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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did Paine describe the monarchical government that the American Constitution avoided in Of Constitutions?
(a) Senseless abomination.
(b) Childish embarrassment.
(c) Insulting mistake.
(d) Ridiculous injustice.

2. How did Paine indicate the corporate charters destroy rights in Ways and Means of Improving the Conditions of Europe?
(a) By encouraging people to dismiss new financial ideas.
(b) By preventing people from exercising financial power.
(c) By encouraging people to dismiss new political ideas.
(d) By preventing people from exercising political power.

3. What year did the constitutional convention take place?
(a) 1785.
(b) 1787.
(c) 1786.
(d) 1784.

4. What two things did Paine think were at the root of old governments in Of the Old and New Systems of Government?
(a) Power and self-promotiion.
(b) Greed and deception.
(c) Greed and delusion.
(d) Power and self-aggrandizement.

5. What word did Paine use to describe the English Constitution in Of Constitutions?
(a) Vague.
(b) Specific.
(c) Repetitive.
(d) Implicit.

6. How did Paine describe the picture of corporate towns in Ways and Means of Improving the Conditions of Europe?
(a) Decay, chaos and oppression.
(b) Decay and oppression.
(c) Decay and chaos.
(d) Chaos and oppression.

7. What type of formal government did the frontier areas of America have before the American Revolution?
(a) Very little.
(b) None.
(c) The same as they did after the Revolution.
(d) More than they did after the Revolution.

8. What did Paine advocate for business regulations in the British government?
(a) They should be updated.
(b) They should be reduced.
(c) They should be rewritten.
(d) They should be eliminated.

9. By writing Part Two of Rights of Man, what was Paine aiming to reveal about the claims of government to produce order?
(a) They were fabricated.
(b) They were intentionally misleading.
(c) They were exaggerated.
(d) They were in error.

10. How much power did Paine think the Articles of Confederation gave the states?
(a) Too much.
(b) Not enough.
(c) The right amount.
(d) He did not comment on it.

11. In Of Society and Civilization, what point did Paine make about social order?
(a) It existed before government and it would exist if government was abolished.
(b) It would be stronger if government was abolished.
(c) It did not exist before government, but it would exist if government was abolished.
(d) It would be just as strong if government was abolished.

12. What were the new principles of government that Paine wrote about in Of the Old and New Systems of Government?
(a) Provisional justice and legality.
(b) Provisional justice and loyalty.
(c) Delegation of power and the common interest.
(d) Delegation of power and the common good.

13. Who did Paine emphasize was the rightful owner of the Constitution?
(a) The government.
(b) Neither the people nor the government.
(c) The people.
(d) The people and the government.

14. What type of fighting did Paine think corporate charters produced where they existed?
(a) Endless.
(b) Lengthy.
(c) Limited.
(d) Short.

15. Which office were foreigners prohibited from having under the American Constitution?
(a) Governor.
(b) Senator.
(c) President.
(d) Mayor.

Short Answer Questions

1. Because the English government was undisciplined in Paine's opinion, what were they too preoccupied with?

2. Which Pennsylvania town did Paine refer to in Of Constitutions as having its own committee?

3. Using history to support his opinion, what did Paine find unsurprising about how governments began?

4. In Paine's opinion, what did the power of the Peers represent?

5. How did Paine characterize constitutions and governments in Of Constitutions?

(see the answer keys)

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