Tuesday, June 05, 2007

the weekly posting ...

... that's pretty much what it's come down to, isn't it?

And even worse, don't really have anything personal to post that I can think of off-hand, so I leave you with this:

It’s Test Time!!!
Do You Know More Than America’s College Seniors?

Want to test your knowledge of American history? Here are the 34 questions which were asked of elite college seniors by the Roper Center at the University of Connecticut as part of ACTA’s report Losing America’s Memory. Eighth-one percent received a D or an F.

No Googling or otherwise looking up on the Web, in reference books or asking others!

E-mail me your answers if you want, or just keep them to yourself. I will post the correct answers in a few days ... or a week, more likely. LOL

Oh ... and for the record, I missed 5, for a 29/34, or an 85 — a solid B!!

1. When was the Civil War?
a. 1750-1800
b. 1800-1850
c. 1850-1900
d. 1900-1950
e. After 1950

2. Who said: “Give me liberty or give me death?"
a. John Hancock
b. James Madison
c. Patrick Henry
d. Samuel Adams

3. What is the Magna Carta?
a. The foundation of the British parliamentary system
b. The Great Seal of the monarchs of England
c. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man
d. The charter signed by Pilgrims on the Mayflower

4. The term “Reconstruction” refers to:
a. Payment of European countries’ debts to the United States after the First World War
b. Repairing of the physical damage caused by the Civil War
c. Readmission of the Confederate states and the protection of the rights of Black citizens
d. Rebuilding of the transcontinental railroad and the canal system

5. Are Beavis and Butthead:
a. A radio show
b. Television cartoon characters
c. A musical group
d. Fictional soldiers

6. The Scopes Trial was about:
a. Freedom of the press
b. Teaching evolution in the schools
c. Prayer in the schools
d. Education in private schools

7. The Emancipation Proclamation issued by Lincoln stated that:
a. Slaves were free in areas of the Confederate states not held by the Union
b. The slave trade was illegal
c. Slaves who fled to Canada would be protected
d. Slavery was abolished in the Union.

8. The purpose of the authors of “The Federalist” papers was to:
a. Establish a strong, free press in the colonies
b. Confirm George Washington’s election as the first president
c. Win foreign approval fort the Revolutionary War
d. Gain ratification of the U.S. Constitution

9. Sputnik was the name given to the first:
a. Telecommunications system
b. Animal to travel into space
c. Hydrogen bomb
d. Man-made satellite

10. The Missouri Compromise was the act that:
a. Funded the Lewis and Clark expedition on the upper Missouri River
b. Granted statehood to Missouri but denied the admission of any other states
c. Settled the boundary dispute between Missouri and Kansas
d. Admitted Maine into the Union as a free state and Missouri as a slave state

11. Which documents established the division of powers between the states and the federal government?
a. The Marshall Plan
b. The Constitution
c. The Declaration of Independence
d. The Articles of Confederation

12. When was Thomas Jefferson president?
a. 1780-1800
b. 1800-1820
c. 1840-1860
d. 1860-1880

13. What was the lowest point in American fortunes in the Revolutionary War?
a. Saratoga
b. Bunker Hill
c. Valley Forge
d. Fort Ticonderoga

14. In his farewell address, President George Washington warned against the danger of:
a. Expanding into territories beyond the Appalachian Mountains
b. Having war with Spain over Mexico
c. Entering into permanent alliances with foreign governments
d. Building a standing army and strong navy

15. The Monroe Doctrine declared that:
a. The American blockade of Cuba was in accord with international law
b. Europe should not acquire new territories in the Western Hemisphere
c. Trade with China should be open to all Western nations
d. The annexation of the Philippines was legitimate

16. Who was the European who traveled in the United States and wrote down perceptive comments about what he saw in Democracy in America?
a. Lafayette
b. de Tocqueville
c. Crevecoeur
d. Napoleon

17. Identify Snoop Doggy Dog
a. A rap singer
b. Cartoon by Charles Schulz
c. A mystery series
d. A jazz pianist

18. Abraham Lincoln was president between:
a. 1780-1800
b. 1800-1820
c. 1820-1840
d. 1860-1880

19. Who was the American general at Yorktown?
a. William T. Sherman
b. Ulysses S Grant
c. Douglas MacArthur
d. George Washington

20, John Marshall was the author of:
a. Roe vs. Wade
b. Dred Scott vs. Kansas
c. Marbury vs. Madison
d. Brown vs. Board of Education

21. Who was the “Father of the Constitution?”
a. George Washington
b. Thomas Jefferson
c. Benjamin Franklin
d. James Madison

22. Who said “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country?"
a. John F. Kennedy
b. Benedict Arnold
c. John Brown
d. Nathan Hale

23. What was the source of the following phrase: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people?"
a. The speech: “I Have a Dream”
b. Declaration of Independence
c. U.S. Constitution
d. Gettysburg Address

24. Who was the second president of the United States?
a. Thomas Jefferson
b. James Madison
c. John Adams
d. Benjamin Franklin

25. Who was the president when the U.S. purchased the Panama Canal?
a. Theodore Roosevelt
b. Jimmy Carter
c. Franklin D. Roosevelt
d. Woodrow Wilson

26. Who was the leading advocate for the U.S. entry into the League of Nations?
a. George C. Marshall
b. Woodrow Wilson
c. Henry Cabot Lodge
d. Eleanor Roosevelt

27. Who said, “Speak softly but carry a big stick?"
a. William T. Sherman
b. Sitting Bull
c. John D. Rockefeller
d. Theodore Roosevelt

28. The Battle of the Bulge occurred during:
a. The Vietnam War
b. World War II
c. World War I
d. The Civil War

29. Which of the following was a prominent leader of the Abolitionist Movement?
a. Malcolm X
b. Martin Luther King Jr.
c. W.E.B. Du Bois
d. Frederick Douglass

30. Who was the president of the United States at the beginning of the Korean War?
a. John F. Kennedy
b. Franklin D. Roosevelt
c. Dwight Eisenhower
d. Harry Truman

31. When the United States entered World War II, which two major nations were allied with Germany?
a. Italy and Japan
b. Italy and Poland
c. Italy and Russia
d. Russia and Japan

32. Social legislation passed under President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society Program included:
a. The Sherman Antitrust Act
b. The Voting Rights Act
c. The Tennessee Valley Authority
d. The Civilian Conservation Corps

33. Who was “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen”?
a. George Washington
b. Woodrow Wilson
c. Dwight Eisenhower
d. Abraham Lincoln

34. Who was the leader of the Soviet Union when the United States entered the Second World War?
a. Peter Ustinov
b. Nikita Kruschev
c. Marshal Tito
d. Joseph Stalin