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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to the author, why did Burr go to the duel?

2. How many residents of the new republic were slaves?

3. What was Thomas Paine referring to when he said an island could not rule a continent?

4. What was the date of the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton?

5. What was an "interview at Weehawkan"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were some of Hamilton's claims against Burr? Describe in detail, and give instances where Hamilton speaks against Burr?

2. Why do historians refer to this time in the course of American history as The Age of Passion?

3. Why was Virginia so important to the decisions of this time?

4. How does the author differ from Lincoln's statement that America was founded on a proposition written by Jefferson in 1776?

5. What, in your opinion, were the greatest assets of the new republic?

6. Why was this time--the decades immediately following America's independence from England--so vital?

7. Why was the land now known as the District of Columbia a good place to locate the capital city of the new government?

8. What is different about the generation of leaders and their methods of communicating and the present day methods?

9. Why do you think the author named the Preface "The Generation"?

10. Describe the reputations of Burr and Hamilton. What personality traits led them to end up in a duel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do you think the author spent the majority of the book discussing the friendship, correspondence and actions of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson? What contributions do you think the author valued the most from these two men?

Essay Topic 2

What would have happened, in your opinion, if Washington had died in office rather than step down voluntarily. Would the democratic process taken over, and if so, would the Americans have chosen another man for another twenty year term?

Essay Topic 3

Why do you think the Constitutional Convention avoided the subject of slavery while forming the new republic? List the advantages and disadvantages of deferring this vital issue to a future generation. What were some of the results of this avoidance? How do you feel US history would have been changed if this issue had been resolved 1) to allow and encourage slavery and 2) to outlaw slavery?

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