1. John Adams, from Abigail Adams (pictured). Abigail Adams wrote this to her husband in a December 23, 1782 letter. The original letter can be read here, at the website of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

2. Woodrow Wilson, to Edith Bolling Galt (pictured). This is from a letter that widower President Wilson wrote from the White House on September 19, 1915, to Edith Bolling Galt, whom he would marry. The full text of the letter is in volume 34 of The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, ed. Arthur Stanley Link (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994), page 491.

3. Ronald Reagan, to Nancy Reagan (pictured). This is from a letter written on White House stationery by Ronald Reagan, to his wife Nancy on March 4, 1981. From Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan (New York: Random House, 2002).

4. Theodore Roosevelt, about Alice Lee (pictured). This is from Roosevelt's diary entry of February 13, 1880. On that evening, he became engaged to Alice Lee, whom he married. On Valentine's Day, 1884, she died while giving birth to their daughter Alice. Roosevelt's mother died the same day. His diary entry for that day is simply a large black X with the words, "The light has gone out of my life." The Library of Congress has made scans of the original diary pages, available online here.

1. The advertising executive who planned the first candidate television ad campaign had previously created the Coca-Cola "Passport to refreshment" campaign.

False. Advertising executive Rosser Reeves had previously created the "melts in your mouth, not in your hands" campaign for M&Ms. The campaign he planned for Eisenhower—20-second spots designed to run before or after popular television shows like I Love Lucy—featured "normal Joe" citizens asking Eisenhower questions about taxes, foreign policy, and other issues. Eisenhower answered in a brief, blunt, homey fashion, with the format giving the campaign its name: "Eisenhower Answers America." Prior to this campaign, presidential candidates had brushed off the potential of television advertising; following it, ads became an accepted and increasingly central aspect of campaigning.

2. In 1960, John F. Kennedy's television ad campaign included non-English-language advertisements.

True. JFK's 1960 campaign for the presidency, run by two different advertising agencies, included a multitude of television advertisements and a dizzying array of techniques and appeals. Several of the ads spoke out to specific demographics—including a spot in which Jackie Kennedy, speaking in uneven Spanish, assured voters that, in the face of the danger of communism, "Mi esposo siempre vigilará los intereses de todos los sectores de nuestra sociedad que necesitan la protección de un gobierno humanitario" (or, "My husband will always watch over the interests of all sectors of our society who are in need of the protection of a humanitarian government"). Other ads spoke to the African American community, assuring the public that Kennedy's Catholicism would not compromise his presidential duties.

3. As the Vietnam War continued despite his promises to end it, Richard Nixon's 1972 presidential ad campaign depicted him as stern and focused entirely on withdrawing troops from Vietnam.

False. Nixon's 1972 campaign for reelection cast him as a man of "compassion, courage, and conscience," concerned about many issues, including environmentalism and international diplomacy, as well as withdrawing from Vietnam. President Nixon, one ad declared, was willing to press for change, because "without change there can be no progress." The ads crafted the argument that Nixon, far from being cold and unapproachable, was personable and personally interested in a global push for peace and wellbeing nationally and internationally. Nixon won the campaign against South Dakota Senator George McGovern by a landslide.

4. A 1984 ad for Ronald Reagan's reelection used the threat of a bear in the woods to suggest the need for better gun control laws.

False. Though most of Ronald Reagan's ads stressed the economic wellbeing of the U.S., using montages of small-town Americans engaged in rituals such as weddings and buying new homes, one stuck out. The unusual ad showed a bear lurking in the woods; the accompanying narration suggested that the bear might or might not exist and might or might not be dangerous, but "since no one can really be sure who's right, isn't it smart to be as strong as the bear? If there is a bear?" Though the ad never explicitly states what the bear stands for, the advertisement's creators intended it to symbolize the Soviet Union. The ad's watchers, however, took it as commenting on any number of issues, including gun control and the need for change in environmental laws. Despite its ambiguity, the ad gained attention and later served as inspiration for an ad in George W. Bush's 2004 reelection campaign.

1. What characters have political cartoonists used to represent the English counterparts to Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty?

c. John Bull and Britannia.

Wearing breeches and a Union Jack waistcoat, John Bull once served as the symbol for the British everyman, but evolved into a symbol of the country as a whole. Both Britannia, the goddess-like female figure of England, and John Bull often appeared in political cartoons with Uncle Sam or Columbia—another name for Lady Liberty.

2. This version of Uncle Sam appeared in a Denver Evening Post cartoon in November 1898. Uncle Sam is usually drawn as a skinny character. Why is he fat here?

b. He has just finished consuming overseas territories, such as Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

In a spree of imperialism, the United States, represented by Uncle Sam, has "consumed" Hawaii (annexed to the U.S. on July, 1898), as well as Puerto Rico and the Philippines (though the Treaty of Paris and the acquisition of these as territories was still in debate in November 1898). Now, Uncle Sam turns to the figure of Spain—the cartoon's caption has him say, "Now, young man, I'll attend to your case." With the Spanish-American War over, the glutted U.S. prepares to attend to Spain itself, not just its colonies.

3. When did political cartoonists draw Uncle Sam as a self-appointed global policeman?

d. During the "Imperialist" phase of U.S. foreign affairs, beginning prior to the Spanish-American War.

In the years leading up to the Spanish-American War and the U.S. metamorphosis into an imperialist world power, Uncle Sam was often drawn as a police officer. However, cartoonist Thomas Nast had already pictured Uncle Sam as a cop on the beat, policing U.S. political corruption, as early as 1888.

4. When Uncle Sam first appeared, he was drawn to resemble:

a. An old gentleman in knee breeches.

For several decades, Uncle Sam was indistinguishable from an earlier character, Brother Jonathan, who also represented the U.S., superceding Yankee Doodle. By the middle of the 19th century, the same figure-by then clad in striped pants, short jacket, and top hat—was sometimes called Uncle Sam and sometimes Brother Jonathan. By about 1875, "Brother Jonathan" had mostly disappeared.

5. When Columbia first appeared, she most closely resembled:

a. The goddess of liberty, Libertas.

Often depicted in the French Revolution, Libertas wore a soft "liberty" or "Phrygian" cap. As Columbia, she could also wear feathers on her head, a reference to Native Americans, or a star or crown. The name "Columbia" fell out of popularity after World War I, and the character gained the names "Miss Liberty" or "Lady Liberty."

1. Daylight Saving Time was created mainly to please farmers, who needed more daylight hours during the summer to finish their chores.

False. Farmers have almost universally opposed Daylight Saving Time. Its main proponents have historically been retail merchants, international financial traders, and industrialists. During World War I and World War II, Daylight Saving Time was temporarily adopted as a measure to conserve fuel and to increase industrial output. The first national scheme to implement Daylight Saving Time went into effect in 1917.

2. The adoption of Daylight Saving Time has been definitively shown to save the country fuel and energy.

False. The claim has often been made, but energy usage has been notoriously difficult to quantify. Savings in electrical energy during one part of the day, for example, can be offset by increased gasoline consumption, or increased use of coal or fuel oil at other times of day.

3. The move to create standard time zones across the U.S. was stimulated mostly by railroad companies, who needed to standardize their train schedules.

True. The simplification of long-distance transportation schedules was the driving force behind the establishment of standard time zones in the 19th century. The Railway General Time Convention of 1883 set standard time zones nationally.

4. The United States contains four time zones.

False. The U.S. crosses eight time zones: Atlantic (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Yukon, Alaska-Hawaii, and Bering.

5. The Department of Transportation currently has responsibility for setting time zone boundaries in the U.S.

True. Previously, the responsibility for setting time zone boundaries lay with the Interstate Commerce Commission.

1. What U.S. census data does this map portray?

a. The 1930 relative concentration of "totally unemployed persons registered" in each state.
b. The 1870 relative amount of "total capital invested (in dollars) in manufacturing" in each state.
c. The 1920 relative concentration of "manufacturing establishments" in each state.
d. The 1950 relative concentration of "employed females" in each state.

By 1920, industry had established itself as a fixture of the American economy and way of life, though its hubs remained in the Mid-Atlantic. New York continued to be a center of industry, and Illinois, with the continuing rise of Chicago as an urban industrial center, had become one, as well.

2. On May 4, 1886, a peaceful workers' rally in Chicago's Haymarket Square ended in death and confusion when a dynamite bomb was thrown into a line of approaching police officers. The Haymarket Affair received nationwide media attention and the trials of the alleged guilty parties went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Four of the accused were hung and a fifth committed suicide.

What reform was the rally supporting?

a. The removal of hazardous parts-manufacturing machinery from a McCormick Harvesting Machine Company plant.
b. The passing of a minimum-wage law in the state of Illinois.
c. The paying of compensation to workers who suffered debilitating injuries from repetitive factory work.
d. The institution of the eight-hour workday.

The speakers at the Haymarket Affair supported strikers who had engaged in a May 1 nationwide walkout to support an eight-hour workday. On May 3, the first workday after the walkout, police killed two workers outside a McCormick plant during a confrontation between scabs (temporary workers hired to replace strikers) and strikers. This event provided an impetus for the Haymarket rally.

3. On February 6, 1919, more than 60,000 Seattle workers refused to work, marking the high point of a series of strikes and unrest that started in January 1919. The first labor action to effectively shut down an entire city, this strike hoped to secure what result?

a. The reinstatement of workers ousted by returning soldiers.
b. A pay raise for the city's shipyard workers.
c. The cessation of all U.S. hostilities against the Bolshevik Red Army in Russia and of any support for forces opposing the Red Army.
d. A stop to the installation of new machinery that would reduce the work force necessary in the shipyards.

During World War I, the government imposed wage controls, keeping the wages of Seattle shipyard workers down even as the shipyards expanded through war production contracts. Following the war, the workers expected a raise in their wages; when denied, approximately 25,000 members of the Metal Trades Council union alliance went on strike. A general citywide strike followed, with about 35,000 other workers striking in support of the shipyard protest. The strike officially ended on February 11—though not before touching off a widespread "Red Scare."

4. On December 30, 1936, the workers at Flint, Michigan's General Motors automobile plant began a six-week long strike to press for better working conditions. Organized by the United Auto Workers, the strike used what relatively unusual technique to make its point?

a. Strikers not only stopped working during the strike, but left town entirely, taking their families with them.
b. Strikers remained entirely silent during the strike.
c. Strikers, instead of picketing outside of the factory, occupied the factory, preventing upper management and law enforcement from entering.
d. Strikers sabotaged the factory's power supply, re-sabotaging it whenever plant management repaired it.

Known as the Flint Sit-down Strike, this strike used techniques later adapted by the civil rights movement. On December 30, workers sat down at their places and refused to leave the factory for six weeks. Provided food and supplies by supporters, the workers repelled attempts by the police to drive them out and even initiated the surprise takeover of another plant in the last two weeks of the strike.

1. When Pocahontas, daughter of Algonquian chief Powhatan, met King James I in England, he chided her husband, colonist John Rolfe, for having dared to marry a royal.

True. Or at least, he is recorded as doing so in colonist Robert Beverley's 1705 The History and Present State of Virginia, today a major resource in early Virginian and colonial history. Beverley gives a full account of Pocahontas's story (though historians debate its accuracy). According to Beverly, in England,

"Pocahontas had many Honours done her by the Queen . . . she was frequently admitted to wait on her Majesty, and was publickly treated as a Prince's Daughter; she was carried to many Plays, Balls, and other publick Entertainments, and very respectfully receiv'd by all the Ladies about the Court. Upon all which Occasions she behaved her self with so much Decency, and show'd so much Grandure in her Deportment, that she made good the brightest Part of the Character Capt. Smith had given of her. In the mean while she gain'd the good Opinion of every Body, so much that the poor Gentleman her Husband had like to have been call'd to an Account for presuming to marry a Princess Royal without the King's Consent . . ."

2. Queen Lili'uokalani, forced to abdicate her throne in 1893, was the last female royal of the Hawaiian monarchy.

False. Upon coming to the throne in 1891—following the death of her brother, King Kalakaua—Queen Lili'uokalani appointed Victoria Ka'iulani Cleghorn, her half-Scottish half-Hawaiian niece, as Crown Princess of Hawaii. Born in 1875 and educated in the UK, Ka'iulani spent the latter part of her short life advocating for the restoration of her country's independence. She died of illness in 1899, at the age of 23—shortly after the U.S. officially annexed Hawaii. The Hawaiian royal line continues today, but Ka'iulani was the last princess appointed while the monarchy held political power.

3. One female sachem (an Algonquian tribal chief) took part in the bloody 1675-1676 conflict between New England colonists and Native Americans known as King Philip's War.

False. Two female sachems took part in King Philip's War. The most famous is Weetamoo, sachem of the Wampanoag tribe called the Pocassets and sister-in-law of Metacom, sachem of the Pokanoket. Called Philip by the English, Metacom was the Philip of King Philip's War and, with Weetamoo and her tribe, fought against the English. Less famous is Awashonks, female sachem of the Sakonnets. Though she originally sided with Weetamoo and Philip, she later chose to ally her tribe with the English.

4. The marriage of Japanese imperial princess Kazunomiya to the acting ruler of Japan, shogun Tokugawa Iemochi, was a direct reaction to the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa, in which American Commodore Matthew C. Perry intimidated Japan into opening its ports to the U.S.

False. The imperial family objected to the opening of Japan—which had kept its borders largely shut to outsiders for centuries—to the U.S., but the imperial princess' marriage did not take place until several years after the shogun concluded a second treaty, this one with the first U.S. Consul General to Japan, Townsend Harris. The shogunate, essentially a monarchy made up of warrior-rulers, had long held the power of government in Japan, while the traditional monarchy of the imperial family had become largely ceremonial. However, the shogunate's agreeing to open the country to Westerners in the treaties of 1854 and 1858 created a political divide between supporters of the shogun and of the emperor; Kazunomiya's marriage to Iemochi in 1862 was meant to bridge this divide.