U.S. History

Don't Know Much

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This unit is based on the book Don't Know Much about American History by Kenneth C. Davis.

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  Unit 4: The Way West Points
66 What was the main reason Maine became a state? 1
67 What helped keep slavery going in the South? 1
68 How did Andrew Jackson change the presidency, before he even stepped into the White House? 1
69 Who came to the White House for Andrew Jackson's inauguration party? 1
70 Who was the first president to ride on a train? 1
R3 Review 07 (Lessons 1–70) 15
71 Were trains the only thing going lickety-split in America? 2
72 Was the Industrial Revolution good for all Americans? 1
73 Is it true that children worked in factories? 1
74 Industry was booming in the Northeast. What was happening in the South? 2
75 Did Indians resist the theft of their lands? 1
76 Nat Turner's Rebellion 1
77 Who was Sequoya? 1
78 What happened at the Alamo? 3
79 How did William Harrison beat Martin Van Buren in the election of 1840? 1
80 Did "Oregon Fever" keep you in bed for days? 1
R8 Review 08 (Lessons 1–80) 15
81 How did pioneers know where to go? 2
82 How did pioneers stay connected to the cities? 1
83 When is a shortcut not a shortcut? 2
84 What did President James Polk do that no president had done before him? 2
85 What did the United States gain from the Mexican-American War? 1
86 Who were the forty-niners before they were San Francisco's football team? 1
87 Who came looking for "Gold Mountain"? 1
88 How did the California gold rush heighten the debate over slavery? 1
89 Was the Underground Railroad the first subway system? 2
90 Who was Frederick Douglass? 2
R9 Review (Lessons 1–90) 15
91 When did women write their own Declaration? 2
92 What do a raven, a whale named Moby Dick, and Paul Revere have in common? 1
93 When and where did the slavery debate turn bloody? 1
94 Why did John Brown lead a raid against a government arsenal in Virginia? 1
95 What was one of the most dreadful decisions the Supreme Court ever made? 1

  Unit 6 - How the West was Won . . . and Lost Points
120 Who taught a group of Indians on the Great Plains to speak German? 2
121 If you lived on the plains, what challenges might you encounter? 1
122 Were there any other frontiers? 1
123 Was being a cowboy the best job in the West? 1
124 How did "Buffalo Bill" Cody get his nickname? 2
125 What could you do if you couldn't go to the circus? 1
126 How did the transcontinental railroad change America? 1
127 Was the settling of the American West a heroic achievement? 1
128 Who were the Buffalo Soldiers? 1
129 Who was left standing at Custer's Last Stand? 2
R13 Review 13 (Lessons 120–129) 15
130 What were the last words of Crazy Horse? 1
131 Was it only Plains Indians who were forced onto reservations around this time? 2
132 Who were the robber barons, and whom did they rob? 2
133 Who were the biggest of the Big Businessmen? 2
134 Why were the late-1800s called the "Gilded Age"? 1
135 What did workers do to fight for their rights? 2
136 Why did farmers need to organize, too? 2
137 She's big, she's green, she's America's Welcome Queen. Who is she? 2
138 Where did turn-of-the-century immigrants make their new homes? 1
139 Who was Jacob Riis? 1
R14 Review 14 (Lessons 120–139) 15
140 Who was Jane Addams? 1
141 What did many immigrants face, in the midst of their other troubles? 1
142 What was Jim Crow up to toward the end of the nineteenth century? 2
143 What did prominent blacks think should be done about racial discrimination? 4
144 How many different uses for the peanut can you come up with? 1

Unit 9 - Cold Wars, Hot Wars, and Freedom Riders Points
189 Did Americans hunt for witches in the 1950s? 1
R19 Review 19 (Lessons 120–189) 15
190 Why did America fight a war in Korea? 1
191 Why did the United States side with France in its struggle to hold on to its colony in Vietnam? 2
192 Why did Americans like Ike? 2
193 What boomed in America in the 1950s? 2
194 What started by the roadside and spread around the world? 1
195 What was the new living room fixture of the 1950s? 1
196 Who was the "King of Rock 'n' Roll" in the 1950s? 1
197 How did a third-grade girl in Kansas change history? 1
198 Were public schools the only places being integrated? 2
199 Where did Rosa Parks park herself, in protest? 2
200 What inspired Dr. King's methods of nonviolent protest? 1
R20 Review 20 (Lessons 120–200) 15
201 Were the Little Rock Nine a rock 'n' roll band? 1
202 What were civil rights activists up to in the early 1960s? 3
203 Did a handsome face win the presidency for John F. Kennedy? 1
204 What organization did idealistic college students join in the 1960s? 1
205 Where did President Kennedy want to send some Americans? 1
206 Why did America fear a small island in the Caribbean? 1
207 What was "the problem without a name"? 2
208 Who killed JFK? 1
209 Who warned that chemical pesticides might lead to a "silent spring"? 2
210 What two wars did President Lyndon Baines Johnson wage? 3
R21 Review 21 (Lessons 120–210) 15
211 What was the "domino effect"? 1
212 What got longer and what got shorter during the sixties? 1
213 Did passage of the Civil Rights Act end the Civil Rights Movement? 4
214 What event sparked violent riots in 1968? 1
215 Did other minority groups use nonviolent protests to fight for their rights? 1
216 What super event took place in 1967? 1

Unit 10 - An American Century Ends . . . Another Begins Points
217 What did hawks and doves have to do with the Vietnam War? 2
218 Who were the "hippies"? 1
219 Did the Cold War ever thaw? 1
220 Who made "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"? 2
R22 Review 22 (Lessons 120–220) 15
221 Why did President Nixon give up his job? 2
222 What could women do in the early 1970s that they couldn't do before? 2
223 What would you be sure to find at American gas stations in the mid-1970s? 1
224 What was the "crisis of confidence"? 1
225 What did President Reagan have in common with a frying pan? 1
226 Why was the American space program put on hold in the 1980s? 1
227 Why did Indiana teenager Ryan White have to fight for his right to go to school? 1
228 Could weathermen predict Desert Storm? 3
229 Is it true that "debugging" a computer once meant removing the moths from inside it? 1
230 What famous billionaire dropped out of college? 1
R23 Review 23 (Lessons 120–230) 15
231 What did President Bill Clinton have in common with President Andrew Johnson? 2
232 Were the 1990s an age of rage? 1
233 Why was George W. Bush declared president twice—in the same election? 1
234 Is it time to reform the Electoral College? 1
235 What happened on September 11, 2001, that shocked the world? 3
236 Who hijacked the planes on September 11, and why? 2
237 How are high levels of immigration changing the United States? 1
238 How did the United States respond to the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks? 1
239 What was the "Great Recession"? 1
240 Who became the first African-American president? 1
R24 Review 24 (Lessons 120–240) 15