Quiz: An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice

All 50 questions. A perfect score earns the gold medal; 80% earns silver.

1. 1. How often does Godwin think national assemblies should meet?

   Permanently, as the French assembly had done Preferably only in emergencies Once every seven years, as the British Parliament then did by law Never; districts should not cooperate at all
2. 2. What does Godwin predict the labourer will eventually receive?

   Nothing in money, since all exchange will be abolished at once The entire price the consumer pays, without a capitalist A fixed wage set by the community A share of profits set by law
3. 3. Which writer, according to Godwin, thought the step from picture-writing to the alphabet so hard that it needed a miracle?

   David Hartley John Locke David Hume Jean-Jacques Rousseau
4. 4. What image does Godwin use to show how a convinced majority would gain its freedom?

   Slaves who rise up and burn their masters’ houses A besieged city opening its gates to a liberating army Sane inmates of a madhouse who quietly walk out past their keepers A ship’s crew seizing the vessel from its officers
5. 5. Which kind of obedience does Godwin call less degrading than a habit of obedience founded in confidence?

   Obedience to ancestral custom Obedience from fear of a penalty Reverence for superiors in station Obedience owed under an original contract
6. 6. What everyday practice does Godwin use to illustrate sincerity in the appendix on excluding visitors?

   Telling a servant to say one is not at home Praising a host’s poor dinner to his face at table Signing letters “your obedient servant” Taking an oath of allegiance before a magistrate
7. 7. What does Godwin call the decline of government as weakness and ignorance diminish?

   The true euthanasia of government The fulfilment of the social contract The revolution of the saints on earth The coming age of reason and philosophy
8. 8. Which country’s president does Godwin cite as holding powers like those of a king?

   The United States of America The Republic of the United Provinces Poland The Most Serene Republic of Venice
9. 9. How does Godwin judge ancient Athens in Book V, Chapter XIV?

   For all its turbulence, it was preferable to every monarchy and aristocracy It succeeded only because of the wisdom of Pericles It was inferior to Sparta, which had an equal division of land Its ostracism and demagogues proved that democracy cannot work
10. 10. What is Godwin’s verdict on solitary imprisonment?

    It is the best means of reformation available It is acceptable if prisoners have books It is tyrannical, and breeds unsocial dispositions rather than reform It is preferable to transportation in every case, being cheaper and safer
11. 11. What inconsistency does Godwin point out in the Church of England’s articles?

    They were written by Parliament without any bishops They are Calvinist, while most clergy had long held Arminian views They are Catholic in doctrine while the church itself is Protestant in worship They forbid the clergy to take oaths
12. 12. Why, according to Godwin, is quiet acquiescence a poor sign of consent to a government?

    Scripture forbids tacit promises Only owners of land are capable of acquiescing Acquiescence must be renewed by a vote every year to count Peasants and artisans seldom have the power to emigrate
13. 13. If Fénelon’s palace were on fire and only he or his valet could be saved, what does Godwin say justice requires?

    Saving Fénelon, even if one were the valet Saving the valet, as the weaker and more helpless of the two men Saving whichever of them is one’s own relation or benefactor Leaving it to chance, since both lives are equal
14. 14. Complete Godwin’s maxim: “Make men wise, and by that very operation you make them …”

    obedient rich free equal
15. 15. According to the first preface, when was the work first projected?

    January 1793 May 1791 July 1789 October 1795
16. 16. What argument made the unnamed author of Chapter IX abandon his scheme for a community of goods?

    The idleness of the poor The excessive population that would ensue The danger of foreign invasion The decline of the arts
17. 17. What does Godwin say of promises, “absolutely considered”?

    They bind absolutely, whatever their consequences They are an evil, if at times a necessary one They are the foundation of all morality and of society They are morally indifferent, neither good nor evil in themselves
18. 18. In Godwin’s comparison with Lycurgus’s Sparta, what will take the place of the Helots in the future?

    Paid labourers hired from the poorer classes at fixed wages Prisoners Matter, or the laws of the universe, through machinery Colonial subjects
19. 19. What story does Godwin tell to show the power of mind even against immediate violence?

    Marius driving off the soldier sent to kill him Socrates refusing to escape from prison Regulus returning to Carthage to be executed by his captors Cicero facing the assassins sent by Antony
20. 20. What is the third degree of property in Godwin’s scheme?

    Each man’s control over the produce of his own labour Disposing of the produce of another’s industry A right to the things one needs for subsistence and health Common ownership of the land and its stock, managed by the parish for the poor
21. 21. Which myth does Godwin use as an image of the effect of law?

    Prometheus stealing fire from the gods for mankind The labyrinth of Minos Procrustes, who forced travellers to fit his bed Sisyphus and his stone, forever rolled back down the hill
22. 22. What does Godwin say would follow if all Europeans had competence and none superfluity?

    Governments would grow stronger, needing no hired soldiers Population would grow until famine forced nations into war Wars would be more frequent, since envy would arise among equals Wars would be hard to start, since no one could be hired to fight
23. 23. What absurdity does Godwin say would follow if the mind could have two thoughts at once?

    The same man might at once be Newton and Shakespeare Animals would be able to reason Memory would retain every idea it had ever received Dreams would be impossible
24. 24. Of the three purposes of punishment, which does Godwin allow as the only one it can reasonably pursue?

    Example to deter others Retribution for the past act Reformation of the offender Restraint of the offender
25. 25. Which consequences does Godwin attribute to the English revolution of 1688?

    The loss of the American colonies a century later The union of Britain and Ireland under one parliament A civil war between Parliament and the standing army Two general wars and two Jacobite rebellions
26. 26. Why does Godwin call freedom of the will, if it existed, man’s “bane and curse”?

    It would prevent people from forming settled habits of virtue It would make all punishment unjust and too severe It would make God responsible for every human sin It would let caprice defy reason and education
27. 27. What, according to Godwin, did those who imagined a virtuous despot forget to give him?

    A standing army Omniscience and omnipotence An hereditary title and a loyal nobility A virtuous and enlightened people
28. 28. Which of these is not one of the five propositions Godwin draws from the doctrine that voluntary actions follow opinion?

    Truth is omnipotent Vice is not invincible Man is perfectible Government is a necessary evil
29. 29. What French oath does Godwin use as his example of an ensnaring political test?

    The oath of loyalty to the Pope required of all French priests The Tennis Court Oath never to separate until a constitution was made The oath to be faithful “to the nation, the law and the king” The oath of hatred to royalty and anarchy sworn under the Directory
30. 30. What everyday example does Godwin use to show that even uninstructed people are “practically” necessarians?

    The merchant expects his ships to return safely from the Indies The child expects its mother to feed it The labourer counts on his daily wages The sailor trusts the compass to point north
31. 31. What example does Godwin use of a “crime” that reason alone could never discover?

    Exporting wool from England Striking one’s neighbour in a quarrel Printing the Bible in English Selling poisons disguised as cordials
32. 32. How much manual labour a day does Godwin estimate would supply everyone’s necessaries under equality?

    Half an hour About four hours Two full hours Nearly six hours
33. 33. Which statesman does Godwin use to ridicule titles, asking how he became greater by his new name?

    Mr. Harley, made earl of Oxford and Mortimer Mr. St. John, made lord Bolingbroke Mr. Edmund Burke, made lord Beaconsfield Mr. Robert Walpole, made earl of Orford
34. 34. Which two causes of war does Godwin allow as having a plausible claim to justice?

    Defence of national honour and of the balance of power Pre-emption of a neighbour’s preparations and protection of trade Defence of our own liberty and of the liberty of others Indemnification for injuries and restraint of an aggressor
35. 35. In the Summary of Principles, what is the true standard of one man’s conduct towards another?

    The law of the land Self-love Justice Gratitude
36. 36. How does Godwin answer the fear that levelling principles lead to massacre?

    His enquiry concerns discussion, not revolution or force The danger is imaginary, as revolutions are never violent Discussion should be suppressed until the people are educated Massacres are justified by the despotism that preceded them
37. 37. What does Godwin set against the objection that knowledge rises and falls, as in Greece and Rome?

    The growth of commerce The spread of Christianity The discovery of printing The founding of universities
38. 38. How does Godwin judge the country gentleman who employs hundreds of poor to reshape his park?

    As neutral, since the poor would otherwise be idle and hungry As admirable if he pays good wages As the enemy of his species, since he adds needless labour As a benefactor who gives work to the poor
39. 39. What object, in Godwin’s anecdote of the 1780 riots, was it feared might be seized and so throw the House of Lords into “anarchy”?

    The crown The woolsack The mace The Great Seal
40. 40. On whom, according to Godwin, does taxation mainly fall?

    On foreign merchants On the superfluities of the rich On landed proprietors On the labouring poor
41. 41. What does Godwin call marriage “as now understood”?

    A sacrament, and the best of institutions A necessary evil, to be borne with patience A contract like any other in civil commerce A monopoly, and the worst of monopolies
42. 42. Which kind of rights does Godwin say a just philosophy will “explode”?

    The right to the assistance of our neighbours Active rights to do as we please Passive rights to the forbearance of others The right of private judgement
43. 43. Which kind of independence does Godwin call “always injurious”?

    Moral independence, acting without accountability to reason National independence from foreign powers Economic independence Natural independence, freedom from constraint
44. 44. What figure does Godwin give for England’s annual poor rates?

    Two million pounds Half a million pounds Twelve hundred thousand pounds Thirteen million pounds
45. 45. How does Godwin describe the division of labour as developed by commercial writers?

    As the foundation of all civilisation As the chief remedy for poverty As the offspring of avarice As a law of nature
46. 46. Who stands at the top of Godwin’s scale of happiness?

    The man of benevolence The man of rank and fortune The man of taste and liberal accomplishments The contented peasant
47. 47. According to Godwin, what does the system of pardons make of capital punishment?

    A certain and uniform penalty, since the law allows no exceptions at all A lottery of death, since only about a third of the condemned are hanged A stronger deterrent, since each convict fears he may be made the example A purely symbolic sentence, since nearly every condemned man is reprieved
48. 48. Godwin quotes an “acute writer” on the difference between society and government. Who is it?

    Jean-Jacques Rousseau Adam Ferguson Thomas Paine Joseph Priestley
49. 49. To whose political writings does Godwin credit his early conviction that monarchy is corrupt?

    Viscount Bolingbroke’s Jonathan Swift’s James Harrington’s Algernon Sidney’s
50. 50. According to Godwin, how did Lycurgus really persuade the Spartans to accept his laws?

    By force of arms, after a civil war in which he defeated the rich families By appealing to their reason in debate; the oracle came only afterwards By bribing the leading families with grants of land taken from the helots By claiming that Apollo had dictated every one of the laws to him at Delphi