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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. How many states are there on Election Day, 1860?
(a) 27.
(b) 13.
(c) 33.
(d) 12.

2. What does Seth Gale suggest might happen if slavery spreads West to new states and territories?
(a) He thinks the Mexicans will attack if slavery spreads.
(b) He says settlers might form another country or move to Canada.
(c) He says settlers will be satisfied, regardless of the state of slavery.
(d) He predicts settlers will raise an army and declare war.

3. Who, in Lincoln's headquarters, is the most anxious about the voting returns?
(a) Ninian Edwards.
(b) Josh Speed.
(c) Mary Todd Lincoln.
(d) Robert Lincoln.

4. How does Lincoln describe Douglas' verbal skills?
(a) He keeps 10 daggers flashing in the air.
(b) He uses smoke and mirrors.
(c) He slings arrows like Zeus.
(d) He juggles bullets.

5. What institution does Douglas use to bolster his argument that negroes are not equal under the Constitution?
(a) The Catholic Church.
(b) The Supreme Court.
(c) The American Civil Liberties Union.
(d) The National Rifle Association.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are Mary's first words to Abe when he arrives after a two-year absence?

2. What's the first thing one of the guests in Act 3, Scene 10 does after sitting down in the Lincolns' parlor?

3. What has Mary Todd been doing while Lincoln entertains his guests?

4. What is the dream from ancient times that Lincoln speaks of in his farewell?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. On Election Day, as the Lincolns wait for voting results, Mary becomes increasingly anxious. Finally, Lincoln suggests she go home to wait. She responds with a surprising outburst. What does she say and why does she feel so strongly?

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

4. 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?

5. Lincoln, says Douglas in the debate, is stirring up rebellion against authority. What is the danger that Douglas foresees? And what is the solution he proposes?

6. Lincoln tells Mary Todd that his encounter with Seth Gale a few days earlier was the spur that brought him to her door. What was the decision Lincoln made while visiting with Gale and how does the playwright convey Lincoln's ambivalence about that decision?

7. In Act 2, Scene 7, it has been two years since Lincoln broke off his engagement. He has been drifting since then, but has returned to New Salem in time to meet his old friend, Seth Gale. The Gale family is heading west, to Oregon. Gale has had a hard journey and now his young son is suffering from swamp fever. What does he want from Lincoln at this time?

8. 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.

9. 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?

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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