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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. Who was Stephen Douglas?

2. How does Donald describe the effect of Lincoln's loss of his mother?

3. What was Lincoln beginning to be known for after years of traveling the court circuit?

4. How does Donald describe Lincoln's political support for the Whig Presidential candidate?

5. Who was Mary Todd?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the beginnings of the Civil War.

2. Describe Lincoln's entrance into politics.

3. Describe Abraham Lincoln's period of aimlessness in Illinois.

4. What positions did Lincoln take in his career as a Whig legislator?

5. When did Lincoln start his family?

6. How much is known about Lincoln's ancestry?

7. What was Lincoln's relationship with his stepmother like?

8. How did Lincoln's legal practice bring him into questions of statewide or national importance?

9. How did Lincoln end up back in Springfield?

10. How were senators chosen in the 1850s?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Lincoln was elected to the Presidency as an honest rail-splitting, hard-working man, but he himself was aloof from the image. In what ways did Lincoln retain his childhood self, and his father's personality, and in what ways did Lincoln diverge from the manual labor of his father's pioneer life? Did Lincoln change cultures, or did he bring pioneer virtues to the White House when they were needed there?

Essay Topic 2

When Lincoln was not sitting in the legislature, he was active in the Republican Party, shaping the platform. How can you reconcile Lincoln's work out of the spotlight, working behind the scenes inside the party, with his public advocacy of Republican Party platform positions?

Essay Topic 3

Describe Lincoln's temperament in relation to his career as a politician and leader. What role did his depressions play in his career? What role did his circumspection and rationality?

(see the answer keys)

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