American Symbols & Culture
This bird was chosen in 1782 as the national symbol of the United States.
What is the Bald Eagle?
This Supreme Court case in 1954 declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
What is Brown v. Board of Education?
This river formed the eastern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
What is the Mississippi River?
This is the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
What is the Bill of Rights?
He was the first President of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797.
Who is George Washington?
This song, written during the War of 1812, later became the national anthem of the United States.
What is “The Star-Spangled Banner”?
In 1955, this Montgomery seamstress refused to give up her bus seat, sparking a boycott.
Who is Rosa Parks?
Pioneers heading west to fertile farmland in the 1840s traveled along this famous trail.
Pioneers heading west to fertile farmland in the 1840s traveled along this famous trail.
This branch of government is responsible for making laws.
What is the Legislative Branch?
This President issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
Who is Abraham Lincoln?
This statue, gifted by France in 1886, stands in New York Harbor as a symbol of freedom and democracy.
What is the Statue of Liberty?
This 1963 speech at the March on Washington called for racial equality and justice.
What is the “I Have a Dream” speech?
Nicknamed “Seward’s Folly,” this 1867 purchase added over 586,000 square miles to U.S. territory.
What is the Alaska Purchase?
This principle ensures that no one branch of government becomes too powerful.
What are checks and balances?
Known for his “Square Deal,” this President was also famous for leading the Rough Riders.
Who is Theodore Roosevelt?
This holiday, first celebrated nationally in 1863, is a day of gratitude and family gatherings in the U.S.
What is Thanksgiving?
This 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery highlighted the struggle for voting rights and led to new legislation.
What is the Selma March (Bloody Sunday)?
Signed in 1848, this treaty ended the Mexican American War and gave the U.S. much of the Southwest.
What is the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
This landmark Supreme Court case established judicial review in 1803.
What is Marbury v. Madison?
This President’s leadership during the Great Depression and World War II made him the only one elected to four terms.
Who is Franklin D. Roosevelt?
This bell, located in Philadelphia, is an enduring symbol of American independence and is famously cracked.
What is the Liberty Bell?
This landmark legislation, passed in 1965, outlawed discriminatory voting practices such as literacy tests.
What is the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
This 19th-century belief held that the U.S. was destined to expand across the North American continent.
What is Manifest Destiny?
This clause in the Constitution gives Congress the power to make laws “necessary and proper” for carrying out its duties.
What is the Elastic Clause (Necessary and Proper Clause)?
This principle of leadership emphasizes that the President must enforce laws faithfully, even if unpopular.
What is the principle of executive responsibility (or “faithful execution of the law”)?