United States Declaration of Independence

United States Declaration of Independence - Test

1. When was the United States Declaration of Independence adopted?

A) July 4, 1776
B) August 15, 1776
C) September 2, 1776
D) June 1, 1776

2. Who was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence?

A) Benjamin Franklin
B) John Adams
C) George Washington
D) Thomas Jefferson

3. How many people signed the Declaration of Independence?

A) 56
B) 39
C) 23
D) 75

4. Who was the President of the Continental Congress when the Declaration of Independence was adopted?

A) Thomas Jefferson
B) Benjamin Franklin
C) John Hancock
D) George Washington

5. Which country provided diplomatic support to the American colonies during the Revolutionary War?

A) France
B) Germany
C) Spain
D) Russia

6. What is the opening phrase of the Declaration of Independence?

A) In the beginning
B) Four score and seven years ago
C) We the People of the United States
D) When in the Course of human events

7. Which British philosopher's ideas influenced the Declaration of Independence?

A) Adam Smith
B) Karl Marx
C) John Locke
D) Thomas Hobbes

8. Who was the king of Great Britain when the Declaration of Independence was adopted?

A) William III
B) George II
C) George III
D) James II

9. Who was the oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence?

A) Samuel Adams
B) John Adams
C) Thomas Jefferson
D) Benjamin Franklin

10. What was the original title of the Declaration of Independence?

A) The Independence Proclamation
B) The Freedom Document
C) The Liberty Manifesto
D) A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled

11. Which state was the last to formally approve the Declaration of Independence?

A) New York
B) Connecticut
C) Delaware
D) New Jersey

12. In what city was the Declaration of Independence signed?

A) Boston
B) New York City
C) Philadelphia
D) Charleston

13. Which country was a major obstacle to American independence during the Revolutionary War?

A) France
B) Great Britain
C) Spain
D) Germany

14. Who famously wrote 'Give me liberty or give me death,' but did not sign the Declaration of Independence?

A) Samuel Adams
B) Thomas Paine
C) Patrick Henry
D) George Washington

15. What was the purpose of the Lee Resolution passed by Congress two days before adopting the Declaration?

A) Formalized trade agreements with France
B) Established a new currency for the colonies
C) Resolved that British no longer had governing authority over the Thirteen Colonies
D) Declared war on Great Britain

16. Who was responsible for engrossing the official copy of the Declaration?

A) Thomas Jefferson
B) Timothy Matlack
C) Benjamin Franklin
D) John Adams

17. Which U.S. President considered the Declaration a moral standard and used it in his Gettysburg Address?

A) George Washington
B) James Madison
C) Abraham Lincoln
D) Thomas Jefferson

18. What is one of the most famous lines from the Declaration of Independence?

A) "I have a dream..."
B) "Give me liberty or give me death!"
C) "Ask not what your country can do for you..."
D) "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."

19. What did the Declaration of Independence cite as reasons for independence?

A) 27 colonial grievances against the king and asserting certain natural and legal rights
B) Need for more land expansion
C) Economic benefits from trade with France
D) Desire to establish a monarchy in America

20. Which act was enacted by Parliament in 1765 to increase revenue from the colonies?

A) The Stamp Act
B) The Tea Act
C) The Quartering Act
D) The Intolerable Acts

21. What event involved colonists protesting against British taxes by destroying an entire shipment of tea?

A) The Boston Massacre
B) The Stamp Act Congress
C) The Intolerable Acts
D) The Boston Tea Party

22. Which year marked the beginning of deteriorating relations between the colonies and Great Britain?

A) 1763
B) 1783
C) 1754
D) 1775

23. Which series of acts were enacted by Parliament in 1767 to increase revenue from the colonies?

A) The Coercive Acts
B) The Declaratory Act
C) The Townshend Acts
D) The Sugar Act

24. In what year did the First Continental Congress convene?

A) 1775
B) 1774
C) 1773
D) 1776

25. What was the Prohibitory Act's impact on American ports?

A) Increased imports
B) Established a blockade
C) Opened trade routes
D) Reduced taxes

26. What did Thomas Paine link independence with in 'Common Sense'?

A) Catholic doctrines
B) Monarchical traditions
C) Secular humanism
D) Protestant beliefs

27. What did the Prohibitory Act declare American ships to be?

A) Enemy vessels
B) Protected cargo carriers
C) Neutral ships
D) Trade allies

28. Which colony was the first to explicitly authorize its delegates to vote for independence?

A) Virginia
B) Pennsylvania
C) North Carolina
D) Massachusetts

29. How many Dunlap broadsides are known to survive?

A) 26
B) 50
C) 200
D) 10

30. What video game involves acquiring the Declaration of Independence from the National Archives?

A) Fallout 3
B) The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
C) Red Dead Redemption
D) Grand Theft Auto V

31. Since when has an engraving of the signing scene been featured on the reverse side of the United States two-dollar bill?

A) 1976
B) 2000
C) 1863
D) 1945

32. What was Mary Katherine Goddard's role related to the Maryland Journal?

A) Writer
B) Owner
C) Editor
D) Publisher

33. Which colony's delegation was split between a yes and no vote on independence?

A) Delaware
B) Maryland
C) Massachusetts
D) Virginia

34. On what date did the New York Provincial Congress evacuate New York?

A) June 21
B) June 30
C) June 28
D) July 10

35. Which resolution did Congress approve on July 2, 1776?

A) May 15 preamble
B) Treaty of Paris
C) Resolution for independence
D) Articles of Confederation

36. Which revolution's leaders admired the United States Declaration of Independence?

A) The Haitian Revolution.
B) The Venezuelan War of Independence.
C) The French Revolution.
D) The Russian Revolution.

37. What was one of the demands in the Black Panther Party's Ten-Point Program?

A) Abolition of income tax
B) Universal healthcare
C) Freedom from compulsory military service
D) Prohibition of alcohol

38. What position did Mary Katherine Goddard hold in Baltimore?

A) Mayor
B) Judge
C) Governor
D) Postmaster

39. Which colony's Assembly retained control of the anti-independence faction in a special election focused on independence?

A) Maryland
B) Delaware
C) New York
D) Pennsylvania

40. Which band recorded a song about the Declaration of Independence on their 1970 album?

A) The Beatles
B) The Rolling Stones
C) The 5th Dimension
D) Simon & Garfunkel

41. Who broke the tie in the Delaware delegation by voting for independence?

A) Caesar Rodney
B) John Dickinson
C) George Read
D) Thomas McKean

42. What award did the 1969 musical '1776' win?

A) Grammy Award
B) Emmy Award
C) Tony Award
D) Academy Award

43. Who wrote out John Brown's Declaration of Liberty?

A) Owen Brown, who often served as his father's amanuensis
B) John Brown himself
C) A member of the Select Senate Committee
D) Frederick Douglass, a close associate

44. Where was the engrossed copy of the Declaration transferred to in 1952?

A) Fort Knox
B) State Department
C) Library of Congress
D) The National Archives

45. Which group sought to promote the importance of the Declaration and Jefferson as its author?

A) Jeffersonian Republicans
B) Whigs
C) Loyalists
D) Federalists

46. Who prepared key drafts for the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen?

A) George Mason.
B) Pauline Maier.
C) Thomas Jefferson.
D) Lafayette.

47. Who was tasked by the Continental Congress with printing the signed Declaration?

A) Benjamin Franklin
B) John Adams
C) Thomas Jefferson
D) Mary Katherine Goddard

48. According to Pauline Maier, whose interpretation of the Declaration was more historically accurate?

A) James Wilson's
B) Abraham Lincoln's
C) Stephen Douglas's
D) Daniel Webster's

49. In what capacity did Mary Katherine Goddard usually sign her name?

A) "MK Goddard"
B) "M.K. Goddard"
C) "Mary K. Goddard"
D) "M.K. of Maryland"

50. In what year did the humorous exchange between John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin first appear in print?

A) 1776
B) 1804
C) 1837
D) 1787

51. What word was inserted in the final official engrossed copy of the Declaration?

A) United
B) Sovereign
C) Independent
D) Unanimous

52. In what year was the Declaration of Independence one of the first texts to be made into an ebook?

A) 1971
B) 1969
C) 2008
D) 1984

53. Which inkstand was used for the signing of both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution?

A) The Adams pen
B) The Syng inkstand
C) The Franklin inkwell
D) The Hancock quill

54. On which date did the Connecticut Assembly instruct its delegates to propose independence?

A) June 15
B) June 18
C) June 14
D) June 13

55. What did John Brown hope to establish in the Appalachian Mountains?

A) A large plantation for freed slaves
B) A quasi-country with a Provisional Constitution
C) A new state within the Union
D) A military base for abolitionists

56. What is the term 'John Hancock' used to signify in American culture?

A) A legislative act
B) A signature
C) An oath of allegiance
D) A declaration of independence

57. Which African-American writer argued that liberty was equally precious to Black and white people?

A) Lemuel Haynes
B) Frederick Douglass
C) Sojourner Truth
D) Harriet Tubman

58. On which television show was the song 'Declaration' by The 5th Dimension first performed?

A) The Ed Sullivan Show
B) American Bandstand
C) Saturday Night Live
D) The Tonight Show

59. What is the modern scholarly consensus about the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence?

A) It was approved by Congress on July 4
B) It was signed by all Thirteen Colonies
C) It is most likely inauthentic
D) It was adopted after other local declarations

60. What was the denomination of the stamp issued in 1869 featuring Trumbull's painting?

A) 5-cent
B) 10-cent
C) 50-cent
D) 24-cent

61. How many delegates' signatures are affixed to the Declaration of Independence?

A) Fifty-six
B) Four
C) Thirteen
D) Seventy-three

62. When was John Trumbull's painting first displayed in the United States Capitol Rotunda?

A) 1863
B) 1826
C) 1817
D) 1776

63. Who was responsible for changing the Annapolis Convention's stance on independence in Maryland?

A) John Adams
B) Samuel Chase
C) William Franklin
D) Thomas McKean

64. Which country's declaration of independence notably omitted 'all men are created equal'?

A) Venezuela.
B) Rhodesia.
C) Haiti.
D) Mexico.

65. How many main parts is the Declaration of Independence often discussed as consisting of?

A) Five
B) Six
C) Three
D) Four

66. In what year did Frederick Douglass deliver his speech 'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?'

A) 1848
B) 1837
C) 1865
D) 1852

67. Who delivered a speech at the Gay Pride Celebration in San Francisco in 1978?

A) Harvey Milk
B) Frank Kameny
C) Ellen DeGeneres
D) Barbara Gittings

68. Who freed his slave Prince Whipple because of revolutionary ideals?

A) William Whipple
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) John Hancock
D) George Washington

69. In which decade did interest in the Declaration of Independence experience a revival due to political parties?

A) The 1800s
B) The 1790s
C) The 1780s
D) The 1810s

70. On what date did Congress pass John Adams' preamble?

A) May 15
B) June 17
C) July 4
D) April 12

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