Q 01/05

Which Union general accepted Robert E. Lee's surrender in 1865 and won the presidency three years later?

A) Rutherford B. Hayes

B) Ulysses S. Grant

C) James A. Garfield

D) Benjamin Harrison

Answer · why

B) Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant offered generous terms at Appomattox: Lee's soldiers could go home on parole, and those who owned horses could keep them.

Q 02/05

Which U.S. President led the country through the Civil War?

A) Andrew Johnson

B) Abraham Lincoln

C) James Buchanan

D) Ulysses S. Grant

Answer · why

B) Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln's election in November 1860 prompted seven slave states to leave the Union before he had even taken office.

Q 03/05

Who was the youngest person ever elected to the U.S. presidency?

A) Theodore Roosevelt

B) Bill Clinton

C) John F. Kennedy

D) Barack Obama

Answer · why

C) John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy was 43 when he won in 1960; Theodore Roosevelt took office younger, at 42, but only by succeeding an assassinated president, not by wi...

Q 04/05

Who was the first U.S. President to serve two non-consecutive terms?

A) Woodrow Wilson

B) Benjamin Harrison

C) William Howard Taft

D) Grover Cleveland

Answer · why

D) Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland won the popular vote in 1888 but lost the Electoral College to Benjamin Harrison, then came back to beat Harrison in their 1892 remat...

Q 05/05

Which US President is the only person to have also served as Chief Justice?

A) John Quincy Adams

B) William Howard Taft

C) Benjamin Harrison

D) Herbert Hoover

Answer · why

B) William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft's lifelong ambition was the court, not the White House: he twice turned down a Supreme Court seat to finish his work in the Philip...