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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. What is the wedding gift Ninian has brought Abe?

2. What piece of advice does Ninian Andrews give Lincoln concerning Mary Todd in Act 2, Scene 6?

3. What organization wants Lincoln to give a speech?

4. In a poem that Lincoln reads in the first scene, what is it that the poet finds strange about people?

5. Who gave the speech that Lincoln's teacher has him read?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Lincoln's feeling about his career prospects as a young adult studying English in New Salem?

2. Josh Speed and Bowling Green are longtime friends of Lincoln's; they have urged him for years to seek higher political office. In Act 2, Scene 4, what is their attitude toward Lincoln's reluctance to run for an important elected position?

3. Does Lincoln appear to be emotionally stable just after he announces the death of Ann Rutledge?

4. By Act 2, Scene 4, it is clear that Lincoln's friendship with Ninian Edwards (the governor's son) has advanced. What evidence does Lincoln offer of his popularity?

5. What sentiment does Daniel Webster express in the speech that Lincoln reads in Act 1, Scene 1?

6. What is Ann Rutledge's mood when she enters to clear the glasses of the men who have left the tavern in Act 1, Scene 2? Why is she feeling that way?

7. How desperate is Lincoln and what is the event that seems to have caused his emotional outbreak?

8. What is Webster reacting or responding to in the speech Lincoln reads in Act 1, Scene 1?

9. What is Josh Speed's opinion of Lincoln's personality and prospects, now that Lincoln is in the State Assembly?

10. How does Nancy Green describe Lincoln's fear of falling in love in Act 1, Scene 3?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ben Mattling, the hard-drinking Revolutionary War veteran in Rutledge's Tavern, tells Lincoln to stay out of politics: "You have no place in that den of thieves that's called government," he says. What is going on in the country (as described or implied in the play) that has so enraged Mattling about government? Why does he think Lincoln is unsuited for elected office?

Essay Topic 2

How does the John Keats poem, "On Death," which Lincoln reads at the end of Scene 1, reflect his personality or philosophy? What does the poem say about life and why does Lincoln seem to agree with it? Does his reaction to Ann Rutledge--later, when she says she can envision falling in love with him--signal a change in his outlook from his initial reaction to the poem?

Essay Topic 3

This play, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, can be viewed as the opening scene of the larger drama of Lincoln's presidency. Many of its themes--his preoccupation with an early death, his sense of duty, his melancholy and self-doubt--will continue through the rest of his life. What new or little-known information about Lincoln, or insights about well-known facts, does the play present that might affect a person's perception of the Civil War President?

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