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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. When the authorities searched John Wilkes Booth's room and found a letter explaining the assassination plot, what name was signed at the bottom of the letter?

2. Who accompanied Reverend Gurley when it was time to tell Mary Todd Lincoln that her husband Abraham Lincoln had died?

3. How did John Wilkes Booth gain shelter for the night at the home of Lucas, the African-American neighbor of Dr. Richard Stuart?

4. When John Wilkes Booth became agitated upon seeing riders pass the Garretts' farm, whom did he ask to retrieve his pistols and gun belt?

5. Who was the photographer who had both photographed Abraham Lincoln many times during Lincoln's life and was responsible for photographing the crime scene after Lincoln's assassination?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does James L. Swanson use the appeal of pathos to craft the portrait of Edman Spangler, the 39-year-old stagehand from Ford's Theater?

2. What was Dr. Samuel Mudd's response when he learned that Abraham Lincoln had been killed and that John Wilkes Booth had been the assassin?

3. What did Dr. Richard Stuart do to earn the ire of John Wilkes Booth and how did John Wilkes Booth make his feelings about the matter known?

4. What elements of the crime scene investigation mirror modern forensic methods used today?

5. Within the entirety of the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth, what event acted as the closest the manhunters ever came to capturing John Wilkes Booth, besides the last standoff at Garrett Farm?

6. When James L. Swanson states that John Wilkes Booth had planned in detail the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and his escape from the theater itself, but not much beyond that, what details does he use to support his point?

7. Though John Wilkes Booth was angry at the newspapers for suppressing his written explanation for why he had killed Abraham Lincoln that he had given to his actor friend, what was the truth surrounding why his letter had not been published?

8. What was the reason for Andrew Johnson's lack of a formal public inaugural address upon his ascendency to the presidency?

9. What type of tone does James L. Swanson use in describing the actions of Lafayette Baker and his men as they surrounded the barn in which they knew John Wilkes Booth was hiding?

10. How did the transportation of Abraham Lincoln's body from the Pedersen boarding house to the Executive Mansion belie Abraham Lincoln's modest personality in life?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the dichotomy between John Wilkes Booth's expectations of the effect his assassination of President Lincoln would have on the country, with the events that actually unfolded and how his act was viewed in years to come. Support your analytical points with textual evidence from the book.

Essay Topic 2

Choose one of the conspirators whose sentence you consider unjust in some way, either by being too harsh or too lenient. Write an argumentative essay in which you prove why this person's involvement warranted a different punishment. Use concrete details from the book and from outside research in order to prove your argumentative claim.

Essay Topic 3

How does the author get across Abraham Lincoln's tendency to avoid a grand and flashy presence? What ultimate message about how politicians ought to behave is being created within this depiction? Include concrete details from the book to support your claim.

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