1) Name the 14th state admitted to the Union. Vermont was admitted to the Union on March 4, 1791 becoming the 14th state.

2) How many men have served as President? While President Obama is the 44th President, he is only the 43rd man to hold the office since Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms and is both the 22nd and 24th President of the United States.

3) George Washington did not let his Vice President, John Adams, sit in the Cabinet setting a precedent that would last for over a century. Name the President who first welcomed his VP into the Cabinet and name the Vice President. Vice-President Coolidge attended President Harding's first Cabinet meeting held on March 8, 1921 at the President's invitation and would continue to regularly sit in on Cabinet meetings. Even so, Vice Presidents remained largely outcasts with successive Administrations until Jimmy Carter began to hold regular scheduled meetings with Walter Mondale. The modern Vice Presidency continues to evolve with various Presidents using their Vice President in different ways. Constitutionally speaking the role is limited to presiding over the Senate, breaking a tie and being the spare.

Most VPs seem to have hated the office. Daniel Webster turned down Zachary Taylor's offer to be his running mate saying with a noted quip: "I do not propose to be buried until I am really dead and in my coffin." Ironically had he accepted the job he would have succeeded Taylor who died just 16 months into his term.

The office has had its share of characters but perhaps none greater than William Rufus DeVane King who served under Franklin Pierce. King was VP for only 45 days before dying of tuberculosis. He was actually sworn into office in Cuba on March 24, 1853 twenty days after Pierce had been inaugurated. He died on April 18, 1853 while on route to his home in Alabama.

While King's tenure as Vice President was insignificant, his personal life was unconventional. He shared a Washington home with James Buchanan, the only bachelor President, for 15 years. King enjoyed wearing jewelry and powdered wigs as well as dressing in flamboyant clothing earning him the sobriquets of Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy. Still others referred to the pair as Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan or The Siamese Twins because they were inseparable. There is little evidence to support the idea that Buchanan and King had a homosexual relationship. Both men had their most of their private letters destroyed at their deaths, a common practice at the time. Still an 1844 letter from Buchanan to King certainly indicates that Buchanan at the very least did not care for women.

"I am now solitary and alone, having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone; and should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection."

4) The first comprehensive immigration reform legislation was passed and signed by which President? A few suggested the Alien and Sedition Act of 1796 passed under John Adams. While the Naturalization Act extended the duration of residence required for aliens to become citizens to 14 years and the Alien Enemies Act allowed the President to deport any resident alien considered "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States," none of the four Acts addressed the issue of immigration.

No one mentioned it but another candidate is the Naturalization Law of 1790 which set the rules for aliens becoming citizens. This law also extended citizenship to Catholics and Jews as long as that person was a "frew white person."

But many historians consider the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 as the first comprehensive Federal immigration law passed by Congress and signed by a reluctant Chester Alan Arthur. The measure also excluded paupers, criminals, and lunatics. Arthur vetoed the first version of the bill which banned Chinese immigration for 20 years. In the final version, Congress suspended Chinese immigration for ten years, later making the restriction permanent in the Geary Act. But an earlier act, the Page Act of 1875, was the first restrictive federal immigration law and prohibited the entry of classes of immigrants considered undesirable. It targeted Orientals (the term used then) particularly Chinese and Japanese by restricting the number of women but it did not target specific ethnic groups.

5) Name the first President to be born an American citizen. Martin Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, New York on December 5, 1782.

6) Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution but the Constitution wasn't considered binding until the ninth state had ratified. Which was the ninth state to ratify the Constitution? New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution on June 21, 1788 by a vote of 57 to 47.

7) The Seven Years' War fought between 1757 and 1763 is considered the first global war. The North American portion of that war is also known by which another name? The French and Indian War.

8) Which historic event took place on March 5, 1770? The Boston Massacre.

9) What are the Federalist Papers? Who wrote them? A series of 85 essays advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution. Alexander Hamilton wrote 51 of the essays, James Madison wrote 29 while John Jay wrote 5. The authors used the pseudonym "Publius," in honor of Roman consul Publius Valerius Publicola. The Federalist Papers ranks as one the great products of the political thought written in The Enlightenment.

10) Who was the only President to also later become a Supreme Court Justice? William Howard Taft was nominated as Chief Justice by Warren Harding in 1921.

11) What is meant by the term "Accidental President"? Who was the first? Bonus if you can name them all. A Vice President who unexpectedly becomes upon the death or resignation of a President. The first was John Tyler, who was dubbed His Accidency, in 1841. The others are in order Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford. But John Quincy Adams was called the "Accidental President" by his political opponents for the way in which he was elected in 1824 when that election was thrown to the House.

12) Name the state that has been the birthplace of more Presidents than any other. Bonus if you can name them all. In terms of birthplace it's Virginia with eight: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Woodrow Wilson. However, Harrison was elected from Ohio, Taylor from Louisiana and Wilson from New Jersey. After Virginia comes Ohio with seven Presidents.

13) Name the first President not born in Virginia or Massachusetts. Hint: he was born in North Carolina. Andrew Jackson.

14) Which state did not send any representatives to the Constitutional Convention? Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations.

15) Barack Obama is the first sitting Senator to be elected President since John F. Kennedy. Name the previous Senator to be elected directly to the Presidency. Warren Harding. Actually, Harding, Kennedy and Obama are the only sitting Senators to be elected President. Others have held the office but were not directly elected from the Senate. Perhaps coincidental but all three came after the direct election of Senators.

16) The case of Marbury vs Madison established which important principle? Judicial Review which is the doctrine in democratic theory under which legislative and executive action is subject to approval or invalidation by an independent judiciary.

17) Though Washington has the capital of the United States since 1800, eight other cities have served as capitals of the United States. Name them. Bonus if you can identify the one that served as the US capital for only one day. Hints: Three are in Pennsylvania, two others are state capitals today. Philadelphia, New York, Trenton, Princeton, Lancaster, York, Baltimore and Annapolis. Lancaster was the capital for just one day: September 27, 1777.

18) Which battle proved to be the decisive battle in the War for Independence? The Battle of Yorktown in October 1781 proved to be the last major battle of the War for Independence. The surrender of Lord Cornwallis prompted the British government to negotiate an end to the conflict.

19) From 1781 to 1788, the United States was governed by another constitution. That constitution went by what name? The Articles of Confederation.

20) Who coined the phrase "We The People"? Joseph Wilson. 

21) What is meant by the Connecticut Compromise? Who offered it? Hint: It was the topic of a previous post. The Connecticut Compromise was an agreement made during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to establish a bicameral legislature with a Senate having two members from each state and a House of Representatives apportioned by population. It was proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut.

22) Elbridge Gerry is unique among the Founding Fathers. Why? Elbridge Gerry was one of a select group who attended both the Second Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Thus he signed the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation but he refused to sign the Constitution. Gerry and two others who attended the Constitution Convention declined to sign it because it did not include a Bill of Rights. George Mason and Edmund Randolph of Virginia were the other two who refused to sign the Constitution but they were not signatories to the Declaration.

23) George Washington is considered to the "Father of his Country" but which founder is considered to be the "Father of the Federal Government"? Who is considered the "Father of the Constitution"? Alexander Hamilton is considered to be the Father of the Federal Government for his role is setting up the Treasury Department and for establishing a sound fiscal position for the United States. James Madison is considered the Father of the Constitution.

24) What is meant by the "separation of powers"? The separation of powers, also known as trias politica, is a model for the governance of democratic polities. In the US, the separation of powers delineates powers between the three estates or branches of the Federal government.

25) The United States has what type of electoral system? Ron Thompson gave the most complete answer: There is more than one type of electoral system in the United States. The most common is what the British call "first past the post" meaning that the highest vote-getter wins, whether or not he or she has a majority. But in some places there is a runoff system, or an instant runoff.