American Revolution Quiz

We will be celebrating the 4th of July in a couple of weeks so it seems fitting for us to have a bit of fun along with our preparations.  

July 4th is a special day where we remember that day in 1776 when 13 American colonies declared their independence from British rule.  This came with a tremendous cost.  

How much about the Revolutionary War our fight for freedom do you really remember?

10 True / False Questions

  1. (T or F) The root cause of the Revolutionary War was Britain increasing taxes in an attempt to make the colonies repay them for protection offered during the French and Indian War.
  2. (T or F) The Declaration of Independence was the end of the Revolution. (T or F)
  3. (T or F) France, Spain, and Netherlands fought with the Americans to win the War. 
  4. (T or F) The Constitution was written in 1776. 
  5. (T or F) Not all colonists wanted independence and about 1/3 fought for the British. 
  6. (T or F) The shooting war began with exchange of gunfire at Lexington and Concord in 1775. 
  7. (T or F) The Boston Tea Party was a group of protestors, disguised as Indians, who dumped about 90,000 pounds of tea into the harbor. 
  8. (T or F) Paul Revere, a silversmith, rode to Lexington and Concord to alert the American army about the invasion of the British Soldiers. 
  9. (T or F) A higher percentage of the population died in the American Revolution than in any other war fought by Americans.
  10. (T or F) The end of the shooting war was when Gen. Cornwallis surrendered to Gen. Washington at Yorktown in 1781, but officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Thanks to Bob Watson from our local chapter of The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) for putting together this quiz for you.  Facts from articles by Patrick J. Kiger and the Univ. of Rochester and Battlefields.org Web Sites.  Feel free to contact Bob (beaglebud@satx.rr.com) if you have questions about SAR.  

Oh yes, the answers!  Just keep scrolling down this page.

Quiz answers: (7 of 10 is passing)

  1. True:  Many taxes on goods enraged the colonists.
  2. False:  It merely declared our independence from Britain, but not the end of fighting.
  3. True:  France was an especially important ally.
  4. False:  We celebrate July 4th, 1776 as our independence however, the Constitution, the world’s oldest and longest standing written national constitution in force in the world today, was written in 1787 and ratified in 1788. 
  5. True:  The colonists were not unified with a third supporting Britain.
  6. True:  These battles are considered the official start of the Revolutionary War.
  7. True:  This did not start the war as many think.
  8. True:  Remember “One if by land and two if by sea?” 
  9. True:  It proved to be a very expensive war in loss of soldiers. 
  10. True:  The battles lasted seven years from 1775-1782. The Treaty of Paris officially ended the war in 1783.