260+ US History Riddles Brainy Fun From Colonies to Today

🗽  Ellis Island Riddles

• I asked “Name changed?” when millions passed by. 👉 Ellis Island

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• Statue in harbor, gift from France. 👉 Statue of Liberty

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• I was called “the melting pot.” 👉 America

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• They called me the “Golden Door.” 👉 New York Harbor

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• Ships carried me from Ireland’s famine. 👉 Immigrants

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• I was inspected for health and papers. 👉 Immigration Station

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• My torch is hope for newcomers. 👉 Liberty’s Torch

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• Many families’ American story starts here. 👉 Ellis Island

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• I welcomed “huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.” 👉 Statue of Liberty

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• I was the great wave of arrivals. 👉 Immigration

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🏭 Industrial Revolution Riddles

• I turned iron to steel in mass. 👉 Bessemer Process

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• I lit up cities with a bulb. 👉 Thomas Edison

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• I built cars for the common man. 👉 Henry Ford

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• I connected coasts with steel tracks. 👉 Transcontinental Railroad

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• I gave workers time off on Labor Day. 👉 Labor Movement

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• I made oil a big business. 👉 John D. Rockefeller

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• I rose high into the sky, steel bones. 👉 Skyscrapers

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• I typed messages fast with dots and dashes. 👉 Telegraph

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• I carried cotton and coal across rails. 👉 Locomotive

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• I was the “Gilded Age” of wealth. 👉 Industrial Revolution

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🌍 US in World Wars Riddles

• I was attacked in 1941, a day of infamy. 👉 Pearl Harbor

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• I was the president with fireside chats. 👉 Franklin D. Roosevelt

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• I led troops in D-Day landings. 👉 Dwight D. Eisenhower

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• I dropped not one but two big bombs. 👉 Atomic Bomb

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• I ended with victory in 1945. 👉 World War II

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• I fought in trenches across Europe. 👉 World War I

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• I wrote “Fourteen Points” for peace. 👉 Woodrow Wilson

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• I was the homefront symbol with a bandana. 👉 Rosie the Riveter

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• I was the secret plan to build the bomb. 👉 Manhattan Project

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• I was the Cold War’s spark after. 👉 Soviet Rivalry

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🚀 Space Race Riddles

• I said “One small step for man…” 👉 Neil Armstrong

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• I raced to orbit before the Soviets. 👉 NASA

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• I was the first satellite, but not American. 👉 Sputnik

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• I launched from Florida’s Cape. 👉 Kennedy Space Center

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• I promised the moon before the decade’s end. 👉 John F. Kennedy

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• I was the shuttle that carried astronauts back. 👉 Space Shuttle

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• I floated in zero gravity, eating space food. 👉 Astronauts

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• I showed Earth from space, a blue marble. 👉 Apollo Missions

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• I carried flags and footprints to the moon. 👉 Apollo 11

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• I was victory in the race to space. 👉 Moon Landing

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🚢 Colonial America Riddles

• I carried tea but started a party. 👉 Boston Tea Party ships

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• I was taxed without a vote. 👉 Colonies

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• I grew tobacco as cash. 👉 Virginia

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• I’m a compact signed on a ship. 👉 Mayflower Compact

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• I’m the first permanent English settlement. 👉 Jamestown

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• I helped pilgrims grow corn. 👉 Squanto

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• I was worn by Puritans in black and white. 👉 Pilgrim clothes

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• I had lanterns to warn riders. 👉 Old North Church

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• I’m the first college, founded in 1636. 👉 Harvard

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• I was a colony that became 13. 👉 Original colonies

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🎖️ Revolutionary War Riddles

• I was ridden to warn, “The British are coming!” 👉 Paul Revere’s ride

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• I was signed in 1776. 👉 Declaration of Independence

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• I crossed the Delaware at night. 👉 George Washington

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• I fired the “shot heard ’round the world.” 👉 Lexington & Concord

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• I helped America with French flair. 👉 Marquis de Lafayette

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• I was winter’s hardest camp. 👉 Valley Forge

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• I turned traitor at West Point. 👉 Benedict Arnold

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• I surrendered at Yorktown. 👉 Cornwallis

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• I was a ragtag army that won. 👉 Continental Army

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• I gave freedom a flag with stars. 👉 Betsy Ross

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🦅 Early Republic Riddles

• I was the first capital city. 👉 New York

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• I was bought from France in 1803. 👉 Louisiana Purchase

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• I warned Europe to stay out. 👉 Monroe Doctrine

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• I dueled with Hamilton and won. 👉 Aaron Burr

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• I explored with Clark. 👉 Meriwether Lewis

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• I was burned by the British in 1812. 👉 The White House

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• I inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner.” 👉 Fort McHenry

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• I was Chief Justice for 34 years. 👉 John Marshall

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• I was America’s first constitution. 👉 Articles of Confederation

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• I’m the supreme law still today. 👉 The Constitution

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🌾 Civil War Riddles

• I freed the slaves with a proclamation. 👉 Abraham Lincoln

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• I wore gray, not blue. 👉 Confederates

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• I wore blue, not gray. 👉 Union

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• I divided the nation in two. 👉 Civil War

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• I was Lincoln’s most famous speech. 👉 Gettysburg Address

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• I was Harriet Tubman’s secret route. 👉 Underground Railroad

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• I surrendered at Appomattox. 👉 Robert E. Lee

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• I commanded the Union army to victory. 👉 Ulysses S. Grant

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• I was the first battle of the war. 👉 Fort Sumter

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• I ended slavery with law. 👉 13th Amendment

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🌍 Immigration & Ellis Island Riddles

• I welcomed millions to America. 👉 Statue of Liberty

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• I was the first stop for new arrivals. 👉 Ellis Island

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• I’m the words on Liberty’s tablet. 👉 Emma Lazarus’ poem

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• I’m the gateway in New York Harbor. 👉 Statue of Liberty

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• I carried dreams across the ocean. 👉 Immigrant ships

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• I’m the test newcomers had to take. 👉 Citizenship exam

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• I checked names at the gate. 👉 Inspectors

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• I gave hope for a new life. 👉 The American Dream

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• I held families waiting in lines. 👉 Ellis Island hall

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• I stood tall with a torch. 👉 Lady Liberty

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🚂 Westward Expansion Riddles

• I raced to join oceans with tracks. 👉 Transcontinental Railroad

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• I shouted “Gold!” in California. 👉 Gold Rush

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• I gave land to pioneers. 👉 Homestead Act

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• I led wagons to Oregon. 👉 Oregon Trail

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• I sent riders with the mail. 👉 Pony Express

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• I drew borders with Mexico. 👉 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

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• I carried settlers in covered tops. 👉 Wagons

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• I fought at the Little Bighorn. 👉 Custer

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• I was a state bought for $7.2 million. 👉 Alaska

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• I made the frontier “wild.” 👉 Wild West

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💡 Industrial Age Riddles

• I lit up the night with a bulb. 👉 Thomas Edison

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• I flew the first plane. 👉 Wright Brothers

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• I built cars for the people. 👉 Henry Ford

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• I filled the air with steel towers. 👉 Skyscrapers

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• I carried workers to cities. 👉 Subways

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• I carried messages on wires. 👉 Telegraph

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• I was big oil’s king. 👉 John D. Rockefeller

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• I gave away steel and libraries. 👉 Andrew Carnegie

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• I shocked the world with AC current. 👉 Nikola Tesla

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• I made millions from business empires. 👉 Robber Barons

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🌎 World War I Riddles

• I was the spark that started it. 👉 Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination

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• I was America’s president in WWI. 👉 Woodrow Wilson

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• I promised to “make the world safe for democracy.” 👉 Wilson

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• I was a telegram from Germany to Mexico. 👉 Zimmermann Telegram

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• I sank ships without warning. 👉 U-boats

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• I was a doughboy. 👉 US soldier

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• I ended the war in 1918. 👉 Armistice

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• I was a peace plan with 14 points. 👉 Wilson’s Fourteen Points

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• I was a failed league of nations. 👉 League of Nations

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• I was the treaty that ended the war. 👉 Treaty of Versailles

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🍂 Great Depression Riddles

• I crashed in 1929. 👉 Stock Market

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• I made the land dry and dusty. 👉 Dust Bowl

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• I gave people hope with fireside chats. 👉 FDR

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• I built roads and bridges for work. 👉 New Deal

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• I sang of hard times. 👉 Woody Guthrie

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• I marched to Washington for jobs. 👉 Bonus Army

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• I stood in long lines for bread. 👉 Breadlines

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• I carried belongings west. 👉 Okies

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• I gave jobs to artists. 👉 WPA

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• I ended when war began. 👉 WWII

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🌐 World War II Riddles

• I was bombed on December 7, 1941. 👉 Pearl Harbor

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• I was America’s president during WWII. 👉 FDR

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• I was dropped on Hiroshima. 👉 Atomic bomb

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• I commanded D-Day. 👉 Dwight D. Eisenhower

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• I led island hopping in the Pacific. 👉 Douglas MacArthur

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• I flew missions as Tuskegee airmen. 👉 Black pilots

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• I was built in secret as the Manhattan Project. 👉 Atomic bomb

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• I planted victory gardens. 👉 Families at home

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• I said “I shall return.” 👉 MacArthur

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• I ended the war in 1945. 👉 Japan’s surrender

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🇰🇷 Cold War Riddles

• I built a wall in Berlin. 👉 Berlin Wall

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• I raced to space with rockets. 👉 Space Race

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• I sent a man to the moon. 👉 Apollo 11

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• I fought without battles, just threats. 👉 Cold War

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• I was the Cuban standoff in 1962. 👉 Cuban Missile Crisis

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• I hunted communists at home. 👉 McCarthyism

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• I was the airlift that fed a city. 👉 Berlin Airlift

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• I kept Korea split at 38. 👉 DMZ

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• I scared kids with drills under desks. 👉 Nuclear drills

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• I ended with a wall falling. 👉 Fall of Berlin Wall

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✊ Civil Rights Riddles

• I dreamed on the steps of Lincoln. 👉 Martin Luther King Jr.

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• I wouldn’t give up my bus seat. 👉 Rosa Parks

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• I marched in Selma. 👉 Civil Rights Marchers

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• I fought with the NAACP in court. 👉 Thurgood Marshall

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• I led the Nation of Islam. 👉 Malcolm X

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• I signed the Civil Rights Act. 👉 Lyndon B. Johnson

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• I stood in the schoolhouse door. 👉 Governor Wallace

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• I integrated Little Rock schools. 👉 Little Rock Nine

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• I raised a fist at the Olympics. 👉 1968 Olympians

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• I said “By any means necessary.” 👉 Malcolm X

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🚀 Space Race Riddles

• I orbited Earth before anyone else. 👉 Sputnik

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• I was the first American in space. 👉 Alan Shepard

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• I was the first man on the moon. 👉 Neil Armstrong

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• I said “Houston, we have a problem.” 👉 Apollo 13

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• I was the first woman in space from the US. 👉 Sally Ride

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• I’m the shuttle that flew 135 missions. 👉 Space Shuttle

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• I was the challenger that was lost. 👉 Challenger

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• I sent pictures back from Mars. 👉 Rovers

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• I united nations above Earth. 👉 International Space Station

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• I was launched in 1969 with three men. 👉 Apollo 11

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🌎 Vietnam War Riddles

• I was fought in jungles far away. 👉 Vietnam War

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• I was protested by students at home. 👉 Anti-war protests

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• I was a trail through Laos and Cambodia. 👉 Ho Chi Minh Trail

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• I was a surprise attack in 1968. 👉 Tet Offensive

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• I led US forces in Vietnam. 👉 General Westmoreland

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• I was chemical rain on forests. 👉 Agent Orange

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• I was the city that fell in 1975. 👉 Saigon

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• I was a draft that sent many away. 👉 The Draft

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• I was a massacre that shocked the world. 👉 My Lai Massacre

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• I ended with helicopters on rooftops. 👉 Fall of Saigon

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📱 Modern America Riddles

• I resigned as president in 1974. 👉 Richard Nixon

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• I said “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” 👉 Ronald Reagan

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• I led during Desert Storm. 👉 George H.W. Bush

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• I played saxophone in office. 👉 Bill Clinton

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• I faced 9/11 as president. 👉 George W. Bush

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• I signed Obamacare. 👉 Barack Obama

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• I was the first African American president. 👉 Obama

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• I was impeached twice. 👉 Donald Trump

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• I won in 2020. 👉 Joe Biden

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• I’m the document still guiding today. 👉 US Constitution

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🏛️ Founding Fathers Riddles

• I wrote the Declaration but not with emojis. 👉 Thomas Jefferson

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• I wore bifocals and flew a kite in a storm. 👉 Benjamin Franklin

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• I became the first president, no crown needed. 👉 George Washington

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• I shouted “Give me liberty or give me death!” 👉 Patrick Henry

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• I designed the Great Seal’s eagle. 👉 Charles Thomson

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• I signed big, the boldest of all. 👉 John Hancock

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• I argued for independence in fiery speeches. 👉 Samuel Adams

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• I defended British soldiers but loved freedom. 👉 John Adams

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• I was silent but my pamphlets were loud. 👉 Thomas Paine

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• I fought with words before muskets. 👉 Founding Fathers

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