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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 Lincoln should be depicted as when a sculpture is made to memorialize him?
(a) A soldier.
(b) A scholar.
(c) A woman.
(d) A man.

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

3. What does Poe call Longfellow?
(a) A shyster.
(b) An ignoramus.
(c) A plagiarist.
(d) A thief.

4. How can Boone's attitude toward Indians best be described?
(a) Contemptuous.
(b) Paternalistic.
(c) Competitive.
(d) Admiring.

5. How does the narrator describe George Washington's character at the beginning of "George Washington"?
(a) He says that Washington was corrupted by power.
(b) He says that Washington was ambitious.
(c) He says that Washington rarely told the truth.
(d) He says that Washington was a good man.

6. What state does Houston become Governor of, and later serve as a U.S. Senator from?
(a) New Mexico.
(b) Nevada.
(c) Texas.
(d) Arizona.

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

8. Who raises Sam Houston during the early years of his life?
(a) The Abnaki.
(b) The Winnebago.
(c) The Tuscaloosa.
(d) The Cherokee.

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

10. Why does the narrator admire Pere Rasles?
(a) He mapped the area where the Abnaki lived.
(b) He lived with the Abnaki Indians for 34 years.
(c) He converted many Puritans to Catholicism.
(d) He provided useful information to the English.

11. What moral weakness does the narrator comment on in Washington?
(a) His fondness for women.
(b) His tendency to drink too much.
(c) His refusal to free his slaves.
(d) His laziness.

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

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

14. Why does Williams say that it is "water from a spring" to talk to M?
(a) Because M is always so cheerful.
(b) Because M lives near a spring.
(c) Because M uses such original language.
(d) Because M likes the rain in the spring.

15. What does Williams say that Americans think they will lose if they were ever to serve another person?
(a) Faith.
(b) Arrogance.
(c) Self-esteem.
(d) Independence.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do you think that Williams means when he says that Lincoln's assassination shows the "brutalizing desolation of life in America up to that time"?

2. How does the narrator say that Puritans viewed the Indian?

3. When does Houston defeat Santa Ana?

4. What event in Poe's life trapped him in his poetry?

5. What does the narrator's interlocutor, Valyry Larbaud, admire about the Puritans?

(see the answer keys)

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