Question 1

All of the following characterize Enlightenment thought except:

Accepted Answer

A)  equality of rights for persons of different religions. 
B)  tolerance of intellectual differences. 
C)  reduction of privileges enjoyed by nobles but not by commoners. 
D)  opposition of scientific thought and rational analysis.

Question 2

Rousseau's most direct contribution to the French Revolution was to:

Accepted Answer

A)  estrange the upper classes from their own mode of life. 
B)  call for a violent revolution against an oppressive monarchy. 
C)  undermine religion. 
D)  All of these are correct.

Question 3

Enlightenment thinkers generally believed in progress, reason, science, and civilization, but they took divergent and inconsistent positions on many issues. Which of the following is true?

Accepted Answer

A)  Montesquieu thought the church useful but did not believe in religion. 
B)  Rousseau believed in religion but saw no need for any church. 
C)  Voltaire would surrender political liberty in return for guarantees of intellectual freedom. 
D)  All of these are correct.

Question 4

All of the following are true about eighteenth-century freemasonry except:

Accepted Answer

A)  Masons believed in reason and progress. 
B)  Masons championed toleration and humane reforms. 
C)  Masons were respectful toward God as the architect of the universe. 
D)  Masons attributed little importance to mysterious rituals and the occult.

Question 5

In foreign affairs, Catherine's achievements included all of the following except:

Accepted Answer

A)  the territorial expansion and consolidation of Russia. 
B)  conquests that included a port on the Black Sea. 
C)  the annexation of an enormous section of Poland. 
D)  conquests that included a port on the Baltic Sea.

Question 6

The practical difficulties of the French monarchy could be attributed to its:

Accepted Answer

A)  dependence on the support of the church. 
B)  inadequate methods of raising revenue. 
C)  failure to modernize the French army. 
D)  exclusion of the bourgeois from policy-making positions.

Question 7

A major trend in eighteenth-century British politics was:

Accepted Answer

A)  for the Parliament to extend its powers in a general centralization of the empire. 
B)  for the king to extend his powers on the model of enlightened despotism. 
C)  for the decentralization of the empire through granting more local autonomy. 
D)  for the restriction of the government's authority to levy taxes.

Question 8

In what sense was the eighteenth century an age of faith as well as an age of reason?

Accepted Answer

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Question 9

In Russia, all of the following occurred as a result of the Enlightenment except:

Accepted Answer

A)  the popularity of Russian thinkers spread through Europe. 
B)  the Russian upper classes adopted French as their language. 
C)  the Russian upper classes became more estranged from their own people. 
D)  the Empress Catherine called a great but fruitless consultative assembly to reform the country.

Question 10

In what sense is the period after 1760 rightly characterized as the era of "democratic" or "Atlantic" revolutions? What are the difficulties in analyzing the era on such a basis rather than on a national one (e.g., "the American Revolution")?

Accepted Answer

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Question 11

Which of the following is true of the differences between Voltaire and Montesquieu?

Accepted Answer

A)  Unlike Montesquieu, Voltaire was an admirer of England. 
B)  Unlike Voltaire, Montesquieu viewed Louis XIV as a hero. 
C)  Political liberty concerned Voltaire much less than it did Montesquieu. 
D)  Freedom of thought was not as important to Voltaire as it was for Montesquieu.

Question 12

Enlightened despotism that grew out of earlier forms of absolutism, represented by the likes of Louis XIV and Peter the Great, differed from absolutism by:

Accepted Answer

A)  claiming responsibility to God and the church. 
B)  emphasizing the monarch's hereditary or dynastic family right. 
C)  justifying the monarch's authority on grounds of usefulness to society. 
D)  appealing for public support through holding elections.

Question 13

Was Catherine the Great an enlightened despot? Explain your answer.

Accepted Answer

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Question 14

How did religious movements like Pietism and Methodism illustrate the divide between popular and elite cultures?

Accepted Answer

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Question 15

Under Catherine the Great, serfdom in Russia:

Accepted Answer

A)  was abolished. 
B)  was significantly reduced in size. 
C)  increased and became more burdensome. 
D)  became less severe with the implementation of enlightened reforms.

Question 16

Which of the following is true of the Parliament in Britain during the Age of Enlightenment?

Accepted Answer

A)  It remained more feudalistic in England than on the Continent. 
B)  It did not tax colonials in America as they were not represented in it. 
C)  It was as supreme as the monarchs in most Continental countries. 
D)  It was less sovereign than any European ruler.

Question 17

Select what you believe are two of the central ideas or attitudes of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. Explain why you believe these ideas are so important and what impact they had on social and political life in the eighteenth century.

Accepted Answer

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Question 18

The partitions of Poland symbolized all of the following except:

Accepted Answer

A)  the demise of the old international order. 
B)  the triumph of Polish nationalism and reform efforts. 
C)  the dangers of not establishing a strong sovereignty. 
D)  a shift in Europe's balance of power.

Question 19

During the War of American Independence, all of the following countries went to war against Britain except:

Accepted Answer

A)  France. 
B)  Prussia. 
C)  Spain. 
D)  Austria.

Question 20

How did the ethnic composition of Poland present an obstacle to reform efforts and the establishment of an effective Polish movement?

Accepted Answer

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Exam 8: The Age of Enlightenment