The Dakota Scout holds these truths to be self-evident: We are all created equal, life, liberty and property remain unalienable rights, and the United States of America is still history’s best example of these virtues being reflected by people through representative government.

Quiz Time

Our annual Independence Day quiz will take you through the revolutionary year of 1776, with some events you have heard and read about — and a few you probably have not.

1. On Jan. 1, the British attempted to burn this coastal town, shelling it day and night in this mid-Atlantic colony. When the British tried to land and burn more homes, the Patriots there ended up burning far more Loyalist homes and estates, and it is counted as a Patriot victory. What was the name of the town and the colony that endured this carnage on the very first day of 1776?

2. This British former corsetmaker was invited to Pennsylvania by Benjamin Franklin to come to the colonies. He was an avowed atheist, but skilled at writing, and he burned with thoughts of the inequality he felt as a Briton back home in England. On Jan. 10, he published this hugely important tract that was so fundamental, so important and so foundational to Americans’ thoughts about the Revolution that we still read it and quote from it today. Who was this writer, and what was this famous tract?

3. We tend to think that the Revolution primarily was fought in the New England and mid-Atlantic states, often ignoring the Southern theater. This is absolutely untrue. Although it was a minor skirmish, this particular battle down South was significant because it crystallized the idea that an irregular force from a colony could actually beat a British full-on charge and win (with overwhelming musket fire), to the point where this colony wasn’t threatened significantly by the British again until 1780. What was the battle, and colony, that engaged in this pivotal skirmish on Feb. 27?

4. The American Revolution was fought outside of the 13 colonies, too. Specifically, there was a raid on this British island in the Bahamas on March 3–4. What was the name of this island that Commodore Esek Hopkins and a force of determined Continental Marines raided in order to get more gunpowder for the Patriots?

5. Also on March 4, Continental Gen. Henry Knox fortified this mountaintop area with cannons, threatening Gen. Howe’s troops in Boston. Howe decided to evacuate British forces, leaving for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on March 17. Boston has never been occupied again to this day. Where was this fortification that precipitated the end of the siege of Boston staged?

6. On March 9, a book was published that changed the world. Written by a Scot, it was the first full-length treatise of modern economics, and it supplied the intellectual firepower against the dominant policy of mercantilism — the source behind many of the grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence. What was the name of this historic work, and who was its renowned author?

7. This royal colony, on April 4, approved the “Halifax Resolves,” making it the first British colony to officially authorize the Continental Congress to vote for independence from Great Britain. Which colony was this?

8. Not to be outdone by the answer in the previous question, on May 4, this American colony was the first to entirely formally renounce allegiance to George III, regardless of the vote in the Continental Congress. Which colony was it?

9. On May 15, the Second Continental Congress passed this signer’s preamble, explaining why a Declaration of Independence was being proposed in the first place. Which signer wrote this preamble?

10. On June 7, this resolution, written by this signer, proposed to the Continental Congress that “these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.” What was this resolution termed?

11. On June 11, this committee was appointed to actually draft the Declaration of Independence. What was this committee’s name?

12. Who were the members of the committee in Question 11?

13. On July 2, this southern colony reversed its position, and its delegates were instructed to vote for independence. The tie vote in another colony’s delegation was broken in favor of independence by Caesar Rodney. (New York, however, still abstained from voting.) Which two colonies’ key switches opened the door to Independence for our nation?

14. The date itself: July 4. What actually happened on that historic day in Philadelphia?

15. What happened on Aug. 2 in Philadelphia?

16. On Aug. 27, in New York City, the Continental Army under George Washington was almost completely routed in this battle. It was actually the largest battle of the entire Revolution. The Revolution could have ended right then and there, not even two months after the Declaration of Independence, but it didn’t. Washington got out of there fast (thank you, Gen. John Glover of Connecticut, and your longboats) to live to fight again (one should never give George Washington an opening; he’ll take it). What was the name of the battle and the British General who always waited just a little too long (to our country’s enormous benefit) to pursue in battles just like this one?

17. On Sept. 7, the American Revolution saw the world’s first submarine attack. An American submersible craft attempted to attach explosives to the hull of the British Admiral Richard Howe’s HMS Eagle in New York Harbor. It didn’t work (the vessel could only be submerged for 30 minutes, and t

Original reporting: The Dakota Scout (Sioux Falls) — read the source article.