mckaywest11e

Quiz for Primary Source 11.4: The Statute of Laborers

Question

1. According to the statute, what was the root cause of England’s labor shortage?

A drop in the birth rate

Recent wars

The Black Death

Emigration

Correct. The answer is c. The statute began by noting that “a great part of the people and especially of the workmen and servants” had died of the plague.

Question

2. Which of these did the statute seek to do?

Establish a commission to set prices and wages

Freeze wages at their 1346 levels

Create positive incentives for the unemployed to seek work

Encourage alms giving and other charitable acts

Correct. The answer is b. Starting with the assumption that pre-plague wages were fair, the statute sought to fix wages at that level.

Question

3. What assumption did the authors of the statute make about the able-bodied unemployed?

That they would gladly work if suitable employment could be found

That they refused to work out of laziness

That they supported themselves through theft and other criminal activity

That they were in league with Satan

Correct. The answer is b. The statute claimed that such persons were unemployed because they preferred to “beg in idleness.”

Incorrect. The answer is b. The statute claimed that such persons were unemployed because they preferred to “beg in idleness.”