Q 01/05

Which school, America's oldest public school, taught both Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin?

A) Roxbury Latin School

B) Hopkins School

C) Phillips Academy

D) Boston Latin School

Answer · why

D) Boston Latin School

Boston Latin School, founded in 1635, sent Adams on to college; Franklin lasted under a year there before his father, daunted by what a college educat...

Q 02/05

Samuel, the Boston patriot, was a second cousin of which future US president?

A) Thomas Jefferson

B) John Quincy Adams

C) John Adams

D) James Monroe

Answer · why

C) John Adams

John Adams, Samuel's second cousin, was the future president; when John reached France in 1778 he had to explain that he was not Samuel, 'the famous A...

Q 03/05

Which college did Samuel Adams enter in 1736 at the age of 14?

A) Yale

B) Harvard

C) William & Mary

D) Princeton

Answer · why

B) Harvard

Harvard admitted Samuel Adams in 1736, when he was 14; his devout parents hoped it would make a minister of him, but he came away drawn to public life...

Q 04/05

Samuel Adams's 1743 master's thesis asked whether it was lawful to do what to save the Commonwealth?

A) Refuse a royal tax

B) Defy an Act of Parliament

C) Resist the Supreme Magistrate

D) Boycott British trade

Answer · why

C) Resist the Supreme Magistrate

Resist the Supreme Magistrate: Adams argued that it was lawful, at a commencement that the royal governor and other Crown officials customarily attend...

Q 05/05

Samuel Adams is often called a brewer, but the family business he inherited made him what by trade?

A) A cooper

B) A distiller

C) A maltster

D) A hop merchant

Answer · why

C) A maltster

A maltster: the Adams malthouse supplied malted barley to Boston's brewers, and he may have brewed a little himself; he had no head for business, and ...