Final Jeopardy: Declaration of Independence Signers (12-8-11)
The Final Jeopardy question (12/8/2011) in the category “Declaration of Independence Signers” was:
The only Roman Catholic signer represented this State.
Although we haven’t seen a 3-day champion since Francis Lansagnan, we’ve had a few 2-day champions: Bhibha Das, Jan Zasowski and Kendra Anspaugh. Can new champion Tony Hightower join their ranks today? To do so, he will have to defeat: Dan Kull of Colorado, and William Castaneda of California.
William had a nice lead of more than $2,000 by the first commercial break but, as we know, the Jeopardy! round isn’t always a good indicator of how the game will turn out. Tony caught up by dominating the “‘Pre’-cisely” category.
William got the Jeopardy! Daily Double in “Non-Roman Emperors:” He had $4,800 (only an $800 lead over Tony by now). He wagered $2,800 and he was RIGHT.
As the mighty emperor of the Incas in 1532, Atahualpa faced 280 soldiers led by this Spaniard. show
William finished the round first with $8,200. Tony was next with $5,800 and Dan was in third place with $1,400.
Tony swept through “Before and After at the Movies” to catch up and even overtake the lead, but William got the last clue and got back in the lead again.
William also got the first Double Jeopardy Daily Double in “Once There Were No Computers” He bet $2,000 of his $14,600. He was RIGHT and now had a $6,800 lead over Tony.
A “nonexistent domain” error on a failed e-mail is the new version of this 1962 Elvis song” show
Dan, who couldn’t catch a break for most of the game, caught a few and then got the last Daily Double of the game in “Quotes About Places.” By now, Dan had $4,600. He risked $4,500. Alas, he got it WRONG, leaving him with $100.
“In ‘The Third Man’ Orson Welles said it ‘had 500 years of democracy & peace & what did that produce? The cuckoo clock'” show
William went into Final Jeopardy with $17,400. Tony was second with $12,600 and Dan was third with $1,700.
NONE of the players got Final Jeopardy right.
WHAT IS MARYLAND?
“Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, at the State House in Philadelphia, only one was a Catholic … Charles Carroll, as the pre-eminent Catholic politician of his day and cousin of the Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore, the first U.S. bishop …” (The Catholic Review).
He is also said to have been the wealthiest signer, and perhaps even the wealthiest man in America at the time. There were three other delegates from Maryland who weren’t Catholic: Samuel Chase, William Paca and Thomas Stone. Short biographies on all 56 signers are on U.S. History.org.
It was a tough question and we freely admit we wouldn’t have got it if our lives were at stake. (We’re sure you know we look up this additional info up even when we do know the answer.)
None of the signers’ last names were Calvert, so we don’t know where Alex Trebek got that from. The Calvert family was Catholic and they were founders of Maryland, but we think they were originally from England and the family of Charles Carroll of Carrollton (as he called himself) was from Ireland.
Dan bet $830 and answered “What is Massachusetts.” He was left with $870.
Tony wrote down “Pennsylvania.” Alex Trebek noted that was the Quakers. His $5,000 bet brought him down to $7,600.
William had “Delaware.” His $8,000 bet brought him down to $9,400, enough to win the game and return tomorrow.
