July 4 quiz answers

1 B. The Continental Congress voted to declare independence on July 2, 1776, and approved the language of the declaration two days later.

2 A. Seven red, six white.

3. C. Philadelphia, which was sort of centrally located in the Colonies.

4. C. Nathan Hale, a Continental officer captured while spying behind enemy lines in New York, is reported to have said this or something similar before being hanged by the British.

5. B. Adams, along with Thomas Jefferson the declaration’s main author, were the only two future presidents in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress.

6. True. He served with the British in the French and Indian War.

7. True. American forces led by Benedict Arnold tried unsuccessfully to seize Quebec.

8. False. The country was divided among those who wanted full independence, those who were loyalists to Great Britain and many who shifted back and forth depending on how the war was going.

9. False. The colonists in 1775 considered themselves British, so that wouldn’t have made sense. What he probably would have said was “the Regulars are coming” meaning the British Army, or “the Redcoats,” which is what colonists would have called the regular army.

10. A. The Congress of the confederation had no power to levy a national tax. It relied on taxes from the states. Perhaps that’s why raising taxes is the first power listed for Congress in the Constitution.

11. C. One of the compromises between the northern and southern states in the Constitution was the three-fifths rule.

12. D. Virginia, the most populous state, got 10, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts eight and New York six.

13. D. Robert Heft, of Lancaster, Ohio, designed a 50-star flag as part of a class assignment. He got a B- and sent the design to President Eisenhower in an effort to get a second opinion and a better grade. Ike liked the design and selected it for the new flag. Heft got his grade changed to an A.

Your score:

0-3 right: You must be channeling George III

4-7 right: You must be channeling George Jefferson

8-13 right: You must be channeling George Washington