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The American Revolution

Can you answer these questions about the American Revolution?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: December 5, 2019
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First submittedSeptember 4, 2012
Times taken47,288
Average score60.0%
Rating4.47
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Question
Answer
Who wrote the "Declaration of Independence"?
Thomas Jefferson
And who was the first person to sign it?
John Hancock
Who was the King of Great Britain at the time?
King George III
Where were the first battles fought?
Lexington and Concord
What kind of "party" was held in Boston Harbor?
Tea
In what city did the Continental Congress meet?
Philadelphia
Whose "midnight ride" warned that the British were coming?
Paul Revere
In what 1770 incident did Crispus Attucks die?
Boston Massacre
What series of battles were considered the turning point of the war?
Battles of Saratoga
Where did the Continental Army spend a damp and miserable winter in 1777–78?
Valley Forge
What were the British soldiers called? (based on the the color of their uniform)
Redcoats
Who were the German mercenaries hired by the British?
Hessians
Who led the Continental Army?
George Washington
Who said "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
Patrick Henry
What battle brought us the phrase "don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes"?
Battle of Bunker Hill
Which American general defected to the British?
Benedict Arnold
In what city did Cornwallis surrender?
Yorktown
Who traveled to France to negotiate an alliance?
Ben Franklin
Who wrote the pamphlet "Common Sense"?
Thomas Paine
What American naval hero said "I have not yet begun to fight!"
John Paul Jones
+6
Level 34
Dec 18, 2012
19/20 missed John Paul Jones, kicking myself now though!
+3
Level 33
Jul 4, 2013
I didn't even learn about him till now.
+21
Level 89
Jul 2, 2016
I thought he was great in Led Zeppelin.
+3
Level 33
Jul 4, 2013
Every time it asked for a name I would automatically type John-then remember the real name. This is an awesome quiz to remember everything forgotten since 6th grade.
+2
Level 63
Jul 6, 2013
Maybe accept "Boston Tea Party" as an answer? I typed it that way and it didn'T work, was like what???
+2
Level 20
Dec 2, 2013
18/20....:( I had typed Benedict Arnold at the last second,but it didn't count it..... Should have been 19/20....
+2
Level 35
Jul 6, 2016
It kept bouncing my "Benedict Arnold" answer too! I tried different spellings, and finally erased the first name for just Arnold--which it bounced until the end when I went back and tried just "Arnold" again. That time it accepted it. Something about the word "Benedict" makes the program spazz (sorry I am not techy).
+2
Level 85
Dec 11, 2013
100% with 1:35 left would have been much faster but got stuck on B. Arnold
+3
Level 67
Jan 16, 2014
100% with 2:27 left…thanks to movies like 1776 and, of course, School House Rock.
+3
Level 35
May 28, 2014
I thought it was John Bonham... damn
+3
Level 35
Jul 6, 2016
John Bonham was the drummer--big powerful guy.. John Paul Jones was the bass guitarist and keyboard player with the blonde pageboy hairstyle.
+4
Level 77
Jul 9, 2014
British soldiers were also called lobster backs, that should be added as an acceptable answer.
+3
Level 47
Jul 5, 2020
Yeah, I tried "lobsterback" before "redcoat," too! I think it might be good to add it as a type-in, since the term also has to do with the color of the uniform.
+2
Level 82
Jul 6, 2020
Yep. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/lobsterback
+3
Level 65
Nov 22, 2021
Actually, most people erroneously assume it was from the American Revolution, but anyone who has actually studied it knows that the term “lobsterback” only came into being after the war. There are no records of it from the time period, only in contemporary sources. The term did exist, but long after the war. Similar insults from the American Revolution are “lobsters” and “bloodybacks,” which are historically documented, so it makes sense why the confusion came about.
+3
Level 67
Sep 4, 2014
you need to accept hessian
+15
Level ∞
Nov 10, 2015
It's my site, I can do whatever I want! But Hessian will work now.
+2
Level 65
Jul 31, 2015
It's funny how old people say "I was taught to respect authority!" despite the fact that America was founded by rebels.
+5
Level 82
Jul 2, 2016
I don't think any of those old people were around during the revolution.
+4
Level 75
Jul 2, 2016
Some people might think so. I was telling my granddaughters a story about a Civil War skirmish that happened in our area and the younger one asked, "Did that happen when you were a girl, Grandma?" Any history which occurred before we were born all seems to pancake together into one era.
+7
Level 82
Jul 3, 2016
Funniest misconception about age I've come across in young people was probably when my 1st grade students in Virginia saw how tall I was (about 2 meters), and under the assumption that growing older = growing bigger, guessed my age at over 100.
+6
Level 84
Apr 2, 2017
Inverting that misconception, when I was about 4, I apparently asked my mother, who was 5'0", what she wanted to be when she grew up.
+2
Level 71
Mar 4, 2021
Funny conversations about "old" people aside, I don't think it's really accurate to say America was founded by rebels. My APUSH teacher always talked about how the American Revolution was relatively "conservative," in that the fight was about gaining independence as opposed to ideology. Plus, all of America's leaders during the Revolution were already rich, educated, and part of the elite. Compare that to the French Revolution, which was very idealistic, anti-authoritarian (although ironically, the government they ended up making was perhaps more authoritarian than the monarchy), and, of course, violent.
+2
Level 71
Jan 15, 2016
Was Yorktown a city?
+5
Level 82
Jul 2, 2016
still is
+3
Level 57
May 2, 2016
Could you please accept lobsterbacks for redcoats?
+2
Level 75
Jul 2, 2016
There is some controversy as to when that term first became popular. The term Lobster was used in the English Civil War and for British marines, and also saw limited use in the Am. Revolution in the Boston area, but there is not much evidence that lobsterback was used until after the War of 1812, and even then it may have first appeared in literature. http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2007/11/british-soldiers-werent-called.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_coat_(British_Army_and_Royal_Marines)

+7
Level 49
Jun 27, 2016
"I've been reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine"... somebody tell me I'm not the only one...
+4
Level 88
Jul 15, 2019
You are far from the only Hamilton fan, if that's what you're implying.
+7
Level 76
Jul 4, 2020
Some men say that I'm intense, or I'm insane; You want a revolution, I want a revelation; so listen to my declaration: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; and when I meet Thomas Jefferson, I'mma compel him to include women in the sequel
+1
Level 60
Jul 4, 2023
"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

We fought for these ideals; we shouldn't settle for less

These are wise words, enterprising men quote 'em

Don’t act surprised, you guys, cuz I wrote 'em"

"Essentially, they tax us relentlessly,

then King George turns around, runs a spending spree"

"Those redcoats don’t want it with me"

"I’m takin this horse by the reins makin’

redcoats redder with bloodstains. "

"Here comes the general!

George Washington!"

"We negotiate the terms of surrender.

I see George Washington smile.

We escort their men out of Yorktown.

They stagger home single file."

Bonus points:

"Valley Forge, winter 1778

...

I am seeing the best minds of my generation

Waste away in pestilence and starvation

Is this all a test or have we met our doom?

Have we set a camp of parameters for our tomb?"

+1
Level 47
Jul 2, 2016
Only got seven. Learned all of that trivia at some point, but between being terrible with remembering people's names and having no practical use for the information, most of it quickly atrophies.
+2
Level 75
Jul 2, 2016
I find as I get older that I suddenly remember many of the things I learned when young, but quickly forget the things I learned yesterday. Unfortunately many of the things I learned when young have now changed - countries, capitals, we lose a planet, we gain an ocean, etc. Anyway, I was happy with a score of 17.
+6
Level 69
Sep 2, 2016
Trivia is stuff like Nicki Minaj's first #1 hit or who starred as Joey in "Friends". This stuff is history!
+1
Level 77
Jul 2, 2016
14. Should've gotten 2 more. All thanks to reading Outlander, without that I'd known maybe 7 at most.
+1
Level 49
Jul 2, 2016
32 years of teaching US History finally pays off!
+3
Level 63
Jul 2, 2016
A few mistakes that should probably be cleaned up:

Ben Franklin was not the only American sent to Paris to get a deal, as key Founding Father John Adams was sent as well.

While Thomas Jefferson authored the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, it was edited by the committee he worked on to write it (which included both Franklin and Adams), before being edited again and accepted by the full body of the Continental Congress.

+1
Level 37
Jul 17, 2017
True. Among the things the "Body" edited out was his reference to slavery being an abomination. The fact that male slaves were only

considered a percentage of a whole man was to justify the deviation from the proposition that "All men are created equal"

+2
Level 66
Aug 21, 2018
By "male slaves were only considered a percentage of a whole man," are you referring to the Three Fifths Compromise? If so, A) that's the Constitution, not the Declaration of Independence, and B) that's not what it means. It was referring solely to counting population for the purposes of determining the number of representatives (and by extension electoral votes) each state got, and had nothing at all to do with how much of a person they were. It was the slave states that wanted to fully count the slaves (so that they would get more power in government) and the free states that didn't want to count them at all.
+1
Level 82
Jul 8, 2018
I typed Adams first, but when that wasn't accepted I thought about it for a second and arrived at the obvious answer.
+1
Level 87
Jul 3, 2016
20/20. Super easy, probably because I am an American and a history nerd (to an extent).
+1
Level 21
Jan 20, 2017
i wrote Boston Tea Party and i did not work.Can you except it??
+1
Level 28
Apr 28, 2017
Nice Quiz, but is the Boston Massacre really an "engagement"? It was just soldiers shooting into a crowd. Granted, there was basically a riot going on, but still...
+1
Level 63
Mar 12, 2019
Yes! Got them all with 2:15 remaining at 7:39:19 PM on March 12, 2019. I recently visited Valley Forge, and I have lived in the United States my whole life, so I took this quiz with pride.
+1
Level 71
May 7, 2019
Just a tiny nitpick, but Cornwallis wasn't the one to deliver the official surrender at Yorktown, it was actually his Lt. General Charles O'Hara. Cornwallis himself wasn't even present at the surrender ceremony.
+1
Level 79
Mar 2, 2020
8/20, don't know much about the American War of Independence.
+1
Level 72
Mar 22, 2020
Gosh, 7/20 shocked by my ignorance.
+2
Level 71
May 2, 2020
Paul Revere got the glory ........ William Dawes really did it.here it is
+2
Level 47
Jul 4, 2020
Hey man, you guys could have also ended up 1/8 French with a free public healthcare system.
+1
Level 57
Jul 5, 2020
On the authorship of the Declaration: Jefferson drew heavily (make that HEAVILY) on the Virginia declaration of rights, whose principal author was George Mason.
+1
Level 64
Jul 6, 2020
Bunch of traitors
+1
Level 68
Jul 6, 2020
7/20. It's not really taught in UK schools. I don't know if it's because it is "embarrassing" to us (that we lost or whatever) or that we just don't care.
+1
Level 28
Jul 6, 2020
likely the latter
+1
Level 62
Jul 6, 2020
Yep, likely the latter. Canadian history you don't learn about it for the most part simply because it didn't involve Canada very much.

Although sometimes, I wish we did learn about it. Canada's history isn't the most exciting thing in the world.

+2
Level 64
Jul 7, 2020
I almost typed "Cumberbatch."
+1
Level 68
Nov 19, 2020
You should except John Adams for the one about France. He went to France too.
+1
Level 46
Apr 15, 2021
franklin went first though
+1
Level 17
Jan 15, 2021
Really surprised so many people missed Saratoga!
+2
Level 52
Mar 6, 2021
Please accept "lobster backs" as a replacement for "redcoats"
+2
Level 52
Mar 30, 2021
The fact is that the Boston Massacre was also referred to as the "Incident on King Street" by some. Please accept that as an answer.
+1
Level 46
Apr 15, 2021
easy 20/20. very fun quiz
+2
Level 65
Sep 15, 2021
Hello to everyone asking that “lobsterbacks” be an accepted answer! Of course, it is up to the QM, but I wanted to point out the historical fact that the term “lobsterback” is not historically accurate, despite being in a lot of American War of Independence media. The term was indeed used after the war, mostly in the following century. There is no evidence of the soldiers ever being referred to as “lobsterbacks” during the time. Insults used were “lobsters” and “bloodybacks”, hence the confusion.

TL;DR: “Lobsterback” isn’t historically accurate. The media is a historical vandal.

+1
Level 70
Jul 4, 2023
John Paul Jones was a Scotsman. Born and lived there for 13 years before starting his marine career.

He worked on UK slave ships until he was around 29 when he fled to Virginia after killing a mutinous crew member and became an American at that point.

Given he died aged 45, I'd say he was much more Brit than American, though granted he was technically an American when he said those words.

+2
Level 80
Jul 4, 2023
I think the implication is that he is a naval hero to Americans. At the time anyway, almost every “American” could be considered more “British” as they were British citizens prior to US independence.
+4
Level 24
Jul 4, 2023
Might have ended up like Canada?
+2
Level 48
Jul 4, 2023
Yeah, not sure what the angle on this is.
+1
Level 68
Nov 21, 2023
Yeah, I don't know where the author is going with this but I'm guessing I don't like it. Canada is JUST FINE thank you.
+2
Level 44
Jul 5, 2023
Don't say "we," Not everyone playing is from the US.

"Might have ended up like Canada?" Are you implying there is something wrong with Canada because they are sharing a head of state with the UK. There are many people who consider Canada better than the US

+1
Level 67
Jul 5, 2023
19/20, just missed Jones
+1
Level 50
Jul 31, 2023
Only 14/20. I was extremely surprised when I instantly thought of Thomas Paine for "Common Sense" despite not having thought of him for at least 10 years. It's weird what the brain randomly remembers.
+1
Level 64
Feb 7, 2024
Patrick Henry said "Give me liberty, or give me death!", but he also spoke at length in favour of slavery (Virginia convention, 4 June 1788).

He may or may not have exclaimed "They'll free your [N-word]s!" as an argument against signing the Constitution (George Morgan, The True Patrick Henry); even if he didn't use those exact words, he definitely expressed the sentiment.

Well, he did say "give me liberty", not "and give other people liberty too".