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Op-Ed: Test your knowledge and patriotism with this Fourth of July quiz

Photo illustration with a Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and a hot dog with red, white and blue stars and fireworks.
(Illustration by Claire Reid / Los Angeles Times; Getty Images photos)
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After more than a year of social distancing and pandemic-related restrictions, this Fourth of July promises in-person celebrations and a long-awaited return to some sort of normality. As newly vaccinated Americans prepare for barbecues and fireworks, test your knowledge and patriotism with this Independence Day quiz.

1. Who signed the Declaration of Independence first?

For the record:

11:41 a.m. July 6, 2021

In an earlier version of this article, the answer to a question about how many times the Liberty Bell rings on the Fourth was incorrect. It said the bell rings 13 times. It is tapped 13 times to symbolize 13 rings.

a) Thomas Jefferson
b) John Adams
c) John Hancock
d) Benjamin Franklin

2. In July 1776, how many people lived in the 13 Colonies that would become the United States?

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a) 1 million
b) 2.5 million
c) 6 million
d) 500,000

3. Which newspaper first printed and publicly distributed the Declaration of Independence?

a) The Pennsylvania Evening Post
b) The Boston Gazette
c) The Connecticut Courant
d) The New York Journal

4. How many people signed the Declaration of Independence?

a) 10
b) 3
c) 127
d) 56

5. Who was the only president born on the Fourth of July?

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a) Calvin Coolidge
b) Theodore Roosevelt
c) Barack Obama
d) Herbert Hoover

6. The Pledge of Allegiance wasn’t written until 116 years after the U.S. declared independence. Who wrote it?

a) Betsy Ross
b) The author is anonymous
c) Francis Bellamy
d) President Benjamin Harrison

7. In the 2004 film “National Treasure,” Nicolas Cage’s character furiously tries to steal the Declaration of Independence. Why?

a) A fortune is concealed within it
b) The CIA hired him to steal it
c) A hidden, coded map is on the back of it
d) He wants to destroy it

8. How many times does the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia ring on the Fourth of July?

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a) Just once, to mark independence
b) It is tapped 13 times to symbolize 13 rings
c) 50 times
d) It never rings

9. Which signee of the Declaration of Independence was a French wine aficionado?

a) Richard Henry Lee
b) John Penn
c) George Taylor
d) Thomas Jefferson

10. Which battle ended the Revolutionary War?

a) The Battle of Yorktown
b) The Battle of Bunker Hill
c) The Battles of Lexington and Concord
d) The Battle of Gettysburg

11. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, Americans eat roughly how many hot dogs every Fourth of July?

a) 1 billion
b) 20 million
c) 150 million
d) 100,000

Answers: 1-c, 2-b, 3-a, 4-d, 5-a, 6-c, 7-c, 8-b, 9-d, 10-a, 11-c

Caroline Petrow-Cohen is an Opinion intern at the Los Angeles Times.

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