Continuity and Change in 18th-Century States Practice Test

A late-18th-century critic of European empires argues that metropolitan states increasingly treat colonies as revenue sources through tighter regulation, new taxes, and reorganized administrations. He adds that older mercantilist assumptions about state-managed trade still shape policy, even as reformers talk about “improvement.” Which option best captures continuity and change in imperial statecraft during the 18th century?

In Prussia, Frederick William I and Frederick II expanded the army and strengthened a disciplined bureaucracy, working closely with the Junker nobility who dominated rural estates. Although Frederick II promoted some legal reform and religious toleration, serfdom and noble influence in the countryside persisted. Which option best describes an eighteenth-century continuity in Prussian state-building despite Enlightenment-influenced changes?