Q 01/05

In which month of 1812 did the United States declare war on Britain?

A) March

B) June

C) September

D) November

Answer · why

B) June

Madison signed the declaration on the 18th. It was the first time the US had formally declared war on anyone, and by the narrowest margin in its histo...

Q 02/05

What did the anti-war Federalist Party call the conflict?

A) The Impressment War

B) The Canada Folly

C) Jefferson's Legacy

D) Mr. Madison's War

Answer · why

D) Mr. Madison's War

Not one of the 39 Federalists in Congress voted for it. Later Americans rebranded it the 'Second War of Independence', a label historians treat with s...

Q 03/05

Which party supplied the votes for war in June 1812?

A) The National Republicans

B) The Federalists

C) The Anti-Masonic Party

D) The Democratic-Republicans

Answer · why

D) The Democratic-Republicans

The House voted 79 to 49 and the Senate 19 to 13, both strictly along party lines.

Q 04/05

How many of the 39 Federalists in Congress voted in favour of the war?

A) Zero

B) Three

C) Nine

D) Fifteen

Answer · why

A) Zero

Days later a Baltimore mob attacked Federalists for printing anti-war views, starting more than a month of deadly rioting.

Q 05/05

Which British prime minister was assassinated on 11 May 1812, weeks before the war began?

A) Lord Liverpool

B) Spencer Perceval

C) William Pitt

D) George Canning

Answer · why

B) Spencer Perceval

His successor repealed the Orders in Council on 23 June, but the news took three weeks to cross the Atlantic and the war was already on.