Do You Know Basic American History?

Came across some statistics from yahoo.com that are very sad. Is it our educational system or is it people just don’t care? We always laugh when Jay Leno or Jimmie Kimmel take the cameras to the streets and ask people basic American history questions.

Can you believe some people don’t know the year Christopher Columbus arrived in North America (1492). They don’t know what the real purpose of his mission was (to find a western route to China and Japan while at the same time proving the earth was a sphere).

And they don’t know the names of the ships he used on his first voyage. (Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria).

25% of Americans don’t know that we declared independence from Great Britain. Among the incorrect answers were China, Japan and France.

Most Americans can name George Washington as the first president, but do you know who was the second? (John Adams)

But how about the third and fourth presidents. Only 7% percent of Americans can name the first four U.S. Presidents in order. (George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison)

• Only 27% know what country we fought the Cold War with. (Soviet Union)
• Only 25% know the name of the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. (John Roberts)
• On what street in Washington, DC is the White House located? (Pennysylvania Ave.)
• Who was the first man to step foot on the moon? (Neil Armstrong)
• What was the name of the theatre Abraham Lincoln was assassinated? (Ford’s Theatre)
• How many original colonies were there? (13)
• In what city is the Alamo located? (San Antonio)
• Just last week we were talking about Constitutional Amendments. The first ten are the Bill of Rights. A surprising number can’t name what the first one is. (Right to free speech, free press and peaceful assembly)

Basic American history questions and so many people don’t know the answers, but many of these same people can name all of Honey Boo Boo's family members, all of the Kardashians and the cast of Jersey Shore. Pretty sad.