American History: US Citizenship Test Practice Questions

Accepted answers:

• Freedom
• Political liberty
• Religious freedom
• Economic opportunity
• Escape persecution

Many Jamestown colonists wanted economic opportunity, such as land to farm. The Pilgrims came in 1620 for religious freedom.

Accepted answers:

• American Indians
• Native Americans

Native Americans, also called American Indians, lived in the Americas for around 20,000 years before the Europeans arrived.

Accepted answers:

• Africans
• People from Africa

Millions of enslaved Africans were taken to North and South America; the first group was brought to Jamestown in 1619.

Accepted answers:

• American Revolution
• The (American) Revolutionary War
• War for (American) Independence

The Revolutionary War lasted from 1775 to 1783. Great Britain's army surrendered at Yorktown in 1781, and a treaty in 1783 recognized U.S. independence.

Accepted answers:

• High taxes
• Taxation without representation
• British soldiers stayed in Americans’ houses (boarding, quartering)
• They did not have self-government
• Boston Massacre
• Boston Tea Party (Tea Act)
• Stamp Act
• Sugar Act
• Townshend Acts
• Intolerable (Coercive) Acts

Colonists believed it was unfair for Britain to tax them without letting them vote for representatives. They wanted to govern themselves.

Answer: (Thomas) Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted on July 4, 1776.

Answer: July 4, 1776

The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, which is why we celebrate Independence Day on July 4.

Accepted answers:

• (Battle of) Bunker Hill
• Declaration of Independence
• Washington Crossing the Delaware (Battle of Trenton)
• (Battle of) Saratoga
• Valley Forge (Encampment)
• (Battle of) Yorktown (British surrender at Yorktown)

Important events of the Revolutionary War include the battles of Bunker Hill and Saratoga, and the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781.

Accepted answers: Give 5 of these.

• New Hampshire
• Massachusetts
• Rhode Island
• Connecticut
• New York
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania
• Delaware
• Maryland
• Virginia
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Georgia

The 13 original colonies became the first 13 states when the Declaration of Independence was adopted. All of them are on the East Coast.

Answer: (U.S.) Constitution

The Constitution was written in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

Accepted answers:

• (James) Madison
• (Alexander) Hamilton
• (John) Jay
• Publius

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers, and signed the essays “Publius.”

Accepted answers:

• They helped people understand the (U.S.) Constitution.
• They supported passing the (U.S.) Constitution.

The 85 Federalist Papers were essays printed in newspapers in 1787 and 1788. They supported passing the Constitution.

Accepted answers:

• Founded the first free public libraries
• First Postmaster General of the United States
• Helped write the Declaration of Independence
• Inventor
• U.S. diplomat

Franklin was a Founder who, as a diplomat, negotiated the 1783 peace treaty with Great Britain.

Accepted answers:

• “Father of Our Country”
• First president of the United States
• General of the Continental Army
• President of the Constitutional Convention

Washington led the colonial army in the Revolutionary War and was elected the first President in 1789. He is called the “Father of Our Country.”

Accepted answers:

• Writer of the Declaration of Independence
• Third president of the United States
• Doubled the size of the United States (Louisiana Purchase)
• First Secretary of State
• Founded the University of Virginia
• Writer of the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom

Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. The Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the country, took place in 1803.

Accepted answers:

• “Father of the Constitution”
• Fourth president of the United States
• President during the War of 1812
• One of the writers of the Federalist Papers

Madison was at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. He also wrote Federalist Papers essays with Hamilton and Jay.

Accepted answers:

• First Secretary of the Treasury
• One of the writers of the Federalist Papers
• Helped establish the First Bank of the United States
• Aide to General George Washington
• Member of the Continental Congress

Hamilton was at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. With Madison and Jay, he wrote Federalist Papers essays to win support for the Constitution.

Accepted answers:

• Louisiana Territory
• Louisiana

In 1803 the United States bought the Louisiana Territory from France: a large area between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.

Accepted answers:

• War of 1812
• Mexican-American War
• Civil War
• Spanish-American War

For example, the Mexican-American War (1846 to 1848) was fought over Texas and land in the Southwest.

Answer: The Civil War

The Civil War was fought between the North and the South from 1861 to 1865, and the North won.

Accepted answers:

• (Battle of) Fort Sumter
• Emancipation Proclamation
• (Battle of) Vicksburg
• (Battle of) Gettysburg
• Sherman’s March
• (Surrender at) Appomattox
• (Battle of) Antietam/Sharpsburg
• Lincoln was assassinated.

The Civil War began in 1861 and ended with the South’s surrender in April 1865. A few days later, President Lincoln was assassinated.

Accepted answers:

• Freed the slaves (Emancipation Proclamation)
• Saved (or preserved) the Union
• Led the United States during the Civil War
• 16th president of the United States
• Delivered the Gettysburg Address

Lincoln served as President from 1861 to 1865. He signed the Emancipation Proclamation and was assassinated days after the South surrendered.

Accepted answers:

• Freed the slaves
• Freed slaves in the Confederacy
• Freed slaves in the Confederate states
• Freed slaves in most Southern states

Lincoln signed it in 1863. It announced freedom for people enslaved in most Southern states, but most were not freed until the war ended.

Answer: The Civil War

After the Civil War, all enslaved people in the Southern states were freed, and the 13th Amendment made slavery illegal in December 1865.

Answer: 14th Amendment

The 14th Amendment sets the conditions for citizenship by birth in the United States. Naturalization is another way to become a citizen.

Accepted answers:

• After the Civil War
• During Reconstruction
• (With the) 15th Amendment
• 1870

The 15th Amendment, added in 1870, says a male citizen of any race can vote.

Accepted answers:

• Susan B. Anthony
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• Sojourner Truth
• Harriet Tubman
• Lucretia Mott
• Lucy Stone

Susan B. Anthony fought for civil rights in the 1800s and wanted women to have the right to vote.

Accepted answers:

• World War I
• World War II
• Korean War
• Vietnam War
• (Persian) Gulf War

The U.S. fought in World War I from 1917 to 1918 and in World War II from 1941 to 1945.

Accepted answers:

• Because Germany attacked U.S. (civilian) ships
• To support the Allied Powers (England, France, Italy, and Russia)
• To oppose the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria)

The United States joined World War I in 1917, on the side of the Allied Powers against the Central Powers.

Accepted answers:

• 1920
• After World War I
• (With the) 19th Amendment

The 19th Amendment, added in 1920, gave women the right to vote.

Answer: Longest economic recession in modern history

The Great Depression was the worst time for the U.S. economy in American history. Banks and businesses closed, and many people lost jobs and homes.

Accepted answers:

• The Great Crash (1929)
• Stock market crash of 1929

The Great Depression started with the stock market crash of 1929. Franklin Roosevelt became President in 1933.

Answer: (Franklin) Roosevelt

Franklin Roosevelt, President from 1933 to 1945, led the country through both the Great Depression and World War II.

Accepted answers:

• (Bombing of) Pearl Harbor
• Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
• To support the Allied Powers (England, France, and Russia)
• To oppose the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan)

Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. The United States entered World War II the next day.

Accepted answers:

• General during World War II
• President at the end of (during) the Korean War
• 34th president of the United States
• Signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 (Created the Interstate System)

Dwight Eisenhower was a general in World War II and the 34th President, serving from 1953 to 1961.

Accepted answers:

• Soviet Union
• USSR
• Russia

Russia was the largest part of the Soviet Union (USSR). The U.S. and the USSR distrusted each other until the Cold War ended in 1991.

Accepted answers:

• Communism
• Nuclear war

Communism is a type of government that plans the economy, usually under one political party. The U.S. wanted to stop it from spreading.

Answer: To stop the spread of communism

In 1950 communist North Korea invaded South Korea. The U.S. fought to stop communism from spreading, its main Cold War concern.

Answer: To stop the spread of communism

Like the Korean War, the Vietnam War was part of the Cold War effort to stop other countries from becoming communist.

Answer: Fought to end racial discrimination

The movement began soon after World War II. It led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Accepted answers:

• Fought for civil rights
• Worked for equality for all Americans
• Worked to ensure that people would “not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”

King organized peaceful protests against racial discrimination. We honor him with a national holiday on the third Monday in January.

Answer: To force the Iraqi military from Kuwait

The Persian Gulf War is one of the wars the U.S. fought in the 1900s. It freed Kuwait from the Iraqi military.

Accepted answers:

• Terrorists attacked the United States
• Terrorists took over two planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York City
• Terrorists took over a plane and crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia
• Terrorists took over a plane originally aimed at Washington, D.C., and crashed in a field in Pennsylvania

Terrorists hijacked four airplanes: two hit the World Trade Center, one hit the Pentagon, and one crashed in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people died.

Accepted answers:

• (Global) War on Terror
• War in Afghanistan
• War in Iraq

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States fought in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the War on Terror.

Accepted answers:

• Apache
• Blackfeet
• Cayuga
• Cherokee
• Cheyenne
• Chippewa
• Choctaw
• Creek
• Crow
• Hopi
• Huron
• Inupiat
• Lakota
• Mohawk
• Mohegan
• Navajo
• Oneida
• Onondaga
• Pueblo
• Seminole
• Seneca
• Shawnee
• Sioux
• Teton
• Tuscarora

There are over 500 American Indian tribes in the United States, including the Cherokee, Navajo and Sioux.

Accepted answers:

• Light bulb
• Automobile (cars, internal combustion engine)
• Skyscrapers
• Airplane
• Assembly line
• Landing on the moon
• Integrated circuit (IC)

American innovations include the light bulb and the airplane. In 1969 the U.S. became the first country to land a person on the moon.