Great American Award

The Great American Award

The Great American challenge goes out to all 5th grade students throughout America. This program brings to light the foundation and struggles of our nation in the hopes of instilling pride in our great nation. This program was established by Clare Tobler in Boulder City, Nevada in 1989. Join the elite club of students who will meet the requirements and earn this distinguished award during the school year.

Requirements:

Recite the Preamble to the Constitution
Identify all 50 states on a map
Match all 50 states and capitals on a written test
Recite or sing the first verse of The Star-Spangled Banner
Recite, in order, all 47 Presidents of the United States
Recite the Gettysburg Address from memory
Write the Pledge of Allegiance by memory, in cursive
Correctly answer all 100 questions on the U.S. Citizenship Test

All of the above must be completed and verified by your teacher.

Requirements for Award:

Preamble to the Constitution

Preamble of the United States Constitution

After the Revolutionary War ended, the Constitution was written to create a government that would put power in the hands of the people and would guarantee certain basic rights for its citizens. It was written and signed in the Assembly Room of the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, the same place the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Constitution was written during the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787 and was officially signed on September 17, 1787. There were several authors and contributors to the Constitution of the United States. James Madison, one of the Founding Fathers, is known as the "Father of the Constitution" and is credited as the main author of the May 1787 Convention in Philadelphia. However, Gouverneur Morris, an American Statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers, was the author of the Preamble of the Constitution.

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

50 States on a Map

50 States and Capitols

Interactive Map of States & Capitols

Alabama - Montgomery
Alaska - Juneau
Arizona - Phoenix
Arkansas - Little Rock
California - Sacramento
Colorado - Denver
Connecticut - Hartford
Delaware - Dover
Florida - Tallahassee
Georgia - Atlanta
Hawaii - Honolulu
Idaho - Boise
Illinois - Springfield
Indiana - Indianapolis
Iowa - Des Moines
Kansas - Topeka
Kentucky - Frankfort
Louisiana - Baton Rouge
Maine - Agusta
Maryland - Annapolis
Massachusetts - Boston
Michigan - Lansing
Minnesota - St. Paul
Mississippi - Jackson
Missouri - Jefferson City
Montana - Helena
Nebraska - Lincoln
Nevada - Carson City
New Hampshire - Concord
New Jersey - Trenton
New Mexico - Santa Fe
New York - Albany
North Carolina - Raleigh
North Dakota - Bismarck
Ohio - Columbus
Oklahoma - Oklahoma City
Oregon - Salem
Pennsylvania - Harrisburg
Rhode Island - Providence
South Carolina - Columbia
South Dakota - Pierre
Tennessee - Nashville
Texas - Austin
Utah - Salt Lake City
Vermont - Montpelier
Virginia - Richmond
Washington - Olympia
West Virginia - Charleston
Wisconsin - Madison
Wyoming - Cheyenne

The Star Spangled Banner

In 1814, two years after America declared war on Great Britain, British troops invaded Washington D.C. and burned the White House, the Capitol Building, and the Library of Congress. Their next target was Baltimore, where Fort McHenry was located. Francis Scott Key was on a ship negotiating the release of a prisoner of war held by the British. They were still on the ship near Fort McHenry when the British started bombing. The British were unable to completely destroy Fort McHenry and eventually gave up. The next morning, Key was inspired when he saw the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry after the battle and wrote the poem originally titled "The Defense of Fort M'Henry" on September 14, 1814. Key was a successful lawyer in Maryland and Washington D.C. and was later appointed U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. The poem was later set to music already composed by musician John Stafford Smith and people started referring to it as "The Star-Spangled Banner". In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson announced that it should be played at all official events. It was then adopted as the national anthem on March 3, 1931.

The Garrison Flag that inspired The Star-Spangled Banner from Fort McHenry can be found at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. To learn more about this flag click here on the Interactive Flag

Proper etiquette when the National anthem is played: Civilians should face the flag and place their right hand over their heart, while men should remove their hats. Members of the military and veterans not in uniform should salute the flag if it is present.

Oh say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Presidents of the United States

1. George Washington 1789-1797
2. John Adams 1797-1801
3. Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809
4. James Madison 1809-1817
5. James Monroe 1817-1825
6. John Quincy Adams 1825-1829
7. Andrew Jackson 1829-1837
8. Martin Van Buren 1837-1841
9. William Henry Harrison 1841-1841
10. John Tyler 1841-1845
11. James K. Polk 1845-1849
12. Zachary Taylor 1849-1850
13. Millard Fillmore 1850-1853
14. Franklin Pierce 1853-1857
15. James Buchanan 1857-1861
16. Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865
17. Andrew Johnson 1865-1869
18. Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1877
19. Rutherford B. Hayes 1877-1881
20. James A. Garfield 1881-1881
21. Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885
22. Grover Cleveland 1885-1889
23. Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893
24. Grover Cleveland 1893-1897
25. William McKinley 1897-1901
26. Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909
27. William Howard Taft 1909-1913
28. Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921
29. Warren G. Harding 1921-1923
30. Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929
31. Herbert Hoover 1929-1933
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945
33. Harry S. Truman 1945-1953
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961
35. John F. Kennedy 1961-1963
36. Lyndon B. Johnson 1963-1969
37. Richard M. Nixon 1969-1974
38. Gerald R. Ford 1974-1977
39. Jimmy Carter 1977-1981
40. Ronald Reagan 1981-1989
41. George Bush 1989-1993
42. Bill Clinton 1993-2001
43. George W. Bush 2001-2009
44. Barack Obama 2009-2017
45. Donald Trump 2017-2021
46. Joe Biden 2021-2025

47. Donald Trump 2025-

The Gettysburg Address

The Battle of Gettysburg marked a turning point in the Civil War. It was estimated that there were more than 50,000 casualties during the 3-day conflict. The Gettysburg address was written and given by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863. It was delivered to honor the men who had fought and died in the Battle of Gettysburg in what is now known as the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park. The address was given at the Soldier Cemetery on Cemetery Hill in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was given to help inspire and to preserve the United States as one Union.

Gettysburg National Battlefield Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Gettysburg National Soldier Cemetary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the site where the Gettysburg address was given.

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

The Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance was written by a minister named Francis Bellamy in 1892 while he lived in New York City. It was originally published in a children's magazine called The Youth's Companion as part of a national public school celebration of Columbus Day. It was formally adopted by Congress as the Pledge of Allegiance in 1942.

Proper etiquette for reciting the Pledge of Allegiance: Standing, removing your hat, facing towards the flag, and placing your right hand over your heart. Members of the military will usually stand at attention and give the military salute.

I pledge allegiance to the Flag
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one Nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.

100 Questions on the U.S. Citizenship Test

United States Citizenship/Naturalization Test

On October 1, 2008, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services replaced the set of questions formerly used as part of the citizenship test with the questions listed here. All applicants who filed for naturalization on or after October 1, 2008 are required to take the new test.

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
A. Principles of American Democracy
1. What is the supreme law of the land?
2. What does the Constitution do?
3. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?
4. What is an amendment?
5. What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
6. What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?
7. How many amendments does the Constitution have?
8. What did the Declaration of Independence do?
9. What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?
10. What is freedom of religion?
11. What is the economic system in the United States?
12. What is the “rule of law”?

B. System of Government
13. Name one branch or part of the government
14. What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?
15. Who is in charge of the executive branch?
16. Who makes federal laws?
17. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
18. How many U.S. Senators are there?
19. We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?
20. Who is one of your state’s U.S. Senators?
21. The House of Representatives has how many voting members?
22. We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years?
23. Name your U.S. Representative.
24. Who does a U.S. Senator represent?
25. Why do some states have more Representatives than other states?
26. We elect a President for how many years?
27. In what month do we vote for President?
28. What is the name of the President of the United States now?
29. What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?
30. If the President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
31. If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
32. Who is the Commander in Chief of the military?
33. Who signs bills to become laws?
34. Who vetoes bills?
35. What does the President’s Cabinet do?
36. What are two cabinet-level positions?
37. What does the judicial branch do?
38. What is the highest court in the United States?
39. How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
40. Who is the Chief Justice of the United States?
41. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal
government?
42. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states?
43. Who is the Governor of your state?
44. What is the capital of your state?
45. What are the two major political parties in the United States?
46. What is the political party of the President now?
47. What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?

C. Rights and Responsibilities
48. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.
49. What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?
50. What are two rights only for United States citizens?
51. What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?
52. What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?
53. What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen?
54. How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?
55. What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?
56. When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms?
57. When must all men register for the Selective Service?

AMERICAN HISTORY
A: Colonial Period and Independence
58. What is one reason colonists came to America?
59. Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?
60. What group of people was taken to America and sold as slaves?
61. Why did the colonists fight the British?
62. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
63. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
64. There are 13 original states. Name them.
65. What happened at the Constitutional Convention?
66. When was the Constitution written?
67. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.
68. What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?
69. Who is the “Father of Our Country”?
70. Who was the first President?

B: 1800s
71. What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?
72. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.
73. Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.
74. Name one problem that led to the Civil War.
75. What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did?
76. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
77. What did Susan B Anthony do?

C: Recent American History and Other Important Historical Information
78. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.
79. Who was President during World War I?
80. Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?
81. Who did the United States fight in World War II?
82. Before he was President, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?
83. During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?
84. What movement tried to end racial discrimination?
85. What did Martin Luther King, Jr do?
86. What major event happened on September 11, 2001 in the United States?
87. Name one American Indian tribe in the United States

INTEGRATED CIVICS
A: Geography
88. Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.
89. What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?
90. What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?
91. Name one U.S. Territory.
92. Name one state that borders Canada.
93. Name one state that borders Mexico.
94. What is the capital of United States?
95. Where is the Statue of Liberty?

B: Symbols
96. Why does the flag have 13 stripes?
97. Why does the flag have 50 stars?
98. What is the name of the national anthem?

C: Holidays
99. When do we celebrate Independence Day?
100. Name two national U.S. holidays.