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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 is it that the visitors to Lincoln's home in Act 3, Scene 10 want to talk about with him?
(a) Taking over the Department of Justice.
(b) Opening a local branch of Macy's.
(c) Running for President of the United States.
(d) Shutting down the abolitionist newspaper.

2. What causes Lincoln to change his mind about his future?
(a) He understands he's not getting any younger or better looking, so it's time to settle down.
(b) After seeing Seth Gale's son, Lincoln realizes how much he wants children.
(c) He fails as a farmer and sees he must return to politics.
(d) After meeting Seth Gale, Lincoln realizes his destiny is in national service, as Mary always said.

3. How does the playwright describe the appearance of Stephen Douglas as he takes the stage to debate Lincoln?
(a) "The judge is an elfin man, with a voice to match."
(b) "He is a titan, with a voice that rolls like thunder."
(c) "He is a brief but magnetic man, confident of his power."
(d) "Muscular and tall, Judge Douglas commands attention with his merest glance."

4. What is Lincoln doing as he waits for the voting results?
(a) Reading newspapers.
(b) Bouncing a tennis ball.
(c) Pacing nervously.
(d) Writing his memoirs.

5. What is the essential element Lincoln's party is seeking in a presidential candidate when they ask him to run?
(a) An anti-slavery attitude.
(b) A strong military policy.
(c) The ability to get elected.
(d) A willingness to raise taxes.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Mary Todd describe Lincoln's behavior and absence over the previous two years?

2. What does Jack Armstrong tell Seth Gale about Lincoln while they wait for Lincoln's arrival in Act 2, Scene 7?

3. What does Lincoln do with his notes before he begins speaking in the debate with Douglas?

4. How does Mary Todd describe her part in the break-up of the engagement to Lincoln?

5. In the debate, Douglas says Lincoln appears innocent but is very good at doing something dangerous with his words. What is it?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Act 3, Scene 9, Stephen Douglas says the question of equal rights for slaves has been legally settled. How was the issue settled and what was the decision?

2. Where is Gale taking his family as he meets with Lincoln in Act 2, Scene 7? Why is he going?

3. Almost at the moment he learns of his election, Lincoln's life changes in a way he doesn't like. In the play, who or want is the sign of this change? And which of the play's themes does this change fit into?

4. In their debate, Lincoln compares Douglas to a woman watching her husband fight for his life with a bear. When asked by her husband for an encouraging word, the woman says, "Go husband. Go bear." What was Lincoln saying about Douglas in that comparison?

5. As he waits for the election results, Lincoln calls the evening a "death watch." What are Lincoln's feelings about winning the election?

6. While Lincoln asserts that he submits to the will of God, he doesn't belong to any church. What are his objections to organized forms of worship?

7. In Act 3, Scene 10, which takes place in the Lincolns' home, it is clear that the Lincolns' marriage is not happy, or at the least, has problems. Thus far, the play has made clear Mary's part in creating problems. In this scene, the playwright uses a cigar to show that Lincoln isn't an innocent victim in the matter of the marriage. How does the cigar reveal one of Lincoln's faults?

8. In Act 2, Scene 8, Lincoln apologizes for being a coward. He says he shrank from the marriage because he didn't want or believe in the destiny Mary envisions for him. Now, though, he says he wants to "strive to deserve" her faith. Does the way that Lincoln again asks her to marry him indicate that he loves her or has some other reason for marrying her?

9. A few days after meeting Seth Gale, Abe Lincoln arrives at the home of Mary Todd. She is still single and Abe plans to ask her, again, to marry him. Does the fact that Mary is still single, two years after the broken engagement to Lincoln, indicate anything about her character? Support your answer with your interpretation of the text, both from Act 2, Scene 8 and from earlier episodes in the play.

10. Despite Mary Lincoln's and Josh Speed's entreaties that Lincoln treat his visitors seriously because they are influential, Lincoln can't help but give them a little of his backwood's humor. How does he respond when Henry D. Sturveson says they have come to see if Lincoln will be a suitable candidate?

(see the answer keys)

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