Read the text of the Lincoln-Douglas debates and rate each speaker in terms of how well he argues his point.

Research the life of a rural postmaster in the 1830s and write out an agenda that would show what a typical day was like.

The tension between Lincoln and his wife, Mary, in Scene 9 is just a slight example of their tumultuous relationship. Write a scene that shows them arguing at home during the last year of his presidency, using historic facts to support your characterizations.

Write a brief report on the Underground Railroad, which helped blacks escape from slavery in the South into freedom.

Much is made in this play of how the Supreme Court's decision in the Dred Scott case changed the rights of slave owners and mobilized the opposition to slavery. Find testimony from people of the 1850s (besides...