US Presidents

40 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.Which president created the Environmental Protection Agency, in 1970?
- A. Richard Nixon
- B. Ronald Reagan
- C. Jimmy Carter
- D. Lyndon B. Johnson
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Richard Nixon
Did you know? Nixon's 1970 reorganization consolidated federal environmental programs.
2.Which Tennessee president pledged to serve only one term and kept the promise?
- A. James Buchanan
- B. Lyndon B. Johnson
- C. James K. Polk
- D. Rutherford B. Hayes
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James K. Polk
Did you know? Polk's single term acquired California and the Southwest.
3.Which first lady saved Gilbert Stuart's Washington portrait from the burning capital in 1814?
- A. Dolley Madison
- B. Eleanor Roosevelt
- C. Abigail Adams
- D. Mary Todd Lincoln
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Dolley Madison
Did you know? Dolley Madison had the portrait cut from its frame and carried away.
4.Which 1824 election was thrown into the House of Representatives?
- A. the Kennedy-Nixon election
- B. the Hayes-Tilden election
- C. the Lincoln-Douglas election
- D. the John Quincy Adams-Andrew Jackson election
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the John Quincy Adams-Andrew Jackson election
Did you know? No candidate won an electoral majority in 1824; the House decided.
5.Which president kept a broadcasting habit of lighting the national Christmas tree by remote button, from 1923?
- A. Franklin D. Roosevelt
- B. Warren G. Harding
- C. Herbert Hoover
- D. Calvin Coolidge
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Calvin Coolidge
Did you know? Coolidge lit the first national tree electrically on Christmas Eve 1923.
6.Which president earned the nickname "Old Rough and Ready" in the Mexican-American War?
- A. Franklin Pierce
- B. Andrew Jackson
- C. Zachary Taylor
- D. Ulysses S. Grant
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Zachary Taylor
Did you know? Taylor won at Buena Vista in 1847 and entered the White House in 1849.
7.Which international body, championed by Wilson, did the Senate refuse to join?
- A. the League of Nations
- B. the International Labour Organization
- C. the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- D. the United Nations
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the League of Nations
Did you know? The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles in 1919-1920.
8.In the 1800 election, which candidate tied Thomas Jefferson in electoral votes?
- A. Aaron Burr
- B. Alexander Hamilton
- C. John Adams
- D. Charles Pinckney
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Aaron Burr
Did you know? The House chose Jefferson on the thirty-sixth ballot.
9.Which president decided, in 1945, to use the atomic bomb against Japan?
- A. Harry Truman
- B. Dwight D. Eisenhower
- C. Warren Harding
- D. Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Harry Truman
Did you know? Truman ordered the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
10.Which president signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act that repealed the Missouri Compromise?
- A. Millard Fillmore
- B. Zachary Taylor
- C. Franklin Pierce
- D. James Buchanan
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Franklin Pierce
Did you know? Pierce signed the act in May 1854.
11.Which 1920s scandal involved leasing federal oil reserves at Teapot Dome?
- A. the Teapot Dome scandal
- B. the Watergate scandal
- C. the Whiskey Ring
- D. the Credit Mobilier scandal
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the Teapot Dome scandal
Did you know? Interior Secretary Albert Fall went to prison over the 1922 leases.
12.Which amendment, ratified in 1804, separated presidential and vice-presidential ballots?
- A. the Twentieth Amendment
- B. the Tenth Amendment
- C. the Twelfth Amendment
- D. the Fourteenth Amendment
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the Twelfth Amendment
Did you know? The Jefferson-Burr tie of 1800-1801 prompted the Twelfth Amendment.
13.Whose 1844 campaign slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight" pressed claims to Oregon?
- A. Zachary Taylor
- B. Martin Van Buren
- C. James K. Polk
- D. Henry Clay
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James K. Polk
Did you know? Polk settled at the 49th parallel, the border of today's Washington state.
14.Who was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize, honored in 1906?
- A. Jimmy Carter
- B. Theodore Roosevelt
- C. Jane Addams
- D. Woodrow Wilson
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Theodore Roosevelt
Did you know? Roosevelt won for mediating the 1905 end of the Russo-Japanese War.
15.Which president, elected in 1856, watched seven states secede before leaving office?
- A. Franklin Pierce
- B. Andrew Johnson
- C. Millard Fillmore
- D. James Buchanan
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James Buchanan
Did you know? Buchanan held that secession was illegal but that the government could not stop it.
16.Which amendment, ratified in 1951, capped presidents at two elected terms?
- A. the Twenty-Fifth Amendment
- B. the Twenty-Second Amendment
- C. the Twentieth Amendment
- D. the Twelfth Amendment
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the Twenty-Second Amendment
Did you know? The Twenty-Second Amendment entrenched Washington's two-term tradition.
17.Which 1906 law, alongside the Meat Inspection Act, followed Upton Sinclair's exposé?
- A. the Federal Reserve Act
- B. the Pure Food and Drug Act
- C. the Hepburn Act
- D. the Sherman Antitrust Act
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the Pure Food and Drug Act
Did you know? The 1906 act created the precursor of today's FDA.
18.Which president fled the capital as British troops burned Washington in 1814?
- A. James Monroe
- B. James Madison
- C. John Quincy Adams
- D. Andrew Jackson
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James Madison
Did you know? Madison fled before British troops torched the White House in August 1814.
19.Which president signed the five-part Compromise of 1850?
- A. Franklin Pierce
- B. Zachary Taylor
- C. James Buchanan
- D. Millard Fillmore
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Millard Fillmore
Did you know? Fillmore, succeeding the dying Taylor, signed the compromise in September 1850.
20.Which president served the shortest term, dying 31 days after his 1841 inauguration?
- A. James A. Garfield
- B. William Henry Harrison
- C. Zachary Taylor
- D. Warren Harding
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William Henry Harrison
Did you know? Harrison's 8,445-word inaugural, in cold rain, preceded his fatal illness.
21.Which president won the 1824 popular vote but lost the House vote?
- A. Henry Clay
- B. John Quincy Adams
- C. William Crawford
- D. Andrew Jackson
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Andrew Jackson
Did you know? Jackson's 1824 loss was the "corrupt bargain" in his supporters' eyes.
22.Which engineer-president coordinated food relief in Belgium during World War I?
- A. Woodrow Wilson
- B. Franklin D. Roosevelt
- C. Herbert Hoover
- D. Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Herbert Hoover
Did you know? Hoover's Commission for Relief in Belgium fed millions before his presidency.
23.Which president was shot in a Washington railroad station in July 1881?
- A. Gerald Ford
- B. Abraham Lincoln
- C. James A. Garfield
- D. William McKinley
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James A. Garfield
Did you know? Garfield died in September 1881 after infections from the untreated wound.
24.Which president's two terms were called the "Era of Good Feelings"?
- A. Thomas Jefferson
- B. James Monroe
- C. James Madison
- D. John Quincy Adams
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James Monroe
Did you know? Monroe's 1817 Boston visit gave the era its friendly name.
25.Which two presidents died on July 4, 1826, the Declaration's fiftieth anniversary?
- A. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
- B. James Madison and James Monroe
- C. John Adams and James Monroe
- D. George Washington and Benjamin Franklin
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John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
Did you know? Monroe also died on July 4, but in 1831.
26.Which president won the 1912 election as the Republican Party split in two?
- A. Woodrow Wilson
- B. Eugene Debs
- C. Theodore Roosevelt
- D. William Howard Taft
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Woodrow Wilson
Did you know? Wilson won 435 electoral votes against Taft and Roosevelt in 1912.
27.Which president signed the Morrill Act of 1862, endowing the land-grant colleges?
- A. James Buchanan
- B. Ulysses S. Grant
- C. Abraham Lincoln
- D. Andrew Johnson
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Abraham Lincoln
Did you know? The Morrill Act funded universities like Cornell through land sales.
28.Which president was the first born a United States citizen rather than a British subject?
- A. John Tyler
- B. James K. Polk
- C. Martin Van Buren
- D. Franklin Pierce
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Martin Van Buren
Did you know? Van Buren was born in New York in 1782, after independence.
29.Which general became a national hero after capturing Mexico City in 1847?
- A. Zachary Taylor
- B. Santa Anna
- C. Winfield Scott
- D. Ulysses S. Grant
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Winfield Scott
Did you know? Scott's Veracruz-City of Mexico campaign was studied at West Point for decades.
30.Which president threw out the first ceremonial opening-day baseball pitch, in 1910?
- A. William Howard Taft
- B. Calvin Coolidge
- C. Woodrow Wilson
- D. Herbert Hoover
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William Howard Taft
Did you know? Taft's 1910 throw from his Griffith Stadium box began a presidential tradition.
31.Which president escaped an 1835 assassination attempt when both would-be killer's pistols misfired?
- A. Andrew Jackson
- B. Theodore Roosevelt
- C. Abraham Lincoln
- D. James Buchanan
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Andrew Jackson
Did you know? Richard Lawrence fired twice at point-blank range outside the Capitol.
32.Which president completed the annexation of Texas, in 1845?
- A. James K. Polk
- B. Martin Van Buren
- C. Sam Houston
- D. John Tyler
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John Tyler
Did you know? Tyler signed the joint resolution days before Polk's inauguration.
33.Which president's inauguration was the first broadcast on radio, in March 1925?
- A. Warren G. Harding
- B. Calvin Coolidge
- C. Franklin D. Roosevelt
- D. Herbert Hoover
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Calvin Coolidge
Did you know? Coolidge's 1925 inaugural reached millions over the new radio networks.
34.Which president began the White House Easter Egg Roll, in 1878?
- A. Grover Cleveland
- B. Chester Arthur
- C. Rutherford B. Hayes
- D. Benjamin Harrison
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Rutherford B. Hayes
Did you know? Hayes opened the South Lawn to children after Congress banned egg-rolling at the Capitol.
35.Which vice president championed the doctrine of nullification under two presidents?
- A. Aaron Burr
- B. George Dallas
- C. John C. Calhoun
- D. Richard Johnson
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John C. Calhoun
Did you know? Calhoun served as vice president under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.
36.Which 1948 executive order desegregated the United States armed forces?
- A. Executive Order 10925
- B. Executive Order 10730
- C. Executive Order 9066
- D. Executive Order 9981
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Executive Order 9981
Did you know? Truman signed Executive Order 9981 in July 1948.
37.Which president signed the protective tariff nicknamed the "Tariff of Abominations"?
- A. Martin Van Buren
- B. John Adams
- C. Andrew Jackson
- D. John Quincy Adams
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John Quincy Adams
Did you know? The 1828 tariff ignited South Carolina's nullification fight.
38.Whose 1886 wedding was the only presidential marriage held in the White House?
- A. John Tyler
- B. Woodrow Wilson
- C. Benjamin Harrison
- D. Grover Cleveland
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Grover Cleveland
Did you know? Cleveland, 49, married Frances Folsom, 21, in the Blue Room.
39.Which vice president, under Jefferson, was tried for treason after the 1807 Burr conspiracy?
- A. Elbridge Gerry
- B. John Calhoun
- C. George Clinton
- D. Aaron Burr
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Aaron Burr
Did you know? Chief Justice Marshall's trial rules acquitted Burr in September 1807.
40.Which president, expelled by his own Whig party, completed one term without a party?
- A. Millard Fillmore
- B. John Tyler
- C. Chester Arthur
- D. Andrew Johnson
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John Tyler
Did you know? Tyler succeeded Harrison in 1841 and broke with the Whigs within months.

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