American Revolution Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. An officer describes a winter encampment where Baron von Steuben improved Continental Army drills and discipline. Which place is being described?
Morristown
West Point
Fort Ticonderoga
Valley Forge
2. Parliament closes Boston Harbor and tightens control over Massachusetts after the Boston Tea Party. How did the colonies respond politically in 1774?
They drafted the Articles of Confederation immediately
They ratified the United States Constitution
They convened the First Continental Congress
They requested annexation by France
3. What did participants in the Boston Tea Party do in December 1773?
They burned stamped paper outside the Massachusetts legislature
They seized British weapons stored on ships in Boston Harbor
They dumped shipments of East India Company tea into Boston Harbor
They prevented customs officials from collecting the Sugar Act duty
4. What kind of national government did the Articles of Confederation establish?
A loose union in which the states retained most governmental power
A constitutional monarchy with an elected legislature
A federal system with three equally powerful branches
A unitary government controlled by a national executive
5. British regulars march from Boston to seize colonial military supplies in the Massachusetts countryside. Which confrontation results from this mission?
The siege of Charleston
The capture of Fort Ticonderoga
The fighting at Lexington and Concord
The Battle of Kings Mountain
6. Two colonists disagree about independence. One supports resistance to British rule, while the other remains loyal to the Crown. Which labels best distinguish them?
The first is a Federalist, and the second is an Anti-Federalist
The first is a Minuteman, and the second is a Redcoat
The first is a Patriot, and the second is a Loyalist
The first is a republican, and the second is a monarch
7. Why is the American victory at Saratoga considered a major turning point?
It helped persuade France to enter the war as an American ally
It forced Parliament to repeal all colonial taxes
It resulted in the immediate surrender of the British government
It ended organized fighting in the Southern colonies
8. What did Great Britain formally recognize in the 1783 Treaty of Paris?
French control of the thirteen former colonies
The independence of the United States
American control of Canada
The restoration of royal governments in the colonies
9. Who served as commander in chief of the Continental Army during the Revolution?
George Washington
Horatio Gates
Nathanael Greene
Henry Knox
10. Which combination of circumstances most directly trapped the British army at Yorktown in 1781?
A colonial blockade of Boston and a Spanish attack from Florida
A British retreat from Canada and a Patriot uprising in New York City
A Dutch naval victory and a Continental assault from the west
American and French ground forces supported by French control of nearby waters
11. What was the principal purpose of the Declaration of Independence?
To replace the Continental Congress with a permanent federal government
To announce and justify the colonies’ separation from Great Britain
To establish the military strategy of the Continental Army
To negotiate a trade alliance among the thirteen colonies
12. Who wrote the pamphlet Common Sense, which argued forcefully for American independence?
Benjamin Rush
John Dickinson
Samuel Adams
Thomas Paine
13. Which battles marked the opening armed clashes of the American Revolution in April 1775?
Yorktown and Cowpens
Trenton and Princeton
Saratoga and Bemis Heights
Lexington and Concord
14. In 1775, an enslaved man in Virginia hears that people enslaved by rebels may gain freedom by joining British forces. Which measure created this offer?
Dunmore’s Proclamation
The Albany Plan of Union
The Fairfax Resolves
The Olive Branch Petition
15. Washington’s army crosses an ice-filled river on the night of December 25, 1776, before attacking Hessian troops. Which battle follows?
The Battle of Brandywine
The Battle of Trenton
The Battle of Monmouth
The Battle of Bunker Hill
16. A colonial printer in 1765 must pay a duty on newspapers, legal papers, and licenses. Which British measure is affecting the printer?
The Sugar Act
The Stamp Act
The Tea Act
The Quartering Act