i>Clicker Questions
[McKay West 10th ed.]
Volume II
Chapter 16
Absolutism and Constitutionalism, ca 1589–1725
1. In Western Europe, which of the following was not one of the primary groups within rural life?
a. The independent farmer who owned enough land to support his family and who served as an agent for the noble lord
b. Small landowners and tenant farmers who sold their best produce to earn money for taxes, rent, and food.
c. Rural workers who worked as dependent laborers and servants
d. Serfs who were required to work for the local lord and did not own land in their own right
2. How did the urban-rural dynamic change in Eastern Europe in the seventeenth century?
a. Towns gained control over agricultural markets and forced rural communities to support the services that towns provided.
b. Landlords sold agricultural products directly to foreigners, bypassing towns, which caused the urban middle class to greatly decline.
c. Towns gained broad political privileges as they established manufacturing establishments, linking the growing middle class to the urban environment.
d. Landlords increasingly moved to towns and established vibrant urban cultures while leaving the rural countryside to estate managers.
3. What was Richelieu’s main foreign policy goal?
a. To destroy the Habsburg’s control of territories surrounding France
b. To destroy Protestantism in Europe
c. To destroy growing English power in its colonies and on the sea
d. To destroy reclaim French territories in northern Italy and the Pyrenees
4. What role did women play within the French patronage systems?
a. Women served as pawns who were exchanged as marriage partners, with no control over their marriage options.
b. Women brokered alliances among families and sustained family connections, as well as recommended individuals for honors.
c. Women offered advice to husbands but remained distinctly in the background as etiquette demanded.
d. Women controlled the patronage networks, since marriages could not agreed on without the consent of the bride and her mother.
5. In Austria and Prussia, what did nobles receive in exchange for growing monarchical authority?
a. Nobles remained unchallenged masters of their peasants.
b. Nobles gained the right to establish a monopoly on manufacturing.
c. Nobles were permitted to claim church lands.
d. Nobles were granted the authority to expel all Jews from their lands.
6. How did Ivan IV seek to crush the power of the boyars?
a. He substantially diminished the power of the boyars over the peasants.
b. He forbade the boyars from service in the military.
c. He created a service nobility dependent on the state for titles and estates.
d. He required all of the boyars to live at his new royal court in St. Petersburg.
7. How did the Ottomans establish an effective bureaucracy?
a. The Ottomans established severe laws requiring immediate obedience to all bureaucratic rulings.
b. The Ottomans required all communities to provide boys for training in bureaucratic skills.
c. The Ottomans implemented rigorous educational standards for entrance into the bureaucracy.
d. The Ottomans trained slaves, and the most talented slaves rose to the top of the bureaucracy.
8. Why were religious tensions in England increasing in the early seventeenth century?
a. Puritans believed the Church of England needed to be cleansed of Roman Catholic elements.
b. Jews were demanding greater civil rights.
c. Anglican bishops sought to reclaim church lands seized during the Reformation.
d. Catholics priests sought the right to accept positions within Anglican churches.
9. How did the coronation of William and Mary resolve the issue of sovereignty in England?
a. Parliament was recognized as the sovereign authority, with the right to remove or overthrow monarchs who challenged its authority.
b. Sovereignty was divided between the monarchy and parliament, and the king ruled with the consent of the governed.
c. The monarchy was recognized as the sovereign authority, with Parliament having the ability to shape or influence monarchical decisions.
d. The Parliament was identified as the sovereign authority, but its authority was limited by both the courts and the monarchy.
10. The Catholic Church wanted the baroque movement to promote what sensibility?
a. An intensely emotional, exuberant sensibility that emphasized ceaseless striving
b. A highly structured and ordered sensibility that emphasized reason
c. A measured, calm sensibility that emphasized reflective contemplation
d. A mystical style promoting fear and wonder
Answer Key
1. d
2. b
3. a
4. b
5. a
6. c
7. d
8. a
9. b
10. a
Chapter 17
Toward a New Worldview, 1540–1789
1. How did Ptolemy account for the apparent backward motion of planets?
a. He asserted that the speed of the earth’s rotation increased and decreased with the tides.
b. He asserted that the planets move in small circles as they moved along the larger circles of their orbits.
c. He asserted that the light of planets was refracted by the earth’s atmosphere creating the illusion of backward movement.
d. He asserted that God had created backward motion to confound the pagans and lead them to God.
2. Why did Copernicus find Ptolemy’s system unsatisfactory?
a. Copernicus found that Ptolemy’s calculations did not account for the appearance of meteors or other occasional bodies in the heavens.
b. Copernicus rejected Ptolemy’s reliance on arbitrary mathematical constants that made his system more effective but had no particular rationale.
c. Copernicus believed that Ptolemy’s mathematically cumbersome and occasionally inaccurate rules detracted from the majesty of a perfect Creator.
d. Copernicus refused to believe that God would have revealed the true nature of the heavens to a non-Christian pagan.
3. Of his many accomplishments, what was Galileo’s greatest achievement?
a. The invention of the telescope
b. The elaboration and consolidation of the experimental method
c. The formulation of the law of inertia
d. The demonstrations that a uniform force produced a uniform acceleration
4. What was the central component of Isaac Newton’s unified system of the universe?
a. The sun’s gravitational force holds the universe in a stable system.
b. Every body in the universe attracts every other body in a precisely mathematical relationship.
c. The force of attraction in the universe emanates from a single source that drives and orders the universe.
d. The force of attraction is balanced against an equal force of repulsion that establishes stability.
5. How did Enlightenment thinkers differ from those of the Renaissance?
a. Renaissance writers accepted Christianity, while most Enlightenment writers rejected Christianity.
b. Renaissance writers argued for the primacy of reason while Enlightenment authors broadly embraced sentimentality as a central component of thought.
c. Renaissance writers were often persecuted and despised, but Enlightenment authors rarely raised political or religious opposition.
d. Renaissance writers took inspiration from the classical past, but Enlightenment writers believed their era had gone far beyond antiquity.
6. What did Montesquieu believe was the central condition to promote liberty and prevent tyranny?
a. A wealthy middle class that established prosperity and valued education
b. A division of political power among a variety of classes holding unequal rights
c. A set of representative institutions that held regular elections
d. A firmly established court system that defended political rights.
7. What role did the salonnières play within salons?
a. The salonnières mediated among the individuals of different status and different philosophical, religious, and social beliefs.
b. The salonnières provided amusements and refreshments and then withdrew as the men at the salon began to discuss and debate issues.
c. The salonnières provided their homes but left the organizing work of the salon to male patrons.
d. The salonnières dominated their salons with strict schedules in order to control debate and discussion.
8. Which of the following best characterizes the “public sphere”?
a. The commercial marketplace in which authors published their books and newspapers and journals sought subscriptions
b. An idealized space informed by critical reason where individuals discuss and debate the issues of the day
c. A free-speech area established in most cities where individuals could speak without fear of government persecution
d. A space inside of royal palaces where commoners were permitted to watch kings and the nobility perform court rituals
9. How did Frederick II of Prussia provide a new justification for monarchy?
a. With his defeat of the Pugachev Rebellion, Frederick justified the monarchy in terms of internal stability.
b. With his military victories, Frederick justified monarchy in terms of foreign conquest.
c. With his reforms, Frederick justified the monarchy in terms of practical results.
d. With his cultural activities, Frederick justified the monarchy in terms of promoting civilization.
10. What was the principle idea of cameralism?
a. All elements of society should be placed at the service of the monarchy, which should use its resources and authority to improve society.
b. The greatest prosperity for the greatest number can be achieved by limiting government interference in the economy.
c. The adoption of intellectual freedom will permit humans to unleash their productive capacities and improve society in all aspects.
d. An alliance of middle-class merchants and the state will provide the greatest avenue toward economic growth.
Answer Key
1. b
2. c
3. b
4. b
5. d
6. b
7. a
8. b
9. c
10. a
Chapter 18
The Expansion of Europe, 1650–1800
1. Which of the following best characterizes agricultural production in the Middle Ages?
a. Farming methods were unable to support a large population and resulted in frequent “die-offs.”
b. Farming methods produced vast material abundance that was siphoned off by the nobility and the church.
c. Farming methods could sustain a large number of people but were unable to produce material abundance.
d. Farming methods provided great stability so that the population grew in an uninterrupted fashion.
2. Europeans learned to eliminate fallow periods in fields by
a. applying large amounts of fertilizer to fields.
b. alternating grains with crops such as peas, beans, and root crops.
c. limiting the irrigation of fields to prevent fertile top soil from washing away.
d. adopting enclosed fields.
3. The total population of Europe grew
a. steadily and consistently.
b. only as new lands in eastern Europe were incorporated into Europe.
c. until colonization drained away many of the poor in the seventeenth century.
d. following an irregular cyclical pattern.
4. Why did the putting-out system not work effectively for luxury goods?
a. Luxury goods required special training and close supervision.
b. Luxury goods required expensive raw materials.
c. Luxury goods had too few customers to form a reliable basis for business.
d. Luxury goods were considered sinful and their production condemned by the church.
5. Guild masters in France received all of the following privileges except
a. the right to produce and sell certain goods.
b. access to restricted markets in raw materials.
c. the right to train apprentices.
d. the right to borrow money against the guild common funds.
6. Which one of the following best characterizes the ideas of Adam Smith?
a. Guilds provided protection to consumers and workers through the regulations that they enforced.
b. Wealth was best produced through merchants able to keep wages and prices at their lowest level possible.
c. Government should leave all large scale works to the private sector which can handle it most efficiently.
d. Free competition best protects consumers and gives all citizens a fair and equal right to do what they did best.
7. Which of the following best characterizes the consequences of the Seven Years’ War?
a. The war was inconclusive in Europe but destroyed French power in mainland North America.
b. The war established Spanish colonial authority in the Americas and gave Britain dominant authority in Europe.
c. The war marked the emergence of Russia as a major European power and secured Dutch colonial authority throughout Asia.
d. The war undermined British control over the seas and Holland established colonial authority throughout the Americas.
8. How did the Creole populations in Spanish colonies express their sense of identity?
a. They embraced native culture as an authentic expression of the local environment.
b. They support colonial rule as the only means by which they could resist the pagan, barbaric culture around them.
c. They supported European education and scholarship but adopted local food, art, and customs in a conscious effort to blend the two cultures.
d. They adopted European models and styles in nearly all facets of life but came to resent colonial rule.
9. In the seventeenth century, how did they British operate within India?
a. The British moved up and down the Indian coast, trading with local peoples and moving on before Mughal officials could catch them.
b. The British established colonial governments that took direct control of regions of India.
c. The British were not allowed within India but sent Arab agents to trade for local products.
d. The British obtained trade concessions from the Mughal emperor.
10. Who provided the labor for the founding of the British colony in Australia?
a. Aboriginal peoples
b. Indentured servants
c. Convicted prisoners
d. Slaves
Answer Key
1. c
2. b
3. d
4. a
5. d
6. d
7. a
8. d
9. d
10. c
Chapter 19
The Changing Life of the People, 1700–1800
1. Which of the following best characterizes the family-living structure in eighteenth-century Europe?
a. An extended family consisting of three direct generations living together
b. An extended family consisting of at least two sets of parents (united by sibling relationships) and their children
c. A nuclear family consisting of a single set of parents and their children
d. A family network where numerous extended family members such as cousins, aunts, and uncles lived under the authority of a central married couple
2. The growth in consumer goods in the eighteenth century
a. expanded opportunities for skilled female labor.
b. undermined the traditional role of wives as household managers.
c. permitted women to devote more time to childrearing.
d. required wives to enter the marketplace for the first time.
3. How did homosexuality begin to change in the late seventeenth century?
a. Homosexual men believed their same-sex desires made them fundamentally different from other men.
b. Homosexuality began to be identified as a mental illness that could be cured.
c. Homosexuals were charged alongside witches as heretics who had taken special oaths to the devil.
d. Homosexuals came under persecution, which led them to retreat underground.
4. Why did rural women breast-feed infants for two years or more?
a. No other source of nutrition was available for infants until they could eat adult food.
b. The need for breast-feeding limited the difficult agricultural work women could perform.
c. Breast-feeding was believed to be an important source of bonding between infants and their mothers.
d. Breast-feeding decreased the likelihood of pregnancy, permitting women to increase the time between the births of their children.
5. Chapbooks were
a. instructional texts printed by governments to improve agriculture.
b. children’s school manuals.
c. short pamphlets printed on cheap paper, often with religious themes.
d. collections of images without words designed to promote royal authority.
6. During the Enlightenment, how did attitudes among the elite toward popular culture change?
a. Elites came to see popular culture as a quaint and harmless expression of “natural man.”
b. Elites came to see popular culture as an authentic expression of national identity.
c. Elites came to see popular culture as a tool for aristocratic control of the countryside.
d. Elites came to see popular culture as vulgar, disorderly, and filled with superstition.
7. Why did religion remain a powerful part of life for ordinary people in the eighteenth century?
a. The church presented a powerful presence that could control all religious activities.
b. Religion was embedded in local traditions and everyday experiences.
c. Local people feared the natural world and could not imagine it without Christianity.
d. Christianity made few requirements of ordinary people but offered access to powerful officials.
8. The angered reactions of peasants to efforts to eliminate vestiges of paganism marked
a. the growing tension between the attitudes of educated elites and the common people.
b. the peasants’ awareness of their self-identity.
c. their political immaturity.
d. the inability of peasants to comprehend the ideas of the Enlightenment.
9. Madame du Coudray received royal support to
a. teach methods of smallpox prevention.
b. discredit the work of midwives in favor of trained physicians.
c. promote the education of female physicians.
d. teach better birthing techniques to village midwives.
10. The practice of smallpox inoculation was initially risky because
a. smallpox had been wiped out of most of Europe by the eighteenth century.
b. it often caused infertility.
c. those inoculated were infectious and could spread the disease to others.
d. it made one more susceptible to bubonic plague.
Answer Key
1. c
2. a
3. a
4. d
5. c
6. d
7. b
8. a
9. d
10. c
Chapter 20
The Revolution in Politics, 1775–1815
1. The clergy in France
a. were employees of the state rather than of the church.
b. did not own any property since all church land was formally held by the crown.
c. paid a voluntary gift every five years rather than regular taxes.
d. were permitted to collect only fees based on services, such as performing marriages.
2. Prior to the French Revolution, important sections of the nobility
a. had returned to their estates in the countryside, for they found themselves increasingly marginalized by growing monarchical authority.
b. embraced liberal Enlightenment values and frequently joined with the bourgeoisie in opposing the monarchy.
c. had almost no experience with either the new consumer culture or growing trade and manufacturing.
d. firmly opposed all reforms as a threat to their noble privileges and as rejection of religious authority.
3. Louis XVI called for a meeting of the Estates General when