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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 John Garrett tried to throw John Wilkes Booth and George Atzerodt out of the house, what was his reason?

2. Which two co-conspirators did George Atzerodt implicate once he was caught by the authorities and confessed to his crimes?

3. When the Union cavalry divided their forces in order to surround John Wilkes Booth, who headed the two columns?

4. When John Wilkes Booth became terrified at the sounds he heard during Thomas Jones' visit to the forest hideout, what is NOT one reason for his decision to hunker down and hope for the best?

5. How many nights in total did John Wilkes Booth and David Herold spend in the pine forest before they made the attempt to get to Virginia?

Short Essay Questions

1. While Thomas Jones was arrested and was briefly imprisoned, he continued to insist on his own innocence and there was no evidence to convict him of any crime. In what way did the truth of his involvement eventually come out?

2. To what cause does James L. Swanson attribute the decision by doctors to perform an autopsy on Abraham Lincoln after his death?

3. What was ironic about the way in which John Wilkes Booth and David Herold got out of their predicament of getting lost on their way to Captain Samuel Cox's farm?

4. Though John Wilkes Booth was angry at the newspapers for suppressing his written explanation for why he had killed Abraham Lincoln that he had given to his actor friend, what was the truth surrounding why his letter had not been published?

5. What key suggestion did Thomas Jones offer to John Wilkes Booth and David Herold that ended up frustrating any leads gained within the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth?

6. When James L. Swanson states that John Wilkes Booth had planned in detail the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and his escape from the theater itself, but not much beyond that, what details does he use to support his point?

7. What action did Dr. Samuel Mudd take that sealed his position as an accomplice of John Wilkes Booth's?

8. Once she was sent from the room in which Abraham Lincoln lay dying, why did Marty Todd Lincoln never see her husband's face again?

9. What elements of the crime scene investigation mirror modern forensic methods used today?

10. What was the first major break in the manhunt for the assassins and why was it significant?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that discusses the connection between the decision by the U. S. government to make sure John Wilkes Booth's grave remained unmarked and the modern controversy over the media's coverage of mass shooters. Write a specific, clear claim and back it up with both concrete details from the book and concrete details from your research.

Essay Topic 2

What is the author's treatment of race relations within the events of the book? How does he get across to the reader the complexities of the country's conflicts without devoting entire chapters to the topic of race? Craft a specific and clear claim regarding the author's treatment of the race relations theme and use textual details to support your claim.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,616 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample