for governor of New York, but narrowly lost the election.

He blamed his loss on a smear campaign; one of the people he blamed was Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton thought Burr couldn't be trusted because he thought Burr to have been associated with a secessionist movement in New York. Burr demanded an apology from Hamilton for insulting his honor, yet Hamilton refused, so Burr challenged him to a duel. Charges involving Hamilton's death against Burr were dropped, though he got into trouble once again when he was suspected of conspiring against the U.S. government by seizing the land from the Louisiana Territory that was near his holdings in Texas leased from the Spanish.

He was arrested on charges of treason, but was acquitted.

Answer: North Africa

The Barbary Pirates were notorious for attacking shipping off the coast of North Africa for over a century. The Barbary States mainly encompassed the coast of what now belongs to modern day Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia. Jefferson refused to pay tribute to the pirates and sent a naval force to deal with the pirates. One of the most notable moments of the war occurred when, after the USS Philadelphia was captured after blockading Tripoli, Stephen Decatur led a group of sailors to sneak aboard the ship and burn it so that the pirates couldn't use it.

The Second Barbary War (1815) ended the practice of America paying tribute to the pirates and also marked the decline of North African piracy.

Answer: To protest against the impressment of American sailors

During the Napoleonic Wars, both Britain and France practiced impressment. Sailors from both navies would sometimes board American ships and forcibly conscript the sailors into their navies. This had been going on for several years, leading Congress to eventually embargo Britain and France.

However, the embargo had little effect on the economies of Britain and France, but instead nearly ruined the American economy. It was especially hard on the northeastern states due to the huge shipping industry there.

The law was followed up by the Non-Intercourse Act and Macon's Bill Number Two, which both did the same thing just with less harsher terms and were just as ineffectual.

Answer: HMS Leopard

The Chesapeake-Leopard Affair was a diplomatic incident that occurred off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia. Officers of the Royal Navy thought that the USS Chesapeake had naval deserters on board. The HMS Leopard was sent to retrieve the suspected deserters, yet when the Americans attempted to delay having to make the decision to submit to a search, the HMS Leopard opened fire.

The USS Chesapeake was unable to fight the HMS Leopard and surrendered, so the British boarded the ship and took four deserters.

However, three of the deserters were American citizens that had been forcibly conscripted by the Royal Navy. As a result of the ensuing controversy, Britain later paid compensation for damages to the USS Chesapeake and released the three American citizens.

Answer: Shawnee

Tecumseh and his brother, Tenskwatawa (also known as "The Prophet") led the Shawnee tribe. Many Native Americans were growing agitated with the United States encroaching upon their ancestral lands, yet many felt unable to fight back the U.S. However, Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa gathered a great following of Native Americans from many tribes, mainly due to the religious appeal of The Prophet.

In 1810, Tecumseh met with William Henry Harrison, Governor of the Indiana Territory, in order to have the Treaty of Fort Wayne, which signed over huge tracts of Native American land to the U.S., invalidated. Harrison refused and tensions remained high, yet Tecumseh would soon become known as the United States' greatest challenger in the Midwest.

Answer: William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was informed that Tecumseh was planning to declare war, so a militia was called up and joined with some army regulars. Harrison then marched on Prophetstown, the center of Tecumseh's Confederacy. Tecumseh was away at the time, leaving Tenskwatawa in charge of the village's defenses. Harrison and his soldiers defeated the warriors of Prophetstown and destroyed the village.

In the U.S., the popular opinion at the time was that Britain had incited the natives to attack the U.S. and supplied guns to the natives.