Fourth of July Trivia

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

Test your Fourth of July knowledge with these questions:

(The answers are below.....no peeking!)

1.) How many people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776?

2.) How many (former) presidents died on the Fourth of July?

3.) What is the name of the oldest commissioned U.S. Navy vessel?

4.) In what year did Congress declare the Fourth of July a national holiday?

5.) Why does Williamsburg, Virginia celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 25th?

6.) Which U.S. president died from food ingested on the Fourth of July?

7.) Which southern city surrendered on July 4, 1863, during the War of Northern Aggression? (That would be the Civil War, for all of the Yankees out there.)

8.) What gift was given to the United States on July 4, 1884?

9.) What happened in England on July 4, 1918?

10.) What occurred on July 4, 1960 that has not happened since then?

Bonus Points: Which President was BORN on the Fourth of July?



Answers:
1. ) Two – John Hancock, Presiding Officer of the Second Continental Congress, and Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Congress

2. ) Three – John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe. Adams and Jefferson actually died on the same day, fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

3.) The Constitution

4.) 1941

5.) The news of the signing did not reach the colonial capitol of Virginia until July 25th.

6.) Zachary Taylor. Taylor attended the dedication of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument on the Fourth of July, 1850. He rushed back to the White House, where he hurriedly ate a bowl of cherries. He had abdominal cramping shortly afterward, and died five days later of “food poisoning.”

7.) Vicksburg, Mississippi. Incidentally, the South suffered a devastating loss on the battlefield at Gettysburg on the same day.

8.) The Statue of Liberty was given to the United States by France.

9.) Ironically, England celebrated American independence with an official holiday. This was done as gesture of respect and gratitude for the Americans who were fighting side by side with the British in World War I.

10.) The U.S. flag was raised with an additional (the 50th) star.

Bonus Answer: Calvin Coolidge