99 Fun Facts About United States

When does a new state's flag star appear?

July 4; admission alone doesn't change the flag, so a state admitted just after the holiday waits nearly a year for its star.

Which city was the US capital when George Washington was first sworn in?

New York; Federal Hall there also housed the first Congress, until a 1790 law moved the capital to Philadelphia while a permanent one rose on the Potomac.

Which river is the longest in the United States?

Missouri; it runs from Montana's Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi just north of St. Louis, so the famous Mississippi is shorter than its own tributary.

What is the largest state in the US by area?

Alaska; the United States bought it from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, and a gold strike in the Yukon in 1896 soon transformed the region's fortunes.

Which phrase did Congress adopt as the official US national motto in 1956, later printed on paper currency?

In God We Trust; until 1956 the country had no official motto, though E pluribus unum had served informally since it went on the Great Seal in 1782.

Which San Francisco landmark is painted a color called International Orange?

Golden Gate Bridge; its architect chose the orange to suit the hills and stand out in fog, and the paint also shields the steel from salt spray.

Whose signature on the Declaration of Independence became slang for any signature?

John Hancock; the first printed copies carried only his typeset name, and his famous signature went on the parchment on August 2, 1776.

Which national park holds the lowest point in North America?

Death Valley; it was named by a lost 1849 wagon party, yet only one member of that Bennett-Arcane group died during their month-long ordeal.

What is the US Flag Code's preferred way to dispose of a worn-out flag?

Burning it; the Code asks for a dignified end to a worn flag, yet in 1989 the Supreme Court ruled that burning one in protest is protected speech.

Which US national park was the first to be established?

Yellowstone, widely held to be the world's first national park; with no park service yet, the US Army ran it from 1886 until 1918.

Which amendment to the US Constitution abolished slavery?

13th; it bans slavery 'except as a punishment for crime', a loophole Southern states soon exploited by leasing out convicts as forced labor.

Mount Rushmore was carved into a mountain in which state?

South Dakota; an 1868 treaty had promised the Black Hills to the Lakota, and after the Supreme Court ruled in 1980 they were taken illegally, the Sioux refused the money.

Which was the 50th state to join the United States?

Hawaii; its queen was overthrown in 1893 by a group backed by US Marines, and the islands were annexed as a US territory in 1898.

Who was the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court?

Sandra Day O'Connor; fresh out of Stanford Law School, she was turned away by firms that told her, 'We don't hire women.'

Which president gave the longest inaugural address and died about a month later?

William Henry Harrison; his death left John Tyler to insist he was fully president, not acting, a precedent later written into the 25th Amendment.

What is the smallest US state by area?

Rhode Island; despite the name, most residents live on the mainland, and the island officially called Rhode Island is Aquidneck, home to Newport.

Where were the first shots of the American Civil War fired in April 1861?

Fort Sumter; no one was killed in the bombardment itself, but two Union privates died when cartridges exploded during a 100-gun salute to the flag.

As of the 2020 census, what was the most populous US state?

California, with about 39.5 million people, yet it lost a House seat after that census, the first time in its history it had lost one.

Which Los Angeles landmark was first built in 1923 to advertise a real estate development?

The Hollywood Sign; it read HOLLYWOODLAND and was meant to last about 18 months, until the last four letters came down in 1949.

Which US territory is the largest by population?

Puerto Rico; its people have been US citizens since 1917, yet while they live on the island they cannot vote for president.

Which candidate won the US popular vote in 2000 but lost in the Electoral College?

Al Gore; he won about 540,000 more votes than George W. Bush, but a Supreme Court ruling halted a recount and left Bush with 271 electoral votes.

Which bird's scream do films often dub over the bald eagle's weak, chirping call?

Red-tailed hawk; in courtship a pair circles together, and the diving birds may briefly touch talons in midair.

The Grand Canyon is located in which US state?

Arizona; Theodore Roosevelt protected it as a national monument in 1908, but park bills kept failing in Congress until it finally became a national park in 1919.

Which was the first US state to allow women to vote?

Wyoming; it refused to drop women's voting rights when it became a state in 1890, which is how it earned the nickname The Equality State.

Which landmark appeared on the back of the US penny from 1959 to 2008?

Lincoln Memorial; the Mint put it in place of the wheat-ear design in 1959 to mark the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.

Which amendment gives US citizens the right to bear arms?

2nd; despite its opening words about 'a well regulated Militia', the Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that it protects an individual right unconnected with militia service.

Which of the Great Lakes is the largest by surface area?

Superior; yet Lakes Michigan and Huron are hydrologically one lake, and counted together they cover more area than Superior does.

Which American inventor is credited with inventing the light bulb?

Many inventors built incandescent lamps before him, but their bulbs were too flawed for large-scale commercial use. Edison later teamed up with British rival Joseph Swan to form Ediswan.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles Tennessee and which other state?

North Carolina; the park is named for the smoke-like mist over its ridges, a haze fed by compounds that the forests themselves give off.

Which US president bought the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon's government in 1803?

Thomas Jefferson; his envoys had been sent to buy New Orleans, but Napoleon offered them all of Louisiana for $15 million.

Which Pennsylvania delegate mainly wrote the Constitution's opening 'We the People' passage?

Gouverneur Morris; he changed 'We the People of the States' to 'of the United States', since no one knew which states would ratify.

Which state was the first to ratify the US Constitution?

Delaware; yet the state that ratified the Constitution first waited until 1901 to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, decades after it took effect.

Which Japanese admiral planned the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor?

Isoroku Yamamoto; American codebreakers later decoded his travel schedule, and in April 1943 US fighters shot down his plane.

Which teenager was arrested for refusing to give up her Montgomery bus seat nine months before Rosa Parks?

Claudette Colvin; she was 15, and though leaders made Parks the boycott's public face, Colvin became a plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle, the case that ended the bus segregation.

Which US state shares a land border with only one other state?

Maine; it split from Massachusetts in 1820 and entered the Union as a free state, paired with a slave state to keep the sectional balance.

Which Constitutional amendment granted women the right to vote in the United States?

19th; its ratification came down to 24-year-old Tennessee legislator Harry Burn, who voted yes after a letter from his mother urged him to.

Which US city is known as the "Windy City"?

Chicago; yet its average wind speed, about 10 mph, is lower than Boston's.

The US vice president is officially the president of which body?

The Senate; the Constitution makes the vice president its presiding officer, yet gives no vote there unless the senators are evenly divided.

Which state is home to NASA's Kennedy Space Center?

Florida; launching east over the Atlantic lets rockets borrow speed from Earth's spin, while any falling debris drops into the ocean.

Before 2025, which US president was the only one to have served two non-consecutive terms?

Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president (1885–1889 and 1893–1897), which is why he got two separate dollar coins in the 2012 Presidential $1 Coin series. Donald Trump became the second in 2025.

In January 2025 the federal government restored which former name to North America's highest peak?

A gold prospector had coined the name in 1896 to back presidential candidate William McKinley, and it was the official federal name from 1917 until 2015.

Which amendment to the US Constitution lowered the voting age from 21 to 18?

The 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age to 18. It was largely driven by the argument that if 18-year-olds could be drafted to fight in Vietnam, they should be able to vote.

Which reservoir does the Hoover Dam impound?

Lake Mead; its rising waters swallowed the town of St. Thomas, and the ruins have resurfaced as drought pulled the lake back down.

Which is the only US state with a single-chamber, unicameral legislature?

Nebraska voters approved the change in 1934 and the one-house Legislature first met in 1937; its members are elected without party labels and call themselves senators.

The Mason-Dixon line was first surveyed to settle a border dispute between which two colonies?

Pennsylvania and Maryland; only after Pennsylvania ended slavery did the survey line come to mark the divide between free North and slave South.

Which US state spent nearly a decade as an independent republic before annexation in 1845?

Texas; Mexico still considered it Mexican territory, so the 1845 annexation led straight into the Mexican-American War the following year.

Which famous American author wrote "The Great Gatsby"?

F. Scott Fitzgerald; the novel sold poorly, and he died in 1940 believing himself a failure, decades before it was hailed as a Great American Novel.

What is the driest state in the United States by average annual precipitation?

Nevada averages under 10 inches of precipitation a year, the least of any state, because it lies in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada.

Which sport is considered America's national pastime?

Baseball; a 1907 commission credited its invention to Abner Doubleday, but historians call that a myth, and Doubleday never claimed it himself.

Which pair of Ohio bicycle makers achieved the first controlled, powered airplane flight in December 1903?

The Wright brothers believed that balancing a bicycle proved an unstable flying machine could be controlled with practice. They built their Flyer after years running a cycle shop in Dayton.

Which nickname for the US government is linked by legend to a meatpacker who fed soldiers in 1812?

Uncle Sam is said to honor Samuel Wilson, who supplied rations to American troops. Congress named his birthday, September 13, Uncle Sam Day in 1989.

Which river forms the national border between the United States and Mexico south of El Paso?

The Rio Grande goes by another name on its southern bank: Mexicans call it the Río Bravo, bravo meaning furious or wild.

Which song, inspired by the 1814 bombardment of Fort McHenry, became the US national anthem in 1931?

The Star-Spangled Banner borrows its melody from a British song written for a London gentlemen's club. The words began as a poem by a lawyer who watched the 25-hour attack.

Which first Treasury secretary was fatally shot in an 1804 duel with Vice President Aaron Burr?

Alexander Hamilton was wounded at Weehawken, New Jersey, and died the following day. His eldest son, Philip, had been killed in a duel a few miles away in 1801.

In which colonial port did protesters disguised as Mohawks dump more than 300 chests of tea in 1773?

Boston's Sons of Liberty boarded the tea ships on the night of December 16 and spent about three hours emptying every chest into the harbor.

Which ship carried 102 passengers, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to Cape Cod in 1620?

Mayflower made the crossing alone after its companion ship, Speedwell, proved unseaworthy and was left behind in England. The voyage took ten weeks.

Which Apollo 11 commander became the first person to walk on the Moon in July 1969?

Neil Armstrong's first step was broadcast live to an estimated 530 million viewers worldwide. He grew up near Wapakoneta, Ohio, and took flying lessons there as a teenager.

Which soft drink did John Pemberton invent in Atlanta in 1886 as a non-alcoholic patent medicine?

Coca-Cola was Pemberton's answer to Atlanta passing prohibition legislation: he reworked his coca wine tonic without the alcohol. He sold the rights two years later.

Which skyscraper, climbed by the giant ape in the 1933 film King Kong, was built in just 410 days?

The Empire State Building was finished twelve days ahead of schedule in April 1931. It has appeared in more than 250 television series and films since King Kong.

Which civil rights leader delivered the "I Have a Dream" speech to over 250,000 supporters in August 1963?

Martin Luther King Jr. left his prepared text for the famous refrain. Singer Mahalia Jackson had shouted from behind him, "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin!"

Which president resigned in August 1974 while facing almost certain impeachment over the Watergate scandal?

Richard Nixon remains the only US president to resign from office. A month later he received a controversial pardon from his successor, Gerald Ford.

Which Confederate general surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in Wilmer McLean's parlor in April 1865?

Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House set off a series of further Confederate surrenders across the South that ran into June.

Which president was elected to four terms, giving rise to the amendment that limits presidents to two?

Franklin Roosevelt won reelection in 1944 but died in April 1945, early in his fourth term. No one before him had even won a third.

Which 1781 siege forced British General Cornwallis to surrender his army to George Washington's forces?

Yorktown's surrender ceremony went ahead without Cornwallis, who claimed an illness and sent a deputy to offer up his sword instead.

Which fourth president is popularly acclaimed as the Father of the Constitution for his role in drafting it?

James Madison was hailed by that title in his own lifetime. One historian notes he was on the winning side of every important issue facing the young nation from 1776 to 1816.

Which pair of army officers led the Corps of Discovery overland to the Pacific Ocean in 1805?

Lewis and Clark crossed the Continental Divide near Lemhi Pass, then followed the Columbia River down to the sea.

Which 1607 colony became the first permanent English settlement in the Americas despite its deadly Starving Time?

Jamestown was down to about 60 survivors after the winter of 1609–1610. Within a few years John Rolfe's tobacco crop gave the colony the export that secured its future.

Which city served as the US capital for the decade before Washington, D.C., took over in 1800?

Philadelphia was the largest US city until 1790 and claims a string of national firsts, including the first library, hospital and zoo.

Which three-day battle in July 1863 was the bloodiest of the Civil War, with over 50,000 casualties?

Gettysburg is widely considered the war's turning point. Its final day brought Pickett's Charge, a failed assault by roughly 12,000 Confederate infantry.

On which river did Mark Twain work as a steamboat pilot before he became a famous writer?

The Mississippi also supplied his pen name, by his own account: "mark twain" was the leadsman's cry for a depth of two fathoms, safe water for a steamboat.

Which waterway carved the Grand Canyon, exposing nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history?

The Colorado River is a newcomer beside those rocks: several studies suggest it set its course through the area only 5 to 6 million years ago.

Which is the only one of the five Great Lakes located fully inside the United States?

Lake Michigan is also the world's largest lake by area located fully in one country. Its shoreline is shared by four states.

Which famous group of waterfalls is made up of the Horseshoe, American and Bridal Veil cascades?

Niagara Falls has the highest flow rate of any waterfall in North America. Two small islands, Goat and Luna, split the water into its three cascades.

Which Cascade Range volcano erupted on May 18, 1980, killing about 57 people?

Mount St. Helens lost its entire north face that morning in the largest landslide in recorded history, which uncorked the blast.

Which Utah body of water, a remnant of prehistoric Bonneville, has no outlet besides evaporation?

The Great Salt Lake is far saltier than seawater, because the minerals that wash in can never flow out. It is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere.

Which vast subtropical wetland, nicknamed the River of Grass, is a shallow sheet of water 60 miles wide?

The Everglades got that nickname from writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas, whose 1947 book described the slow, broad sheetflow creeping southward.

Which peak, the southern end of the John Muir Trail, is the highest point in the contiguous United States?

Mount Whitney stands 14,505 feet tall. Survey members named it in 1864 for Josiah Whitney, the geologist who sponsored their work.

Which tribal government maintains the Four Corners Monument, the only point shared by four US states?

The Navajo Nation runs the marker as a tribal park, and local artisans sell souvenirs and food around it. A Ute reservation boundary meets the same spot.

Which city, nicknamed the Big Easy, is renowned for its Creole cuisine and annual Mardi Gras celebrations?

New Orleans may owe the nickname to early 20th-century musicians, who found work relatively easy to come by there.

Which city, commonly called Music City, has been home to the Grand Ole Opry since 1925?

Nashville's Grand Ole Opry started out as the WSM Barn Dance and is now the longest-running radio broadcast in US history.

Which city's car industry is reflected in its Motor City nickname and in the name of Motown Records?

Detroit also gave rise to techno, and it played an important role in the development of jazz, hip-hop, rock and punk.

Which city's 630-foot Gateway Arch, the world's tallest arch, commemorates the westward expansion of the United States?

St. Louis got its stainless steel landmark from Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, who designed it in 1947 but died in 1961, before construction began.

Which city grew up around the Alamo, the Spanish mission where Davy Crockett was killed in 1836?

San Antonio is home to five 18th-century Spanish frontier missions, which were together named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

Which state was home to four of the first five US presidents, beginning with George Washington?

Virginia's streak is sometimes called a dynasty. It came to an end with the close of the fifth president's second term.

Which New England state ran itself as an unrecognized independent republic for 14 years before joining the Union?

Vermont declared independence in January 1777 and struck its own currency, the Vermont copper, before it was admitted to the United States in 1791.

Which city, founded under Spanish rule in 1610, is both the oldest and the highest US state capital?

Santa Fe sits about 7,000 feet up in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It began as the capital of a province of New Spain.

Which Pacific island territory, captured from Spain in 1898, uses the unofficial motto "Where America's Day Begins"?

Guam earned the motto by sitting close to the International Date Line. It is the westernmost territory of the United States.

Which president, the only one who never married, had his niece Harriet Lane serve as his official hostess?

James Buchanan had adopted the orphaned Harriet Lane. She was one of 22 nieces and nephews in the family network that centered on him.

Which name is given to the first ten amendments to the US Constitution, ratified together in December 1791?

The Bill of Rights began as twelve proposed amendments that Congress sent to the states in 1789. Only ten of them were ratified at the time.

Which official stands directly behind the vice president in the US presidential line of succession?

The Speaker of the House was placed ahead of every Cabinet secretary by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, which still sets the order.

Which federal holiday recalls the 1865 day a Union general reached Galveston to enforce emancipation?

Juneteenth is a blend of the words June and nineteenth, a name first used in the 1890s. It became a federal holiday in 2021.

Which sport did teacher James Naismith design in 1891 at a YMCA training school in Springfield, Massachusetts?

Basketball's inventor had arrived from Montreal only a year earlier, after teaching physical education at McGill University.

Which president later became chief justice of the United States, the only person to hold both offices?

William Howard Taft had long sought the court job and finally got it in 1921 from Warren G. Harding. Historians rate his years there above his presidency.

Which governing document did the US Constitution replace in 1789, after delegates judged its defects beyond repair?

The Articles of Confederation left Congress unable to draft soldiers: it had to send requests to the states for regular troops and militia.

Which Latin motto is written on the scroll clenched in the eagle's beak on the Great Seal of the United States?

E pluribus unum means "out of many, one". It was approved for the seal in 1782 and first reached US coins in 1795, on a $5 gold piece.

Which 1783 agreement officially ended the Revolutionary War and recognized the Thirteen Colonies as independent states?

The Treaty of Paris survives in law only in part: just its first article, acknowledging the United States as free and sovereign, remains in force.

Where did Leland Stanford drive a ceremonial golden spike in 1869 to complete the first transcontinental railroad?

Promontory, Utah, saw two locomotives drawn up face to face for the ceremony. The 17.6-karat spike was only gently tapped into a pre-drilled hole.

Which butte, scored by a giant bear's claws in Native legend, became the first US national monument in 1906?

Devils Tower is also known as Bear Lodge. It stands 867 feet from base to summit and rises 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River.

Which building, with 17.5 miles of corridors on five floors, is the headquarters of the US Department of Defense?

The Pentagon holds about 6.5 million square feet of floor space, all of it wrapped around a five-acre central plaza.