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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many counties did Pennsylvania initially have before the American Constitution was formed?
(a) Fourteen.
(b) Twelve.
(c) Eight.
(d) Ten.

2. What word did Paine use to describe the decisions of juries in Part Two of Rights of Man?
(a) Controversial.
(b) Ambiguous.
(c) Arbitrary.
(d) Confusing.

3. Which office were foreigners prohibited from having under the American Constitution?
(a) Mayor.
(b) Senator.
(c) President.
(d) Governor.

4. What word did Paine use to describe the English Constitution in Of Constitutions?
(a) Vague.
(b) Implicit.
(c) Specific.
(d) Repetitive.

5. How many houses of Congress were part of the Constitution that was ratified at the constitutional convention?
(a) None.
(b) Two.
(c) One.
(d) Three.

6. How did Paine describe the society in small domains where government was necessary?
(a) Indifferent.
(b) Incompetent.
(c) Incomplete.
(d) Irrational.

7. How did Paine refer to tax revenue in the European governments?
(a) So much of it was being wasted.
(b) Very little of it was being wasted.
(c) Not enough of it was being generated.
(d) None of it was being wasted.

8. What type of formal government did the frontier areas of America have before the American Revolution?
(a) The same as they did after the Revolution.
(b) Very little.
(c) More than they did after the Revolution.
(d) None.

9. In concluding Of the Old and New Systems of Government, what did Paine state was the basis for free governments?
(a) Law and persons.
(b) Persons, not law.
(c) Law, not persons.
(d) Neither law nor persons.

10. Announcing the arrival of representative government at the end of Ways and Means of Improving the Conditions of Europe, how did Paine advise that future revolution should be contemplated?
(a) Aggressively.
(b) Repeatedly.
(c) Frequently.
(d) Carefully.

11. What did Paine think were society's greatest laws?
(a) The laws of independence.
(b) The laws of reason.
(c) The laws of nature.
(d) The laws of equality.

12. Which one of the following was not included in Paine's description of how America was prospering in Of Society and Civilization?
(a) The taxes were low.
(b) The poor were not oppressed.
(c) The rich were not privileged.
(d) The industry was extensive.

13. Which one of the following was not included by Paine in the list of things that commerce led to?
(a) Structure.
(b) Prosperity.
(c) Cordiality.
(d) Peace.

14. Based on the information in Ways and Means of Improving the Conditions of Europe, what should be the aim of the new governments of Europe?
(a) General laws.
(b) Specific laws.
(c) Specific happiness.
(d) General happiness.

15. What forms of objection were there to the Articles of Confederation?
(a) Pamphlets, but not publications.
(b) Neither pamphlets nor publications.
(c) Pamphlets and publications.
(d) Publications, but not pamphlets.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Of Society and Civilization, what point did Paine make about social order?

2. In Paine's opinion, when did a society need government even less?

3. Compared to previous Revolutions, what did Paine think future Revolutions would be like?

4. How did Paine describe the monarchical government that the American Constitution avoided in Of Constitutions?

5. How long after the first part of Rights of Man was Part Two published?

(see the answer keys)

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