Grade 5 Social Studies Practice Test: Exploration, the Thirteen Colonies and the American Revolution
- Exploration, the Thirteen Colonies and the American Revolution
- 15 questions
- 18 minutes
This test covers Grade 5 U.S. history from European exploration to the end of the American Revolution. Tip: put events in order in your head (taxes, protests, war, independence), because many questions ask what caused what.
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Question 1
In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean for which country?
Correct answer: D
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain paid for the voyage. Columbus came from Genoa, but he sailed for Spain.
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Question 2
Why did many European explorers in the 1400s and 1500s sail west?
Correct answer: A
Spices, silk and other goods from Asia were valuable, and explorers hoped to reach Asia by sea. The United States and railroads did not exist yet.
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Question 3
Founded in Virginia in 1607, which settlement was the first permanent English settlement in North America?
Correct answer: C
Jamestown was founded in 1607. Plymouth was founded by the Pilgrims in 1620.
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Question 4
Why was the Mayflower Compact (1620) important?
Correct answer: B
Before landing, the Pilgrims signed an agreement to form a government and obey the laws they made, an early example of self-government. Independence came much later, in 1776.
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Question 5
These colonies had good soil and a long growing season for grain. They grew so much wheat that they were called the "breadbasket" colonies.
Which group of colonies is described?
Correct answer: D
The Middle Colonies, such as Pennsylvania and New York, grew large amounts of wheat. New England had rocky soil, and the Southern Colonies grew tobacco and rice on plantations.
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Question 6
William Penn founded Pennsylvania as a place where
Correct answer: A
Penn was a Quaker, and he welcomed people of many religions to his colony.
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Question 7
Why did Britain begin taxing the colonies after the French and Indian War ended in 1763?
Correct answer: C
The war was expensive, and Britain decided the colonists should help pay for it. Britain and the colonists were on the winning side, so they had not lost the war.
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Question 8
Colonists protesting the Stamp Act of 1765 said, "No taxation without representation."
What did they mean?
Correct answer: B
Parliament passed taxes on the colonies, but the colonists elected no one to Parliament. They argued that only their own elected assemblies should tax them.
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Question 9
What happened at the Boston Tea Party in 1773?
Correct answer: D
To protest the Tea Act, colonists boarded ships and threw chests of tea into the harbor. The shooting in Boston was the Boston Massacre in 1770.
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Question 10
Where were the first battles of the American Revolution fought in April 1775?
Correct answer: A
Fighting began at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts in April 1775. Gettysburg and Antietam were Civil War battles.
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Question 11
Who was the main author of the Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776?
Correct answer: C
Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft. Benjamin Franklin and John Adams helped edit it, and John Hancock signed it first as president of the Congress.
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Question 12
Why is the American victory at Saratoga in 1777 called a turning point of the war?
Correct answer: B
After Saratoga, France believed the Americans could win and signed an alliance in 1778. The last major battle was at Yorktown in 1781.
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Question 13
What was the winter at Valley Forge (1777-1778) known for?
Correct answer: D
Washington's army suffered from cold, little food and disease at Valley Forge, but Baron von Steuben trained the soldiers there. The surprise attack on Hessians happened at Trenton.
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Question 14
Which event in 1781 ended the last major battle of the American Revolution?
Correct answer: A
American and French forces trapped General Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, and he surrendered in October 1781.
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Question 15
What did the Treaty of Paris of 1783 do?
Correct answer: C
In the Treaty of Paris, Britain accepted American independence and set the new nation's borders. The Louisiana Purchase came later, in 1803.
Questions you leave blank are not counted as wrong.
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