U4 Chasing Lincoln's Killer Skill

Define

Any time you’re explaining something about a text, you need to cite, or point out, textual evidence to support your ideas. Textual
evidence may be a word, phrase, sentence, or paragraph that led you to make an inference or draw a conclusion. When you cite
textual evidence, someone else can look back at a particular part of a text you read and understand how you came to your
inferences or conclusions.

When you make inferences while reading or analyzing a text, you use the text and your own background knowledge to make
logical guesses about what is not directly stated by the author. When you are explaining these inferences to someone else, it is
important that you use textual evidence to show how and why you analyzed a text in the way that you did.

For example, an analysis of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken,” in which the speaker describes coming to a fork on a
forest path and having to choose which one to take, might state:

The difficulty of making choices is an important theme of Frost’s poem.

The same analysis is strengthened by going on to cite textual evidence:

Frost establishes this theme in the first few lines. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” the speaker begins, “and sorry I
could not travel both / and be one traveler, / long I stood . . . .” Immediately, we see that the speaker is faced with a tough
choice: which way to go.

Whether you’re making inferences from a short passage or drawing conclusions based on an entire text, textual evidence is the
most important tool for helping you explain your ideas.

Identification and Application:

●Most texts require readers to interpret textual evidence to understand intent, meaning, or context.

●Inferences based on textual evidence can support an interpretation or analysis as powerfully as explicitly stated evidence.

●Not all textual evidence has weight. Examine all evidence to determine if it is based on facts and relevant details. Cite the
textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from
the text.

●Make inferences by looking at several parts of an informational text or by examining characters, setting, and plot events
in a literary work:

○Look for a series of facts or events in a text that are related.

○Think about any prior knowledge you have that is related to these facts or events.

○Combine prior knowledge with evidence directly stated in the text.

○Infer new understanding of a topic that can be used as textual evidence to support an analysis.

○Analyze textual evidence closely to determine whether an inference is valid.

Model

From the title alone, a reader can easily identify Chasing Lincoln’s Killer as an informational text that tells about the assassination of
President Abraham Lincoln and the hunt for his killer, John Wilkes Booth. As with all texts, readers must interpret textual evidence,
including what the author states explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, in order to support an analysis or conclusion.

Let’s look for textual evidence in the first paragraph of the selection that helps the reader identify the thoughts and feelings of John
Wilkes Booth, the “killer” referenced in the book’s title.

John Wilkes Booth was drinking with a friend at a saloon on Houston Street in New York City. Booth struck the bar table with his
fist and regretted a lost opportunity. “What an excellent chance I had, if I wished, to kill the President on Inauguration day! I was on
the stand, as close to him nearly as I am to you.”

Notice that Swanson writes in the second sentence of the paragraph, “Booth struck the bar table with his fist and regretted a lost
opportunity.” From this single sentence, the reader can make reasonable inferences. Based on prior knowledge—either personal
experience or something viewed on TV or in a movie—most people would interpret hitting a table with a clenched fist as an expression of
a strong emotion such as anger. From this detail, describing Booth’s physical reaction, readers can infer that Booth is not only angry, but
he is very angry. Booth is angry at himself for missing what he feels was a “lost opportunity.”

Model

Rereading the fourth paragraph, let’s see what inferences can be made about the mood in Washington right after the Union victory in the
Civil War, and about Lincoln’s feelings at the end of the conflict:

On the night of April 11, a torchlight parade of a few thousand people, with bands and banners, assembled on the semi-circular
driveway in front of the Executive Mansion. This time Lincoln delivered a long speech, without gloating over the Union victory. He
intended to prepare the people for the long task of rebuilding the South. When someone in the crowd shouted that he couldn't see
the president Lincoln's son, Tad, volunteered to illuminate his father. When Lincoln dropped each page of his speech to the floor it
was Tad who scooped them up.

In this short paragraph, a reader can make a number of inferences from the facts and details. One fact is that a torchlight parade, made up
of a few thousand people holding bands and banners, assembled in front of the White House. Here is textual evidence suggesting that a
great many people in Washington, D.C., were happy that the Civil War had ended and that the Union had won. From other details we can
also draw conclusions about the kind of leader Lincoln was: he did not gloat over the Union victory, and he intended to prepare the
country for the long task of rebuilding the South. This textual evidence supports the inference that Lincoln was a sensitive man, aware of
the wounds the South had suffered as a result of the war.

Model

Notice, too, how the author describes the actions of Lincoln’s son Tad during his father’s speech. He quickly illuminated his father when
someone in the crowd shouted that he couldn’t see the president. And rather than letting the pages of his father’s speech fall to the
floor, creating a mess at the president’s feet, Tad “scooped them up.” Each of these actions provides evidence to support the inference
that Tad was proud of his father and had a deep respect for him. He wanted the people assembled in front of the White House to be able
to see as well as hear the president, and so he kept the area around Lincoln clean and free of distractions.

In these two paragraphs, the author provides enough information for readers to make inferences that can be supported by explicit details
in the text. The ability to make valid inferences that can be supported with textual evidence can help readers connect information and fully
understand the relationship between events and characters or people described in the text.

Your Turn

Read this section from Chasing Lincoln’s Killer. Use textual evidence to support inferences based on information in this
passage, and answer the follow-up questions.

Lincoln described recent events and gave credit to Union General Grant and his officers for the successful end to the war. He
also discussed his desire that black people, especially those who had served in the Union army, be granted the right to vote. As
Lincoln spoke, one observer, Mrs. Lincoln's dressmaker, standing a few steps from the president, remarked that the lamplight
made him "stand out boldly in the darkness." The perfect target. "What an easy matter would it be to kill the President as he
stands there! He could be shot down from the crowd," she whispered, "and no one would be able to tell who fired the shot."

In that crowd standing below Lincoln was John Wilkes Booth. He turned to his companion, David Herold, and objected to the
idea that blacks and former slaves would become voting citizens. In the darkness Booth threatened to kill Lincoln: "Now, by
God, I'll put him through."

Multiple Choice

Part A

What does this passage suggest about what a number of people were thinking after the Civil War ended?

• The crowd wanted to see Lincoln so it would be easier for someone to shoot at him.

• Many people were upset that Lincoln wanted black people to be able to vote.

• Some people worried that Lincoln might very well become a target of assassination.

• Many people thought that Lincoln should have taken credit for the successful end to the war.

Multiple Choice

Part B

Which excerpt from the passage provides textual evidence to support your answer to Part A?

• “‘What an easy matter would it be to kill the President as he stands there! He could be shot down from the crowd,’ she whispered.”

• “He turned to his companion, David Herold, and objected to the idea that blacks and former slaves would become voting citizens.”

• “In the darkness Booth threatened to kill Lincoln: ‘Now, by God, I'll put him through.’”

• “Lincoln described recent events and gave credit to Union General Grant and his officers for the successful end to the war.”