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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 did the actress Laura Keene use as a passport into the President's box at Ford's Theater where Abraham Lincoln lay dying?
(a) A pile of clean sheets.
(b) A pitcher of water.
(c) A blanket.
(d) A pillow.

2. Where was Abraham Lincoln taken after he was moved from Ford's Theater?
(a) Across the street to Petersen's boardinghouse.
(b) Across the street to a restaurant's kitchen.
(c) Across the street to Laura Keene's house.
(d) Across the street to the Sewards' home.

3. What words did John Wilkes Booth shout after killing Lincoln and after shouting the state motto of Virginia?
(a) The South is avenged.
(b) Long live the Confederacy.
(c) The South has won.
(d) Slavery forever.

4. What monument in Washington, D.C. had recently been completed at the time of Lincoln's inauguration in 1865?
(a) The Washington monument.
(b) The Smithsonian Museum.
(c) The Capitol dome.
(d) The Lincoln monument.

5. What wound did Lewis Powell successfully inflict upon William Seward, though he did not succeed in killing him?
(a) He shot William Seward's ear.
(b) He cut a deep wound in William Seward's face.
(c) He shot William Seward in the leg.
(d) He cut a deep wound in William Seward's arm.

Short Answer Questions

1. Though several couples declined the Lincolns' invitation to attend the play, one couple did accept. Who accompanied the Lincolns to the play on the night of Lincoln's assassination?

2. What was the subject of Lincoln's dream the night before the assassination, as recorded by Secretary Welles in his diary?

3. How old was William Seward's daughter Fanny on the night of the assassination attempt?

4. What was the title of the play during which Abraham Lincoln was assassinated?

5. What noise finally led David Herold to flee the scene in the getaway carriage before Lewis Powell had emerged from the house?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what ways is Lewis Powell portrayed as a pathetic character after his attempt to take William Seward's life?

2. How did the North celebrate when Richmond, Virginia fell to Union forces on April 3, 1865?

3. What were the reasons that Dr. Charles Leale wanted to move Abraham Lincoln from the theater, even though he had just proclaimed his wounds sure to be fatal?

4. What action did David Herold take at the scene of William Seward's home that James L. Swanson imagines to have inspired the ire of John Wilkes Booth?

5. What danger to Lewis Powell's assassination plot lurked in William Seward's room of which Lewis Powell was unaware?

6. What is the author's purpose in relating the events of Mary Lincoln Todd's and Abraham Lincoln's afternoon together on the date of the assassination?

7. What is the significance of the photo that was taken at Abraham Lincoln's inauguration and that includes John Wilkes Booth?

8. What qualities of William Seward's situation caused him to chosen by the assassins as the third target in the assassination plot, in addition to Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson?

9. Over what issues was the American Civil War fought?

10. How does James L. Swanson create suspense in the scene when Lewis Powell attempts to assassinate William Seward?

(see the answer keys)

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