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

Short Answer Questions

1. What makes Daniel Boone different from other settlers, according to the narrator?

2. What does the narrator say about Washington's attitude toward the presidency?

3. What does Williams say that many American crimes are caused by?

4. What happens to the barge that is towing John Paul Jones' ship?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Does Williams admire Sir Walter Raleigh? Why or why not? Support your answer with evidence from In the American Grain.

Essay Topic 2

Consider Williams' statement, "History, history! We fools, what do we know or care? History begins for us with murder and enslavement, not with discovery. No, we are not Indians but we are men of their world. The blood means nothing; the spirit, the ghost of the land moves in the blood, moves the blood." What does Williams mean? Do you agree with him or disagree? Write an essay in which you react to his statements.

Essay Topic 3

In the Introduction, Horace Gregory writes that "History is a humiliating subject for any man to think of knowing...The desire to know history is a near relative of the desire to know truth, and that is where, for most of us, a pit lies waiting." Does William Carlos Williams avoid the pit, or fall into it? Why or why not?

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This section contains 367 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample