A Note From Bob
No crown, no blueprint
With Independence Day almost here, it felt like the right week to look at the office the Founders had to invent from nothing. There was no crown to inherit and no model to copy, just a group of men in Philadelphia deciding how much power one person should hold in a brand-new republic. Today's featured quiz runs from George Washington's first, uncertain steps in a job no one had ever done, through the presidents who tested and expanded the office over the next two centuries. See how well you know the most demanding position in American life.
Trivia Question of the Day
George Washington set an unwritten rule by stepping down after two terms. Which president later broke that tradition, winning election to the office four separate times?
The answer is at the bottom of this email.
Today's Featured Quiz
The American Presidency
Fifteen questions, just a few minutes. From the powers the Constitution hands the office to the men who have tested and stretched them, see how well you know the story of the American presidency. A fitting warm-up for the Fourth of July.
More to Explore
Declaration of Independence
Independence Day is tomorrow, so there is no better time to revisit the document that started it all. This quiz covers the summer of 1776: the men who drafted and signed it, the arguments over its words, and the ideas that still echo today. Fifteen questions on the founding document of the United States.
The Answer
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidency four times, in 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944, the only person ever to do so. He died in April 1945, only months into that fourth term. Every president before him had honored the two-term limit that George Washington set by choice rather than by law. That changed after Roosevelt: in 1951 the Twenty-second Amendment wrote the two-term limit into the Constitution.
On This Day
July 3, 1776: One day after the Continental Congress voted for independence, John Adams sat down to write his wife, Abigail. He predicted the Second of July would be remembered forever, celebrated with parades, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of the country to the other. He had the celebration right and the date off by two days. It is July 4, when the Declaration was formally adopted, that Americans have marked ever since, and that anniversary arrives tomorrow.
Stay
Curious.
Bob
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