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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through 24-28.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to "Quid Est Veritas?," what kind of religion professes to know God exactly and completely?
(a) Admirable religions.
(b) Perfect religions.
(c) Primitive religions.
(d) American religions.

2. What dominated Puritanism, according to Mencken in "The National Letters"?
(a) Religious tomfoolery.
(b) Fear, and the suspicion of art.
(c) The simple necessities of food, clothing, and shelter.
(d) Free-thinking men of purpose.

3. In "The National Letters," what was the cause of all the "diseases" which afflict America?
(a) The presumption of guilt, rather than innocence, in legal matters.
(b) The lack of a stable aristocracy.
(c) Organized religion.
(d) The lack of a proper diet.

4. According to Mencken, why was Samuel Johnson unique as an artist?
(a) He always gave to charity, and artists are infamous misers.
(b) He never turned against his country, unlike all artists.
(c) He never cared about his own fame or legacy.
(d) He has a particularly thrilling prose style.

5. What was the subject of Walt Whitman's "Democratic Vistas"?
(a) Whitman's faith in the common man to rule himself.
(b) The awe-inspiring beauty of several places in America.
(c) Whitman's desire that a class of intellectuals would rise up to rule America.
(d) Whitman's argument that republicanism is much preferred to democracy.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Gore in the Caribees," what was Mencken's perspective on the revolution in Cuba?

2. What did Mencken wonder about Henry Cabot Lodge?

3. What did Mencken, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, feel about the tradition of giving medals in the military?

4. Which of the following describes an Anglo-Saxon soldier, according to Mencken?

5. According to Mencken, the intellectual tradition of Whitman and Emerson had been transferred to which man?

(see the answer key)

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