- 1. When was the United States Declaration of Independence adopted?
A) August 15, 1776
B) July 4, 1776
C) September 2, 1776
D) June 1, 1776
- 2. Who was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence?
A) George Washington
B) John Adams
C) Benjamin Franklin
D) Thomas Jefferson
- 3. How many people signed the Declaration of Independence?
A) 23
B) 75
C) 56
D) 39
- 4. Who was the President of the Continental Congress when the Declaration of Independence was adopted?
A) John Hancock
B) Benjamin Franklin
C) George Washington
D) Thomas Jefferson
- 5. Which country provided diplomatic support to the American colonies during the Revolutionary War?
A) France
B) Spain
C) Russia
D) Germany
- 6. What is the opening phrase of the Declaration of Independence?
A) Four score and seven years ago
B) When in the Course of human events
C) In the beginning
D) We the People of the United States
- 7. Which British philosopher's ideas influenced the Declaration of Independence?
A) Adam Smith
B) Karl Marx
C) Thomas Hobbes
D) John Locke
- 8. Who was the king of Great Britain when the Declaration of Independence was adopted?
A) George II
B) James II
C) George III
D) William III
- 9. Who was the oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence?
A) Samuel Adams
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) Benjamin Franklin
D) John Adams
- 10. What was the original title of the Declaration of Independence?
A) A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled
B) The Freedom Document
C) The Liberty Manifesto
D) The Independence Proclamation
- 11. Which state was the last to formally approve the Declaration of Independence?
A) New York
B) New Jersey
C) Connecticut
D) Delaware
- 12. In what city was the Declaration of Independence signed?
A) Charleston
B) Philadelphia
C) Boston
D) New York City
- 13. Which country was a major obstacle to American independence during the Revolutionary War?
A) Spain
B) France
C) Germany
D) Great Britain
- 14. Who famously wrote 'Give me liberty or give me death,' but did not sign the Declaration of Independence?
A) Thomas Paine
B) Patrick Henry
C) George Washington
D) Samuel Adams
- 15. What was the purpose of the Lee Resolution passed by Congress two days before adopting the Declaration?
A) Declared war on Great Britain
B) Resolved that British no longer had governing authority over the Thirteen Colonies
C) Established a new currency for the colonies
D) Formalized trade agreements with France
- 16. Who was responsible for engrossing the official copy of the Declaration?
A) Benjamin Franklin
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) John Adams
D) Timothy Matlack
- 17. Which U.S. President considered the Declaration a moral standard and used it in his Gettysburg Address?
A) Thomas Jefferson
B) Abraham Lincoln
C) George Washington
D) James Madison
- 18. What is one of the most famous lines from the Declaration of Independence?
A) "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."
B) "I have a dream..."
C) "Give me liberty or give me death!"
D) "Ask not what your country can do for you..."
- 19. What did the Declaration of Independence cite as reasons for independence?
A) Desire to establish a monarchy in America
B) Need for more land expansion
C) Economic benefits from trade with France
D) 27 colonial grievances against the king and asserting certain natural and legal rights
- 20. Which act was enacted by Parliament in 1765 to increase revenue from the colonies?
A) The Intolerable Acts
B) The Stamp Act
C) The Tea Act
D) The Quartering Act
- 21. What event involved colonists protesting against British taxes by destroying an entire shipment of tea?
A) The Boston Massacre
B) The Intolerable Acts
C) The Stamp Act Congress
D) The Boston Tea Party
- 22. Which year marked the beginning of deteriorating relations between the colonies and Great Britain?
A) 1763
B) 1775
C) 1783
D) 1754
- 23. Which series of acts were enacted by Parliament in 1767 to increase revenue from the colonies?
A) The Declaratory Act
B) The Coercive Acts
C) The Townshend Acts
D) The Sugar Act
- 24. In what year did the First Continental Congress convene?
A) 1773
B) 1775
C) 1774
D) 1776
- 25. What was the Prohibitory Act's impact on American ports?
A) Established a blockade
B) Increased imports
C) Reduced taxes
D) Opened trade routes
- 26. What did Thomas Paine link independence with in 'Common Sense'?
A) Monarchical traditions
B) Protestant beliefs
C) Catholic doctrines
D) Secular humanism
- 27. What did the Prohibitory Act declare American ships to be?
A) Enemy vessels
B) Trade allies
C) Protected cargo carriers
D) Neutral ships
- 28. Which colony was the first to explicitly authorize its delegates to vote for independence?
A) Virginia
B) North Carolina
C) Pennsylvania
D) Massachusetts
- 29. How many Dunlap broadsides are known to survive?
A) 50
B) 10
C) 26
D) 200
- 30. What video game involves acquiring the Declaration of Independence from the National Archives?
A) Red Dead Redemption
B) Fallout 3
C) The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
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) 1945
C) 2000
D) 1863
- 32. What was Mary Katherine Goddard's role related to the Maryland Journal?
A) Publisher
B) Editor
C) Owner
D) Writer
- 33. Which colony's delegation was split between a yes and no vote on independence?
A) Delaware
B) Massachusetts
C) Maryland
D) Virginia
- 34. On what date did the New York Provincial Congress evacuate New York?
A) June 28
B) July 10
C) June 21
D) June 30
- 35. Which resolution did Congress approve on July 2, 1776?
A) Treaty of Paris
B) May 15 preamble
C) Resolution for independence
D) Articles of Confederation
- 36. Which revolution's leaders admired the United States Declaration of Independence?
A) The Venezuelan War of Independence.
B) The French Revolution.
C) The Russian Revolution.
D) The Haitian Revolution.
- 37. What was one of the demands in the Black Panther Party's Ten-Point Program?
A) Universal healthcare
B) Freedom from compulsory military service
C) Abolition of income tax
D) Prohibition of alcohol
- 38. What position did Mary Katherine Goddard hold in Baltimore?
A) Postmaster
B) Governor
C) Judge
D) Mayor
- 39. Which colony's Assembly retained control of the anti-independence faction in a special election focused on independence?
A) Pennsylvania
B) New York
C) Delaware
D) Maryland
- 40. Which band recorded a song about the Declaration of Independence on their 1970 album?
A) Simon & Garfunkel
B) The Beatles
C) The Rolling Stones
D) The 5th Dimension
- 41. Who broke the tie in the Delaware delegation by voting for independence?
A) George Read
B) John Dickinson
C) Caesar Rodney
D) Thomas McKean
- 42. What award did the 1969 musical '1776' win?
A) Tony Award
B) Grammy Award
C) Emmy Award
D) Academy Award
- 43. Who wrote out John Brown's Declaration of Liberty?
A) Frederick Douglass, a close associate
B) Owen Brown, who often served as his father's amanuensis
C) John Brown himself
D) A member of the Select Senate Committee
- 44. Where was the engrossed copy of the Declaration transferred to in 1952?
A) Library of Congress
B) Fort Knox
C) The National Archives
D) State Department
- 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) Thomas Jefferson
B) John Adams
C) Mary Katherine Goddard
D) Benjamin Franklin
- 48. According to Pauline Maier, whose interpretation of the Declaration was more historically accurate?
A) Daniel Webster's
B) Stephen Douglas's
C) Abraham Lincoln's
D) James Wilson's
- 49. In what capacity did Mary Katherine Goddard usually sign her name?
A) "Mary K. Goddard"
B) "M.K. Goddard"
C) "M.K. of Maryland"
D) "MK Goddard"
- 50. In what year did the humorous exchange between John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin first appear in print?
A) 1837
B) 1804
C) 1776
D) 1787
- 51. What word was inserted in the final official engrossed copy of the Declaration?
A) United
B) Independent
C) Unanimous
D) Sovereign
- 52. In what year was the Declaration of Independence one of the first texts to be made into an ebook?
A) 1971
B) 2008
C) 1984
D) 1969
- 53. Which inkstand was used for the signing of both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution?
A) The Syng inkstand
B) The Hancock quill
C) The Franklin inkwell
D) The Adams pen
- 54. On which date did the Connecticut Assembly instruct its delegates to propose independence?
A) June 13
B) June 18
C) June 14
D) June 15
- 55. What did John Brown hope to establish in the Appalachian Mountains?
A) A military base for abolitionists
B) A large plantation for freed slaves
C) A quasi-country with a Provisional Constitution
D) A new state within the Union
- 56. What is the term 'John Hancock' used to signify in American culture?
A) A declaration of independence
B) A signature
C) A legislative act
D) An oath of allegiance
- 57. Which African-American writer argued that liberty was equally precious to Black and white people?
A) Frederick Douglass
B) Harriet Tubman
C) Lemuel Haynes
D) Sojourner Truth
- 58. On which television show was the song 'Declaration' by The 5th Dimension first performed?
A) Saturday Night Live
B) The Tonight Show
C) American Bandstand
D) The Ed Sullivan 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 is most likely inauthentic
C) It was signed by all Thirteen Colonies
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) 24-cent
C) 50-cent
D) 10-cent
- 61. How many delegates' signatures are affixed to the Declaration of Independence?
A) Four
B) Thirteen
C) Fifty-six
D) Seventy-three
- 62. When was John Trumbull's painting first displayed in the United States Capitol Rotunda?
A) 1817
B) 1863
C) 1826
D) 1776
- 63. Who was responsible for changing the Annapolis Convention's stance on independence in Maryland?
A) John Adams
B) Thomas McKean
C) Samuel Chase
D) William Franklin
- 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) Six
B) Three
C) Four
D) Five
- 66. In what year did Frederick Douglass deliver his speech 'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?'
A) 1848
B) 1837
C) 1852
D) 1865
- 67. Who delivered a speech at the Gay Pride Celebration in San Francisco in 1978?
A) Barbara Gittings
B) Harvey Milk
C) Ellen DeGeneres
D) Frank Kameny
- 68. Who freed his slave Prince Whipple because of revolutionary ideals?
A) William Whipple
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) George Washington
D) John Hancock
- 69. In which decade did interest in the Declaration of Independence experience a revival due to political parties?
A) The 1810s
B) The 1800s
C) The 1790s
D) The 1780s
- 70. On what date did Congress pass John Adams' preamble?
A) April 12
B) June 17
C) July 4
D) May 15
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