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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Mary Todd tell her brother-in-law when he asks why she has chosen him as a husband?
(a) She says she loves Lincoln's political ambitions and his resemblance to Lochinvar.
(b) She can't give him a simple answer, but his is the life and destiny she wants to share.
(c) She responds that Lincoln will provide a life of stability and security.
(d) She believes Lincoln is destined for wealth and fame, which she craves.

2. What do Josh Speed and Bowling Green think might be the result, if slavery spreads further across the South?
(a) Lincoln could be drafted to head the military.
(b) Civil war might break out.
(c) The British would reassert power over the colonies.
(d) The South could overthrow the existing government and move the Capitol to Virginia.

3. What is Josh Speed's understanding of Lincoln's personality?
(a) Lincoln is a great fool with an odd understanding of the law.
(b) Lincoln is a hopeless hypochondriac who reads Hamlet.
(c) Lincoln is obsessive-compulsive and can't stop counting fence posts.
(d) Lincoln can't control his manic-depressive episodes and constantly makes a fool of himself.

4. What reason does Lincoln give in Act 2, Scene 4 for turning down the opportunity to speak against slavery?
(a) The sponsoring organization is "a pack of hell-raising fanatics."
(b) He has a date on the night of the rally.
(c) He is pro-slavery.
(d) He is feuding with the president of the organization that wants him to speak.

5. In Act 2, Scene 5, does Lincoln ask Mary Todd to marry him?
(a) No, but she expects he will ask that evening.
(b) Yes, but Elizabeth's objections put the matter on hold.
(c) No, but she plans to pop the question that evening.
(d) Yes, but she says she can't quite decide.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Act 1, Scene 3, in which Ann Rutledge dies, come to an end?

2. How does Lincoln feel after Ann's death?

3. What is Bowling Green's attitude toward the possibility of Lincoln marrying Ann Rutledge?

4. What is Billy Herndon's reaction to Lincoln's reasons for breaking off the engagement?

5. What excuse does Ninian Edwards give for getting himself and his wife out of the parlor so Lincoln can be alone with Mary Todd?

Short Essay Questions

1. How desperate is Lincoln and what is the event that seems to have caused his emotional outbreak?

2. Josh Speed arrives to visit with Abe at the Greens' house. When Lincoln isn't there, Speed fills them in on Lincoln's activities in the State Assembly. What has Lincoln accomplished in the year since he's been elected?

3. Is Lincoln liked or disliked in the community of New Salem, according to his teacher in Act 1, Scene 1?

4. What does Lincoln tell his friends in Act 2, Scene 4, in the discussion about his lack of political ambition and his unwillingness to speak publicly against slavery?

5. Describe the setting in Act 2, Scene 5 (the parlor of the Edwards' home) and explain what the setting is meant to tell the audience.

6. At the end of Act 2, Scene 4, Lincoln is about to attend an event that will change his life. Where is he going and what is going to happen there?

7. By Act 2, Scene 4, it is clear that Lincoln's friendship with Ninian Edwards (the governor's son) has advanced. What evidence does Lincoln offer of his popularity?

8. Does Lincoln's teacher agree or disagree with the argument Webster makes for maintaining the Union in the speech Lincoln reads in the first scene of the play?

9. What is Ann Rutledge's mood when she enters to clear the glasses of the men who have left the tavern in Act 1, Scene 2? Why is she feeling that way?

10. Does Lincoln appear to be emotionally stable just after he announces the death of Ann Rutledge?

(see the answer keys)

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