Are You Smarter Than a 1930s Seventh Grader?

Here is part of a history exam for seventh graders from the 1930s, courtesy of Jean Davie Fieg. See how you score on this one!

Answer two questions from each group. (ed. note: There were five groups of questions on the original exam. Only two of them are represented here.)

Group I
1 a What language was spoken by a majority of the colonists?
b The Navigation Laws compelled the colonies to trade with what country?
c Was the first representative government established in New York, Virginia or Massachusetts?
d Was more attention paid to the establishment of schools in the New England, the middle or the southern colonies?
e Was the Stamp Act passed by the Continental Congress or by Parliament?
2 a Did the colonists object to the tax on tea because of the cost of a pound of tea or because of the principle involved?
b What port was closed by one of the Intolerable Acts?
c Was the chief cause of the Revolution a dispute over land, commerce or taxation?
d Which gave British officers the right to search a man's home for smuggled goods, Writs of Assistance or the Stamp Act?
e With the tax included, did a pound of tea cost more in England or in America?
3 Tell whether each of the following statements is true or false:
a The Declaration of Independence gave reasons for separating from England.
b The Committees of Correspondence were composed of British officers.
c Town meetings trained the colonists in law making.
d Farming was the principal occupation of the colonists.
e The Committees of Correspondence kept Parliament informed about colonial affairs.

Group V
13 Connect an important event with each of five of the following dates: 1781, 1776, 1777, 1492, 1620, 1609, 1607, 1614
14 Describe briefly two means of travel in colonial times.
15 Name five of the following: (a) a noted hunter, (b) a colonial college, (c) a colonial newspaper, (d) a colonial author, (e) an invention that has aided travel, (f) an invention that has made women's work easier, (g) an invention of benefit to southern farmers, (h) an invention that has helped in lighting cities.

GOOD LUCK, SCHOLARS!