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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why do the Puritans have such a strong impact on the national character, according to the narrator?
(a) Because they persuade everyone else to emulate them.
(b) Because they are among the first to arrive in a wild place.
(c) Because they are so dashing and heroic that everyone tells stories about them.
(d) Because they are so driven to evangelize to others.

2. What does Williams think was the motive of the person who told Ponce de Leon there was a fountain of youth?
(a) Love.
(b) Revenge.
(c) A desire to help.
(d) Storytelling.

3. Who does Columbus write to while he is on his return voyage?
(a) The King and Queen of Spain.
(b) His wife.
(c) Friends who were left behind in the New World.
(d) His family members in Europe.

4. How do the Spanish justify killing so many peaceful islanders?
(a) They claim that Indians had no souls.
(b) They insist that God told them to do it.
(c) They call the killings self-defense.
(d) They say it is necessary to kill people to take the land for Spain.

5. What does Montezuma do when Cortez enters the capital?
(a) He negotiates a peace treaty that makes him equal to Cortez.
(b) He fights against Cortez and dies.
(c) He forces Cortez to accept Aztec authority.
(d) He makes Cortez the monarch.

6. What kind of woman is Freydis?
(a) Fierce.
(b) Dedicated.
(c) Foolish.
(d) Submissive.

7. How does the death of Juan Ortiz affect De Soto?
(a) It leaves him without a single soldier who knows the way back.
(b) It leaves him without a translator.
(c) It makes him feel lonely and wish he had a friend.
(d) It leaves him without a doctor.

8. What happens when Ponce de Leon and his men first land among the Caribs?
(a) They slaughter the Caribs, leaving none alive.
(b) The Caribs welcome them with open arms and a big feast.
(c) They make peace with the Caribs and do not have to fight.
(d) The Caribs kidnap their women and shoot their dog.

9. At the beginning of the Introduction, Horace Gregory quotes William Carlos Williams as saying "History, history! We fools, what do we know or care?" What does Gregory think Williams means by this?
(a) History is full of lies.
(b) It is dangerous to get involved in history.
(c) Most Americans know little of history.
(d) History matters only to fools.

10. What adjective does the narrator use to describe the Pilgrims' eagerness to share their beliefs?
(a) Bold.
(b) Hard-working.
(c) Dreadful.
(d) Fierce.

11. Which of the following quotations reveals Williams' opinion of Cortez?
(a) "With the force bred of a determination to face at any cost a situation fast going beyond his control..."
(b) "Courageous almost beyond precedent, tactful, resourceful in misfortune..."
(c) "...Nothing at the present moment seemed to disturb his aristocratic reserve."
(d) "Spain cannot be blamed for the crassness of the discoverers."

12. What happens to the girl Ponce de Leon gives a gold crucifix to?
(a) He finds her later working as a slave.
(b) His men capture her and steal the crucifix back.
(c) He finds her later under a bush with her hands cut off.
(d) He accidentally kills her without knowing who she is.

13. When Columbus finally lands in Spain after his second voyage, what happens to him?
(a) He is arrested, and everything he owns is taken away and sold, even the clothing he wore.
(b) He is welcomed but told that the sovereigns cannot afford to pay for another voyage.
(c) He is celebrated and paraded through the streets as a returning hero.
(d) He is attacked by mobs of people who do not approve of his travels to the New World.

14. Why are the Puritans important, according to the narrator?
(a) They bring Christianity to the New World.
(b) They find a way to survive in an inclement environment.
(c) They begin to form the national character.
(d) They are among the earliest European settlers.

15. What adjective does Williams use to describe Champlain?
(a) Loving.
(b) Delightful.
(c) Primitive.
(d) Opportunist.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Gregory say about the way in which the reputation of In the American Grain grew?

2. What causes the Puritan elders to finally get fed up with Thomas Morton?

3. What prevents Raleigh from going to the Virginia colonies?

4. What does Cortez think when he enters the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan?

5. How much time does Samuel de Champlain spend in North America before he is permitted to establish a French colony?

(see the answer keys)

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