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Try our Independence Day quiz

By Jim Camden jimc@spokesman.com(509) 879-7461

So you think you’re a good patriot. You wear a flag pin on your pajamas, know that the last two words to “The Star Spangled Banner” are not “Play ball,” and bleed red, white and blue.
On July 4th, we all feel that way. But before you head off for hot dogs, apple pie and fireworks, try your hand at our annual Independence Day quiz. We have 13 questions, one for each colony.

1. Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, how many became president?

2. When Thomas Jefferson first wrote about “inalienable rights” they were life, liberty and the pursuit of_____

Industry
Imagination
Prosperity
Property

3. When was the “shot heard round the world” fired?
1774
1775
1776
1777

4. Where was the Continental Congress meeting when it declared Independence from Great Britain ?Boston
New York
Philadelphia
Washington , D.C.

5. Before the Stars and Stripes design was adopted, other flags flown by various American units contained
A pine tree
A snake
The Union Jack
All of the above

6. The smallest American colony was

7. George Washington’s vice president was John Adams; Adams’ veep was Thomas Jefferson; who was Jefferson ’s?

John Adams
Aaron Burr
Alexander Hamilton
James Madison

8. Without looking at the flag you put up today, how many stars are in that top row in a 50-star flag?

9. Who said “Give me Liberty or Give me death!”
Thomas Paine
Patrick Henry
Nathan Hale
George Washington

10. What Civil War general had a father who was a famous commander in the American Revolution?
Ulysses S. Grant
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Robert E. Lee
William Tecumseh Sherman

11. Which of the following statements is false?
The battle of Bunker Hill was not fought on Bunker Hill.
Benedict Arnold was promoted for bravery by George Washington.
The Liberty Bell hasn’t been rung since July 4, 1776 because it cracked during celebrations of the Declaration of Independence.
Members of the Continental Congress didn’t sign the Declaration on July 4.

12. Where was the Statue of Liberty was made?
New York
Boston
London
Paris

13. The first six presidents were from two states. Four were from Virginia and two were from

For the answers, go inside the blog.

*

1. Two, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. George Washington didn’t sign the Declaration, he was busy commanding the army.

2. The original draft of the Declaration listed the pursuit of property, which colonists would have equated freedom of themselves and their possessions, and by extension, happiness. Jefferson changed it in a later draft.
3. April 1775, at Concord, Mass. The phrase is from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem on the Concord monument commemorating the event.
4. They met in Philadelphia, and of course Washington, D.C., didn’t even exist.
5. All of them: A pine tree was on the “Appeal to Heaven” flag flown by the early Continental Navy. A coiled rattle snake appeared on the Gadsden flag and a segmented snake on the “Join or Die” flag, and a Union Jack was in the upper left field with red and white stripesf of early continental army flags.
6. Rhode Island is also the smallest state.
7.In those days, the president and vice president were elected separately. Jefferson and Burr got the same number of electoral college votes but Burr became Jefferson’s veep after the election was thrown into the House. In his second term, George Clinton was Jefferson’s No. 2.
8. Six. A 50-star flag has five rows of six and four rows of five, so the top and bottom rows have six.
9. That was Patrick Henry, at the Virginia Convention (not at the Continental Congress adopting the Declaration. For a copy of the full speech, click here.
10. Lee’s father was a cavalry general known as Light Horse Harry Lee.
11. The battle of Bunker Hill was fought on nearby Breed’s Hill. Before he was a traitor, Arnold was a hero. The signing of the Declaration didn’t start until August, and some didn’t sign until 1777. But the LIberty Bell had some hairline cracks before July 8, 1776 — the day it was rung to call people to a reading of the declaration — and the big crack that made it unringable showed up in 1846.
12, Designed and built in Paris, taken apart and shipped to New York for reassembly.
13. John Adams and John Quincy Adams were from Massachusetts.
How to score
9-13 correct: You might be channeling George Washington.
5-8 correct: You might be channeling George Jetson.
0-3 correct: You might be channeling George III.

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Spin Control." Read all stories from this blog