US history trivia

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Library edition words from USCIS

The history questions from the official citizenship test, with every answer it accepts.

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Words from
USCIS 2025 civics test (M-1778). A U.S. government work, free to use.
Edition
128 Civics Questions and Answers, 2025 version (form M-1778, 09/25)
Checked
Word for word against the source, on 16 October 2026.
How it was made
Each question and every answer it accepts, the answers joined one to a line.Questions whose answers depend on who is in office or where you live are left out.
Edited by
Aheadso chose the cards and set them out.Every word on them is the source’s.
On the shelf
US history · 46 cards · 3 topics

The cards

  1. The colonists came to America for many reasons. Name one.Colonial Period and IndependenceFreedom; Political liberty; Religious freedom; Economic opportunity; Escape persecution
  2. Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?Colonial Period and IndependenceAmerican Indians; Native Americans
  3. What group of people was taken and sold as slaves?Colonial Period and IndependenceAfricans; People from Africa
  4. What war did the Americans fight to win independence from Britain?Colonial Period and IndependenceAmerican Revolution; The (American) Revolutionary War; War for (American) Independence
  5. Name one reason why the Americans declared independence from Britain.Colonial Period and IndependenceHigh 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
  6. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?Colonial Period and Independence(Thomas) Jefferson
  7. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?Colonial Period and IndependenceJuly 4, 1776
  8. The American Revolution had many important events. Name one.Colonial Period and Independence(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)
  9. There were 13 original states. Name five.Colonial Period and IndependenceNew Hampshire; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut; New York; New Jersey; Pennsylvania; Delaware; Maryland; Virginia; North Carolina; South Carolina; Georgia
  10. What founding document was written in 1787?Colonial Period and Independence(U.S.) Constitution
  11. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.Colonial Period and Independence(James) Madison; (Alexander) Hamilton; (John) Jay; Publius
  12. Why were the Federalist Papers important?Colonial Period and IndependenceThey helped people understand the (U.S.) Constitution.; They supported passing the (U.S.) Constitution.
All 46 cards
  1. Benjamin Franklin is famous for many things. Name one.Colonial Period and IndependenceFounded the first free public libraries; First Postmaster General of the United States; Helped write the Declaration of Independence; Inventor; U.S. diplomat
  2. George Washington is famous for many things. Name one.Colonial Period and Independence“Father of Our Country”; First president of the United States; General of the Continental Army; President of the Constitutional Convention
  3. Thomas Jefferson is famous for many things. Name one.Colonial Period and IndependenceWriter 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
  4. James Madison is famous for many things. Name one.Colonial Period and Independence“Father of the Constitution”; Fourth president of the United States; President during the War of 1812; One of the writers of the Federalist Papers
  5. Alexander Hamilton is famous for many things. Name one.Colonial Period and IndependenceFirst 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
  6. What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?1800sLouisiana Territory; Louisiana
  7. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.War of 1812; Mexican-American War; Civil War; Spanish-American War
  8. Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.1800sThe Civil War
  9. The Civil War had many important events. Name one.1800s(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.
  10. Abraham Lincoln is famous for many things. Name one.1800sFreed 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
  11. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?1800sFreed the slaves; Freed slaves in the Confederacy; Freed slaves in the Confederate states; Freed slaves in most Southern states
  12. What U.S. war ended slavery?1800sThe Civil War
  13. What amendment says all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are U.S. citizens?1800s14th Amendment
  14. When did all men get the right to vote?1800sAfter the Civil War; During Reconstruction; (With the) 15th Amendment; 1870
  15. Name one leader of the women’s rights movement in the 1800s.Susan B. Anthony; Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Sojourner Truth; Harriet Tubman; Lucretia Mott; Lucy Stone
  16. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.Recent historyWorld War I; World War II; Korean War; Vietnam War; (Persian) Gulf War
  17. Why did the United States enter World War I?Recent historyBecause 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)
  18. When did all women get the right to vote?Recent history1920; After World War I; (With the) 19th Amendment
  19. What was the Great Depression?Recent historyLongest economic recession in modern history
  20. When did the Great Depression start?Recent historyThe Great Crash (1929); Stock market crash of 1929
  21. Who was president during the Great Depression and World War II?Recent history(Franklin) Roosevelt
  22. Why did the United States enter World War II?Recent history(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)
  23. Dwight Eisenhower is famous for many things. Name one.Recent historyGeneral 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)
  24. Who was the United States’ main rival during the Cold War?Recent historySoviet Union; USSR; Russia
  25. During the Cold War, what was one main concern of the United States?Recent historyCommunism; Nuclear war
  26. Why did the United States enter the Korean War?Recent historyTo stop the spread of communism
  27. Why did the United States enter the Vietnam War?Recent historyTo stop the spread of communism
  28. What did the civil rights movement do?Recent historyFought to end racial discrimination
  29. Martin Luther King, Jr. is famous for many things. Name one.Recent historyFought 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”
  30. Why did the United States enter the Persian Gulf War?Recent historyTo force the Iraqi military from Kuwait
  31. What major event happened on September 11, 2001 in the United States?Recent historyTerrorists 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
  32. Name one U.S. military conflict after the September 11, 2001 attacks.Recent history(Global) War on Terror; War in Afghanistan; War in Iraq
  33. Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.Recent historyApache; Blackfeet; Cayuga; Cherokee; Cheyenne; Chippewa; Choctaw; Creek; Crow; Hopi; Huron; Inupiat; Lakota; Mohawk; Mohegan; Navajo; Oneida; Onondaga; Pueblo; Seminole; Seneca; Shawnee; Sioux; Teton; Tuscarora
  34. For a complete list of tribes, please visit bia.gov. Name one example of an American innovation.Recent historyLight bulb; Automobile (cars, internal combustion engine); Skyscrapers; Airplane; Assembly line; Landing on the moon; Integrated circuit (IC)

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Every card here is copied word for word from its source.None of it is written by AI.