Political Science Quiz

Here’s a quiz on King Charles III’s address to Congress for members of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Trump administration.

In his speech to Congress yesterday, King Charles III cited a number of historical and cultural references. Please explain the following.

1. The King quoted Oscar Wilde saying the United States and Great Britain “have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language”.

   Who was Oscar Wilde?

2. The King said there are “certain patterns, certain self-evident truths from which we can learn and draw mutual strength”.

   What is the source of that phrase?

3. The King also cited “no taxation without representation” as a shared democratic value the U.S. inherited from Britain.

   What is the origin of that phrase, and what is the British origin of the principle?

4. He also said Charles Dickens might have called the time of the American Revolution “A Tale of Two Georges”.

   To which of Dickens’s books was he referring and why was it an appropriate reference?

5. The King called America’s Founding Fathers “rebels with a cause”.

   To what movie was he referring, and who starred in it?

6. He said America’s Founding Fathers “united 13 disparate colonies to forge a nation on the revolutionary idea of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.

   What was he quoting?

7. What is the Magna Carta?

8. What was the British Declaration of Rights of 1689, and name three of the principles in it that are repeated in the American Bill of Rights.

9. Compare the King’s references to “the living mosaic of the United Ststes” and “vibrant, diverse and free societies” to the Trump administration’s policies on diversity, equity and inclusion?

10. While some members of the Trump administration call the U.S. a “Christian nation”, the King said he is “inspired by the profound respect that develops as people of different faiths grow in their understanding of each other”.

    Name three values common to all three Abrahamic religions. (Those are Christianity, Islam and Judaism.)

11. What is Article 5?

12. The King said Britain and the U.S. have stood “shoulder to shoulder through two world wars, the Cold War, Afghanistan, and moments that are defined our shared security”.

    Name three other conflicts in which American and British forces have supported one another since the end of World War Two.

13. What is the AUKUS submarine program?

14. Who was General George Marshall?

Short Answers:

1. Oscar Wilde was a 19th Century Irish playwright and novelist whose works include The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

2. The first sentence of the Declaration of Independence is: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

3. Taxation without representation is tyranny was an American revolutionary slogan protesting the British Parliament’s imposition of taxes on stamps and other items without the American colonists’ agreement. The roots of that argument can be found in the Magna Carta and in the thinking of English philosophers such as John Locke.

4. Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities, which is set in the French Revolution.

5. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) stars James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo.

6. The Declaration of Independence

7. The Magna Carta, or Great Charter, which rebellious barons forced King John to sign in 1215, established the principles that no monarch is above the law and that everyone accused of a crime has the right to an immediate and impartial trial. In practice, however, its protections applied almost exclusively to landowners and the clergy. Sound familiar?

8. The 1689 Declaration of Rights transformed Britain into a constitutional monarchy by requiring parliamentary consent to execute laws, maintain a standing army in peacetime and take other actions. It also barred monarchs from interfering in parliamentary elections. Relevant in America today?

9. The King of England, a symbol of primogeniture, is more supportive of diversity, equity and inclusion than the current U.S. administration.

10. Compassion for the less fortunate, care for the Earth created by the one God and the sanctity of life. Yes, all these and more are routinely violated by self-proclaimed believers in all three faiths.

11. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty that established NATO holds that an armed attack on one member of the North Atlantic alliance is an attack on all. It has been invoked only once since 1949 — after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, when other NATO members contributed to U.S. efforts to defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

12. The Korean War, Lebanon and Iraq

13. Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. are cooperating on a controversial $368 billion effort to design and build a new class of attack submarines.

14. Gen. George C. Marshall served as chief of staff of the U.S. Army, Secretary of Defense (not war) and Secretary of State. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in developing the Marshall Plan for the economic reconstruction of Western Europe after World War II. The King may have been making a point here.