U.S. History Viewed from Britain Quiz

Answer: Yes

The U.S.A. only started to develop in the Colonial period of its history. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto says in his book "The Americas" (Published by Phoenix)- "In general, southern superiority, northern inferiority was the normal pattern of the precolonial history of the Americas".

He thus paints a picture of a fundamental transformation by the U.S. from inferiority to its present day position. The facts do heavily support the views of this author. However, in the eyes of some the culture of the precolonial native Indians in North America was developed in a number of ways, ways which are less respected by Western societies.

The above author also submits that it is not possible to understand fully U.S. history, in isolation from the history of America as a whole.

Answer: True

According to Howard Zinn in his book "A People's History of the United States" (published by Longman), America had approximately 75 million Indians when Columbus arrived (end of the 15th century), perhaps 10 million north of the Rio Grande. Disease brought in by the Colonials, war and other events reduced the number of Native Indians in North America over a very short time, by about 90%.

Answer: 10 to 15 million

According to Howard Zinn in "A People's History of the United States" (published by Longman) this was about 1/3 of those actually seized in Africa. Huge numbers of slaves actually died in the boats bringing them to America. Amazingly while the local Indian population was not seen as a source of labour and was dying out rapidly, the African slave was highly prized.

Answer: The American Revolution

This was the time of the War of Independence. The U.S.A. broke away from Imperialist control from Britain and now extended from the Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi River. Under the Treaty of Paris, that ended this War of Independence, there were 13 Colonies in the U.S.

The U.S.A.'s dislike of Imperialism did not at this time reflect itself in their treatment of native Indians and slaves.

Answer: The American Civil War

The Confederate States in the South and the Union States in the North fought a highly costly war in human lives. Before the Union States and Abraham Lincoln claimed victory 620,000 people were killed, more than in any other U.S. war in history (please see "Teach Yourself-History of the U.S.A." published by Hodder and Stoughton). Nominally, the war about "states' rights", but for the South the key right was slavery.

Answer: The American Revolution

The British finally surrendered in this war at Yorktown on 19 October, 1781. Suffice it to say that this quiz is written from England where we study little or no U.S. history. These battle names will roll off the tongues of those members who have been through (or are in) the U.S. academic system.

Answer: The American Civil War

The Union finally gained victory at the battle of Five Forks on 1st April, 1865. Hopefully this quiz is setting the framework of U.S. history for those users of Fun Trivia who keep meeting these battle names, etc., as they cruise through the wealth of quizzes written in the U.S.A. Those members who automatically mark "all of these answers are correct" when they see it, may start losing marks if this quiz ever reaches the exalted heights of being used for daily quizzes and the like!

Answer: 1865

The 13th Amendment was ratified on 6th December, 1865. The abolition of slavery was an indirect result of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln saw his opportunity as the war ended to stop slavery. Lincoln was later assassinated.

Answer: Anti- Renter/patronship system and an impoverished underclass.

The book referred to above is published by Longman. Zinn says in his book that "This went back to the 1600s... , a system where a few families, intricately intermarried, controlled the destinies of three thousand people and ruled in almost kingly splendour near two million acres of land." Thus in the years around the actual Civil War there was massive unrest between a small number of landowners and an impoverished underclass.

This situation goes largely unreported in internal U.S. history.

Answer: Tom Paine

Thomas Paine had come from England to the U.S.A. in 1774. He often spoke eloquently for the lower classes in the U.S.A. Paine later returned to England and was indicted for treason, he escaped to France and narrowly missed being guillotined. He returned to the U.S. in 1802 and died in New York ( see "Teach Yourself History of the U.S.A."- by Hodder and Stoughton). One of his books called "The Rights of Man" is exceptionally good reading for those of his persuasion.

Answer: Yes

Women in the U.S.A. were often at the forefront of Industrial action. Women often took industrial action in the U.S.A. when men felt powerless. However, it must be noted that British women also played their role in British history (See for instance the Matchmakers Girls' strike in the late 19th century). Howard Zinn (in his book "A people's History of the United States"- published by Longman) refers to women in the U.S. in the early years as "The intimately Oppressed".

He says in this book " It is possible, reading standard histories, to forget half the population of the country".

He then goes on at length to list their struggles against their lack of rights and does make some comparisons between their situation and that of the African slaves.

Answer: They are the first five Presidents in the order that they became President.

The first two Presidents were from the Federalist Party, and the next three Presidents were Democrat-Republican. George Washington took office in 1789 unopposed.

Answer: Bill Clinton

Reagan was the 40th President of the U.S.A., and Lincoln and Johnson the 16th and 17th Presidents respectively. Grover Cleveland became President in 1884 and then returned in 1892 and is thus counted by most people as two different Presidents. Some may argue that George W Bush is the real 42nd President (A big thank you to member Patricfanatic for help on this point). Also, David Rice Atchison served for possibly one day as 12th President. Please see http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/atchison/indexhtml.

Many thanks to member "blakey" for this invaluable piece of trivia that I have not yet seen in other quizzes.

Answer: Washington is to Kensington.

These are all U.S. states paired with their capitals, however Washington's capital is Olympia and not as shown in the foregoing list.

Answer: Freedom of religious belief and freedom of speech.

In the U.S.A. the 2nd Amendment allows the right of individuals to carry weapons, and the 16th Amendment allows Congress to levy taxation. Hopefully this quiz will encourage more British and non- U.S. members to participate more fully in Fun Trivia which has a large U.S. membership and base.

The quiz may also excite interest and debate in U.S. history which as a subject does not seem to feature heavily in British education. The author of this quiz is aware of the deluge of correction notes that the U.S. members can produce, and at the time of writing this quiz awaited them eagerly! We never cease to find ways of improving our quizzes!