The Comprehensive American History Challenge: 100 Questions

Instructions: Answer each question to the best of your knowledge. The answer key is provided at the end.

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Part 1: Early America & Colonial Period (Questions 1-10)

1. What was the approximate date range of the Paleo-Indian period in North America, characterized by big-game hunters?
2. Which civilization built extensive mound structures in the Mississippi River Valley, with Cahokia being a prominent example?
3. What significant global exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technology occurred between the Americas and the Old World after 1492?
4. Name the first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in 1607.
5. What was the primary economic driver of the early Virginia Colony?
6. Which colonial region was primarily founded by Puritans seeking religious freedom and aimed to create a “city upon a hill”?
7. What system in the Southern colonies allowed landowners to acquire additional land for each laborer they brought to America?
8. Which major religious revival movement swept through the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, emphasizing emotional worship?
9. What British policy prior to the French and Indian War allowed American colonies to develop with relatively little direct interference from the Crown?
10. What was the primary cause of the French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War) in North America?

Part 2: American Revolution & Early Republic (Questions 11-25)

11. What act passed by the British Parliament in 1765 imposed a direct tax on various printed materials in the colonies?
12. Who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence?
13. What was the name of the pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1776 that advocated for American independence?
14. Which battle in October 1777 is considered a turning point in the Revolutionary War because it secured French support for the American cause?
15. What treaty formally ended the American Revolutionary War in 1783?
16. What was the first governing document of the United States, ratified in 1781, which established a weak central government?
17. Name the rebellion of Massachusetts farmers in 1786-1787 that highlighted the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
18. Who is often referred to as the “Father of the Constitution”?
19. What compromise at the Constitutional Convention resolved the issue of representation in the legislative branch by creating a bicameral legislature?
20. What is the purpose of the Bill of Rights, added to the Constitution in 1791?
21. Who was the first Secretary of the Treasury and a key figure in establishing the nation’s financial system?
22. What event in 1794, involving western Pennsylvania farmers, tested the authority of the new federal government under the Constitution?
23. Which foreign policy doctrine, declared in 1823, warned European powers against further colonization or interference in the Western Hemisphere?
24. What landmark Supreme Court case in 1803 established the principle of judicial review?
25. Who led the Corps of Discovery expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase territory?

Part 3: Expansion, Reform, and Sectionalism (Questions 26-40)

26. What forced relocation of Native American tribes, particularly the Cherokee, occurred in the 1830s and is known as the “Trail of Tears”?
27. What was the belief prevalent in the 19th century that it was America’s divinely ordained right to expand westward to the Pacific Ocean?
28. Which invention by Eli Whitney in 1793 dramatically increased the profitability of cotton and reinforced the institution of slavery in the South?
29. Name the movement of the early to mid-19th century that sought to abolish slavery.
30. Who was a prominent abolitionist and former enslaved person who published the newspaper “The North Star”?
31. What convention in 1848, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, marked the beginning of the organized women’s rights movement in the U.S.?
32. What war, fought from 1846-1848, resulted in the U.S. acquiring vast territories, including California and New Mexico?
33. What legislative package in 1850 attempted to address the growing sectional tensions over slavery, including the Fugitive Slave Act?
34. What 1857 Supreme Court decision ruled that African Americans, enslaved or free, were not citizens and had no standing to sue in federal court?
35. What book by Harriet Beecher Stowe, published in 1852, vividly portrayed the horrors of slavery and fueled abolitionist sentiment?
36. Who was the Republican candidate elected President in 1860, leading to the secession of Southern states?
37. What was the name of the system of safe houses and routes used by enslaved people to escape to freedom in the North?
38. What compromise in 1820 admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, and prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Purchase territory north of 36°30′ parallel?
39. What was the name of the political party formed in the 1850s with the primary goal of opposing the expansion of slavery into new territories?
40. Who famously said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” referring to the nation’s struggle with slavery?

Part 4: Civil War & Reconstruction (Questions 41-50)

41. What event on April 12, 1861, is generally considered the start of the Civil War?
42. Who was the commanding general of the Confederate Army?
43. What presidential decree, issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, declared enslaved people in Confederate states to be free?
44. Which major battle in July 1863, fought in Pennsylvania, was a significant Union victory and a turning point in the Civil War?
45. Who was the Union general who led the “March to the Sea” through Georgia, employing total war tactics?
46. What amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1865, officially abolished slavery?
47. What post-Civil War period (1865-1877) focused on rebuilding the South and integrating freed slaves into society?
48. What amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves, and guaranteed equal protection of the laws?
49. What amendment granted African American men the right to vote?
50. What system, common in the South after the Civil War, allowed former slaves to rent land for a share of their crops, often leading to continued debt?

Part 5: Industrialization & Gilded Age (Questions 51-60)

51. What industry was primarily responsible for the rise of powerful industrialists like Andrew Carnegie?
52. Who was a prominent financier and banker who consolidated numerous industries, including steel, into massive trusts?
53. What term, coined by Mark Twain, describes the late 19th century as a period of rapid economic growth but also significant social problems and corruption?
54. What act, passed in 1887, attempted to regulate the railroad industry to prevent monopolies and unfair practices?
55. What 1890 act was designed to break up monopolies and trusts, though initially it was often used against labor unions?
56. What tragic event in 1911, where many garment workers died in a factory fire, spurred significant reforms in workplace safety?
57. What immigration processing center in New York Harbor served as the primary entry point for millions of immigrants from 1892 to 1954?
58. What was the movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that advocated for improvements in society, often through government regulation and social programs?
59. Who was a leading figure in the women’s suffrage movement, co-founding the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)?
60. What Supreme Court case in 1896 established the “separate but equal” doctrine, legalizing racial segregation?

Part 6: Progressive Era & WWI (Questions 61-70)

61. Which President was known as a “trust-buster” and promoted the “Square Deal” policies?
62. What amendment established a federal income tax?
63. What amendment provided for the direct election of U.S. Senators by the people?
64. What type of journalist in the Progressive Era exposed corruption and social problems, often in sensationalized ways?
65. What major global conflict did the United States enter in 1917?
66. What amendment granted women the right to vote nationwide?
67. What was President Woodrow Wilson’s plan for post-WWI peace and international cooperation, including the League of Nations?
68. What act passed in 1917 made it illegal to criticize the government or interfere with the war effort during WWI?
69. What was the large-scale movement of African Americans from the rural South to industrial cities in the North and West during the early 20th century?
70. What international body, though proposed by Woodrow Wilson, the U.S. ultimately did not join after WWI?

Part 7: Roaring Twenties & Great Depression (Questions 71-80)

71. What cultural movement of the 1920s celebrated African American art, music, literature, and culture, centered in New York City?
72. What amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages (Prohibition)?
73. What event on October 29, 1929, signaled the beginning of the Great Depression?
74. What were the shantytowns built by homeless people during the Great Depression often sarcastically called?
75. What was President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s comprehensive series of programs and reforms designed to combat the Great Depression?
76. What New Deal program created a national system of old-age insurance, unemployment insurance, and aid to families with dependent children?
77. What natural disaster, combined with poor farming practices, caused widespread dust storms and agricultural devastation in the Great Plains during the 1930s?
78. What group of WWI veterans marched on Washington D.C. in 1932 to demand early payment of bonuses, leading to a controversial confrontation?
79. What New Deal agency employed young men on conservation projects, such as building roads and planting trees?
80. What infamous crime in 1932 involved the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr., reflecting the societal anxieties of the era?

Part 8: WWII & Early Cold War (Questions 81-90)

81. What event on December 7, 1941, led to the United States’ entry into World War II?
82. What was the name of the secret U.S. project during WWII to develop the atomic bomb?
83. Who was the Supreme Allied Commander of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France?
84. What international organization was founded in 1945 to promote international cooperation and prevent future wars?
85. What U.S. foreign policy strategy, articulated by George F. Kennan, aimed to prevent the spread of communism during the Cold War?
86. What program provided billions of dollars in aid to help rebuild Western European economies after WWII, aiming to prevent the spread of communism?
87. What military alliance was formed in 1949 by the U.S., Canada, and Western European nations to provide collective security against Soviet aggression?
88. What conflict, lasting from 1950 to 1953, was fought to prevent the spread of communism on the Korean Peninsula?
89. What fear of communist infiltration and subversion gripped the U.S. in the late 1940s and early 1950s, largely fueled by Senator Joseph McCarthy?
90. What landmark Supreme Court case in 1954 declared state-sponsored segregation in public schools unconstitutional?

Part 9: Civil Rights, Vietnam, and Late 20th Century (Questions 91-95)

91. What protest in Montgomery, Alabama, lasting over a year, was sparked by Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a bus?
92. Who delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington in 1963?
93. What act, passed in 1964, outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin?
94. What amendment to the Constitution lowered the voting age to 18?
95. What controversial war did the U.S. extensively participate in during the 1960s and early 1970s, leading to widespread domestic protest?

Part 10: Contemporary America (Questions 96-100)

96. What significant technological revolution began in the late 20th century, characterized by the widespread use of computers and the internet?
97. What major terrorist attacks occurred on September 11, 2001, targeting the World Trade Center and the Pentagon?
98. What economic crisis, beginning in 2008, led to widespread foreclosures, bank failures, and government bailouts?
99. Who was the first African American President of the United States, elected in 2008?
100. What significant piece of healthcare legislation was signed into law in 2010, aiming to expand health insurance coverage?

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Answer Key

Part 1: Early America & Colonial Period

1. 10,000 BCE – 8,000 BCE (or similar, approximately 10,000 to 8,000 years ago)
2. Mississippian Culture
3. Columbian Exchange
4. Jamestown
5. Tobacco
6. New England (or Massachusetts Bay Colony)
7. Headright System
8. The Great Awakening
9. Salutary Neglect
10. Competing territorial claims and control over the fur trade in the Ohio River Valley.

Part 2: American Revolution & Early Republic

11. Stamp Act
12. Thomas Jefferson
13. Common Sense
14. Battle of Saratoga
15. Treaty of Paris (1783)
16. Articles of Confederation
17. Shays’ Rebellion
18. James Madison
19. The Great Compromise (or Connecticut Compromise)
20. To protect individual liberties and limit government power.
21. Alexander Hamilton
22. Whiskey Rebellion
23. Monroe Doctrine
24. Marbury v. Madison
25. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (Lewis and Clark Expedition)

Part 3: Expansion, Reform, and Sectionalism

26. Trail of Tears
27. Manifest Destiny
28. Cotton Gin
29. Abolitionist Movement
30. Frederick Douglass
31. Seneca Falls Convention
32. Mexican-American War
33. Compromise of 1850
34. Dred Scott v. Sandford
35. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
36. Abraham Lincoln
37. Underground Railroad
38. Missouri Compromise
39. Republican Party
40. Abraham Lincoln

Part 4: Civil War & Reconstruction

41. Attack on Fort Sumter
42. Robert E. Lee
43. Emancipation Proclamation
44. Battle of Gettysburg
45. William Tecumseh Sherman
46. 13th Amendment
47. Reconstruction
48. 14th Amendment
49. 15th Amendment
50. Sharecropping

Part 5: Industrialization & Gilded Age

51. Steel (or Railroads/Oil for other industrialists like Rockefeller, Vanderbilt)
52. J.P. Morgan
53. Gilded Age
54. Interstate Commerce Act
55. Sherman Antitrust Act
56. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
57. Ellis Island
58. Progressive Movement (or Progressivism)
59. Susan B. Anthony (or Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul)
60. Plessy v. Ferguson

Part 6: Progressive Era & WWI

61. Theodore Roosevelt
62. 16th Amendment
63. 17th Amendment
64. Muckraker
65. World War I
66. 19th Amendment
67. Fourteen Points
68. Espionage Act (or Sedition Act)
69. The Great Migration
70. League of Nations

Part 7: Roaring Twenties & Great Depression

71. Harlem Renaissance
72. 18th Amendment
73. Black Tuesday (Stock Market Crash)
74. Hoovervilles
75. New Deal
76. Social Security Act
77. Dust Bowl
78. Bonus Army
79. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
80. Lindbergh Kidnapping

Part 8: WWII & Early Cold War

81. Attack on Pearl Harbor
82. Manhattan Project
83. Dwight D. Eisenhower
84. United Nations
85. Containment
86. Marshall Plan (or European Recovery Program)
87. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
88. Korean War
89. McCarthyism (or Second Red Scare)
90. Brown v. Board of Education

Part 9: Civil Rights, Vietnam, and Late 20th Century

91. Montgomery Bus Boycott
92. Martin Luther King Jr.
93. Civil Rights Act of 1964
94. 26th Amendment
95. Vietnam War

Part 10: Contemporary America

96. Information Age (or Digital Revolution, Internet Revolution)
97. September 11th Attacks (or 9/11)
98. Great Recession
99. Barack Obama
100. Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare

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Sources