Hey, patriot, take our annual Independence Day trivia quiz

So you consider yourself a true American patriot, a Yankee Doodle Dandy, even if you were born south of the Mason-Dixon Line? Someone who puts the flag out at dawn and, more importantly, brings it in at sunset if there’s no light shining on it? Someone who bleeds red, white and blue on the Fourth of July and can burp “The Star Spangled Banner,” even without drinking a 2-liter soda?

Then we’ve got a quiz for you: the traditional Spin Control Independence Day Trivia Quiz with 13 questions, one for each of the original colonies. Answers below. Only redcoats would cheat.

1. What was the first state to join the union after the original 13?

A. Florida

B. Kentucky

C. Tennessee

D. Vermont

2. If you add the stars in the top row of your 50-star flag and the stars on the bottom row, how many stars would you have?

A. 10

B. 11

C. 12

D. 13

3. The opening lines of the Declaration of Independence are:

A. We the People of the United States …

B. We hold these truths to be self-evident …

C. When in the course of human events …

D. The government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish …

4. Who coined the phrase “These are the times that try men’s souls …”?

A. Thomas Paine

B. Patrick Henry

C. Thomas Jefferson

D. George Washington

5. Who among the following does not appear on both a U.S. coin and a denomination of currency?

A. Benjamin Franklin

B. Alexander Hamilton

C. Andrew Jackson

D. Ulysses S. Grant

6. In what country did people first celebrate important days with fireworks?

A. England

B. France

C. Japan

D. China

7. What does “E pluribus unum” mean?

A. In God we trust

B. Out of one, many

C. Out of many, one

D. From liberty happiness

8. According to the poem, where was “the shot heard round the world” fired?

A. Lexington

B. Concord

C. Boston

D. Philadelphia

9. All 13 colonies sent representatives to the Second Continental Congress, where the Declaration of Independence was debated and approved. How many sent representatives to the First Continental Congress?

A. 13

B. 12

C. 11

D. 10

10. Two future presidents crossed the Delaware River for the Battle of Trenton in 1776. One was George Washington, who was the other?

A. John Adams

B. Thomas Jefferson

C. James Monroe

D. James Madison

11. Which of the following took place after the Declaration of Independence was signed?

A. The Boston Tea Party

B. The Battle of Bunker Hill

C. The Battle of Saratoga

D. The Boston Massacre

12. After the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament passed a series of laws to control and punish the colonists in Massachusetts. What did the colonists call them?

A. The Penitential Acts

B. The Unacceptable Acts

C. The Disagreeable Acts

D. The Intolerable Acts

13. What “Yankee Doodle Dandy” claimed to have been born on the Fourth of July?

A. George M. Cohan

B. George Gershwin

C. Scott Joplin

D. Neil Diamond

Answers:

1. D. Vermont, which was briefly a separate republic during and after the Revolution, joined the union in 1791.

2. C. The top and bottom rows on the 50-star flag have six stars.

3. C. A is the start of the Constitution and B appears later in the Declaration. D is from the Gettysburg Address.

4. A. From Paine’s first essay in “The American Crisis” in 1776.

5. B. Franklin is on the $100 bill and was on the half dollar before John F. Kennedy. All presidents through Ronald Reagan have appeared on the $1 coin. Hamilton is only on the $10 bill.

6. D. The Chinese, who invented gunpowder, also invented fun things to do with it.

7. C. The motto on the nation’s Great Seal is also translated as “One from many.”

8. B. The line is from Emerson’s “Concord Hymn,” which was written for the dedication of the battle monument.

9. B. Georgia didn’t want to anger the British, whose help the colony needed for an ongoing war with Native American tribes.

10. C. Monroe was with Washington in the Continental Army and was severely wounded at Trenton. In the famous Emanuel Leutze painting, he’s the one holding the flag.

11. C. The Battle of Saratoga was in 1777. All the others happened before the Continental Congress voted for independence.

12. All of the above. The British, not surprisingly, had different names for each of the laws.

13. A. Cohan wrote the song for a musical, and he and his family claimed he was born on July 4, 1878, contending his baptismal certificate that said July 3 was wrong.

Scoring:

0-3: Union Jack

4-6: Yankee Doodle

7-10: Minute Man

11-13: Founding Father (or Mother)