120+ Top American History Trivia Questions and Answers (2322)

Looking for US history trivia questions and answers? Do you consider yourself an expert in all things American history? Or maybe History class was/is your favorite subject in school. Either way, you're in the right place to put your US history to the test! This series of trivia questions will cover all the major aspects of the history of the United States. So, get all the history buffs in your life together and gear up for a challenging night of trivia!

How to Play

Before things get started, it's important that everyone involved understands how to play. First, make sure everyone playing has a pencil and a piece of paper to record their answers. After that, choose one player to be the "game head."

The game head is in charge of asking all the questions, providing players with the correct answers, and keeping track of everyone's points. That said, a player receives one point for every correct answer they earn. Then, the player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner!

Also, if you and your history buff friends can't get together in person, you can play this United States history trivia game via text message! To do so, simply have the game head create a group chat with all the players involved. The game head will then send the questions via text.

Now that everyone understands the rules get ready for a night of exciting US trivia!

American Revolution History Trivia

Trivia Question: Who was the American Revolutionary War fought against:

Answer: Great Britain.

Trivia Question: What year did the Revolutionary War end?

Answer: 1783.

Trivia Question: Which Act of Parliament eventually led to the American Revolution?

Answer: The Stamp Act of 1776.

Trivia Question: The Boston Massacre started with a disagreement over what?

Answer: A wig.

Trivia Question: Which future US president was the defense lawyer for the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre?

Answer: John Adams.

Trivia Question: What was the first governing document of the United States?

Answer: The Articles of Confederation.

Trivia Question: How many principle Founding Fathers are there?

Answer: Seven.

Trivia Question: Which Founding Fathers negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris?

Answer: John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin.

Trivia Question: Which Founding Father was the country's first Chief Justice?

Answer: John Jay.

Trivia Question: When did the Continental Congress adopt the Declaration of Independence?

Answer: July 4, 1776.

Trivia Question: Who was tasked with making copies of the Declaration of Independence?

Answer: John Dunlap.

Trivia Question: When was the Declaration of Independence signed by a majority of the Continental Congress?

Answer: August 2, 1776.

History Trivia Question: Who was the youngest person to sign the Declaration of Independence?

Answer: Edward Rutledge (26 years old).

History Trivia Question: What was the population of the newly created United States?

Answer: Just under four million.

History Trivia Question: When was the American flag established as the country's official flag?

Answer: June 14, 1777.

History Trivia Question: Where did Continental Congress sign the Declaration of Independence?

Answer: Independence Hall.

History Trivia Question: Why did Benjamin Franklin want a turkey to be the national bird?

Answer: He thought it was a much more respectable bird.

Trivia Question: John Hancock was the first Governor of what state?

Answer: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Trivia Question: Which country gifted the United States the Statue of Liberty?

Answer: France.

Trivia Question: Why did France give the United States the Statue of Liberty?

Answer: To commemorate the alliance between the two countries.

Trivia Question: What does the Liberty Bell symbolize?

Answer: The United States' freedom.

Boston Tea Party US History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: What act was the Boston Tea Party protesting?

Answer: The Tea Act of May 10, 1773.

Trivia Question: What brand of tea was destroyed during the Boston Tea Party?

Answer: East India Company tea.

Trivia Question: Which secret revolutionary organization was credited for the Boston Tea Party?

Answer: The Sons of Liberty.

Trivia Question: What was the name of the only person arrested after the protest?

Answer: Francis Akeley.

Trivia Question: How did the protestors disguise themselves at the Boston Tea Party?

Answer: Using Native American costumes.

Trivia Question: What were the name of the laws passed after this protest?

Answer: The Intolerable Acts.

George Washington History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: When is George Washington's birthday?

Answer: February 22, 1732.

Trivia Question: How many terms did George Washington serve as President?

Answer: Two.

Trivia Question: Who was the Vice President when George Washington was President of the United States?

Answer: John Adams.

Trivia Question: What material were George Washington's false teeth carved from?

Answer: Ivory.

Civil War US History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: What Civil War battle resulted in the most casualties?

Answer: The Battle of Gettysburg.

Trivia Question: What was the first state to secede from the Union?

Answer: South Carolina.

Trivia Question: How long did Lincoln's Gettysburg Address last?

Answer: Less than two minutes.

Trivia Question: Which Native American tribes allied with the Confederacy during the American Civil War?

Answer: Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee.

Trivia Question: Which Confederate spy was known as the "Siren of Shenandoah"?

Answer: Belle Boyd.

Trivia Question: General Robert E Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in what city?

Answer: Appomattox, Virginia.

Trivia Question: What happened after General Robert E Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Court House?

Answer: The Civil War ended.

Abraham Lincoln History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: What number president was Abraham Lincoln?

Answer: 16.

Trivia Question: President Abraham Lincoln was the first president from what political party?

Answer: Republican.

Trivia Question: How many children did Abraham Lincoln have?

Answer: Four.

Trivia Question: Who was the Vice President while Lincoln was President?

Answer: Hannibal Hamlin.

Trivia Question: After Lincoln was assassinated, who took over?

Answer: President Andrew Johnson.

More US President US History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: Who was the only President to serve the Confederacy during the Civil War?

Answer: John Tyler.

Trivia Question: How long was Bill Clinton president?

Answer: From 1993-2001.

Trivia Question: Who was the first president to be interviewed by a female reporter?

Answer: John Quincy Adams.

Trivia Question: After losing his reelection campaign for president, John Quincy Adams was a Congressman for what state?

Answer: Massachusetts.

Trivia Question: Which four presidents have faces on Mount Rushmore?

Answer: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Trivia Question: Which Presidential election was the most lop-sided?

Answer: James Monroe and John Quincy Adas (231-1 Electoral College results, respectively).

Trivia Question: The president born on July 4, 1872, was who?

Answer: John Calvin Coolidge Jr.

Trivia Question: Which president signed the Affordable Care Act into action?

Answer: Barack Obama.

Trivia Question: Before he was president, Barack Obama served as a state senator for what state?

Answer: Illinois.

Trivia Question: Who was the first president to live in the White House?

Answer: John Adams.

Trivia Question: Which United States president was the only to also serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?

Answer: William Howard Taft.

Trivia Question: Which United States president won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1906?

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt.

Trivia Question: Who was the fourth president in American history to win a Nobel Peace Prize?

Answer: Barack Obama.

Trivia Question: Who was the first president of the United States to be impeached?

Answer: Andrew Jackson.

World War II History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: What industrialist businessman initially opposed World War II?

Answer: Henry Ford.

Trivia Question: What event led Roosevelt to declare war on Japan?

Answer: The Japanese attack on the US naval base in Pearl Harbor.

Trivia Question: Where were the Olympic games held during World War II?

Answer: Berlin, Germany.

Trivia Question: On which Japanese cities did the United States drop atomic bombs on?

Answer: Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Trivia Question: How many US troops were involved in this war?

Answer: A little over 16 million.

Trivia Question: What year did the US enter the Second World War?

Answer: 1941.

General American History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: When did the Salem witch trials take place?

Answer: February 1692 to May 1693.

Trivia Question: Approximately how people were accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials?

Answer: More than two hundred.

Trivia Question: Who was the first woman to admit to practicing witchcraft during the Salem witch trials?

Answer: Tituba.

Trivia Question: How old was the youngest person accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials?

Answer: Four years old.

Trivia Question: Who was the most favorite female conductor for the Underground Railroad?

Answer: Harriet Tubman.

Trivia Question: How did the United States acquire the state of South Dakota?

Answer: During the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.

Trivia Question: How much did the United States pay for the Louisiana Territory from Napolean?

Answer: $11 million.

Trivia Question: Who was the leader of the first permanent English settlement in North America?

Answer: John Smith.

Trivia Question: What was the name of the settlement John Smith established?

Answer: The Jamestown Colony.

Trivia Question: What tribal nation occupied the area where Jamestown was later established?

Answer: The Powhatan tribal nation.

Challenging US History Trivia

Trivia Question: What year did the British burn the White House?

Answer: 1814.

Trivia Question: How many square miles did the Great Chicago Fire destroy?

Answer: 3.5 square miles.

Trivia Question: What agency was kept a federal secret until 1975?

Answer: The National Security Agency.

Trivia Question: When was the Secret Service founded?

Answer: July 5, 1865.

Trivia Question: What year did the United States start expanding towards the Pacific coast?

Answer: 1803.

Trivia Question: When was the final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation finished?

Answer: January 1, 1863.

Modern US History Questions

Trivia Question: When was same-sex marriage legalized in the United States?

Answer: June 26, 2015.

Trivia Question: When was the Empire State Building constructed?

Answer: In the late 1920s.

Trivia Question: Which American woman helped initiate the civil rights movement after refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man?

Answer: Rosa Parks.

Trivia Question: Where was Rosa Parks arrested for not giving up her bus seat?

Answer: Montgomery, Alabama.

Trivia Question: What is the nickname for the basketball court located in the Supreme Court?

Answer: The Highest Court in the Land.

Trivia Question: What year was the Civil Rights Act implemented?

Answer: 1964.

Trivia Question: What does the Civil Rights Act prohibit?

Answer: Discrimination in public and federally-funded places and programs.

Trivia Question: Who was the first woman to publicly oppose the Equal Rights Amendment?

Answer: Phyllis Schlafly.

Trivia Question: When did the first person in American history step on the moon?

Answer: July 20, 1969.

Trivia Question: Where was Osama Bin Laden killed?

Answer: Pakistan.

Trivia Question: Where did Donald Trump announce he would be running for president?

Answer: Trump Tower, New York City.

Trivia Question: In what state did the United States detonate the first atomic bomb?

Answer: New Mexico.

Trivia Question: In what current state is Pearl Harbor?

Answer: Hawaii.

Trivia Question: On what day was John F. Kennedy assassinated?

Answer: November 22, 1963.

Trivia Question: In what state did the John F. Kennedy assassination take place?

Answer: Texas.

Trivia Question: Before becoming the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, what US state did Charles Lindbergh take off from?

Answer: New York.

Trivia Question: What year did the Exxon Valdez oil tanker leak millions of gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound?

Answer: 1989.

Trivia Question: In which state is Prince William Sound located?

Answer: Alaska.

Industrial Revolution Trivia

Trivia Question: In what century did the Industrial Revolution start?

Answer: The 18th Century.

Trivia Question: What invention did Jethro Tull craft to make agriculture more productive?

Answer: The seed drill.

Trivia Question: If someone had a job as a trapper, where did they work?

Answer: In the coal mines.

Trivia Question: Who invented the cotton gin?

Answer: Eli Whitney.

Trivia Question: What was the highly infectious disease that spread throughout the Industrial Revolution?

Answer: Cholera.

Trivia Question: In what area of the United States did much of the Industrial Revolution originate?

Answer: Eastern Pennsylvania.

The War of 1812 History Trivia

Trivia Question: How long did the War of 1812 last?

Answer: From June 18, 1812 to February 17, 1815.

Trivia Question: How did the War of 1812 start?

Answer: The United States declared war on Britain and invaded Canada shortly after.

Trivia Question: What was the result of the Battle of Stoney Creek?

Answer: A British and Indian victory that ended the American conquest of Upper Canada.

Trivia Question: What ship did HMS Shannon defeat on June 1, 1813?

Answer: The USS Chesapeake.

Trivia Question: In 1814, the British and attacked and captured the majority of what US state?

Answer: Maine.

Trivia Question: What territory did the British capture that forced the US government to flee?

Answer: Washing DC.

Trivia Question: During what battle was "The Star Spangled Banner" written?

Answer: The Battle of Baltimore.

Trivia Question: What was the final battle of the War of 1812?

Answer: The Battle of Fort Bowyer.

Great Depression History Questions

Trivia Question: Which of Roosevelt's New Deal agencies was known as the CCC?

Answer: The Civilian Conservation Corps.

Trivia Question: What did the Agricultural Adjustment Act do?

Answer: Paid farmers to not grow certain crops.

Trivia Question: What resulted from farmers abusing their topsoil, causing it to thin?

Answer: The Dust Bowl.

Trivia Question: When did the stock market crash occur?

Answer: October 1929.

Trivia Question: On October 23, how many points did the Dow Jones lose per hour?

Answer: About 21 points per hour.

Trivia Question: Which of Roosevelt's New Deal agencies is known as the FDIC?

Answer: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Trivia Question: What program hired people to build schools, hospitals, parks, and airports?

Answer: The Works Progress Administration.

Trivia Question: Franklin D. Roosevelt belonged to which political party?

Answer: Democrat.

Trivia Question: Who was the president when the Great Depression started?

Answer: Herbert Hoover.

Trivia Question: Why was the Civil Works Administration terminated?

Answer: It was too costly.

Trivia Question: What does the FDIC do?

Answer: Insures savings accounts in banks that are approved by the government.

Trivia Question: What were the names of the shanty towns where homeless people lived?

Answer: Hoovervilles.

Trivia Question: How much did stock prices fall from 1930 to 1933?

Answer: 80%.

Trivia Question: What did the Fair Labor Standards Act do?

Answer: It served as the first minimum wage Act.

The Vietnam War Trivia

Trivia Question: Before the United States became more involved in the Vietnam War, what was the primary nation opposing Ho Chi Minh?

Answer: France.

Trivia Question: Who was the first American soldier to die in Vietnam?

Answer: Lt. Col. A. Peter Dewey.

Trivia Question: What was the name of the confrontation that occurred on August 2, 1964?

Answer: The Gulf of Tonkin Incident.

Trivia Question: Which four presidents were in office and involved in the Vietnam War?

Answer: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon.

Trivia Question: What was the name of the US bombing campaign that was designed to stop men and supplies from traveling the Ho Chi Minh Trail?

Answer: Operation Rolling Thunder.

Trivia Question: What year did the United States initiate Operating Rolling Thunder?

Answer: 1965.

Trivia Question: What was the name of the major attack by Northern Vietnam on January 30, 1968?

Answer: The Tet Offensive.

Trivia Question: Which South Vietnamese leader was assassinated by his own generals in 1963?

Answer: Ngo Dinh Diem.

Trivia Question: What is the name of the massacre by US soldiers on March 16, 1968?

Answer: My Lai Massacre.

Trivia Question: Who was the only person convicted of war crimes for the My Lai Massacre?

Answer: William Calley.

Trivia Question: Approximately how many Americans were killed or listed as "Missing in Action" during the Vietnam War?

Answer: About 58,000.

Trivia Question: During the war, what was the capital of South Vietnam?

Answer: Saigon.

Trivia Question: What was the name of the utility helicopter that was considered the "workhorse" in the war?

Answer: Huey.

Trivia Question: How many people were awarded the Medal of Honor for their service in the Vietnam War?

Answer: 239.

Trivia Question: What was napalm used for in the war?

Answer: Bombs and flamethrowers.

Trivia Question: What percentage of The United States' military force was African American?

Answer: 10.6%.

Martin Luther King Trivia

Trivia Question: What is the name of the famous boycott Martin Luther King Jr. helped organize?

Answer: The Montgomery bus boycott.

Trivia Question: When did the Montgomery bus boycott start?

Answer: December 5, 1955.

Trivia Question: Where did Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his famous "I Have a Dream" speech?

Answer: Washington, DC.

Trivia Question: What is the name of the civil rights organization Martin Luther King Jr. founded in 1957?

Answer: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Trivia Question: Besides King, who else helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference?

Answer: Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth, and Joseph Lowery.

Trivia Question: When is Martin Luther King Jr. Day observed in the United States?

Answer: On the third Monday of January.

Trivia Question: What is the name of the granite sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. located in the National Mall in Washington DC?

Answer: The Stone of Hope.

Trivia Question: Where was Martin Luther King Jr. when he was assassinated?

Answer: Memphis, Tennessee.

Trivia Question: Which president signed the holiday Martin Luther King Day into law?

Answer: Ronald Reagan.

Trivia Question: What year did Ronald Reagan make Martin Luther King Day a national holiday?

Answer: 1983.

Watergate Scandal Trivia

Trivia Question: On what day did the Watergate break-in take place?

Answer: June 17, 1972.

Trivia Question: How many people were arrested for the Watergate scandal incident?

Answer: Five.

Trivia Question: Where were all of the arrested five men employed?

Answer: Committee to Re-Elect the President.

Trivia Question: Who was eventually revealed to be "Deep Throat"?

Answer: Mark Felt.

Trivia Question: How was Nixon discovered to be involved in the Watergate scandal?

Answer: The Oval Office had been recorded on tape.

Trivia Question: Who was the Democratic candidate for the 1972 election?

Answer: George McGovern.

Trivia Question: What was the name of the Attorney General who went to jail for his involvement in the Watergate scandal?

Answer: John Mitchell.

Trivia Question: What magazine broke the Watergate scandal news to the American public?

Answer: Washington Post.

Trivia Question: Besides Watergate, what was the other scandal that occurred during Nixon's time as president?

Answer: Spiro Agnew's resignation over criminal charges.

Trivia Question: When did Nixon resign as president?

Answer: August 1974.

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