Q 01/05

Which Declaration of Independence signer won back the governorship in a landslide after Shays' Rebellion?

A) Benjamin Franklin

B) Elbridge Gerry

C) John Hancock

D) Robert Treat Paine

Answer · why

C) John Hancock

John Hancock had quit the governorship in 1785 citing ill health, though some suspected he saw trouble coming. He returned to trounce the man who had ...

Q 02/05

Which future president, then America's envoy in Paris, shrugged off Shays' Rebellion as healthy for liberty?

A) Thomas Jefferson

B) John Adams

C) John Quincy Adams

D) James Madison

Answer · why

A) Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1787 that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. He refused to be a...

Q 03/05

Which leader of Boston's anti-British protests argued during Shays' Rebellion that rebels should be put to death?

A) Paul Revere

B) John Adams

C) Joseph Warren

D) Samuel Adams

Answer · why

D) Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams backed revolt against a king but held that a republic's wrongs should be fixed at the ballot box. He urged the governor to answer the far...

Q 04/05

Which French officer gave Daniel Shays an ornamental sword that Shays later sold to help pay his debts?

A) Rochambeau

B) Lafayette

C) De Grasse

D) D'Estaing

Answer · why

B) Lafayette

Lafayette presented swords to several of his officers in 1780. Fellow officers frowned on the sale, but Shays argued that he already owned a sword.

Q 05/05

In which town on the Connecticut River did Shays' rebels march on a federal armory in January 1787?

A) Springfield

B) Hartford

C) South Hadley

D) Worcester

Answer · why

A) Springfield

Springfield's arsenal had been the main American weapons store of the war against Britain. It later became the army's chief firearms factory and close...