Q 01/05

How many delegates eventually signed the engrossed Declaration of Independence?

A) 13

B) 39

C) 56

D) 72

Answer · why

C) 56

Nine delegates present in Congress that summer never signed, including John Dickinson, who thought the Declaration premature. Congress secretary Charl...

Q 02/05

Whom did the Committee of Five pick to draft the Declaration of Independence?

A) Benjamin Franklin

B) John Adams

C) George Washington

D) Thomas Jefferson

Answer · why

D) Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was chosen by the Committee of Five to draft the Declaration of Independence, largely writing it between June 11 and June 28, 1776.

Q 03/05

Which colony reversed its position and voted for independence on 2 July 1776?

A) South Carolina

B) New York

C) Maryland

D) Georgia

Answer · why

A) South Carolina

Twelve colonies voted yes; only New York abstained. John Adams wrote to Abigail the next day predicting the second of July would be the great American...

Q 04/05

Who gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on 8 July 1776?

A) John Dunlap

B) Timothy Matlack

C) Charles Thomson

D) John Nixon

Answer · why

D) John Nixon

Nixon, a colonel in the city militia, read it at noon while readings also took place in Trenton and Easton. The State House bell probably rang to gath...

Q 05/05

How did General Washington mark the Fourth of July in 1778 at his New Jersey headquarters?

A) A double rum ration for the troops

B) A day of fasting and prayer

C) A mock battle for local farmers

D) A public reading of Common Sense

Answer · why

A) A double rum ration for the troops

The rum came with an artillery feu de joie. That same day in Paris, ambassadors John Adams and Benjamin Franklin hosted a dinner for their fellow Amer...