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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Williams say that many American crimes are caused by?
(a) Spiritual starvation.
(b) Passion and anger.
(c) Religious intolerance.
(d) Cultural hatred.

2. How does the narrator say that Puritans viewed the Indian?
(a) As a degenerate.
(b) As a savage devil.
(c) As an unformed Puritan.
(d) As a fellow Christian.

3. According to the narrator, what was Boone's emotional state when he lived alone in the wilderness for three months?
(a) Ecstasy.
(b) Worry.
(c) Fear.
(d) Exhilaration.

4. What does the narrator say about Washington's attitude toward the presidency?
(a) He felt his terms of office were a failure.
(b) He craved power.
(c) He felt it was his duty to serve.
(d) He regretted not having a Parliament.

5. Why does Houston resign as Governor of Tennessee?
(a) His new wife leaves him after three months.
(b) He wants to move further to the West.
(c) He wants to join the Army.
(d) He misses living with the Indians.

6. What does Williams say that Lincoln finds no relief from?
(a) Debt.
(b) Loneliness.
(c) Madness.
(d) Bewilderment.

7. How does Captain Landais' insubordination to John Paul Jones begin?
(a) He accuses Jones of failing to pursue the enemy as vigorously as possible.
(b) He accuses Jones of not taking into consideration the needs of the men on board.
(c) He accuses Jones of losing the barge by taking unnecessary chances with the boats.
(d) He accuses Jones of treason.

8. What makes Daniel Boone different from other settlers, according to the narrator?
(a) He is not afraid to go west into the wilderness.
(b) He started new communities wherever he went.
(c) He is at war with the Indians he met.
(d) He does not consider himself an American citizen.

9. Who is the narrator for the second half of "Poor Richard"?
(a) An American Indian.
(b) William Carlos Williams.
(c) Benjamin Franklin.
(d) An average American.

10. Why does Lincoln borrow a neighbor's baby?
(a) To pace with while he is thinking.
(b) To comfort him after the death of a loved one.
(c) To find out more about what the children of America need.
(d) To use in a play that is being put on at the local school.

11. What does Williams compare the various incidents of Lincoln's life to?
(a) Instruments playing in an orchestra.
(b) Dancers doing a series of intricately choreographed steps.
(c) Lines in a carefully crafted poem.
(d) Ridges of a sculpture that should be made of Lincoln.

12. Why does John Paul Jones write to Benjamin Franklin in "Battle Between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis"?
(a) To explain the circumstances leading up to the loss of a ship.
(b) To explain how ships could be better maintained so that they are more resistant to fires.
(c) To explain the outcome of a recent battle.
(d) To explain why he feels that naval policy should be changed.

13. What event in Poe's life trapped him in his poetry?
(a) The birth of his child.
(b) The death of his wife.
(c) The destruction of his home.
(d) The end of the war.

14. What characteristic does Boone have to have in order to live the kind of life that he lived?
(a) Desire to earn money.
(b) Drive to develop land for investment purposes.
(c) An appreciation for solitude.
(d) Lack of concern for his own safety.

15. Why does Williams feel that women especially appreciated Burr?
(a) Burr was extremely handsome and dashing.
(b) Burr did not care about religion.
(c) Burr treated women with respect and wanted them to be free.
(d) Burr was well-educated and had a distinguished military record.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Jones say he reacted to the damage incurred by the Bon Homme Richard?

2. Which of the following adjectives best describes the narrator's experience of Paris?

3. What does Williams admire about Poe's choice of words?

4. Why does Williams think that Burr did not get along with Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson?

5. What area does Boone discover, along with his brother, just before the American Revolution?

(see the answer keys)

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