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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Lewis Powell got outside and found that Herold had fled with the getaway carriage, what did he do?

2. What query did Laura Keene make of Dr. Charles Leale after she gained entry to the President's box where Lincoln lay dying?

3. What did George Atzerodt do just before he decided to abandon his plan to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson?

4. What does the word secede mean?

5. On the night of April 11th at the Torchlight Parade, what did Lincoln say in his speech regarding African-Americans?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the main goal of the plot to assassinate the Union's top governmental leaders all in one night?

2. How did John Wilkes Booth's knowledge of Ford's Theater facilitate his assassination of Abraham Lincoln?

3. How does James L. Swanson create suspense in the scene when Lewis Powell attempts to assassinate William Seward?

4. What tone does James L. Swanson use in second paragraph of Chapter I when he writes, "The very next day, the tyrant Abraham Lincoln had visited his captive prize and had the nerve to sit behind the desk occupied by the first and last president of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis"? (2)

5. What are two themes touched upon within Abraham Lincoln's inauguration day speech of 1865?

6. What is the author's purpose in relating the events of Mary Lincoln Todd's and Abraham Lincoln's afternoon together on the date of the assassination?

7. What methods does James L. Swanson use to convey the chaotic nature of the scene within Ford's Theater after John Wilkes Booth had escaped?

8. What is the significance of the photo that was taken at Abraham Lincoln's inauguration and that includes John Wilkes Booth?

9. How does James L. Swanson demonstrate Fanny Seward's courage and ferocity within the scene of Lewis Powell's attempt to take her father's life?

10. How does James L. Swanson use the words of Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckley, to foreshadow the coming death of Abraham Lincoln?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's decision to include a variety of primary documents within the text. What purpose did he have when including images of real documents such as newspaper clippings, photographs, pamphlets, and other ephemera? Back up your strong, specific claim about the author's use of primary documents with concrete details from the ephemera he includes in the book.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss how poets such as Walt Whitman gave a voice to Americans in a time of grief over Abraham Lincoln's assassination and what overall effect their works had a country in mourning. Choose at least two poems by Walt Whitman and include concrete details from the poems and from the book in order to back up your points.

Essay Topic 3

Choose one of the conspirators whose sentence you consider unjust in some way, either by being too harsh or too lenient. Write an argumentative essay in which you prove why this person's involvement warranted a different punishment. Use concrete details from the book and from outside research in order to prove your argumentative claim.

(see the answer keys)

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