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The American Revolution Center just published the results of the first national survey of US adults to see what they know about the American Revolution. Here's their press release:
Education Resources | American Revolution Center
Education Resources | American Revolution Center
Some other tasty tidbits from the report itself (linked to at the end of the press release). These are mindblowing:National Survey The American Revolution Center commissioned the first national survey to assess adult knowledge of the American Revolution. The results show that an alarming 83 percent of Americans failed a basic test on knowledge of the American Revolution and the principles that have united all Americans. Results also revealed that 90 percent of Americans think that knowledge of the American Revolution and its principles is very important, and that 89 percent of Americans expected to pass a test on basic knowledge of the American Revolution, but scored an average of 44 percent. The survey questions addressed issues related to the Revolutionary documents, people, and events, and also asked attitudinal questions about the respondents’ perception of the importance of understanding the Revolutionary history and the institutions that were established to preserve our freedoms and liberties. The survey results highlight the importance of, interest in, and lack of understanding of our Founding. For a printable PDF copy of the survey, click here.
On the 27-question test within the survey, a
national sample of American adults scored an
average of only 44 percent correct.
l Nearly 83 percent received a failing grade.
l Only four of the 27 questions were answered
correctly by 70 percent or more of respondents.
l Half did not have even a basic understanding of
historical chronology, believing that either the
Civil War, Emancipation Proclamation, or War of
1812 occurred before the American Revolution.
l Many more Americans knew that Michael
Jackson authored “Beat It” and “Billie Jean” than
knew that James Madison was the Father of the
Constitution, or that Alexander Hamilton was the
first Treasury Secretary.
l Only 11 percent of Americans could identify John
Jay as the first Chief Justice of the United States
Supreme Court. Compare that to the 60 percent
who knew the number of children of Jon and Kate
Gosselin, a reality-TV show couple.
l More than 50 percent of Americans wrongly
attributed the quote “From each according to his
ability, to each according to his needs” to either
George Washington, Thomas Paine, or President
Barack Obama, when it is in fact a quote from
Karl Marx, author of The Communist Manifesto.
l One-third did not know that the right to a jury
trial is covered in the Bill of Rights, while 40
percent mistakenly thought that the right to
vote is.
l From a list of major battles, two-thirds of
Americans could not correctly name Yorktown
as the last major military action of the American
Revolution.
But Americans think they know more than
they really do know. When asked to give
themselves a grade on their knowledge of
American Revolution history before taking
the test, 89 percent gave themselves a passing
grade, while only 3 percent gave themselves
an F, and 8 percent gave themselves a D.