Gift Baskets For Children – 4th of July Celebration

Keep kids busy on the Fourth of July!

Along with Gift baskets For Children, help teach children (young & Old) why we celebrate this symbolic day of freedom.

The following quiz, taken from Kenneth C. Davis’s book, “Don’t Know Much About Anything,” will help to teach your children about a few interesting people and important facts linked to this important document in America’s history – Parents may even learn something too!

Everyone will learn the real date that the Continental Congress passed a resolution of independence from Britain and learn why Davis, the books author, described John Adams as both a, “great visionary,” and a “crafty politician.”

Question 1 – When Did Congress ‘actually’ pass a resolution of Independence?

A - July 1

B – July 2

C – July 3

Question 2 – Who was on the committee to draft the declaration?

A - Richard Henry Lee, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and George Washington

B – Samuel Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, John Hancock

C – John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman


Question 3 - What was one of the reasons that John Adams told Thomas Jefferson, the youngest man on the committee, to draft a declaration?

A – Jefferson was from Massachusetts, a politically powerful state.

B – Adams knew that he was unpopular and considered obnoxious by many delegates. In order for a declaration to be accepted, he had to keep a low profile.

C – Adams wanted to challenge Jefferson to improve his writing skills by drafting an important document.

Question 4 – Which of the following was something Congress cut out of Jefferson’s draft of the declaration?

A – They removed all references to slavery

B – They removed all references to women

C – They removed a paragraph written in Latin


Question 5 - Which two key players in the history of Independence died on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration?

A – Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock

B – Thomas Jefferson and John Adams

C – Benjamin Franklin and John Adams

Answers:

Question 1 – Correct answer is B –

• On July 2nd, the Lee-Adams resolution of independence was adopted, and many thought that would be the date celebrated as America’s birthday.

Question 2 – Correct answer is C –

• John Adams, Ben Franklin, Robert Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut were all on the committee. Thomas Jefferson was also selected because Virginia was so politically powerful.

Question 3 – Correct answer is B –

There were three main reasons that factored into Adams’ decision:

• First, the thirty-three-year-old Jefferson was a Virginian. “Virginia was the largest, richest, and most politically powerful of all the colonies,” elaborated author Kenneth C. Davis. “He [Adams] understood there were some public relations to be done.”
• Second, Adams knew that he himself was unpopular and considered obnoxious by many delegates. “[Adams] was a very smart man, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that he wasn’t popular in the summer of 1776. In order for [the Declaration of Independence] to be acceptable to people, he had to be low-profile,” says Davis.
• Finally, Adams said Jefferson could “write ten times better than I can.” Explains Davis: “Adams did write some wonderful things over the course of his life, but Jefferson was a bit more poetic.”

Question 4 – Correct answer is A –

• The Congress made 86 changes, which eliminated 480 of Jefferson’s words. Most important was the removal of all references to slavery, “the execrable commerce,” which Jefferson, a slaveholder himself, had blamed on King George.

Question 5 – Correct answer is B –

• Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died within hours of each other on July 4, 1826.
• Benjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790, and John Hancock died on October 8, 1793.

The foregoing was excerpted from, “Don’t Know Much About Anything,” by Kenneth C. Davis. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.

Gift Baskets For Children Wish you A Happy Fourth of July

Have a Happy and Safe 4th of July!

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