Test Your Memory With This High School U.S. History Quiz

From 1789 until 1947, the secretary of war served as a member of the U.S. President’s Cabinet. The role was created to supervise all military functions, though in 1798 the Navy was made a separate department. The first individual to hold the position was Henry Knox, and Kenneth C. Royall served as the last secretary of war in 1947 before the department’s reorganization.

The 1803 Marbury v. Madison decision was the first major case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision established the concept of “judicial review,” which gave the court the right to decide whether any laws or executive actions violated the Constitution. The landmark case essentially provided the Supreme Court with the authority for all future decisions it would make.

In 1791, a whiskey tax was levied on farmers and distillers that was met with immediate protest despite the support of local governments. Three years later, a group in western Pennsylvania rebelled against the tax, and President George Washington was forced to send troops to quell the riots. The tax was eventually repealed in 1802 under President Thomas Jefferson.

Teapot Dome was a scandal involving the secret leasing of federal oil reserves by Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, who had been granted supervision of the reserves by President Warren G. Harding. Fall came under investigation and it was found that he had personally benefited from the leases. “Teapot Dome” entered the American lexicon as a term for political corruption.

The Whig Party was formed in 1834 in opposition to President Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party. The Whigs saw four of their members go on to become U.S. President: William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, John Tyler, and Millard Fillmore. At the time it was formed, the party’s leader was former Speaker of the House Henry Clay, who was nicknamed the “Great Compromiser” for his negotiation skills.

After French officials tried and failed to build a canal in the same region years earlier, the U.S. purchased Panama’s canal zone for $40 million in 1902. Construction commenced in 1904, and while it was still on track during a visit from President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, the project suffered several setbacks and wasn’t completed until 1914.

The Seneca Falls Convention was held on July 19 and 20 of 1848, helping to launch the women’s suffrage movement. The meeting was organized in part by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who along with abolitionist Frederick Douglass gave impassioned speeches in support of women’s rights. Seventy-two years later, the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote.

On December 20, 1860, just after Abraham Lincoln was elected President, South Carolina seceded from the United States, becoming the first state to do so. Six other states seceded before the Civil War officially began: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas. Later, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee joined the Confederacy after the April 1861 attack on Fort Sumter, which marked the start of war.

Grover Cleveland is the only U.S. President to serve two nonconsecutive terms, holding the role of America’s 22nd and 24th commander in chief. Cleveland’s first term lasted from 1885 to 1889, when he was succeeded by Benjamin Harrison. A few years later, Cleveland defeated Harrison in the 1892 election, and held the presidency once again until 1897.

John Jay was appointed by President George Washington as the first chief justice of the United States. Jay took the oath on October 19, 1789, and held the position until June 29, 1795. The longest-serving chief justice in U.S. history is John Marshall, who held the role from February 4, 1801, until July 6, 1835.

While Alaska was admitted as the 49th state on January 3, 1959, and Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21 of that same year, Arizona was the last geographically contiguous admission to the nation. The 48th state officially joined the United States on February 14, 1912, just over a month after New Mexico was admitted.

When Charles Lindbergh made history on May 21, 1927, for completing the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, he did so in a monoplane named the Spirit of St. Louis. The now-famous moniker was reportedly a nod to the group of St. Louis businessmen who helped fund Lindbergh's flight and custom aircraft.

Beginning in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt expanded the role of the U.S. federal government by instituting a series of sweeping programs and reforms to provide relief during the Great Depression. FDR’s New Deal ended Prohibition, guaranteed the right for workers to unionize, and created Social Security, along with countless other initiatives that continue to impact America today.

Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans debated their potential role in World War II. One day after the attack occurred on December 7, 1941, the U.S. declared war on Japan. In turn, Japan’s allies Germany and Italy declared war against the U.S., forcing the nation to end its isolationist stance and join the conflict.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed one of the most ambitious public works projects into law: the Federal Highway Act. It added more than 47,000 miles of roadway across the United States, increasing ease of travel for American citizens and cementing the automobile as the dominant form of transportation in the U.S.