Some Rhode Island History Trivia Quiz

Answer: Narragansett

Just a few of the other things named Narragansett are: a large bay, a brand of beer brewed locally, a turkey breed, and, connected with the city of Narragansett, a high school and numerous businesses. Of more importance, the tribe also owns some land set aside for the members within the area that it has occupied for five hundred years or more.

The tribe's language may have been lost, but is preserved in Roger Williams' "A Key into the Languages of America" which he wrote in 1643. Other tribes from the area include the Wampanoag and Niantic, with a few descendants still working on preserving their heritage.

Answer: slaves, molasses, rum

The triangle trade was a way of making money by buying slaves in Africa, hauling them to the West Indies and the surrounding areas, trading for molasses, returning home and turning the molasses into rum, and trading the rum for more slaves. Ironically, the state had been passing anti-slavery laws since at least 1652, but they were never effectively enforced.

The slave population of Rhode Island itself was 5.0% in 1770, double any of the other New Engand colonies, though not nearly as high as southern colonies where cotton or rice could be grown and slaves could approach half the total population or even exceed half, such as South Carolina's 53.9 percent.

Answer: Quakers

Though all religions were against slavery in Rhode Island, the Quakers there, like elsewhere, focused on participating in the growing anti-slavery movement and also helped with the underground railroad. One example was Elizabeth Buffum Chace, a Quaker who lived in Valley Falls, north of Providence. Other underground railroad safe houses have been identified.

Answer: factory-woven cloth

Slave-grown cotton was necessary as a raw material for Rhode Island's cotton mills, though that was hardly a unique moral quandary. It was faced by states not only in New England but in England, which had freed the slaves in its own West Indies colonies in 1834 yet still bought slave-grown cotton from U.S. slave states.

Answer: Thomas Dorr fought for voting rights for all men, not just propery owners

Thomas Dorr wanted all white males in Rhode Island to be able to vote, whether they owned property or not. That was typical at the time, but Rhode Island lagged behind, using old state laws from as far back as colonial days. The industrial revolution encouraged immigrants to come work in mills and factories, making about half of the state's men disenfranchised because they didn't own land. Dorr discovered that his followers were useless at any sort of military support--the actual rebellion consisted of several cannon misfires and one bystander was shot by accident--and he wound up arrested for treason and sentenced to life at hard labor in 1844. Legislators soon realized how much popular support Dorr really had, and grudgingly admitted, to themselves at least, that he was right.

They instituted most of his requests on their own, installing a new state constitution, and he only served a year of his sentence.

Answer: Ambrose Burnside

Gen. Burnside commanded the Army of the Potomac until the Battle of Fredericksburg. He was relieved of command a month after the December 1862 battle. He never redeemed himself and in fact had poor luck in the military field, but his famous sideburns became legendary. William Sherman was from Ohio, not Rhode Island, but Rhode Island had a Brigadier General Thomas W.

Sherman from Newport. At New Orleans, he commanded the defenses of the captured city before being transferred to a combat role. He was soon wounded at the siege of Port Hudson, and was relegated to office work. Isaac Rodman and Zenas Bliss were both from Rhode Island, but like Sherman, played minor roles compared to Burnside, and had no exciting facial hair.

Answer: True

The tax was originally enacted as a temporary measure, but like most such temporary sources of revenue, it's hard for the government to give up, and it has remained in effect.

Answer: Democrats took over control of the state after decades of Republicans in charge

Democrats won most positions of power in the 1934 election, but needed control of the state senate, and when they achieved that, they could move forward with other changes, which is why the exact date of the revolution isn't always counted as an election day.

They used their new power to replace the state supreme court, and gave more opportunity to the governor to fill positions by appointment. The promised overall changes in the government never materialized to the degree that Democrat citizens had hoped, though. Still, the Democrats held onto their control for decades afterwards.

Answer: anchor

Hebrews 6:19 begins: "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast..." Rhode Island was begun by religious refugees from Massachusetts who were fleeing persecution there, and the idea was that they were looking for a place to anchor themselves and find hope of acceptance.

The modern flag is a yellow anchor on a white background, above a blue banner with the word "Hope." Thirteen yellow stars encircle the anchor and banner, representing the thirteen colonies and Rhode Island's place as the thirteenth state to ratify the US Constitution.

There is also a Flag of the Rhode Island Regiment, often used where one would see a state flag, and carrying similar elements in blue instead of yellow, the stars arranged onto a blue canton and the anchor and banner appearing on the white field.

Answer: a house with a stone chimney making up one entire end wall

An abundance of stone, timber and lime for mortar made a stone-ender a reasonable archiectural choice in 17th century Rhode Island. The stone chimney with a large fireplace for heat and cooking covered one wall, while the rest of the house was typical timber framed building of the era. Narrow, steep stairs might be added beside the chimney to fill out the wall and provide passage to the second floor, which was typically a half story.

There are about a dozen such houses remaining, with more or less modern changes, and many are on the National Register of Historic Places.