Events in American History

Revolution

1. How many colonies were there by the time of the French and Indian War?

-        By the time of the French and Indian war in 1754-1763, the population has risen to approximately 1,5 million and there were 13 colonies stretching from Georgia in the South to New Hampshire in the north.

2. What was the slogan of the protesters in Boston?

-        The colonies would stand for “taxation without representation”

3. Where did the Revolutionary War begin?

-        It began in 1755, when some 700 British soldiers marched from Boston to Concord to seize a storehouse of guns and powder and to arrest two leaders of a possible revolution. The Americans knew they were coming, so when they got there the British was met by the local milita. The first shot fired in this encounter is referred to as ‘’the shot heard around the world’’. Eight colonists were killed and the Revolutionary war begun.

4. Where did the colonies declare their independence and when did it happen?

-        On July 4th, 1776, at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, the colonies declared their independence.

Slavery and the Civil War

1. When did the first African slaves arrive in the New World?

-        The first African slaves arrived in the New World as early as 1619.

2. When was the importation of new slaves made illegal?

-        In 1807, the US made importation of new slaves illegal.

3. When did Abraham Lincoln become president?

-        Abraham Lincoln was elected as president in 1860.

4. What did his victory lead to?

-        After he was elected, South Carolina left the union and was followed by 10 other states.

5. Which role did the Emancipation Proclamation play? 

-         Emancipation Proclamation was a document which gave the slaves freedom. 

The USA in WW I and WW II

1. What do we call Woodrow Wilsons policy in the first part of WWI?

-        Isolationism.

2. What made the US enter the war?

-         An American boat was attacked in 1917, Wilson had to declare war on Germany.

3. What was the purpose of the League of Nations?

-        The league of nations was formed to secure peace.

4. When did the US enter WW II?

-        When the WW II broke out in Europe, the US did not initially get directly involved, but they provided the Allies with arms and supplies. But when Japan attacked the US naval base of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, and Hitler declared war on the US four days later, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had no choice but to declare war on Germany and the Axis powers.

5. Which president was responsible for the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

-        Harry S. Truman was responsible for the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

6. How did the wars change life for American women?

-        American women entered the workplace to play their part in the war effort.

The Cold War

1. Why was it a surprise that the US and the USSR did not work together after WW II?

-        Because one would have expected them to work together in reconstruction the post-war world.

2. There was a constant race between the US and the USSR to be in front technologically. Which country was the first country in space?

-        The first country in space was the Soviets, in 1957, with the launching of the Sputnik satellite.

3. Who said: “A small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind”?

-        Neil Armstrong said “ A small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind” when Americans managed to put the first man on the moon.

4. Two men were central in the process of ending the Cold War. Who were they?

-        In the mid-1980s, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev finally sought to end the nuclear arms race.