SparkNotes: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: Review Quiz

Franklin's father was:

(A) James

(B) Josiah

(C) Benjamin

(D) William

Part One of the Autobiography opens with a letter to:

(A) William Franklin, Benjamin's son

(B) John Franklin, Benjamin's father

(C) Max Josephson, Benjamin's childhood friend

(D) Dorothy James, Franklin's wife

In 1730, Franklin enters into a common-law marriage with:

(A) Sally Hemings

(B) Susan Wright

(C) Elizabeth Stoddard

(D) Deborah Read

Early in life, Franklin works for his father, who:

(A) Runs a printing press

(B) Makes soap and candles

(C) Serves as Royal Governor of Massachusetts

(D) Runs a shipping business

Franklin spends much of his teenage years working for:

(A) James, his brother

(B) Benjamin, his uncle

(C) Abiah, his mother

(D) Gov. Burnet of New York

When Franklin leaves Boston, the first city he travels to is:

(A) Philadelphia

(B) New Haven

(C) New York

(D) Trenton

In Philadelphia, Franklin begins to work for a printer named:

(A) Thomas Hutchinson

(B) William Bradford

(C) John Collins

(D) Samuel Keimer

Shortly after arriving in Philadelphia, Franklin meets the Royal Governor of Pennsylvania, a man named:

(A) William Keith

(B) George Burnet

(C) William Bradford

(D) Samuel Keimer

In order to make contacts in the printing and stationery industries, Franklin travels to and spends 18 months in:

(A) Paris

(B) New York

(C) London

(D) Berlin

Which of these positions does Franklin not achieve?

(A) Postmaster General of America

(B) Governor of Pennsylvania

(C) Delegate to the Second Continental Congress and co-author of the Constitution

(D) Commissioner to the Paris peace treaty negotiations

Franklin traveled to England in 1724 with:

(A) John Collins

(B) James Anderson

(C) Deborah Read

(D) James Ralph

Franklin's childhood friend, John Collins,

(A) Remains friends with Franklin the rest of his life

(B) Becomes a drunk and emigrates to the Caribbean after fighting with Franklin

(C) Becomes Governor of Pennsylvania

(D) Becomes Postmaster General along with Franklin

Before leaving England, Franklin contemplates starting up a school to teach people how to:

(A) Write

(B) Debate

(C) Swim

(D) Found newspapers

Franklin was born in:

(A) 1706

(B) 1725

(C) 1730

(D) 1740

Franklin formed a debating society called:

(A) The Junto

(B) The Forensics Society of Philadelphia

(C) The Anti-Stamp Act Association

(D) The Skilled Orators Society

Early in his life, Franklin considered founding:

(A) A political party called the Party for Virtue

(B) An organization to fight cancer

(C) A swimming league in North Carolina

(D) A separate homeland for Native Americans just north of Albany

The Autobiography ends around the year:

(A) 1753, when Franklin becomes Postmaster General

(B) 1757, during Franklin's trip to England

(C) 1776, after the signing of the Declaration of Independence

(D) In the late 1780s, just before Franklin's death

Franklin is generally credited with the founding of:

(A) Harvard

(B) Yale

(C) Brown

(D) University of Pennsylvania

Franklin's major newspaper, which he took over in 1729, was:

(A) The Boston Globe

(B) The Pennsylvania Gazette

(C) The Philadelphia Enquirer

(D) The True American

One of the major critics who wrote a condemnation of Franklin's Autobiography was:

(A) Thomas Jefferson

(B) Franklin's son William

(C) D. H. Lawrence

(D) Stephen King

Part Two of the Autobiography is best described as a(n):

(A) Account of Franklin's ideas for improving the social policy in Philadelphia

(B) Explanation of the founding of the fire brigade

(C) Story about the American Revolution

(D) Self-help manual for the attainment of virtue

All four parts of Franklin's Autobiography were published and released together in English for the first time:

(A) Several years before Franklin's death

(B) In 1790, the year of Franklin's death

(C) In 1851, to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence

(D) In 1868, when John Bigelow compiled all of Franklin's diverse notes

Apart from the Autobiography, Franklin is perhaps best remembered in print for his:

(A) Questions on the Study of Human Psychology

(B) Poor Richard's Almanac

(C) Common Sense

(D) Memories of the American Revolution

Franklin gives brief mention in the Autobiography to the death of:

(A) His son, which happened in 1736

(B) His wife, which happened in 1774

(C) His father, which happened in 1718

(D) His daughter, which happened in 1743

The bulk of the Autobiography was written in:

(A) 1773

(B) 1760 and 1788

(C) 1771, 1784 and 1788

(D) 1771, 1788 and 1792