Answers to Historical Analysis Quiz

1. What was the name of the Indian who helped the Pilgrims first learn how to hunt, fish, and grow crops?

( c ) In 1621, Squanto aided the English by acting as interpreter between the Pilgrims and Massasoit tribe. He befriended the Plymouth colony and later taught them how to hunt and fish.

2. Which of the following was not one of the names of the ships boarded in the Boston Tea Party?

( b ) On December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams and other radicals protested Parliament's Tea Act by boarding the Dartmouth , Beaver , and Eleanor and destroying 342 chests of Darjeeling tea.

3. Which American President was not born in Massachusetts?

( b ) Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809. John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree in 1767. George H.W. Bush was born in Milton in 1934.

4. What five-foot-long wooden object has hung in the chamber of the Massachusetts State Legislature since 1784?

( c ) The Sacred Cod is a five-foot long, 200 year-old pine carving that hangs above the entrance to the hall in the visitors galley. This fish represents the prosperity of the fishing industry in Massachusetts .

5. Which Massachusetts city was the richest city per capita in the United States at the turn of the nineteenth century?

( c ) Salem was the richest city in the United States in 1790. The city's harbor brought lucrative and exotic trade from East India and China , earning it the title “the Venice of the New World .”

6. What did Paul Revere reportedly yell while riding across the Massachusetts countryside on April 18, 1775?

( b ) “The Redcoats are coming!” The British Army, which wore red jackets, had mobilized, and legend has it, this is what Revere called out, as he rode across the countryside.

7. What strange meal did Massachusetts senator Daniel Webster supposedly consume every day for lunch?

( a ) Senator Daniel Webster, who later became secretary of state, enjoyed eating at “ America 's oldest restaurant,” Union Oyster House, where he would wash down plates of oysters with brandy.

8. Which one of the following was not invented in Massachusetts?

( b ) Kleenex was not invented in Massachusetts . Toll House cookies, however, were created in 1930 by Ruth Wakefield near Whitman, the Polaroid camera was invented in Massachusetts by physicist Edwin Land.

9. When Malcolm X lived in Boston , what was his job?

( a ) In the early 1940s, Malcolm X worked as a waiter and busboy at Parker's Restaurant in the Parker House hotel.

10. Which of the following was not a year in which a Massachusetts sports team won a national championship?

( c ) Although no Massachusetts teams took a championship in 1958, the Bruins won the Stanley cup in 1972 over the NY Rangers, and the Celtics won the NBA championship in 1986.