Let's write a BASIC 4th of July history quiz!
After watching the uneducated fools show that they didn't know why the 4th of July is celebrated, I'm temped to write the most basic of U.S. Revolutionary History quizzes and offer $5 if you're under the age of 25 and can answer all the questions correctly.
Sounds like a quick way to go broke, really, but it would sure be fun. A GREAT place to do this would be at the fireworks displays tonight [assuming it doesn't rain].
OK, I'll spend $30 just for the entertainment value if you folks help me write the questions.
Send them to me! - and the answers, too, as a double check on my memory - and see if we can come up with 5 - 7 good questions with solid factual answers.
"Why do we celebrate the 4th of July?" is out - it's already been proposed in the video.
I can't video it, but I will hold on to the quizzes so I can tell you the best answers - or the worst..
Sounds like a quick way to go broke, really, but it would sure be fun. A GREAT place to do this would be at the fireworks displays tonight [assuming it doesn't rain].
OK, I'll spend $30 just for the entertainment value if you folks help me write the questions.
Send them to me! - and the answers, too, as a double check on my memory - and see if we can come up with 5 - 7 good questions with solid factual answers.
"Why do we celebrate the 4th of July?" is out - it's already been proposed in the video.
I can't video it, but I will hold on to the quizzes so I can tell you the best answers - or the worst..
(If you don't know the answer to that one...)
Now, I want my $$ back and double that just because that would be fair. Wouldn't it?
OK, had enough time?
It wasn't the pursuit of happiness, it was "Property."
What was the maximum income tax rate back then?
Sales tax was charged on what items?
Who charged these taxes?
The Revolutionary War
The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th of what year?
1776
Thanks for playing!
Super-basic:
1) Which country did we declare our independence from?
2) Did Washington, DC exist in 1776?
3) Who was Washington, DC named after?
4) Name at least one author of the Declaration of Independence.
5) Which language was the Declaration of Independence written in?
6) Is there an app for that?
I was embarrassed for this country when Jessy Watters (Watter's World) asked people some questions about our heritage. For the most part they were college people. Is it apparent to anyone else that these people must have skipped grade school yet alone attend college? How did they make it into college with their lack of knowing even the basics of our country? Do our grade "skools" not teach any of it anymore? What's the danger of not knowing about our past? Think where we might be today had we not been taught at least the basics..
I like #6 - truly relevant to many of today's government-educated people.
I'm gonna guess COBOL.
analyses of my hypothesized tree farm and its
harvests, over time. I loved the printer which could
print an entire line of really wide paper (17"?)
in one strike, and then hit the next line, and then
the next. wow!!! -- j
p.s. got my first degree with a pickett slide rule.
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/doc...
1. At the end of the Declaration of Independence, what did the signers pledge?
"We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
2. What rights are declared as inalienable in the Declaration?
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
3. Did the Declaration of Independence include a section on immigration and naturalization?
He (the King of Britain) has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
4. Did the nation's founders have to deal with a standing army within its borders during peacetime? (like we saw recently with the UN armored vehicles)
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
and "for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us"
5. Whose signature was the largest?
John Hancock (who was a Ragnar of his time)
A fun alternative to this quiz is contained on quite a few web sites such as:
http://www.fourthofjulytrivia.com/
One of my favorite 4th of July questions is
Which two presidents who died on the same 4th of July, and in which year?
7/4/1826
John Adams' last words were "Thomas Jefferson survives." He was unaware that Jefferson had died earlier that day.
Thanks for playing!
#5 is interesting and trivial - not what I'm looking for. If I asked "why is it the largest?", it would be a deeper question.
I'm also not doing a first sort for admittance into the Gulch. I'm seeing if people under the age of 25 know THE MOST BASIC FACTS about the 4th of July, on the order of the video posted where the questioner was asking "why do we celebrate the 4th?"
I did this same sort of thing [at a pro-gun rally] and asked "What is the Bill of Rights? and what rights are listed?" dismal. absolutely dismal.
Since I am already going somewhere, asking these questions are an added activity, not the primary one. Making a trip somewhere ONLY to ask the questions? No way. Spending time, energy, and money to find out, again, how clueless people are? I wouldn't do that.
clearer?
20 READ Q$,A$
30 PRINT Q$
40 INPUT G$
50 IF G$ = A$
60 PRINT "HOORAY!"
70 ELSE
80 PRINT "WRONG"
90 NEXT x
100 DATA "What year was the Declaration of Independence signed?", "1776"
110 DATA "T/F: FDR was President during The Great Depression", "T"
120 DATA "Which came first; the War of Independence or the Civil War?","War of Independence"
130 DATA "Who said that the chief business of the American people is business?", "Coolidge"
140 DATA "Who was the last President of the United States?", "George W. Bush"
Best I can do off the top of my head
James Monroe, 5th President, 4 July, 1831. And the last of the Founding Fathers to serve as President.
How many American colonies declared themselves to be sovereign states independent from England on July 4th, 1776?
What American protest (referred to as a type of "party") in Dec. 1773 was an iconic event that escalated into the American Revolution?
Who actually won the war? Them? Us?
Another good book on the shelf.
Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?
Why were (are) the original 13 states known as "colonies"?
A: It commemorates the adoption by the Continental Congress of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
I can't continue.
I learned this stuff as a little kid and the knowledge that most young American are clueless about our country's history makes me angry, sad, frustrated all at the same time.
Actually, 2 July. It was then publicly communicated on the 4th of July and the version signed by the majority of the signatories (and displayed in the National Archives) actually was written in late July and signed on 2 August, 1776.
Did active hostilities start after the Declaration, or before? (You can get a clue by reading it.)
Did the authors appeal to God?
2. Name one of the authors of the DI.
3. What country did the DI declare independence from?
4. What was the name of the King?
5. What was the name of the King's father?
6. What was the name of the King's heir?
7. Which other nations celebrate the 4th of July?
8. How many delegates did each colony send to sign the DI?
9. Which Signer arrived on a stretcher?
10. Why didn't George Washington sign the DI?
11. Which future Presidents signed the DI?
12. Where is the original DI kept?
I knew there was another reason we watched what my baby brother used to call "boom-bangs"!
I hope you had a wonderful day.
sigh.
Question: What is the "mission statement" of American government?
Answer: " - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Simple, eh? Our government's written mission is to secure my God-given Rights. Somehow, I'm not feeling it.....
1) What document is most identified with the 4th of July?
2) From what nation were the colonies declaring their independence?
3) Who was the most famous signatory of the Declaration of Independence, and why?
4) Did George Washington sign the Declaration of Independence? If not, why not?
5) Who is considered the principle drafter of the Declaration of Independence?
2) Britain
3) John Hancock
4) No. He was leading troops in battle against the British.
5) Thomas Jefferson
They bombed us at Pearl Harbor?
The tea was too expensive?
Some other reason?
Name one country that helped the colonists in the Revolutionary War.
What was the Boston Tea Party?
Part of what I wanted to do was to see what people in the Gulch would say. Part would be to gather a tiny bit of up-to-date info [since I'm not teaching any longer] about what kids know. Part would be to have interesting interactions and MAYBE poke someone in the brain. I have had people have L--o--n--g conversations with me while doing this sort of thing.
I truly disagree that everyone who doesn't know the answers to whatever set of questions we chose is willfully ignorant. Would you be willfully ignorant [assumption time] if I handed you a pile of fabric and some thread and said "Hem this, please." or if I gave you a bag with some groceries in it and said "I need the Sauce Bearnaise ready in 20 minutes."? You could have learned to do those things in school - did you? I already knew how to hem by the time they offered to teach me, and I taught myself how to make an egg-based sauce.
It comes, again, back to our differing views of humans. I believe, until I know otherwise, that they are good - willing and friendly. I think enough of myself to believe that I can "hook" the majority of less-than-20-year-olds, gain their interest, and have at least a short meaningful conversation. I do not believe a person is not worth saving until he proves me wrong.
No, Sauce Bearnaise is not as important as philosophy, but there are days in which it runs a close second!
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