7/1: Independence Day — Seventeen Seventy When?
July 1, 2011 by Marist Poll
Filed under Celebrations, Celebrations Polls, Featured, Living
Just in time for the July 4th weekend, the Marist Poll has asked Americans in which year the United States declared its independence. And, the result is many Americans need to brush up on their American history.
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Click Here for Complete July 1, 2011 USA Poll Release and Tables
Only 58% of residents know that the United States declared its independence in 1776. 26% are unsure, and 16% mentioned another date.
There are age differences on this question. Younger Americans are the least likely to know the correct answer. Only 31% of adults younger than 30 say that 1776 is the year in which the United States broke away from Great Britain. 59% of residents between 30 and 44 report the same. Americans 45 to 59 — 75% — are the age group most likely to have the correct answer. Among those 60 and older, 60% report that 1776 is the year in which the United States declared its independence.
When it comes to gender, men — 65% — are more likely to respond with 1776 than are women — 52%.
And, for the second year, about one in four Americans doesn’t know from which country the United States declared its independence. While 76% correctly cite Great Britain, 19% are unsure, and 5% mention another country.
A comparable proportion of Americans were similarly informed at this time last year. At that time, 74% thought the United States declared its independence from Great Britain, 20% were unsure, and 6% mentioned another country.
80% of those 60 and older, 77% of those 45 to 59, and 77% of those between 30 and 44 report the nation’s founding fathers revolted against Great Britain. This compares with 67% of those under the age of 30 who say the same.
Men — 83% — are more likely than women — 68% — to know that the United States declared its independence from Great Britain.
Table: Year in which the U.S. Declared Its Independence
Table: Country from which U.S. Declared Its Independence
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[...] new Marist poll finds that only 58% of those surveyed know that the United States declared its independence in 1776 [...]
[...] education system, especially with regard to its ability to teach US history. The results of a new Marist Poll show that too many Americans, particularly those educated in the past few decades, don't have the [...]
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[...] Monday America celebrates Independence Day with fireworks and barbecues and beer, but according to a new Marist Poll one in four Americans don’t even know what country America declared its independence from. [...]
[...] 7/1: Independence Day — Seventeen Seventy When? | Home of the Marist Poll: Pebbles and Pundits. Share this:EmailFacebookRedditDiggPrint Posted in Education, History, United States – Tagged 1776, Age, age differences, american history, Answer, correct answer, date, Day, doesn, founding, Founding Fathers, Home, independence, independence day, marist poll, Men, nation, pebbles, proportion, pundits, report, result, seventeen seventy, time, weekend SHARE THIS Twitter Facebook Delicious StumbleUpon E-mail « U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan – NYTimes.com No Comments Yet [...]
[...] two very disturbing reports about our nation’s founding and how it is remembered. The first report was from the polling arm of Marist [...]
[...] Americans, on the whole, should probably spend a little more time educating themselves about their homeland and a little less time barbecuing this weekend. According to a new poll released earlier today by Marist, a substantial portion of the nation appears confused about the most basic details of America’s founding. Marist reports: [...]
[...] While 76% correctly cite Great Britain, 19% are unsure, and 5% mention another country. more: 7/1: Independence Day — Seventeen Seventy When? | Home of the Marist Poll: Pebbles and Pundits Okay, I know Jay Leno has said his "Jay Walking" bits take almost NO time to film, [...]
[...] The poll surveyed more than a thousand people. To read the full July 4th Marist poll, click here. [...]
[...] questions, right? Not for some Americans. A Marist Poll points out that, as we celebrate the Fourth of July with fireworks and barbecues, some Americans may be [...]
And the U.S. didn’t really break free on July 4, 1776. The colonies declared their indendence on that day, but the real date of independence was more accurately Sept. 3, 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the conflict and making independence official. You think many people, even (or especially) politicians, know that? And how many recognize that if France hadn’t entered the conflict to help us, we would
[...] poll also uncovers that one fourth of Americans don’t know from which country the United States [...]
No wonder people keep voting republican.
This happens because Social Studies has become an educational bastard son of every school system in the country. All the mandated standardized tests do not test or measure Social Studies. It’s simply not taught because it’s not on the test! it is negligence of criminal magnitude. All the math and science can not save an isolated population without critical thinking and historical awareness. Our future leaders know more about pop culture than American culture. Much of this is promoted by a system of “edutainment” that sacrifices knowledge for students having fun in class. We are training a lost generation and it should be recognized they will be pushing our wheelchairs and passing out meds even though they cant read a clock unless it is digital. Why do we accept the fact our children largely will be less informed, less motivated, and less capable than we can make them. Recovering from the recession makes novdiffetencevif no one intelligent enough is left to take over. What happened to this country?
[...] to a new Marist poll (the complete poll is here), only 58% of American know that our independence was declared in the [...]
There are people who believe in answering a stupid question with a stupid answer.
Couldn’t be because they aren’t from this country??
Teach only math and science in charter schools, forget about history. You get technically proficient dummies.
Pretty Sad. What are they teaching in schools? Obviously not American history. The younger respondents get the answer wrong more than the older respondents. Education isn’t what is used to be.
I have gotten comments when I ask people about July 4th, Memorial Day or Labor Day… Fireworks and picnics, the start of summer and the end of summer respectively. It is all well and good to celebrate these holidays, but at lest take one second out of your life to know what they are about. We do have Google you know.
[...] Day: Americans are dummies (the url is a WIN): Just in time for the July 4th weekend, the Marist Poll has asked Americans in [...]
[...] unaware of these facts. How this can possibly be, I don’t know, but it is the sad reality, according to this Marist poll: [snip] Only 58% of residents know that the United States declared its independence in 1776. [...]
When did the U.S> declares its surrealism?? 1946? ’32? earlier?
>>This, [de Gaulle govt trading , trading dollar reserves for gold from the U.S. government] along with the fiscal strain of federal expenditures for the Vietnam War and persistent balance of payments deficits, led President Richard Nixon to end the direct convertibility of the dollar to gold on August 15th 1971, resulting in the system’s breakdown (the “Nixon Shock”).
It is not surprising that the statistics show the younger they are, the less likely they are to know. The schools don’t teach history anymore…they are more interested in what first and second graders know about “alternative lifestyles” than what they know about history! Our country has been ruined by our own schools and teachers..go figure!
Too busy tweeting, watching reality shows or being too self absorbed to care. This is a sad commentary on what our nation is becoming. Like a government job, the more you dumb down the more you are accepted. A nation doesn’t stay great with this attitude.
93.8% of statistics are made up.
That doesn’t surprise me. There is a woman who wants to be President of The Inoted States,who thinks that the shot heard around the world, came from Vermont. Scary isn’t it.
[...] older generation and get schooled on some history before you embarrass yourself again next year. [Marist Poll via NewsFeed] Tagged:geek outhipstershistoryonly in [...]
[...] ældre generation og få skolet på nogle historie, før du skamme dig selv igen næste år. [ Marist Poll via Newsfeed ; Shutterstock ] Du kan holde op med Kelly Hodgkins, forfatteren af dette indlæg, [...]
[...] Marist.edu Category: Education, Holidays, Political, Weird News Tags: independence day, poll Share on [...]
This is an indictment against our education system. They are too busy indoctrinating our children with liberalism to actually teach.
This is sad and scary. If the cost of Freedom is eternal vigilance, we’re behind on our payments. There is another story out only recently that the TSA swarmed various public transportation venues other than airports over 8,000 times last year, “interviewing” travelers and conducting warrantless searches (pat downs). The story in question mentioned the Tampa Greyhound station in particular. I have heard no hue and cry over this, no outrage. Nothing on the mainstream news. Evidently, we’re not too hip to the Fourth Amendment, either.
histry aint impartont anywho. Wats suu grat aboot noing that ayb linkon wus our fust prezident.
What other country could they possibly name?
[...] know what year the United States declared independence, according to a new national survey. The Marist Poll released in honor of America's Independence Day, July 4, showed 58 percent of residents aware their [...]
Give me a break. A polling of only 1003 people from all over the country out of a population of over 300million does not in the least accurately represent the populace as a whole.
Agenda much? But it’ll serve it’s intended purpose no doubt to reinforce the popular stereotype of the Ignorant American.
Because hey, it’s so fun to bash the american citizenry, isn’t it.
[...] of 1,003 adult Americans, released just before the holiday weekend, showed that only 58 percent could identify the correct year. (Do you think that maybe some in the other 42 percent believe that Paul Revere was the guy who led [...]
I’m sorry but 1,003 people does not accurately represent the rest of the 307 MILLION people residing in the US. Were talking about 0.00006%. In terms of real data gathering, this would not be sufficient evidence for use as practical information.
It’s because they never watched School House Rocks!
[...] the fresh proof that the woeful neglect of American history in the schools has helped produce an astonishing ignorance of basic details of American history, it’s clearly foolish to expect that many today would recognize the name of Richard H. [...]
[...] timely poll just released a few days ago, asking people when the United States of America declared her [...]
[...] questions, right? Not for some Americans. A Marist Poll points out that, as we celebrate the Fourth of July with fireworks and barbecues, some Americans may be [...]
[...] past weekend – yep, just in time for July 4th – the Marist Poll released the results of a recent survey that asked a representative sampling of Americans from age [...]
[...] aspects of the national experience seems to shrink drastically. Have a look at the results of this Marist poll, then take two [...]
It’s truly a sad thing that fewer and fewer people are aware of the history of this country which allows those on the right like Palin, Bachman, et. al. to attempt to rewrite it to suit their political ends. They may seem to be easy targets but their ignorance of American history, both distant and recent is truly alarming.
I wonder how those in the Tea Party faired in the poll?…
[...] The Marist Poll released in honor of America’s Independence Day, July 4, showed 58 percent of residents aware their country declared independence in 1776. Twenty-six percent were unsure and 16 percent named another date. Younger Americans, those under 30 years of age, were less likely to have the correct answer with 31 percent, compared to Americans between the ages of 45 and 59 who said 1776 75 percent of the time.One in four Americans also didn’t know from which country the United States seceded, with 76 percent correctly naming Great Britain, 19 percent unsure and 5 percent naming another country. [...]
[...] Obviously it should; it was the day that the United States declared its independence. However, a Marist poll released recently has shown that only 58 percent of Americans know when we declared our [...]
[...] The Marist Poll released in honor of America’s Independence Day, July 4, showed 58 percent of residents aware their country declared independence in 1776. Twenty-six percent were unsure and 16 percent named another date. Younger Americans, those under 30 years of age, were less likely to have the correct answer with 31 percent, compared to Americans between the ages of 45 and 59 who said 1776 75 percent of the time.One in four Americans also didn’t know from which country the United States seceded, with 76 percent correctly naming Great Britain, 19 percent unsure and 5 percent naming another country. [...]
[...] older generation and get schooled on some history before you embarrass yourself again next year. [ Marist Poll via NewsFeed ; Shutterstock [...]
Guillermo, from my POV, it’s the left trying to revise history. Tea Party types are generally Strict Constitutionalists; and Libertarians and Conservatives often are, as well. I find that It’s usually the left who want to reinterpret the Constitution and our history out of context with the Founder’s intentions and actual events. You can’t take a swipe at an entire philosophy based on the admittedly ignorant and embarrasing remarks of a few who claim that philosophy. Palin was interesting for a while; but in my opinion, any thinking person, no matter what their political bent, has dropped any idea of giving her any kind of national platform, especially after she tried to spin and justify her gaffe instead of admitting it. That shows an intellectual dishonesty we can’t afford in those who hold office, and in fact, too many who are already in office are possessed of it.
BTW, in your question as posted, it would be, “I wonder how those in the Tea Party FARED in the poll?”
The homophones’ll getcha if ya don’t watch out!
Clark – Strict Constitutionalists will be 100% against us participating in undeclared wars.
Agreed. We should never have gottten into the conflicts we’ve been in since WWII without the consent of Congress; the Constitution requires it; and if more U.S. Americans (remember Miss Teen S.C.?) realized that, and were willing to get off their backsides and holler about it, backed by the knowledge of how things are SUPPOSED to work in this country, we wouldn’t have gotten into most, if not all of them in the first place, instead of wasting blood, treasure, time and effort trying to figure out how to win them decisively, or how to get out of them without leaving things more screwed up than they were when we went in.
This gets right back to what’s between the lines of the article on which we’re supposedly commenting. This goes a lot farther and deeper than just knowing about Independence Day. This is about the lack of knowledge and understanding among the population of civics, history, geography, and more. It’s about the lack of patience or desire (take your pick) of people to pay attention and learn these things, and care about them; it’s about the self-involvement of a people who have gotten so used to the ideas of instant gratification, and that they’re entitled and have rights, that they’ve forgotten about the responsibilities and obligations that go with those rights; and they don’t realize that they’re ENTITLED to absolutely NOTHING; that whatever you have needs to be EARNED, and not handed out to you on a silver platter. THAT’S what makes something yours; earning it. And what scares me is that we’re not EARNING the title of Citizen anymore. We just expect it while we fiddle with our electronic gadgets and watch Jackass, and listen to “music” that is angry and complaining and selfish and sometimes downright mean in it’s lyrics. What the hell happened to “Ask not what your country can do for you…”
One of my favorite quotes, and from an avowed socialist no less, is from George Bernard Shaw: “Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.” Truth is truth, wherever you find it, eh?
Okay; deep breath….calm down,…that’ll do for now…
[...] second item was a July Marist poll showing that only 58 percent of residents know the United States declared its independence in 1776. [...]
[...] Marist Poll released in honor of America’s Independence Day, July 4, showed 58 percent of residents aware [...]
Not knowing the true independance day has more to do with the state of education than anything else.
[...] Marist College survey last year revealed just how clueless Americans are about history. Barely half of the respondents knew that the U.S. declared its [...]
[...] Astonishing as it may seem, most American’s don’t know the most basic information about our government. In July 2011, Marist Poll tried to see how many people know July 4th history. According to their findings, only 58% of residents know that the United States declared its independence from Britain in 1776. Younger people are less informed than older. Only 31% of those people under 30 knew this basic piece of information. http://maristpoll.marist.edu/71-independence-day-dummy-seventeen-seventy-when/ [...]
[...] is it? the Marist Poll has asked Americans in which year the United States declared its independence. [...]
[...] recent poll showed that 1 in 4 Americans didn’t know which country we declared our independence from. [...]
[...] Nearly 25 percent of Americans don’t know that the United States declared its independence from Great Britain, according to a 2011 Marist poll [...]
[...] Nearly 25 percent of Americans don’t know that the United States declared its independence from Great Britain, according to a 2011 Marist poll [...]
[...] don't know that the United States declared its independence from Great Britain, according to a 2011 Marist poll 71 percent of Americans believe Iran already has nuclear weapons, according to a 2010 CNN/Opinion [...]
[...] Nearly 25 percent of Americans don’t know that the United States declared its independence from Great Britain, according to a 2011 Marist poll [...]
[...] Nearly 25 percent of Americans don’t know that the United States declared its independence from Great Britain, according to a 2011 Marist poll [...]
[...] Nearly 25 percent of Americans don’t know that the United States declared its independence from Great Britain, according to a 2011 Marist poll [...]