Who was our First President? Delaware History Trivia
May 1st, 2010 by Timothy Pancoast
Today kicks off Old Dover Days, a celebration of the history of our state’s capital. It got my mind thinking about our history so I thought I’d do a brief state trivia quiz. Feel free to answer the questions. In fact, I might pick up something at Old Dover Days to offer as a prize for the first person to post a comment with all of the answers correct. If I find a good prize I’ll try to upload a picture of it as soon as I get back. If I don’t find a prize worthy of this contest than you will still have bragging rights. I’ll post the answer key and hopefully announce a winner by Monday, or sooner depending on how fast the answers come in.
So here is the quiz:
1. Who was our first President?
2. Who was our first Governor?
3. What earned Delaware the nickname “The First State” and who gave us the nickname “Diamond State”?
4. Who were the Blue Hens’ “Chicks”?
5. When did Dover become the capital of Delaware?
6. Who founded the City of Dover?
7. What is the State Motto?
8. How many state Constitutions has Delaware had?
9. What year was our current Constitution first ratified?
10. What is the first article of the Delaware Constitution, just the title you don’t have to give it to me word for word?
Bonus question: Name the state (and yes we do have all of these) -
Dessert:
Soil:
Star:
Bug:
Fish:
Mineral:
Herb:
Fossil:
Butterfly:
Marine Animal:
Macro invertebrate:
Bird:
Flower:
Tree:
John McKinly or George Washington or John Hancock? I am confused by the first question. Is it the First President of Delaware, of the United States, or of the Continential Congress after independence.
Tim, David is correct. There was in fact a U.S. President under the Articles of Confederation and of course there was a President of Delaware during the colonial period.
When constructing your test you need to avoid ambiguity. My Social Studies teacher friends would commend your attempt for getting folks to think but nail you on not being specific.
1. Who was our first President? John McKinly
2. Who was our first Governor? Joshua Clayton
3. What earned Delaware the nickname “The First State” and who gave us the nickname “Diamond State”?
- First State: The fact that we were the first to ratify the Constitution
- Diamond State: Thomas Jefferson
4. Who were the Blue Hens’ “Chicks”? Delaware soldiers during the American Revolution.
5. When did Dover become the capital of Delaware? 1777
6. Who founded the City of Dover? William Penn
7. What is the State Motto? Liberty and Independence
8. How many state Constitutions has Delaware had? Four – 1776, 1792, 1831 and 1897
9. What year was our current Constitution first ratified 1897
10. What is the first article of the Delaware Constitution, just the title you don’t have to give it to me word for word? The Bill of Rights
Bonus question: Name the state (and yes we do have all of these) -
Dessert: Peach pie
Soil: Greenwich Loam
Star: The Delaware Diamond, right ascension 9h40m44s, declination 48″14’2″
Bug: Ladybug
Fish: Weakfish
Mineral: Sillimanite
Herb: Sweet Golden Rod
Fossil: Belemnite
Butterfly: Tiger Swallowtail
Marine Animal: Horseshoe Crab
Macro invertebrate: Stonefly
Bird: Blue Hen
Flower: Peach Blossom
Tree: American Holly
Hmm, were did you find the state fish?
I agree that it was fine exercise. My only question was about the first question. I figured it was a sly trick to get us to say George Washington when it could be refering to Delaware’s President or even the first American President. There is a difference between President of the United States and President of the Congress. I wasn’t going to fall for it if it were a trick.
David I believe the weakfish was added in the late 80′s or early 90′s around the time the ladybug became our state bug due to a campaign of Delaware school children. (ladybugs of course are very beneficial in addition to being cute.)
I also like the Holly as our state tree and the Horseshoe Crab as our marine animal.
Kudos to sussexanon for answering all of the questions. Perhaps we need a regular Delaware trivia feature to have some fun with.
Now for Tim, What color is the blood of a horseshoe crab?? And what is the blood used for???
My sources were a mix of delaware.gov, Wikipedia and one random site that cleared up the whole Blue Hen/Chicks thing. http://portal.delaware.gov/delfacts/default.shtml provided many answers in one fell swoop. But it wasn’t really a fair challenge, as I do research for a living. If it’s online, I’ll find it and whip y’all’s butts at trivia any day of the week.
I knew about a fifth of them off the top of my head. One that I didn’t know was the founder of Dover – which makes a kind of d’oh! sense in hindsight.
As for the weakfish: “In recognition of sport fishing’s overall recreational and economic contributions to the state of Delaware and of the specific values of the weakfish (Cynoscion genus) as a game and food fish, the state Legislature adopted the weakfish as Delaware’s State fish in 1981. This fish is also known as sea trout, gray trout, yellow mouth, yellow fin trout, squeteague, and tiderunner.” (see aforementioned state facts website) Personally, I think “sea trout” would have been a much better name to use in designating an official state creature. Weakfish just sounds wimpy!
Sorry anonsussex,weakfish is the generally accepted name in the waters of the Atlantic, Delaware Bay, and Chesapeake Bay maybe you could do some research regarding the name and it’s origins . I suspect is may have something to do with the lack of “fishiness” in the taste of the fish. Weakfish are certainly not “weak” if you are fishing for them. (They really aren’t strong either)
As for whipping everyone’s butt in trivia, I do appreciate a great researcher but for competition’s sake, I think a competition without the ability to do research is better. If you are willing to run such a competition get up with David. Personally, I would love to see a Delaware Trivia competition on this site. I will discuss this with David. It would be fun and enlighten us all.
I concur. depolitics@gmail.com Thanks Tim for Kicking it off.
Well congratulations, anonfromsussex! You just about have my answer key verbatim, and you found most of my sources, so I am not going to bother reposting the answer key.
I picked up some Delaware themed pins at Old Dover Days. One is the state flag another celebrates Delaware and the Declaration of Independence. The third has a blue hen in front of the shape of the state. Take your pick, I can post a picture of them if you would like. I’m in Sussex County a couple of times a week, so I can drop it off in person, or I can mail it to you. Just shoot me an email at st_jones2@hotmail.com to let me know what you would prefer.
Horseshoe crab blood turns light blue when exposed to oxygen and is used in the medical profession to test vaccines for bacterial infection. We’ve got a lifesaver on our shores. I went to the Prime Hook Children’s Beach House when I was in 4th grade, but I did do a little research online to make sure my memory served me correctly.
Feel free to take the trivia concept and shape it however you want. This one was just for my own personal enjoyment, and it was trivia so I think trick questions are fair game. anonfromsussex caught the intention of the trivia, and I hope to encorage more people to take advantage of the great resources we have available to us.
Tim,
Horshoe Crab blood is also used in cancer research. Oddly, it is also used in testing for sensitivity for cosmetics. Prior to the use of horshoe blood the eyes of rabbits were used for this.
Tim, my offer to inititiate a delaware Trivia contest was for anonsussex. I know of some sites we could link to.