50 Fun Facts About Random US History

Which document, adopted July 4, 1776, announced the thirteen colonies' separation from Britain?

The Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776, but Congress had voted for independence itself two days earlier, and most delegates did not sign until August.

Which president was elected unanimously by the Electoral College?

George Washington won every elector's vote in both of his elections; James Monroe later came closest, when a single elector voted for John Quincy Adams instead.

Which French leader sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States in 1803?

Napoleon Bonaparte gave up on an American empire after yellow fever wrecked his army in Saint-Domingue; US envoys sent to buy New Orleans were offered the whole territory for $15 million.

Which amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in the United States?

The 13th Amendment, ratified in December 1865, abolished slavery throughout the United States except as punishment for a crime, an exception that underpins prison labour.

What was the name of the first permanent English settlement in North America, established in 1607?

Jamestown, founded by the Virginia Company in May 1607, nearly failed: in the 'Starving Time' winter of 1609-10 most of the colonists died, and survivors were reduced to eating shoe leather.

Which US-British conflict, sparked partly by impressment of American sailors, ended with the Treaty of Ghent?

The War of 1812 ended on paper with the Treaty of Ghent, signed on Christmas Eve 1814, but news travelled slowly: the Battle of New Orleans was fought about two weeks later.

On which date did Japan attack the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, bringing America into World War II?

Japan launched a surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. President Roosevelt called it 'a date which will live in infamy,' and Congress declared war on Japan the following day.

At which Washington, D.C. venue was the president shot on April 14, 1865, one month into his second term?

Ford's Theatre was staging the comedy Our American Cousin; John Wilkes Booth, an actor who had often performed there and knew the play, timed his shot to a line that drew a big laugh.

In the Boston Tea Party of 1773, colonists dumped more than 340 chests of tea belonging to which company?

The East India Company was sitting on a huge surplus of tea, and Parliament's Tea Act let it sell direct to the colonies; the protesters saw a monopoly and a tax, and dumped the lot.

The 1863 Emancipation Proclamation declared enslaved people free in which places?

States still in rebellion: the proclamation left slavery untouched in the loyal border states and in parts of the South already under Union control, so freedom spread only as Union armies advanced.

Which Native American woman, travelling with her infant son, served as an interpreter for the Lewis and Clark Expedition?

Sacagawea joined the expedition as a teenager and carried her newborn on her back; Jefferson had sent the party west to explore the land just bought from France.

What territory did the United States gain under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?

The Mexican Cession handed over more than 525,000 square miles, including California, where gold had been found at Sutter's Mill just nine days before the treaty was signed.

Which amendment gave women the right to vote in the United States?

The 19th Amendment cleared its last hurdle on August 18, 1920, when Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify, after two attempts to shelve it in the state House failed on 48-48 ties.

What was the significance of the Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison?

It established judicial review when Chief Justice John Marshall's court struck down section 13 of the Judiciary Act, the first time it invalidated an act of Congress.

Which 1823 policy warned European powers against further colonization in the Western Hemisphere?

The Monroe Doctrine was largely the work of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, who argued against a joint statement with Britain so that America would speak alone.

Where did the ceremonial Golden Spike complete the first Transcontinental Railroad in 1869?

The ceremony at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, brought Union Pacific No. 119 and Central Pacific's Jupiter face to face; the golden spike is held at Stanford University.

Which event is considered the turning point of the Civil War, fought in Pennsylvania in July 1863?

The Battle of Gettysburg, with about 50,000 casualties in three days, was the war's bloodiest; it ended Lee's second invasion of the North and sent his army back to Virginia in retreat.

What did the Homestead Act of 1862 offer to settlers?

The Homestead Act gave up to 160 acres of public land, for a small fee and five years' residence, to any adult who had never borne arms against the United States, a clause written in the middle of the Civil War.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 1963 'I Have a Dream' speech from the steps of which Washington landmark?

The Lincoln Memorial: King began from a prepared text, then, as he later recalled, dropped it mid-speech for the 'dream' theme he had used many times before.

Which U.S. president secured the Canal Zone and began construction of the Panama Canal in 1904?

Theodore Roosevelt sent US warships to back Panama's revolt against Colombia in November 1903, and a canal treaty with the new republic followed within weeks; the canal opened in 1914.

Which 1820 law admitted Maine as a free state alongside a new slave state and barred slavery north of a set line?

The Missouri Compromise kept free and slave states level: the Senate made Maine's admission conditional on Missouri's entry as a slave state, and slavery was barred from the rest of the Louisiana lands north of 36°30'.

Which president signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, leading to the Trail of Tears?

Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, but the Cherokee were not forced west until 1838-39, after he had left office, and thousands died in the camps and on the march.

On 'Black Tuesday', October 29, 1929, what collapsed, in a panic often seen as starting the Great Depression?

The New York stock market: Black Tuesday followed 'Black Monday', when the Dow fell nearly 13 percent; it lost almost 12 percent more that day and nearly half its value by mid-November.

The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, linked Lake Erie with which waterway at Albany?

The Hudson: by linking it to Lake Erie the canal cut shipping costs by about 90 percent and turned New York City into the country's leading seaport.

Which 1857 Supreme Court decision ruled that people of African descent could not be U.S. citizens?

Dred Scott v. Sandford, a 7-2 ruling written by Chief Justice Roger Taney, also held that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories; Scott was freed privately weeks later and died the next year.

Which 1890 law, named for an Ohio senator, prohibits anticompetitive agreements and monopolies?

The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, sponsored by Ohio senator John Sherman, bans contracts in restraint of trade and monopolisation; it was used to break up Standard Oil in 1911.

Which June 17, 1775 engagement near Boston cost the victorious British about 1,000 casualties?

The Battle of Bunker Hill, fought mostly on Breed's Hill, cost the British about 1,050 killed and wounded against roughly 450 American casualties, showing colonial militia could stand against regulars.

Which FDR program of the 1930s aimed at relief, recovery and reform during the Great Depression?

The New Deal took its name from FDR's speech accepting the 1932 nomination: 'I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.'

What diplomatic scandal of 1797-1798 involved French agents demanding bribes from American envoys?

In the XYZ Affair, Talleyrand's agents demanded bribes and a loan before talks could begin; the outrage at home fed into the undeclared Quasi-War with France of 1798-1800.

Which Chicago labor protest on May 4, 1886, ended with a bomb explosion?

The Haymarket Affair began when a bomb was thrown at police breaking up a labor rally; the thrower was never identified, yet eight anarchists were convicted and four of them hanged.

Which 1794 tax uprising in western Pennsylvania collapsed when about 13,000 militia marched on it?

The Whiskey Rebellion ended without a battle: the president rode out at the head of the army, the rebel leaders fled before it arrived, and the only two men convicted were later pardoned.

Which June 1942 US naval victory sank all four Japanese fleet carriers present, a Pacific war turning point?

At Midway, June 4-7, 1942, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu all went down, along with the heavy cruiser Mikuma; US codebreakers had tipped off Admiral Nimitz to the Japanese plan.

Which president signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, 1964. Although President Kennedy had proposed the legislation, Johnson championed it through Congress after Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963.

What Compromise of 1850 provision required free-state citizens to help capture escaped slaves?

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 fined officials $1,000 for failing to arrest an alleged fugitive, and anyone giving a fugitive food or shelter risked six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Lincoln's two-minute 1863 address in Pennsylvania dedicated what?

A soldiers' cemetery: Lincoln followed a two-hour oration by Edward Everett, who wrote next day that he wished he had come as near the central idea in two hours as Lincoln had in two minutes.

Which two activists primarily organized the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention?

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott met in 1840 at an anti-slavery convention in London that refused to seat women delegates, and resolved then to hold a convention of their own.

In which 1920s scandal did Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall take bribes to lease naval oil reserves?

In the Teapot Dome scandal Fall leased the Wyoming and California reserves to oilmen Sinclair and Doheny; he became the first cabinet member imprisoned, though neither oilman was convicted of paying the bribes.

What was the code name of the first nuclear weapons test, conducted on July 16, 1945, in New Mexico?

Trinity is usually credited to J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is said to have taken it from the poetry of John Donne; the device was a plutonium bomb of the design later dropped on Nagasaki.

Which 1964 measure gave the president broad authority to escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam?

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed the Senate with only two votes against after reports of two attacks on US destroyers; doubts soon grew over whether the second attack had happened at all.

Which 1783 agreement ended the Revolutionary War and recognized the independence of the United States?

The Treaty of Paris won British recognition and all the land east of the Mississippi; Benjamin West's painting of the negotiators was never finished because the British delegates refused to pose.

Which US president served two non-consecutive terms, as both the 22nd and 24th president?

Grover Cleveland served as the 22nd president (1885-1889) and the 24th (1893-1897); he lost to Benjamin Harrison in 1888 despite winning the popular vote, then beat Harrison in 1892.

Which 1854 law undid the 1820 line at 36 degrees 30 minutes by allowing popular sovereignty on slavery?

The Kansas-Nebraska Act, championed by Senator Stephen Douglas, let settlers in the two territories vote on slavery, stoking national tensions and leading to the armed clashes known as 'Bleeding Kansas'.

What was the purpose of the Federalist Papers, published in 1787-1788?

Hamilton, Madison and Jay wrote all 85 essays as 'Publius' to promote ratification of the Constitution, publishing them in New York newspapers from October 1787.

Which 24-year-old Justice Department official helped organize the Palmer Raids of 1919-1920?

J. Edgar Hoover ran the department's new radical-hunting division and oversaw the round-ups and deportations; by 29 he was in charge of the whole Bureau, which he led until his death in 1972.

Which island in New York Harbor processed more than 12 million immigrants between 1892 and 1954?

Ellis Island was mainly for the poor: first- and second-class passengers were usually inspected aboard ship and walked straight ashore, while steerage passengers were ferried to the island.

Which Founding Father, 81, was the oldest signer of the Constitution?

Benjamin Franklin was one of 39 signers among the 55 delegates; Jefferson and Adams were abroad as diplomats, and Patrick Henry stayed away, saying he 'smelt a rat'.

Which future president published his own proof of the Pythagorean theorem in 1876?

James Garfield, then an Ohio congressman, proved it by working out the area of a single trapezoid in two different ways; his proof appeared in a teachers' journal five years before he became president.

Which U.S. president fathered the most children, with 15 across two marriages?

John Tyler had eight children with Letitia Christian and seven with Julia Gardiner; born in 1790, he fathered so late that a grandson, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, lived until 2025.

What was the name of the secret WWII program that developed the atomic bomb?

The Manhattan Project got its name because its first offices were in Manhattan, at 270 Broadway: the Army Corps of Engineers named its districts after their home cities.

Which amendment, ratified in 1933, repealed Prohibition in the United States?

The 21st Amendment took effect on December 5, 1933, when Utah's convention cast the deciding vote; it is the only amendment ratified by state conventions and the only one to repeal another.