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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Williams admire about Poe's choice of words?
(a) Poe's words are not associated with anything else but thoughts and ideas.
(b) Poe's words carry shades of other meanings that come from their usage elsewhere.
(c) Poe's words are beautiful to listen to if you read them out loud.
(d) Poe's words can be recognized out of context because they are so original.

2. What do Burr's critics say about him when he runs for office?
(a) He is secretly a Royalist.
(b) He does not have enough experience or education.
(c) He is corrupt and would misuse power.
(d) He is frivolous and immoral.

3. Who does Lincoln say he owes everything he is or ever will be to?
(a) His angel mother.
(b) His devoted wife.
(c) His loving sister.
(d) His faithful housekeeper.

4. What does Houston do after he resigns as Governor of Tennessee?
(a) He joins the Indians who had been relocated to Arkansas.
(b) He settled down on a homestead and built a house.
(c) He decides to go back to school.
(d) He goes West to explore.

5. What happens to Pere Rasles?
(a) He dies peacefully of old age.
(b) He is killed by enemies of the Abnaki.
(c) He is killed by the Abnaki.
(d) He is assassinated by the English.

6. Which of the following adjectives best describes the narrator's experience of Paris?
(a) Peaceful.
(b) Disquieting.
(c) Disorienting.
(d) Productive.

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

8. How does Williams say that intense emotions affect our perceptions of things?
(a) They make everything confusing.
(b) They make everything harder.
(c) They make everything larger.
(d) They make everything better.

9. What does Williams say is the one thing that Americans fear more than anything else in the world?
(a) Knowledge.
(b) War.
(c) Touch.
(d) Poverty.

10. Why does Lincoln borrow a neighbor's baby?
(a) To use in a play that is being put on at the local school.
(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 pace with while he is thinking.

11. What characteristic drives Franklin's curiosity, according to one of the narrators of "Poor Richard"?
(a) Vexation.
(b) Beauty.
(c) Timidity.
(d) Thrift.

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

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

14. How does Jones say he reacted to the damage incurred by the Bon Homme Richard?
(a) He had the ship sunk on purpose because it was no longer able to sail.
(b) He made a few repairs and then decided to abandon ship.
(c) He tried his best to keep the ship afloat long enough to bring it into port.
(d) He immediately evacuated all his men and supplies off the ship.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Franklin recommend against trying to make money in America through manufacturing?

2. What does the "Poor Richard" narrator say is a common misconception that Europeans have about America?

3. What does Williams say that Americans think they will lose if they were ever to serve another person?

4. According to the narrator, what was Boone's emotional state when he lived alone in the wilderness for three months?

5. What virtue does the narrator say that Washington particularly valued in his troops?

(see the answer keys)

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