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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. Whose house did George Atzerodt visit for a midday meal late on Easter morning?

2. What color ribbons did people wear as they expressed their grief over Abraham Lincoln's assassination?

3. Though Thomas Jones refused to accept all of the money that John Wilkes Booth offered to him, he did take enough to cover the cost of the getaway boat. How much money did he accept?

4. What set of items did Dr. Samuel Mudd make for John Wilkes Booth before he sent him away from the Mudd Farm?

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

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 is James L. Swanson's purpose in including the detail, "He was too far from Washington to hear the ringing bells of the city's churches tolling in mourning," (60) when describing John Wikes Booth's arrival at the farm of Dr. Samuel Mudd?

3. What action did Dr. Samuel Mudd take that sealed his position as an accomplice of John Wilkes Booth's?

4. Why did authorities feel that they had such an airtight case against John Wilkes Booth for killing Abraham Lincoln if they were ever able to bring him to justice in a court of law?

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

6. 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?

7. Once she was sent from the room in which Abraham Lincoln lay dying, why did Marty Todd Lincoln never see her husband's face again?

8. What was it about the newspapers brought to him by Thomas Jones that stunned John Wilkes Booth while he was hiding in the pine thicket?

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

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine James L. Swanson's use of characterization methods to portray Abraham Lincoln. How does he help the reader to know who Abraham Lincoln was as a person, both before and after his murder? What effect do these characterization methods have on the book's inherent themes and messages? Use concrete details from the text to support your claims.

Essay Topic 2

How does the author's use of the omniscient third person point of view serve his purposes over the course of the book? Discuss how his choice of point of view helps to advance his treatment of at least three particular themes within the novel. Use concrete details from the text to support your points.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the author's decision to include a variety of primary documents within the text. What purpose did he have when including images of real documents such as newspaper clippings, photographs, pamphlets, and other ephemera? Back up your strong, specific claim about the author's use of primary documents with concrete details from the ephemera he includes in the book.

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This section contains 1,556 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample