Difficult History Trivia: United States History | 10 Questions

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Many believe that Lincoln was the greatest of all the presidents. He was born in a log cabin on his father's farm in Kentucky. He largely educated himself and eventually became a lawyer and politician. Nicknamed "Honest Abe," he fought the Civil War in order to save the Union. Five days after the Confederacy surrendered at the Appomattox Court House, he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater.

Answer: Chester Arthur

In 1880, Arthur was elected vice president of the United States to James A. Garfield. After Garfield was assassinated in 1881, Arthur took his place. As a young lawyer, he had been against slavery, and he made a name for himself with two cases. He won one for the freedom of two slaves, and the other he fought for a liberated African-American's civil rights.

Answer: California

California was part of Mexico when the country won its independence from Spain. In 1848 California became an American possession and two years later, a state. Today, a large part of California depends on farming and it is a major location for natural attractions, including parks, forests, mountains, and of course, Disneyland.

Answer: Fifteenth

Republican majorities in Congress at the time acted quickly in 1869 to secure the vote for African Americans. Adding one more Reconstruction amendment to those already adopted (Thirteenth in 1865, and the Fourteenth in 1868), Congress passed the Fifteenth.

Answer: Jonathan Edwards

In a Congregational Church in Northampton, Massachusetts, the Reverend Jonathan Edwards initiated the Great Awakening with a series of sermons. He argued that God was rightfully angry with human sinfulness. Each individual who expressed deep penitence could be saved by God's grace, but the souls who paid no heed to God's commandments would suffer eternal damnation.

However, it was George Whitefield who spread the Awakening beyond Massachusettes.

Answer: Chief Joseph

Chief Joseph was chief of the Nez Perce, a Native American tribe of the Wallowa Valley in Northwest Oregon. In 1877 they were ordered to a reservation. The Nez Pierce refused. Chief Joseph attempted to lead many of his people towards Canada, fighting all along their trek. On October 5, 1877, Chief Joseph made his speech of surrender.

Answer: The Gadsden Purchase

Although he failed to acquire Cuba, President Franklin Pierce succeeded in adding a thin strip of land to the American Southwest for a railroad. Mexico agreed to sell this land in 1853 for $10 million. The land forms the southern sections of present-day New Mexico and Arizona.

Answer: 18

They were, in order: (1)Abraham Lincoln, (2)Ulysses Simpson Grant, (3)Rutherford Birchard Hayes, (4)James Abram Garfield, (5)Chester Alan Arthur, (6)Benjamin Harrison, (7)William McKinley, (8)Theodore Roosevelt, (9)William Howard Taft, (10)Warren Gamaliel Harding, (11)Calvin Coolidge, (12)Herbert Clark Hoover, (13)Dwight David Eisenhower, (14)Richard Milhous Nixon, (15)Gerald Rudolph Ford, (16)Ronald Wilson Reagan, (17)George Herbert Walker Bush, (18)George Walker Bush.

Answer: The Battle of Vicksburg

In the South, by spring of 1863, Union forces controlled New Orleans and most of the Mississippi River and surrounding valley. The Union goal was to have complete control of the Mississippi River. Union Artillery bombarded Vicksburg for seven weeks before Confederates finally surrendered the city on July 4.

Answer: Martin Luther King Jr.

Often incorrectly called "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," it was an open letter by Martin Luther King Jr., written on April 16, 1963. He wrote the letter from the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama, after a peaceful protest against segregation.