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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. On the night of the Torchlight Parade, who scooped up Abraham Lincoln's speech pages as he finished them and dropped them to the floor?
(a) Lincoln's son Tad.
(b) General Ulysses S. Grant.
(c) William Seward's daughter.
(d) Lincoln's wife Mary Todd.

2. 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?
(a) Major Rathbone and his fiancee.
(b) William Seward and his wife.
(c) Dr. Charles Leale and his wife.
(d) General Grant and his wife.

3. When Major Rathbone tried to stop John Wilkes Booth after Booth had shot Lincoln, what wound did Booth inflict on Rathbone?
(a) He stabbed him in the arm.
(b) He punched him in the nose.
(c) He threw him off the balcony, breaking his nose.
(d) He stabbed him in the leg.

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

5. Who was the only actor on stage when Booth made his leap from the balcony?
(a) Fanny Seward.
(b) Charles Leale.
(c) Harry Hawk.
(d) Clara Harris.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who confronted Lewis Powell at the top of the stairs on the second floor of William Seward's house?

2. What was the ultimate goal of John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators' plan to assassinate the Union government's top leaders?

3. How long did John Wilkes Booth have between finding out about Lincoln's plans to attend the play and his assassination of the President?

4. Who ordered that Mary Todd Lincoln be removed from Abraham Lincoln's bedside and proclaimed that she would not be allowed in again?

5. What weapon did John Wilkes Booth ultimately use to kill Abraham Lincoln?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. Who was the only audience member in Ford's Theater to chase after John Wilkes Booth and why did no one else follow him?

3. How did John Wilkes Booth's knowledge of Ford's Theater facilitate his assassination of Abraham Lincoln?

4. How does James L. Swanson characterize the personality of the actress Laura Keene, who was present at the scene of John Wilkes Booth's shooting of Abraham Lincoln.

5. 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?

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

7. What is James L. Swanson's purpose when he describes John Wilkes Booth's passions as including "the romance of lost causes"? (2)

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

9. What methods does James L. Swanson use to convey the chaotic nature of the scene within Ford's Theater after John Wilkes Booth had escaped?

10. How does James L. Swanson demonstrate Fanny Seward's courage and ferocity within the scene of Lewis Powell's attempt to take her father's life?

(see the answer keys)

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