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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 Billy Herndon's reaction to Lincoln's reasons for breaking off the engagement?

2. Who does Ninian Edwards believe might be instigating the prospect of marriage between Abe Lincoln and Mary Todd?

3. What is the purpose of Edwards' visit to New Salem in Act 1, Scene 2?

4. Why is Mary Todd so sure that Lincoln will be a success, and not stop to tell jokes, as her sister predicts?

5. How does Lincoln jokingly describe, in Act 2, Scene 5, the act of defending a murder suspect?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. In Act 2, Scene 6, Lincoln decides to jilt Mary Todd on their wedding day. He plans to inform her in a long letter--a plan to which Josh Speed objects. Why does Speed object? In his mind, what does Lincoln's plan say about Lincoln as a man?

4. In Act 2, Scene 4, Lincoln continues to resist running for any office with more authority than the Electoral College. Why?

5. When Josh Speed burns Lincoln's letter to Mary Todd, Lincoln tells him the real reasons he doesn't want to go through with the marriage. What are his real reasons?

6. Ninian Edwards is Lincoln's friend and an admirer, he tells Mary Todd. And yet, he is still unsure what she sees in Lincoln as a potential husband. What does Mary Todd tell her brother-in-law in response to that question?

7. Act 1, Scene 2 portrays Lincoln's first step toward a political destiny. The audience (or reader) knows that Lincoln will become one of the country's great Presidents. What symbols does the author use in this scene to heighten that feeling of political destiny?

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

9. In Act 2, Scene 4, Lincoln has a law clerk who is something of a firebrand--he believes deeply in abolition and tries to get Lincoln involved in the public debate. What is Lincoln's response?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

From the opening scene, Lincoln is preoccupied with the specter of premature death. Even as he bids farewell to the people of Springfield, he seems melancholy and doubtful that he will ever return to the town. Trace the line of Lincoln's fatalism through the play. Explain its origins and describe what effect, if any, it had on Lincoln's initial reluctance to take a step onto the national stage.

Essay Topic 2

While discussing his political philosophy with those who want him to run for office, Lincoln tells them he is "conservative, all right. If I got into the legislature, you'd never catch me starting any movements for reform or progress." Is the playwright making an ironic observation by giving Lincoln that line? Explain your thinking, yes or no, using examples from the play.

Essay Topic 3

Mentor Graham, Lincoln's teacher, is discussing the imperative mood. He points out that an imperative is not always a direct or even obvious command, and he has Lincoln read a newspaper account of a speech by Daniel Webster to the U.S. Senate. What is the topic of the speech and what is it that Webster is asking of the Senate? Explain how you know that Webster is using the imperative.

(see the answer keys)

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