Yes, they were. They went from being mostly silver (dimes, too) to being nickel clad copper. So, I think that’s partial credit. I’ll keep a point for myself.
Score: 3
Can you give the common name for the Eighteenth Amendment?
(2 points)
I knew all of them! 
Good. Were you going with the ‘two extra months’ story?
Wow, once I had the amendments memorized. But then I graduated HS, and it all oozed out of my ear one night.
I’ll wager Woman’s Suffrage?
ETA: I hope it’s not the Prohibition! In fact, lemme change it to that. I’ll go with Prohibition.
Yeah, I had been under the impression that July and August were new additions to the Roman calendar. Well, at least I managed to fight my own ignorance today.
Nope. That’s the Nineteenth.
I figured you’d guess it, just because the only amendment that I really think of as having a specific name is Prohibition, enacted by the Eighteenth Amendment.
Score: 1
Gotta get my score back up. 
In the US Navy Battleships were named after who/what?
(One point)
What was the Gadsden Purchase?
3 points.
Check my post after I edited it! (got it right after all!)
US Presidents? Or am I thinking of Aircraft Carriers… same thing?
Oh brother. I really have no idea. Is it part of American history?
In 1854 Mexico sold the United States a little strip of land that now makes up southern New Mexico and Arizona. The purchase was pushed through by the slave states who wanted to make sure there was a southern route for a transcontinental railroad. The purchase was also significant because it was the last time the borders of the continental United States changed.
Sigh. I’m down to -1 now. Should have stuck to psycho killers.
Before Julius and Augustus C, July and August were named ‘fifth’ and ‘sixth’ month (‘Quintilis’ and ‘Sextilis’). So they weren’t added, just renamed.
Hmm… so, on that edit, I get my two points back, and two more, since you did get it right. Cool.
Alas, you’ve mixed up Aircraft Carriers with battleships. Battleships were named after States. Aircraft Carrier names are all over the place, but lately they have been named for Presidents.
So, I’m at 4 points, now.
What US war was ended by the Treaty of Ghent?
(This one is pretty obscure so I’m calling it a four pointer)
Obscure it must be, but let’s be honest, It could have been any treaty, and your chances would have been slim. Can’t even hazard a guess!
Rats, again. It ended the War of 1812.
So I’m back to breaking even.
What is the highest denomenation of paper currency that is currently in circulation in the US? (one point)
Who’s face is on that bill? (one point)
… and it’s not the only urban myth I’ve heard passed on by teachers, and it is so disturbing to have them still passed on by people who should be debunking them, and in some cases regurgitated in text books.
But I do have to step back and accept that some of these people are decades-old dinosaurs (quick, phone the creationists), and that they’ll never change. But when I hear bullshit, whether it’s about Shostakovich or planetary motion, I want to call it. And I really love having pupils do my work
I’m thinking it only goes up the $100 now. Benjamin Franklin.
Woo hoo! I get a 2!
================================================
Difficulty: 3
Match the concept with the discipline. In no particular order:
Steady State
Human Praxis
440 Hz
Solid State
Shrinkage Stope
Music Theory
Industrial Mining
Cosmology
Economics
Electronics
Steady State = Cosmology
Human Praxis = Economics
440 Hz = Music Theory
Solid State = Electronics
Shrinkage Stope =Industrial Mining
Ok, -2 for me, but I will make up ground for this one:
Name 2 James Cameron films of the past 20 years.
Difficulty 2
SSG Schwartz
That brings us from 87 to now… I’ll go with the safe ones:
Titanic - 1997
Terminator 2 - 1991(ish?)
I hope cmyk doesn’t mind a bit of sideshow entertainment, in that I was wondering about a composer-birthdate question, and it’s a bit of a bastard. So, with the same honour rules, place the dates of death of the following in the correct order, all you get is a honourary pint from me, and cmyk gets another:
Ravel
Gershwin
Prokofiev
Holst
Rachmaninov