129 Fun Facts About Patriotic

How many stripes are on the flag of the United States?

They stand for the thirteen British colonies that won independence; the stars stand for the states.

The 50-star US flag was adopted in 1960 after which state joined the Union?

Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959; the resulting 50-star flag became official in 1960 and has since flown longer than any earlier design.

Which president ordered the 50-star flag on August 21, 1959?

Dwight Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10834 on August 21, 1959, fixing the 50-star design in nine staggered rows of six and five; it became official the following year.

In 1795 the flag briefly grew to 15 stars and stripes for Kentucky and which other new state?

Vermont (1791) and Kentucky (1792) were the first states after the original thirteen; the 1795 flag added a star and a stripe for each, and that 15-stripe flag flew over Fort McHenry.

Which 19th-century sea captain coined the nickname 'Old Glory' for a flag his mother gave him in 1824?

William Driver, a Salem, Massachusetts shipmaster, first called the flag 'Old Glory' in 1831; he hid it from Confederates and flew it over the Tennessee capitol when Union troops took Nashville in 1862.

Who spread the story that Betsy Ross sewed the first Stars and Stripes from George Washington's sketch?

Her descendants spread the tale: grandson William Canby first told it to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1870, nearly a century after the fact, and no contemporary record supports it.

Under the Flag Code, must a flag that touches the ground be destroyed?

No, that is a myth: the Flag Code says the flag should not touch the ground, but a soiled flag may be cleaned; only a flag too worn to display should be retired, preferably by burning.

The US Flag Code became public law in which year?

The Flag Code became Public Law 77-623 on June 22, 1942, codifying guidelines from the 1923 National Flag Conference; it discourages using the flag in advertising or on cushions and handkerchiefs.

Which president designated June 14 as Flag Day by proclamation in 1916?

Woodrow Wilson issued the proclamation on May 30, 1916, establishing June 14 as Flag Day nationwide; Congress did not make the observance official by statute until 1949.

Which state was the first to make Flag Day a state holiday, in 1937?

Pennsylvania was the first state to make June 14, Flag Day, a legal state holiday, doing so in 1937, two decades after the 1916 presidential proclamation.

The words of the national anthem were originally a poem with what title?

Key's poem was first printed in Baltimore as 'Defence of Fort M'Henry'; music publisher Thomas Carr soon issued words and tune together under the title 'The Star-Spangled Banner'.

Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry during which war?

The War of 1812: British warships bombarded Fort McHenry for about 25 hours on September 13-14, 1814, and Key, held on a truce ship in the harbor, saw the flag at dawn.

The tune of the national anthem was borrowed from a song written for a gentlemen's club in which city?

John Stafford Smith wrote 'The Anacreontic Song' in the 1770s for the Anacreontic Society, a London gentlemen's club of amateur musicians that met at the Crown and Anchor tavern.

How many stanzas does the full poem behind the US national anthem have?

Almost nobody sings past the first, but all four officially make up the anthem.

Which president signed the 1931 law making 'The Star-Spangled Banner' the official national anthem?

Herbert Hoover signed the act on March 3, 1931; until then 'Hail, Columbia' and 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee' had served as unofficial anthems.

In which year's World Series was the anthem famously played during Game One's seventh-inning stretch?

Game One of the 1918 World Series between the Red Sox and Cubs, played at Comiskey Park during World War I, had the anthem at the seventh-inning stretch; pregame playing only became routine in World War II.

Which singer performed the wrong lyrics to the anthem before Super Bowl XLV in 2011?

Christina Aguilera, singing at Super Bowl XLV in February 2011, replaced the 'O'er the ramparts we watched' line with a mangled repeat of the second line, 'What so proudly we hailed.'

Which museum has housed the huge Fort McHenry flag that inspired the anthem since 1964?

The National Museum of American History has displayed the 30-by-42-foot garrison flag since the building opened in 1964; Mary Pickersgill and her household sewed it in Baltimore in 1813.

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 to mark the 400th anniversary of what?

It marked the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas; Francis Bellamy's pledge was recited by millions of schoolchildren at Columbus Day ceremonies on October 21, 1892, the date set by President Harrison's proclamation.

The words 'under God' were added to the Pledge of Allegiance in which year?

President Eisenhower signed the change into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954, after a Cold War campaign backed by the Knights of Columbus.

The straight-arm 'Bellamy' gesture for the Pledge was dropped in World War II because it resembled what?

Americans now place a hand over the heart instead.

Which magazine first published the Pledge of Allegiance in September 1892?

The Youth's Companion, a Boston family magazine, printed Francis Bellamy's pledge in its September 8, 1892 issue as part of its campaign to put a flag in every schoolhouse.

What does the Latin motto 'E pluribus unum' on the Great Seal mean?

'E pluribus unum' means 'Out of many, one', the union of separate states into a single nation; Pierre Eugene du Simitiere proposed it for the seal in 1776.

On the Great Seal, the bird holds an olive branch and a bundle of how many arrows?

Together they mean the country wants peace but is always ready for war.

Which secretary of the Continental Congress largely designed the Great Seal, first used in 1782?

Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress, combined earlier committee ideas with William Barton's drawings into the final design Congress adopted on June 20, 1782.

'In God We Trust' became the official national motto in which year?

Congress adopted 'In God We Trust' as the national motto on July 30, 1956, with Eisenhower's signature; 'E pluribus unum' had served unofficially since 1782.

'In God We Trust' first appeared on US money in 1864 on which coin?

The two-cent piece, a bronze coin first struck in 1864, carried the motto on a ribbon above its shield; Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase had pushed for it after wartime petitions.

Which animal officially became the national bird of the United States by an act of Congress in 2024?

The bald eagle has appeared on the Great Seal since 1782 but only became the official national bird when President Biden signed the designation into law on December 24, 2024.

Franklin's supposed preference for the turkey over the eagle comes from a 1784 letter to whom?

Franklin's January 1784 letter to his daughter Sarah Bache called the eagle 'a bird of bad moral character' and the turkey 'a much more respectable bird'; he never proposed the turkey publicly.

Which animal became the national mammal of the United States in 2016?

The American bison became the national mammal when President Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act on May 9, 2016; 'buffalo' remains a common American name for the same animal.

What is the national floral emblem of the United States?

The rose became the national floral emblem when President Reagan signed a joint resolution of Congress on October 7, 1986; the oak was named national tree in 2004.

Who drew the 1917 'I Want You' Uncle Sam poster, using his own face as the model?

James Montgomery Flagg first drew the image for a July 1916 Leslie's Weekly cover, then turned it into the 1917 recruiting poster, modelling it on Alfred Leete's 1914 Lord Kitchener poster.

September 13 is 'Uncle Sam Day' because it is the birthday of which man said to have inspired the character?

Samuel Wilson, born September 13, 1766, supplied barrels of beef stamped 'U.S.' to the army from Troy, New York, during the War of 1812; Congress recognized him as Uncle Sam's namesake in 1961.

The Liberty Bell was cast with an inscription taken from which book of the Bible?

'Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof' comes from Leviticus 25:10.

Which movement first gave the Liberty Bell its name in the 1830s?

Abolitionists adopted the bell as a symbol, with the name 'Liberty Bell' appearing in anti-slavery publications from 1835; George Lippard's 1847 story invented its link to July 4, 1776.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from the people of which country?

The people of France gave the statue, designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi with an iron framework by Gustave Eiffel; it was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

What is written on the tablet the Statue of Liberty holds in her left hand?

It is July 4, 1776, in Roman numerals; her torch is in the right hand.

Which newspaper publisher ran a fundraising drive that paid for the Statue of Liberty's pedestal?

Joseph Pulitzer's New York World raised over $100,000 from about 120,000 donors in 1885 by promising to print every contributor's name, however small the gift.

Public access to the Statue of Liberty's torch has been barred since what year?

The torch balcony was closed in 1916 after the July 30 Black Tom munitions explosion in nearby New Jersey damaged the arm; the torch has been off limits to the public ever since.

Which four presidents are carved into Mount Rushmore?

Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, Lincoln were chosen to represent the nation's birth, growth, development and preservation, and were carved between 1927 and 1941.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum gave Mount Rushmore what nickname?

Gutzon Borglum called the carving the 'Shrine of Democracy'; he died in March 1941 and his son Lincoln completed the work that October.

The Washington Monument was the world's tallest structure from 1884 until 1889, when it was overtaken by what?

The Eiffel Tower, completed in 1889 at about 300 metres, overtook the 169-metre Washington Monument; the monument's lower third is a different shade because work stopped for over 20 years.

Which two Lincoln speeches are inscribed inside the Lincoln Memorial?

The Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address are carved on the south and north walls flanking the statue; Martin Luther King Jr. gave 'I Have a Dream' on the steps in 1963.

Roughly how many words long is the Gettysburg Address?

The Gettysburg Address runs about 270 words in ten sentences and took under two minutes to deliver; Edward Everett's oration that day ran two hours.

Which building was set ablaze by British forces in 1814, charring much of its exterior?

The White House was burned on August 24, 1814, after Dolley Madison fled with the Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington; the Capitol was torched the same day.

Katharine Lee Bates wrote 'America the Beautiful' after a trip up which mountain?

Bates rode a wagon to the summit of Pikes Peak in July 1893 while teaching in Colorado Springs; her poem first appeared in The Congregationalist on July 4, 1895.

Which songwriter revived a shelved 1918 song as a 'peace song' for Kate Smith's 1938 Armistice Day broadcast?

Irving Berlin had cut the song from his 1918 army revue Yip Yip Yaphank; he revised it for Kate Smith's November 1938 broadcast and assigned its royalties to the Boy and Girl Scouts.

Woody Guthrie wrote 'This Land Is Your Land' in 1940 as a sarcastic response to which Kate Smith radio staple?

Guthrie, tired of hearing Kate Smith sing 'God Bless America' on the radio, wrote his answer in February 1940 and first titled it 'God Blessed America for Me'.

Which John Philip Sousa march became the official National March of the United States in 1987?

'The Stars and Stripes Forever', which Sousa said he composed in his head on Christmas Day 1896 aboard a ship home from Europe, was designated the National March by Congress in 1987.

'My Country, 'Tis of Thee' borrows its melody from which other country's anthem?

The tune is the United Kingdom's 'God Save the King'; Samuel Francis Smith wrote the words in 1831, and children first sang it at a Boston Independence Day celebration that July 4.

Julia Ward Howe set the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' to the tune of which song?

Howe wrote new words to the camp-meeting tune already used for 'John Brown's Body' after hearing soldiers sing it near Washington in November 1861; The Atlantic Monthly printed her poem in February 1862.

'Yankee Doodle' is the official state song of which state?

Connecticut adopted 'Yankee Doodle' as its state song in 1978; British troops had first sung it to mock the ragged colonials, who then claimed it as their own.

In 'Yankee Doodle', what did 1770s slang mean by a 'macaroni'?

A 'macaroni' was 1770s slang for a fashionable fop who aped extravagant continental style, so the joke is that Yankee Doodle thinks a feather in his cap makes him stylish.

Memorial Day was originally known by what name?

Decoration Day was proclaimed by General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic for May 30, 1868, a date chosen because flowers would be in bloom to decorate soldiers' graves.

Veterans Day falls on November 11 because that date in 1918 marked what?

The armistice ending World War I fighting took effect at 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918; the holiday was Armistice Day until 1954, when Congress renamed it Veterans Day.

What is Presidents' Day's official name at the federal level?

Federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103) names the holiday Washington's Birthday; the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 moved it to the third Monday in February beginning in 1971.

In what year did Congress first make Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees?

Congress first recognized Independence Day as a holiday for federal employees in an act of June 28, 1870, initially unpaid; it became a paid federal holiday in 1938.

How many men are raising the flag in the photograph 'Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima'?

Six men raised the second flag on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945; three of them were killed later in the battle, and the image became the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial.

Who took the Pulitzer-winning photograph of the flag being raised on Iwo Jima in February 1945?

Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press shot it on February 23, 1945; it ran in Sunday papers two days later and won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography that year.

The Purple Heart descends from the Badge of Military Merit, created in 1782 by whom?

The original was a heart of purple cloth, and Washington personally awarded only three of them.

Over 40 per cent of all Medals of Honor have been awarded for actions in which war?

The Civil War accounts for roughly 1,520 of about 3,500 Medals of Honor ever awarded; the Navy medal was created in December 1861 and the Army's in July 1862.

The US Constitution was signed at Independence Hall on September 17 of which year?

Thirty-nine delegates signed the Constitution on September 17, 1787, at the close of the Philadelphia convention; that date has been observed as Constitution Day since 2004.

What are the first ten amendments to the Constitution collectively called?

The Bill of Rights was proposed by Congress in September 1789 and ratified on December 15, 1791; North Carolina withheld its ratification of the Constitution until the amendments had been proposed.

Independence Hall in Philadelphia was added to which international list in 1979?

Independence Hall joined the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1979, cited for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, both adopted within its walls.

In which year did the Continental Congress adopt the Stars and Stripes?

The Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution on June 14, 1777, nearly a year after independence was declared; no starred flag existed in July 1776.

June 14 is also the official birthday of which branch of the US armed forces?

The Army's birthday is June 14, 1775, the day the Continental Congress voted to raise the Continental Army; the Marine Corps dates to November 10, 1775.

In which state did 'Father of Flag Day' Bernard J. Cigrand hold the first formal observance in Waubeka in 1885?

Wisconsin: the young schoolteacher Cigrand had his pupils at Stony Hill School in Waubeka mark the flag's birthday on June 14, 1885; he later claimed 2,188 speeches on the flag.

Cigrand moved to Chicago to train for which profession while campaigning for the holiday?

Cigrand moved to Chicago to study dentistry, practised as a dentist there and taught at its dental schools, while his 1886 Chicago Argus article 'The Fourteenth of June' launched his campaign.

Which president signed the 1949 Act of Congress that officially established National Flag Day?

Harry Truman signed the act on August 3, 1949; William T. Kerr, who had founded the American Flag Day Association in Pittsburgh in 1888, was invited to the signing.

The Flag Resolution said the thirteen stars in a blue field represented a new what?

The resolution called the thirteen stars 'a new constellation' but said nothing about their arrangement, so early flag makers used circles, rows and even one big star.

The white stripes of the improvised flag flown at Fort Schuyler in August 1777 came from what?

The white stripes came from soldiers' shirts; the red was cut from flannel petticoats and the blue from Captain Abraham Swartwout's cloak, for which Congress later reimbursed him.

Which Declaration signer claimed in his lifetime to have designed the Stars and Stripes, even billing Congress?

Francis Hopkinson billed Congress in 1780, first asking a quarter cask of public wine; the Treasury Board refused, noting he already held a salaried public office and others had consulted on the design.

Under the 1818 Flag Act, a new star becomes official on which date after a state is admitted?

The Flag Act of April 4, 1818 provided that a star for each new state be added on the first July 4 after admission, and fixed the stripes at thirteen after the 15-stripe years.

How were the stars arranged on the 48-star flag of 1912, the first officially specified pattern?

President Taft's Executive Order 1556 of June 24, 1912 set the stars in six rows of eight, the first time the arrangement was specified; earlier civilian flags used whatever patterns makers chose.

When the Empress of China reached Canton in 1784, the Chinese gave the American ensign what nickname?

The Chinese called the Stars and Stripes the 'Flower Flag' (fa kei), and the term came to mean the United States itself in Cantonese; the Empress of China carried a cargo of ginseng.

The 50-star flag adopted in 1960 is which official design of the US flag?

The 50-star flag is the 27th official version of the Stars and Stripes; it became official in 1960 and has served far longer than any of its 26 predecessors.

Which state's laws designate the second Sunday in June, rather than June 14, as its Flag Day holiday?

New York's General Construction Law makes the second Sunday in June its Flag Day; Buffalo schoolteacher Sarah Hinson had led classroom flag exercises in the state from 1891.

Which Rhode Island town has held the oldest continuous Fourth of July celebration, since 1785?

Bristol, Rhode Island has celebrated the Fourth of July every year since 1785, when Rev. Henry Wight led the first 'Patriotic Exercises'; its parade is the nation's oldest continuous Independence Day celebration.

Which country's Rebild National Park is said to host the largest July 4 celebrations outside the US?

Denmark's Rebild National Park, near Aalborg, has hosted the Rebild Festival since 1912, organized by the Danish-American Rebild Society as a homecoming for emigrants and their descendants.

Which president, sworn in by his own father by lamplight in 1923, is the only one born on Independence Day?

Calvin Coolidge was born in Plymouth Notch on July 4, 1872, and took the oath in the same village from his father, a notary public, at 2:47 a.m. after Harding's sudden death.

What did Buzz Aldrin report happening to the Apollo 11 flag as the lunar module lifted off from the Moon?

It was blown over by the blast of the ascent engine, Aldrin reported, so later crews planted their flags farther away from the lunar module.

Why is the bottom third of the Washington Monument a slightly lighter shade than the rest?

Marble from different quarries finished the obelisk: donations ran out in 1854 and building stopped for more than two decades, so the later stone never quite matched the first.

What lies at the feet of the Statue of Liberty, half-hidden by her robes and hard to see from the ground?

A broken chain and shackle lie under her left foot to mark the abolition of slavery; the sculptor first thought of placing the chain in her hand but judged that too divisive.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, where were the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution sent for safekeeping?

Fort Knox's bullion depository sheltered both documents beside the nation's gold until September 1944, when their release was ordered after the D-Day landings.

Which Coney Island hot dog restaurant stages a televised eating contest outside its original stand every Fourth of July?

Nathan's Famous long claimed the contest began decades earlier as a duel between immigrants over who was most patriotic, a tale its promoter admitted in 2010 he had fabricated.

At the 1908 Olympics, the American flag bearer broke protocol by refusing to do what as he passed King Edward VII?

Asked to lower it in salute at the royal box, the American bearer kept it upright, and the Flag Code now says the flag is never dipped to any person or thing.

Which former president died on July 4, 1826, unaware that his old rival at Monticello had died hours earlier?

John Adams died on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and his last words reportedly noted that his friend and rival still lived.

Under the US Flag Code, flying the Stars and Stripes upside down is permitted only to indicate what?

Dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property is the code's only exception, though protesters have since borrowed the inverted flag to signal political alarm.

Which Asian country did the United States recognize as independent on July 4, 1946, after decades of colonial rule?

The Philippines kept July 4 as its own Independence Day until 1962, when the holiday moved to June 12, the date of an 1898 declaration of independence from Spain.

Which Continental Congress president signed the Declaration so boldly that his name became slang for a signature?

John Hancock is often said to have signed large so that King George could read it without spectacles, but that story is apocryphal and surfaced only years later.

What did the Continental Congress do on July 2, 1776, two days before it approved the Declaration's final wording?

Congress voted for independence that day by passing the Lee Resolution, which called the colonies free and independent states; July 4 marks only the approval of the text explaining why.

Which metal forms the thin skin of the Statue of Liberty, which weathered from reddish-brown to green?

Copper sheets only 2.4 mm thick were chosen over bronze or stone for their lower cost and weight, and the green verdigris layer now shields the metal from further corrosion.

Which national cemetery across the Potomac from the capital holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?

Arlington keeps a sentinel at the tomb around the clock, and the guard changes in an elaborate ceremony every half-hour from April through September.

Which English-born writer anonymously published Common Sense in January 1776, arguing plainly for independence?

Thomas Paine left his name off the pamphlet, which sold widely across the colonies and was read aloud in taverns and meeting places.

Which Virginia orator urged the colony to arm in 1775 with a speech demanding liberty or death?

Patrick Henry's words survive only in a reconstruction printed in 1817, pieced together from elderly listeners' memories, and historians still debate how much of the famous ending is his.

Which state earned the nickname the First State by ratifying the Constitution before any other?

Delaware carries the nickname on its state quarter beside Caesar Rodney on horseback, who rode through a stormy night to Philadelphia to break his delegation's deadlock in 1776.

In the Declaration of Independence, which phrase completes the trio of unalienable rights after life and liberty?

The pursuit of Happiness echoes, and to many scholars deliberately rewrites, John Locke's 1689 argument that government exists to protect life, liberty and estate.

What symbol hovers above the unfinished pyramid on the back of the one-dollar bill and the Great Seal's reverse?

The Eye of Providence is often read as a Masonic sign, yet the only Freemason on the seal's design committees was Benjamin Franklin, whose ideas were not adopted.

The Marine Corps motto Semper Fidelis, adopted in 1883 and usually shortened to Semper Fi, translates as what?

Always faithful replaced three earlier mottoes, among them Fortitudine, meaning with courage, and a line shared with Britain's Royal Marines, by sea, by land.

Which Virginia delegate, whose plan was the basis for the convention's debates, is called Father of the Constitution?

James Madison purposely sat up front and missed not a single day, so his private notes remain one of historians' few records of debates held behind shut windows.

Which three words, credited to Gouverneur Morris, open the Preamble to the United States Constitution?

We the People replaced a draft that followed those words with a list of every state, making the people rather than the states the source of the government's legitimacy.

Which state's admission in January 1959 produced a 49-star flag that was official for only a single year?

Alaska's star retired the 48-star flag after 47 years in use, while the 49-star banner that replaced it lasted barely twelve months.

Which poet wrote the sonnet The New Colossus to raise money for the Statue of Liberty's pedestal?

Emma Lazarus gave the poem to a fundraising auction in 1883, but it was cast in bronze and mounted inside the pedestal only in 1903, sixteen years after her death.

Which sculptor of the Statue of Liberty had earlier proposed a giant torch-bearing lighthouse for the Suez Canal?

Frédéric Bartholdi pitched a draped figure holding a torch, to be named Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia, but the canal's backers turned it down over the high cost.

Mount Rushmore is carved into a granite peak the Lakota call Six Grandfathers, in which South Dakota mountain range?

The Black Hills were taken without just compensation, the Supreme Court ruled in 1980, but the Sioux have refused the money awarded and continue to demand the return of the land.

From which Boston steeple were two signal lanterns shown on the night of Paul Revere's ride in April 1775?

Old North Church, built in 1723, is the oldest standing church in Boston, and its tower still holds eight bells cast in 1744, the oldest change-ringing set in North America.

Which young schoolteacher volunteered to spy behind British lines in 1776, only to be captured and hanged?

Nathan Hale was the only volunteer when a spy was called for; no official record was kept of his final speech, so his famous last words rest on second-hand accounts.

At which Virginia town did Lord Cornwallis surrender in October 1781, effectively ending the Revolutionary War?

Yorktown's surrender ceremony on October 19 went ahead without Cornwallis himself, who refused to attend and claimed that he was ill.

Which immigration station beside the Statue of Liberty processed about 12 million arrivals after opening in 1892?

Ellis Island's first arrival was Annie Moore, a teenager from Cork, and its last detainee was a Norwegian seaman arrested for overstaying his shore leave.

Which federal holiday, created in 2021, marks the day in 1865 when the end of slavery was enforced in Texas?

Juneteenth, a blend of June and nineteenth, became the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was adopted in 1983.

Which red flower, inspired by the poem In Flanders Fields, is worn around Memorial Day to honor America's war dead?

The poppy was championed by Moina Michael, a Georgia professor who vowed always to wear one in tribute to the poem; the American Legion adopted it as its memorial flower in 1920.

On the Great Seal, as explained to Congress in 1782, which color signifies hardiness and valor?

Red signifies hardiness and valor, white purity and innocence, and blue vigilance, perseverance and justice, but the flag's own colors were given no official meaning when it was adopted.

Which bronze figure by Thomas Crawford has crowned the dome of the United States Capitol since 1863?

The Statue of Freedom wears a helmet because Jefferson Davis, then overseeing the Capitol's construction, ordered the sculptor's liberty cap removed as a symbol of freed slaves.

Which military engineer, wounded at Savannah during the Revolution, drew the 1791 street plan for Washington, D.C.?

Pierre L'Enfant's baroque plan of grand avenues later inspired the layouts of other world capitals, including Brasília, New Delhi and Canberra.

Which Yale undergraduate, then 21, won the blind design competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1981?

Maya Lin's black granite wall beat more than 1,400 other entries, and she later said she never would have won had the designs not been submitted by number instead of name.

Which cartoonist popularized Uncle Sam's image and is credited with first drawing the Republican Party as an elephant?

Thomas Nast did not invent Uncle Sam, only spread him, but his 1863 drawing of Santa Claus is generally recognized as the first depiction of the modern figure.

The 1989 Supreme Court case Texas v. Johnson ruled that which act of protest is protected by the First Amendment?

Burning the flag outside the 1984 Republican convention in Dallas had earned Gregory Lee Johnson a year's jail sentence before the justices sided with him by five votes to four.

Which name is given to the yellow Revolutionary flag showing a coiled rattlesnake, after the delegate who designed it?

Gadsden, a South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress, gave his flag to the first commander of the Continental Navy, who flew it from his flagship's mainmast in 1775.

What did the Continental Colors, America's first national flag, carry in the corner where the stars now sit?

The British Union Jack shared the flag with red and white stripes, a design strikingly similar to the East India Company's flag, which one theory says influenced it.

Which sculptor, first acclaimed for The Minute Man in 1875, designed the seated statue inside the Lincoln Memorial?

Daniel Chester French modeled the seated president, but the carving itself was executed by the Piccirilli Brothers, and he teamed with the memorial's architect on other monuments too.

Under which shared Roman pen name were the 85 Federalist essays published to urge ratification of the Constitution?

Publius honored Publius Valerius, who helped found the Roman republic; other writers in the debate also signed with Roman names such as Brutus and Cato.

Before Congress renamed it in the 1950s, the site of the Statue of Liberty was long known by what name?

Bedloe's Island was one of three Oyster Islands named by Dutch settlers for the vast oyster beds nearby, a major source of food for almost three more centuries.

Which Baltimore flagmaker was commissioned in 1813 to sew a garrison flag big enough for the British to see from afar?

Mary Pickersgill's banner was so large that she had to borrow a neighborhood brewery's malt house to spread it out, and her team finished the job in six weeks.

Children of which religious group won the 1943 Supreme Court ruling that no student can be forced to salute the flag?

Jehovah's Witnesses regarded saluting a flag as idolatry, and their victory overturned a ruling from only three years earlier that had sided with school districts.

Which Philadelphia inn is traditionally regarded as the site of the first Marine Corps recruitment drive in 1775?

Tun Tavern had form as a gathering place: in 1756 Benjamin Franklin gathered recruits there for the colony's militia, almost two decades before the Marines' first drive.

Which surgeon, once arrested as a spy while treating wounded civilians, was the first woman awarded the Medal of Honor?

Mary Edwards Walker saw her name deleted from the honor roll in 1917 along with more than 900 others, and it was restored only in 1977, decades after her death.

Which Maryland delegate, the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence, outlived every other signer?

Charles Carroll died at 95, some 56 years after the signing, and was regarded as the wealthiest man in the American colonies when the Revolution began.

Which two local workmen, whose surnames appear on the Liberty Bell, recast it twice after it first cracked?

Pass and Stow judged the bell too brittle and altered the alloy, but their first recast sounded, one hearer said, like two coal scuttles banged together, so they cast it again.

Which Massachusetts woman served 17 months in the Continental ranks disguised as a man named Robert Shirtliff?

Deborah Sampson was found out only in 1783, when a doctor treating her for a fever discovered her secret, and she later petitioned successfully for a soldier's pension.