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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. At what event did Mencken first personally encounter William Jennings Bryan?
(a) The funeral of Grover Cleveland.
(b) Bryan's congressional trial for corruption.
(c) The Scopes Monkey trial.
(d) The 1912 Democratic National Convention.

2. How does Mencken describe Oliver Wendell Holmes?
(a) He was a tool of liberal elites.
(b) He was a brilliant reasoner.
(c) He was a tool of conservative fuddy-duddies.
(d) He was a completely inept United States Senator.

3. What is Mencken's opinion of romantic love?
(a) Men must only marry for romantic love, and not for other considerations.
(b) It is a dangerous farce.
(c) It is a great and noble thing.
(d) It benefits men rather than women.

4. What is the subject of Chapter 7?
(a) Taxes.
(b) Death.
(c) Classical composers.
(d) Quackery.

5. What kind of men does a democracy produce?
(a) Noble, confident men who do not envy others.
(b) Energetic men with too much time on their hands.
(c) Depressing men full of nostalgia.
(d) Stupid men who can barely master the multiplication tables.

6. How does Mencken define government?
(a) A war on the poor.
(b) A dozen men who can't do anything right.
(c) A conspiracy against superior men.
(d) A collection of the looniest among us.

7. New England owes much of its history to what group of people?
(a) Anti-Puritans.
(b) Manhattan Indians.
(c) Delaware Indians.
(d) The Founding Fathers.

8. What does the "metaphysical" type of person inevitably do?
(a) Demands to know what you mean, even when it is obvious.
(b) Becomes paralyzed with fear over the enormity of the universe.
(c) Begs for spare change.
(d) Tips their hat for no reason.

9. Why is the "pretty man" hated?
(a) Women care less for beauty than men do.
(b) The pretty man is almost universally also very dumb.
(c) Women are jealous of pretty men.
(d) The pretty man reminds us of all of our own faults.

10. What is Mencken's hope for democracy?
(a) It is a self-limiting disease.
(b) It will finally deliver much-needed assistance to the poor.
(c) Mencken has absolutely no hope for democracy.
(d) It may lead to monarchy someday.

11. Why is the culture of the United States deficient, according to Chapter 10?
(a) The U.S. lacks a healthy skepticism for so-called artists.
(b) The U.S. lacks a civilized aristocracy.
(c) The U.S. lacks social programs for the poor.
(d) The U.S. lacks a sound monetary policy.

12. Which is NOT one of the reasons Mencken praises George Washington?
(a) He scorned foreign entanglements.
(b) He enjoyed whiskey.
(c) He ignored the private morals of his neighbors.
(d) He was a pious man.

13. What effect has intermarriage had on the American South?
(a) It has infused the American South with the very best qualities of Western Europe.
(b) It has positively blurred the lines between high class and low class.
(c) It has introduced culture such as art and literature into the American South.
(d) It has negatively blurred the lines between high class and low class.

14. What group of people has been "overestimated" throughout the course of human history?
(a) Barbarians.
(b) Russians.
(c) Egyptians.
(d) Greeks.

15. Who does Mencken dub "The Lady of Joy"?
(a) His wife.
(b) A prostitute.
(c) The happily married woman.
(d) The Virgin Mary.

Short Answer Questions

1. Privately, politicians are what kind of people?

2. What is the chief problem with political theorists?

3. What does the "romantic" type of person inevitably do?

4. What is the "average man's" opinion of government?

5. What kind of sense of right and wrong do children have?

(see the answer keys)

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