Assessment: Second Inaugural Address

According to Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address, what issue occupied people’s thoughts and attention at the time of his First Inaugural Address?

• the outcome of the Civil War

• Lincoln’s recent election
• God’s will regarding slavery
• a possible civil war

In the Second Inaugural Address, what is the “peculiar and powerful interest,” or matter of concern, that Lincoln says everyone knew was “somehow the cause of the war”?

• territory
• industry

• slaves

• plantations

According to Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address, what “still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation”?

• attempts to dissolve the Union

• the presidential election
• the present Civil War

• ongoing debate over slavery

In the Second Inaugural Address, what does Lincoln say or imply that he wants? Choose two options.

• an end to slavery everywhere in the country
• a fair peace among states that will be lasting
• for states to make their own decisions about slavery
• to penalize the southern states for leaving the Union
• to grant full voting rights to all former slaves

In what way does the Second Inaugural Address suggest that the Civil War was not originally fought to free the slaves?

• Lincoln says that only one-eighth of the whole population were slaves.
• Lincoln says the government only wished to keep slavery from spreading.

• Lincoln says rebellious people wanted to dissolve the Union without war.
• Lincoln says that some people would rather wage war than end slavery.

Which of the following is the best example of people who are insurgent?

• a business association that holds annual meetings
• a diplomatic group traveling to negotiate a treaty
• a crowd of protesters rising against a government
• a fleet of troops carrying goods to a new nation

Which situation most clearly illustrates the meaning of rend?

• The artist is studying a scene from two angles before painting it.
• The mechanic is disassembling an engine before repairing it.
• The child is neatly removing wrapping paper before deciding to open the gift.
• The seamstress is tearing the cloth into pieces before designing a new outfit.

If a person describes cancer as a scourge, to which aspect of the disease is the person referring? Base your answer on the meaning of scourge.

• Cancer seems to be impossible to stop.
• Cancer affects some people but not others.
• Cancer causes widespread pain and suffering.
• Cancer can pass from one generation to another.

What is Lincoln’s attitude toward those who fought for the Confederacy?

• He condemns them for holding slaves.
• He wants to thank them for starting the war.
• He does not wish them any harm for their choices.
• He believes that they should pay for all the war costs.

Which excerpt from the Second Inaugural Address best supports Lincoln’s attitude toward those who fought for the Confederacy? ?

• Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other.
• f we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which . . . must needs come, but which, . . . [God] now wills to remove, . . . shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him?
• Yet, if God wills that [the war] continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, . . . so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
• With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds. . . .