AmericanLitMidTerm – Flashcards
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The "new world" can most usefully and accurately be thought of as:
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A genuinely new set of social relationships characterized by initial wonder, followed by cultural borrowing, political wrangling, and resourceful exploitation, by all the peoples brought into contact with one another.
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How did the Spanish colonizers deal with the decimation of the Native populations with which they came into contact in the Caribbean and the mainlands of Central and South America?
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They introduced African slavery into their colonies and forced the slaves to do the labor they had initially counted on Natives to perform.
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Which of the following best describes North American Native culture in 1492?
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A collection of peoples who spoke hundreds of different languages belonging to entirely different linguistic families, who structured their societies in widely diverse forms and developed diverse and sophisticated oral cultures
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What transformation enabled Westerners to understand Native American oral traditions as "literary"?
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The Romantic era shift in the meaning of literature in European cultures
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Bringing oral literature to page always involves not just translation of Native words into English words, but also another kind of translation. What is it?
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The translation of the physically embodied, per-formative quality of oral literature
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Which European country had the most dominant and aggressive imperial presence in the Americas before 1570?
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Spain
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Which of the following was NOT a genre or type of text that appeared regularly in the body of literature produced by sixteenth-century Europeans involved in the exploration of America?
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Theatrical pieces representing the political maneuverings of Europeans inside colonial outposts
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Which of the following represents an important difference between the groups known as the Pilgrims and the Puritans?
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The Pilgrims wanted to separate from the established Church of England; the Puritans wished to purify the church from within.
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What is the Puritan doctrine of election?
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The belief that God had chosen, before their birth, the people he would save and the people he would damn
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What metaphor did John Winthrop, the first governor of the Puritan Massachusetts Bay colony, use to characterize the Puritan colony and to remind the Puritans that they would be an example to all?
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A city on a hill
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Which of the following best describes the production of the text printed in the Norton Anthology of American Literature as "The Iroquois Creation Story"?
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a transcription and translation of an oral tale, written down by a 19th-century member of the Tuscarora tribe
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According to the Iroquois Creation Story, the ancient world was
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divided into two worlds: a lower world shrouded in darkness and an upper world inhabited by mankind.
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What is the role of the woman mentioned in the Iroquois Creation Story?
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She gives birth to rival twins.
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What animal helps the woman give birth?
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a turtle
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What does the "bad mind" create while his brother, the "good mind," produces "the works of creation"?
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natural dangers to humans
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According to his letter to Luis de Santángel, what procedure did Columbus follow when he "took possession" of the islands he called the Indies for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain?
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He read a proclamation and unfurled a flag.
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Columbus named some of the islands he "discovered" on his first voyage after
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Catholic saints and Christian religious concepts.
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Which of the following does Columbus claim exists in the interior of the island of Española?
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metal mines
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In the letter to Luis de Santángel, Columbus emphasizes the New World's
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fertility.
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Which of the following best describes Columbus's financial situation on his final voyage?
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He had spent or been stripped of most of the wealth he had accrued on earlier voyages.
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What does Columbus ask King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to do for him in the letter regarding the Fourth Voyage?
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punish those who had stolen from him and infringed on his rights
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In his letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Columbus concludes by stating his future plans if he survives his final voyage. What are they?
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to go to Rome and other sites of religious pilgrimage
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In the section on "Hispaniola," what term does Casas use repeatedly to refer to the Spanish?
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the Christians
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How does Casas describe the Spanish approach to conquest?
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The Spanish are described as excessively cruel, often engaging in irrationally vicious acts.
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Which of the following people did the Spanish make a practice of sparing during their raids?
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No group seemed to be spared.
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What is Casas talking about when he condemns "repartimiento"?
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the practice of dividing up and distributing slaves to Spanish "masters"
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Of the many types of labor that the Spanish colonizers forced the Natives to perform, which does Casas condemn as exceptionally cruel and exploitative?
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diving for pearls
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With how many ships did the Pilgrims set forth from Holland in 1620?
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two
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What happened after the Pilgrims discovered that they had landed on Cape Cod?
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They considered heading for the Hudson River, but were blocked by rocks and rough seas.
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Upon their arrival on Cape Cod, what did the Pilgrims find to sustain them in their trials?
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God and His grace
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Why was the contractual agreement known as the Mayflower Compact necessary?
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Mutinous members of the company sought to take advantage of the fact that their charter had been for Virginia, and the ship had landed far outside of that jurisdiction
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After establishing their colony at Plymouth, the Pilgrims faced a difficult first winter. How many of the original one hundred survived this first season?
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fifty
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Which person established a "mad Bacchanalian" settlement at Merrymount that disgusted Bradford with its lewd and shiftless behavior?
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Thomas Morton
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To what cause does Bradford attribute the weakening of the Plymouth community, starting about 1632?
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prosperity
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The first section of Winthrop's sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity," provides guidelines for
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sharing resources and lending money.
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How would you characterize Winthrop's attitude toward social hierarchy?
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He believes God sanctions hierarchies among men but feels all ranks are interdependent.
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When describing the ideal Christian community, Winthrop makes extensive use of what metaphor?
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a human body
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According to Winthrop, what forms the central "bond" that knits together the ideal Christian community?
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love
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Winthrop uses what legal term to describe the Puritans' relationship with God?
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a covenant
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Winthrop believed that if the Puritan community in America failed to live up to its ideals,
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God would punish them harshly.
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What metaphor does Winthrop employ to impress upon the Puritans the public nature of their mission and the extent to which the world would be watching the success or failure of their venture?
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a city upon a hill
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What formal structure does Winthrop employ in the first part of his sermon?
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A question-and-answer format
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What structural units does Rowlandson use to divide her captivity narrative into chronological sequence?
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removes
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How long was Rowlandson a captive?
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eleven weeks
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What happens to the body of her six-year-old daughter Sarah after she dies of wounds and malnourishment?
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The Indians bury her.
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What happens shortly after the Englishman Mr. John Hoar invites the Sagamores to dinner?
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They steal from him.
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With which New Englander was Rowlandson in most regular contact during her captivity?
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her son
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At the end of the narrative, who gives Rowlandson and her family a place to live?
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the South Church in Boston
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Which of the following best describes the eighteenth-century movement known as "the Enlightenment"?
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A conviction that the human mind could comprehend, and sometimes control, the physical universe and that human fellow-feeling and sympathy is the basis of moral life
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Immigrants to the American colonies in the eighteenth century can be characterized as:
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An ethnically diverse group of Europeans, including English, Dutch, French, German, and Jewish immigrants along with an increasing number of enslaved Africans
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The advent of Enlightenment ideals made the universe seem:
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Rational and benevolent
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Which of the following best describes the beliefs of Deists?
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They deduced the existence of a supreme being from the construction of the universe itself rather than from the teachings of the Bible.
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The name "Great Awakening" describes:
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A religious revival that maintained the truth of revealed religion while emphasizing the importance of human emotion and feeling
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Which of the following people is most closely associated with the movement known as "The Great Awakening"?
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Jonathan Edwards
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What is the title of the collection of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison to support the new federal constitution in 1787 and 1788?
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The Federalist Papers
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Which of the following best describes the situation for female American writers in the late eighteenth century?
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Women published commentary on public events, as well as belles lettres in periodicals using feminine pen names, and authored some important novels in the period.
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During the American Revolution, many eastern Native American tribes:
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Sided with the British
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Which of the following people is often perceived as best representing, and even embodying, the promise of the Enlightenment in America?
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Benjamin Franklin
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What profession does Franklin's father originally intend for him to pursue?
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clergy
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How did Franklin learn to write well?
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He read Joseph Addison's The Spectator.
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Which of the following is not a reason Franklin became a vegetarian?
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It allowed him to avoid family arguments about his diet.
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What happens to Franklin's relationship with Miss Read?
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Franklin marries her.
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Which character trait is not of the "utmost Importance to the Felicity of Life," according to Franklin, in "Dealings between Man and Man"?
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Faith
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What is the "Junto"?
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friends of Franklin's who met to discuss intellectual matters
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In 1730, Franklin established which institution in Philadelphia?
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a public library
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Which of the following people joined Jefferson on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence?
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Benjamin Franklin
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According to Jefferson, who is primarily responsible for the wrongs and injustices the American colonists were experiencing in the 1770s?
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King George III of England
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Which of the following is NOT a grievance listed in the Declaration?
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compelling colonists to join the Church of England
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What point did Jefferson make about slavery in his first draft of the Declaration?
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He complained that the king had imposed the slave system on American colonists against their wishes.
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Jefferson's claims about natural rights—the idea that "all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights"—are presented in the Declaration as
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commonsense concepts that were already well-established and widely accepted.
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One of the most substantive changes the Continental Congress made to Jefferson's draft of the Declaration was to
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remove his denunciation of the slave trade.
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What was the last colony to approve the Declaration?
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New York
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In his introduction, Paine submits that he has studiously avoided:
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personal details and concerns.
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Which of the following is not an argument in favor of reconciliation with Britain that Paine refutes?
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The colonies resemble each other too closely to create a viable economy.
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How does Paine refute the idea that there is more materially to be gained by staying with Britain than by revolting against it?
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He shows how British wars with other European countries hurt American trade.
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Which of the following is not one of types of people Paine names who might espouse the doctrine of reconciliation?
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prisoners of the British who long for a return to normal life
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Which city does Paine use as an example of the grievous harm the British have already inflicted on the colonies?
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Boston
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If the colonists agree that common sense makes independence inevitable, what last argument does Paine provide why they should revolt and form a constitution immediately rather than waiting?
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Some unsavory or uneducated person might seize power if they do not act.
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In closing, which abstract noun does Paine suggest that "O! ye that love mankind" should receive into America, since she has been expelled from Africa and Asia, and Europe regards her as a stranger?
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freedom
