America at 250: How Well Do You Know the Nation’s Founding?

When the United States declared its independence in 1776, few could have imagined that a ragtag assembly of 13 colonies—squabbling, underfunded, and barely able to hold a united front—would one day reshape the entire globe. Yet here we are, a quarter of a millennium later, marking the country’s 250th birthday with a mix of celebration and reflection.

The scale of the transformation is staggering. In terms of population, America has ballooned from roughly 2.5 million people in 1776 to more than 330 million today. Its territory has stretched from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific, and its economy—once dependent on small farms and coastal trade—now leads the world in innovation, finance, and technology. But the journey was anything but smooth. The nation endured a bloody Civil War, waves of immigration, industrial upheaval, and the rise to superpower status after two world wars. Each of these chapters left deep marks on the American identity and its place in the world.

The founding ideals articulated in the Declaration of Independence—liberty, equality, and the pursuit of happiness—have inspired movements far beyond U.S. borders, even as America has often struggled to live up to them at home. The bicentennial in 1976 saw parades and fireworks; the semiquincentennial in 2026 is already drawing renewed attention to the country’s origins, its unfinished work, and the debates that still animate its politics.

With so many milestones packed into 250 years, it’s easy to lose track of the details—the key figures, the turning points, the documents that shaped the republic. So we’ve put together a quiz to test how much you really know about the founding era. No need to brush up beforehand; just see how you do, and maybe learn something new along the way.