| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| This country received a document known as the “letter of the two sorries” from the American ambassador, which helped defuse a 2001 incident in which an U.S. plane collided with a plane from this country. Conspiracy theorists thought the U.S.’ bombing of this country’s embassy in Belgrade in 1999 may have been deliberate. The president of this country met with Barack Obama at a 2013 summit at the Sunnylands estate in California. In 2017, the U.S. challenged this country’s claim to the Spratly Islands. Donald Trump once claimed that global warming was an invention of, for the point, what Asian country, which has been targeted by Trump tariffs? | People’s Republic of China [or PRC] |
| The death of a man in this country is chronicled in Jon Krakauer’s book Where Men Win Glory. A 2012 video showed Americans urinating on dead bodies in this country. General Gary Jones wrote a report concluding American soldiers in this country burned a high-profile colleague’s uniform to cover up the fact that he had died in friendly fire. Former NFL player turned soldier Pat Tillman died in this country. After Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. backed the new government of Hamid Karzai in this country. For the point, what country was invaded by the U.S. in October 2001, resulting in the ousting of the Taliban regime? | Islamic Republic of Afghanistan |
| Foryears,thenow-forgottenholiday“TheEighth”celebratedthisbattle,whichwasfoughtonJanuary 8th. The day after this battle, the losing side unsuccessfully besieged Fort St. Philip. Thomas Mullins was court-martialed after this battle for failing to properly locate ladders needed to cross a ditch. Grapeshot blasts killed the two highest ranking officers on the losing side, including General Edward Pakenham. Buccaneer Jean Lafitte’s forces helped win this battle, fought shortly after the Treaty of Ghent ended the war it was a part of. For the point, name this 1815 victory for Andrew Jackson, the last major clash in the War of 1812. | Battle of New Orleans |
| During this party’s final presidential run, Darlington Hoopes won less than 2,000 votes. Meyer London and Victor Berger were the only two representatives this party sent to Congress. A nickname of this party came from members boasting about the excellent sewer system in Milwaukee. It eventually fractured amid a break between the “Old Guard” membership and radicals like Norman Thomas. After running for governor as a Democrat, Upton Sinclair was thrown out of this party, whose 1920 presidential candidate ran while serving a prison sentence. For the point, name this left-wing political party which frequently ran Eugene V. Debs for president. | Socialist Party of America [or SPA] US History Bee 2018-2019 Round 1 |
| A documentary about these events contains emotional footage from Robert Lewis’ appearance on the TV show This Is Your Life. The American Legion heavily protested a 1995 Smithsonian exhibit on these events. The 2007 documentary White Light/Black Rain was about these events. Defenders of these events claim they prevented many lives from being lost in Operation Downfall, while many historians believe that their primary goal was to intimidate the Soviet Union at the beginning of the Cold War. Historians debate the morality of, for the point, what highly destructive August 1945 incidents that forced Japan to surrender in World War II? | dropping the atomic bombs on Japan [or dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and/or Nagasaki] |
| A map of a city in this colony is detailed in the Castello Plan; that map was owned by one of the Medicis. After suffering an injury on the island of Saint Martin, the final leader of this colony began using a peg leg. A leader of this colony was removed from office after ordering attacks on the native Lenape people. This colony, which fought in Kieft’s War, created a system in which powerful landholders were called patroons. This colony’s capital city was renamed for the future James II after the English seized it in 1664. For the point, name this colony whose final leader was Peter Stuyvesant and whose capital was New Amsterdam. | New Netherland [prompt on “New Amsterdam”; do not accept or prompt on New Netherlands] |
| This movement was formed by three people who met through the national organization BOLD. In response to critiques that this movement is too male-centric, the movement “Say Her Name” was created. This movement’s name came from a Facebook post written by co-founder Alicia Garza. The photograph “Taking a Stand in Baton Rouge” was taken at one of this group’s protests, showing a woman in a flowing dress being arrested. This movement gained public attention after the deaths of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin. For the point, name this activist movement which campaigns against police violence directed at African-Americans. | Black Lives Matter [or #BLM] |
| During this decade, farmers drove tractors into Washington to blockade the Eccles Building in a protest of economic policies. In an Atlantic Monthly article, presidential aide David Stockman called a tax plan from this decade a “trojan horse.” A plan sponsored by William Roth and Jack Kemp reforming the Internal Revenue Code led to the deficit ballooning in this decade. A president elected during this decade supported what was called “voodoo economics:” a belief in the Laffer Curve, trickle-down economics, and heavy tax cuts. For the point, name this decade in which the president implemented the economic policies of “Reaganomics.” | 1980s [prompt on “Eighties”] US History Bee 2018-2019 Round 1 |
| A member of this family hired himself to French ambassador “Citizen Genet” and proposed leading an invasion of Spanish New Orleans. That member of this family was accused by James Wilkinson of being a drunkard while fighting at the Wabash River. Another member of this family had a slave named York who attracted the interest of Native Americans. A member of this family took Kaskaskia and Vincennes during the Illinois Campaign. Another member of this family was recruited by an aide of Thomas Jefferson to co-lead the Corps of Discovery expedition. For the point, name this family of Revolutionary War hero George Rogers and explorer William, the partner of Meriwether Lewis. | Clark family (accept George Rogers Clark; accept William Clark) |
| In 1935, both John Kolmer and Maurice Brodie developed types of these things that were rejected by other researchers, who referred to Kolmer as a murderer. The Cutter incident of 1955 temporarily lowered public trust in this thing, after several children were killed due to product contamination. In 1957, an oral type of this thing was perfected in the Soviet Union by Albert Sabin. In the 1950s, the March of Dimes charity ran a mass campaign that urged children to receive this thing. Jonas Salk developed the first effective kind of, for the point, what medical drug, which prevented children from contracting a crippling disease? | polio vaccine [prompt on “vaccine” or “drug”] |
| An early employee at this institution, Olivia Davidson, later married its head, who became a widower three years after it opened. A 1901 book pointedly compares construction at this institution to “making bricks without straw.” Architects at this institution designed the places that would be funded by the Rosenwald Fund, established by a president of Sears and Roebuck. The first head of this institution, who was recommended by the president of Hampton Institute, was a man who later promoted the Atlanta Compromise. George Washington Carver was a professor at, for the point, what African-American educational institution founded by Booker T. Washington? | Tuskegee Institute [or Tuskegee University; or Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute] |
| This project was partially inspired by the writings of unsuccessful flour merchant Jesse Hawley. Numerous people working on this project died of disease or frostbite in Montezuma Marsh, and the song “Low Bridge, Everybody Down” is about “fifteen years” on the location this project produced. Thomas Jefferson supposedly said this project was a “little short of madness,” and it was dismissed as the “folly” of Governor DeWitt Clinton, who announced its official completion by pouring water into New York harbor. For the point, name this project completed in 1825, which connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean via an artificial waterway. | Erie Canal US History Bee 2018-2019 Round 1 |
| In one appearance, this male character’s work on an assembly line is complicated by having to constantly salute pictures of Adolf Hitler. In that appearance, this character dreams of working in Nazi Germany in the short Der Fuehrer’s Face. This character joins a rooster and a parrot from Latin America inthefilmThe Three Caballeros.InaseriesofWorldWarIIshorts,thischaracterisdraftedandtrainedby Sergeant Pete. Legendarily, Huey Long and Thomas Dewey were the namesakes of two of this character’s three nephews. For the point, name this Disney character who typically wore a sailor’s suit when hanging out with Goofy and Mickey Mouse. | Donald Duck [prompt on “Duck”] |
| These locations were basically the subject of a William Fox pamphlet that was the most widely circulated pamphlet of the 18th century. In the 1790s, more than 400,000 people participated in the “free produce movement” in an attempt to shut down these locations. A 1764 tax on the product of these places was the first such tax passed to raise revenue by the Grenville ministry. These locations produced the good that, in the triangular trade model, was what was being received by the American colonies. For the point, name these locations in the Caribbean that produced a crop processed into rum and molasses. | sugarcane plantations [or sugarcane mills; prompt on plantations or mills alone; prompt on Caribbean plantations] |
| Conspiracy theories surrounding this event stress on a possibly imaginary person known as the “woman in the polka-dot dress.” A famous photo of this event shows busboy Juan Romero talking to a man while giving him a rosary. Immediately prior to this event, a man and a group including former athletes Rafer Johnson and Rosey Grier left a ballroom to enter a kitchen area. This event, which was carried out by a Palestinian immigrant who remains in prison, occurred at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles immediately after the 1968 California primary. For the point, name this event in which Sirhan Sirhan killed the brother of a former president. | assassination of Robert Francis Kennedy [or assassination of RFK; prompt on “assassination of Kennedy”; accept synonyms for “assassination”] |
| Dick Durbin referred to this man as “the Forrest Gump of Republican politics.” This man defended racking up thousands of dollars in credit card debt to purchase Washington Nationals playoff tickets. The book Wasted, a memoir by Mark Judge about his time at Georgetown Prep School, may depict this man under the name “Bart.” This man angrily claimed the”Devil’s Triangle” was a drinking game while producing his childhood calendars to refute allegations by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Accusations of high school sexual assault did not prevent, for the point, what man from becoming the most recent Supreme Court justice? | Brett Michael Kavanaugh US History Bee 2018-2019 Round 1 |
| Before being ratified, this treaty was leaked to Irish-American journalist John Nugent and the New York Herald. It was negotiated by a man who was fired upon returning to Washington for ignoring instructions to return home instead of negotiating; that man was a former pro-slavery consul in Havana named Nicholas Trist. A failed amendment to this treaty obtaining even more land was proposed by Jefferson Davis, but opposed by Democratic leadership. The Wilmot Proviso was a failed attempt at banning slavery in the territories acquired in this treaty. For the point, name this treaty that ended the Mexican-American War. | Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo |
| This text insists that until the Constitution is changed, it “is sacredly obligatory upon all,” and also notes that “real patriots” are likely to become “suspected and odious” over time. After being summoned to the author’s residence, David C. Claypoole published this text, addressing it to “Friends and Fellow Citizens” in his American Daily Advertiser newspaper. Originally drafted four years before its eventual publication, this text warns of the “baneful effects” of political parties as well as the dangers of permanent foreign alliances. For the point, name this 1796 text published near the end of the first president’s time in office. | George Washington’s Farewell Address |
| Two months after this event, Rhinelander Waldo, who investigated it, took a new position with the city police department. Max Steuer’s expert defense helped Max Blanck and Isaac Harris avoid criminal penalties after this event, which took place at the former Asch Building. After this event, a committee, whose members included future Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, advocated for a 54-hour work week bill. During this event, a door to a stairway on a building’s ninth floor was locked, greatly increasing the casualty rate. For the point, name this 1911 disaster in New York City that killed 146 garment workers. | Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire |
| This general was accused of being overly timid during an early loss at the Battle of Cheat Mountain. Due to his orders to dig trenches around a city he was defending, he was mockingly called the “King of Spades.” This man refused an offer from presidential advisor Francis Blair, a decision Winfield Scott called the “greatest mistake” in this general’s life. Before a key battle, this general’s Special Order 191 was lost and discovered by the enemy. His attacks in the Seven Day Battles forced George McClellan to retreat. For the point, name this commander of the Army of Northern Virginia at Antietam who surrendered at Appomattox to effectively end the Civil War. | Robert Edward Lee |
| The third leader of this institution, Timothy Cutler, abruptly chose to become an Episcopalian, alarming its trustees, many of whom wrote the Saybrook Platform for the Congregational church. An American Heritage article claimed this institution was named after a former president of Madras because its trustees did not want to name a school after Jeremiah Dummer. Jonathan Edwards was a teenager when he did his undergraduate studies at this school, which the Mather family intended to be more conservative than a school in Cambridge. For the point, name this Ivy League university, which in 1716 moved to New Haven, Connecticut. | Yale University [or Yale College; prompt on “The Collegiate School”] US History Bee 2018-2019 Round 1 |
| In describing this building, a National Review columnist wrote an article titled “What Are We Afraid Of?” This building was originally going to be the centerpiece of a site called Memory Foundations that would have aerial gardens and windmills. Much of the plan for this building by Daniel Libeskind was discarded, although it maintains a symbolic height of 1,776 feet. This building’s first tenant was publisher Cond´e Nast. This building is unofficially known as the “Freedom Tower.” For the point, name this tallest building in the U.S., which opened in 2014 in New York City on the site of a complex destroyed in the 9/11 attacks. | One World Trade Center [or One WTC; accept descriptive answers indicating a new or rebuilt World Trade Center”; accept “Freedom Tower” until mentioned; do not accept or prompt on “World Trade Center” or “WTC” alone] |
| A plan proposed by Virgil Blossom in this city proved unpopular and led to a lawsuit. The book Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals describes the abuse she faced in this city. A photo taken in this city shows Hazel Bryan Massery and a jeering crowd mocking Elizabeth Eckford. Mayor Woodrow Wilson Mann requested that federal action be taken in this city by Dwight Eisenhower. The “lost year” in this city involved the closing of all public schools under the request of Governor Orval Faubus. The 101st Airborne Division protected nine African-American students integrating a school in, for the point, what Arkansas city? | Little Rock |
| The nephew of an organizer of this event needed to crawl through an open window to open chapel doors which had carelessly never been unlocked. This event was conceived at the Hunt House in Waterloo, and prior to it, organizers replaced the phrase “present King of Great Britain” with the word “mankind” in a reworking of the Declaration of Independence. This event was conceived after the first World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in London barred certain participants from speaking. The Declaration of Sentiments was produced at, for the point, what 1848 convention in New York, organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to focus on women’s rights? | Seneca Falls Convention |
| Learned Hand complained that this case made the Supreme Court assume “the role of a third legislative chamber.” A law clerk for Robert Jackson, a young William Rehnquist, wrote that while he may seem “unhumanitarian,” he did not agree with the reasoning in this case’s opinion. A follow-up decision to this case ruled that a process should begin “with all deliberate speed.” The final opinion in this case relied heavily on Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s “doll” study, showing the harmful effects a policy had on children. For the point, name this first major case of the Warren Court, a 1954 decision declaring public school segregation to be unconstitutional. | Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka US History Bee 2018-2019 Round 1 |
| A.J. Russell’s photograph depicting the end of this project shows men holding bottles of liquor while standing on the Jupiter. A Thomas Hill painting depicting the result of this project shows the Wasatch Mountains in the distance and such members of the “Big Four” as Theodore Judah. Executive Charles Crocker employed many laborers known as “Celestials” to work on this project, whose end was signified by former governor Leland Stanford driving home the “Golden Spike.” For the point, name this project that ended in 1869 at the Promontory Summit, when the Union and Central Pacific tracks met. | transcontinental railroad [or Overland Route] |
| During a debate, Rick Lazio awkwardly seemed to invade this politician’s personal space by brandishing a fundraising agreement. Before one campaign, this politician rode in a “Scooby Van” to Iowa and stopped at a Chipotle in Toledo. During an early campaign, this politician seemed to mock women who stayed at home to bake cookies. After losing an election, this politician wrote the book What Happened. This person won more popular votes than any other losing presidential candidate and spoke at a nominating convention that featured dramatic “glass ceiling” imagery. For the point, name this person who lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump. | Hillary Clinton [or Hillary Diane Rodham; prompt on “Clinton”] |
| Ralph Waldo Emerson proclaimed this man’s financial troubles showed “the gods visible again.” This man built several mansions, including one called Iranistan, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The mascot of Tufts University, Jumbo, pays homage to this man’s generous donations to that college. He hung a sign reading “This Way to the Egress,” which led people to the exit in his business at the corner of Ann Street and Broadway. This man paid Swedish singer Jenny Lind to perform an 1850 concert tour in the U.S. For the point, name this “Prince of Humbugs,” who displayed the Fiji Mermaid and General Tom Thumb in his “museum” and was known as a master showman. | P.T. Barnum [or Phineas Taylor Barnum] |
| This publication frequently mentioned an “excessive proud” woman named Bridget, who tried to rewrite material to be more “fair [and] pleasant.” This publication infamously predicted Titan Leeds’ death, followed by Leeds himself rebutting the prediction. Excerpts from this publication that were framed as a speech from “Father Abraham” were published as the essay The Way to Wealth. This publication introduced such aphorisms as “early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” For the point, name this yearly publication containing many of the wise sayings of its publisher, Benjamin Franklin. | Poor Richard’s Almanack |
| A similar incident to this event, the Valentine’s Day Open House, almost led to the death of a Marine named Kenneth Kraus. Gary Sick alleged that CIA Director William Casey helped prolong this event as part of an “October Surprise.” The TV show Nightline evolved from ABC’s nightly coverage of this event. Operation Eagle Claw failed to end this event, which ultimately concluded just minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. A major cause of this event was American support for the deposed Shah. For the point, name this 444-day long event in which Americans were held hostage in a Middle Eastern country. | Iran hostage crisis US History Bee 2018-2019 Round 1 |
| This man’s views on Texas annexation were leaked in a letter he wrote to British ambassador Richard Pakenham. This man claimed that the majority must be checked by the “concurrent majority” in his text A Disquisition on Government. This man’s wife, Floride, organized Cabinet wives against Peggy Eaton during the Petticoat Affair, and he was replaced in the Jackson presidency by Martin Van Buren. In 1837, this senator proclaimed slavery was a “positive good.” The “South Carolina Exposition and Protest” denouncing the Tariff of Abominations was written by, for the point, what senator and vice-president? | John Caldwell Calhoun |
| Riots against this law were led by Ebenezer Macintosh; his mob destroyed and burned the house of Andrew Oliver, who was forced to stand under the Liberty Tree and resign his post by a mob opposed to this law. The full repeal of this law was followed by the Declaratory Act, which many interpreted as a government’s attempt to save face. Nine of the colonies met in New York to form a congress named after this law, denouncing it as invalid due to the principle of “no taxation without representation.” For the point, name this 1765 law requiring all printed materials in the colonies to carry a certain marking. | Stamp Act of 1765 |
| A governor of this state fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, who claimed he was fired because he wouldn’t dismiss a state trooper embroiled in a custody battle with the governor’s sister. In 2006, a senator from this state said the Internet was “not a big truck,” but rather a “series of tubes.” Until Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator was a man from this state, who served from 1968 to 2009, when he lost reelection amid a corruption trial. A governor of this state wrote the book Going Rogue and served as John McCain’s running mate in 2008. Ted Stevens was a longtime senator from, for the point, what state governed by Sarah Palin? | Alaska |
| In 1983, the State Department clarified that this man did not convert to Islam after hearing the Muslim call to prayer during a mission. Extremely protective of his likeness, this man refused MTV’s request to use his image and voice for its station identification. Oriana Fallaci bet Pete Conrad the latter would not be allowed to say “Whoopee!”, reflecting her belief that a famous quote of this man was scripted. He claimed static obscured him saying the article “a” as he exited the Eagle in 1969. For the point, name this man who proclaimed “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” while becoming the first astronaut to walk on the moon. | Neil Alden Armstrong |
| This event was the subject of numerous books by historian Gordon Prange. Immediately after this event, one of the participants was aided by three collaborators in the Niihau incident. The Roberts Commission that investigated this event concluded thatHusband Kimmel was guilty of errorsin judgment. A possibly fictional quote by a foreign admiral claims this event awakened “a sleeping giant.” Most of the American casualties in this event occurred during the loss of the USS Arizona. For the point, name this event described as “a date which will live in infamy” by Franklin Roosevelt and which was a Japanese sneak attack on a Hawaiian base. | Battle of Pearl Harbor [or attack on Pearl Harbor] US History Bee 2018-2019 Round 1 |
| This politician’s “Voyage of Understanding” took him on a grueling trip to Alaska and Canada. Nan Britton claimed this man fathered a daughter with her out of wedlock. The phrase “smoke-filled room” described the meeting that selected this man, the former publisher of The Marion Star newspaper, for a presidential nomination. This president’s cabinet included members of the so-called “Ohio Gang,” such as Attorney General Harry Daugherty and Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall, who leased naval oil reserves to private companies. For the point, name this president during the Teapot Dome scandal of the early 1920s. | Warren Gamaliel Harding |