In Attempting an Analysis of Lincolns

What are two central ideas about Abraham Lincoln's life in text 1?

• Abraham Lincoln was a self-taught man.

• Abraham Lincoln had many books to read.

• Abraham Lincoln always knew he would be president.

• Abraham Lincoln worked many hard jobs before he became a lawyer.

What does the author mean by the phrase in a nutshell?

• During Abraham Lincoln's career, people in the South grew many nuts.

• During Abraham Lincoln's career, nutshells were used to produce books.

• If you hear the main points of Abraham Lincoln's career, you will also be hearing the main points of U.S. history.

• If you hear a detailed account of Abraham Lincoln's career, you will also know everything about U.S. history at the time.

In this sentence from paragraph 2, what does the word exceed mean?

Driven back again and again to the few, we should read them more carefully and make the thoughts our own, and perhaps the stock of ideas gathered from books would even exceed that which we gain from the multitude of books...

• be equal to

• be less than

• be more than

• be more valuable

What is the overall structure of the passage?

• description

• in order of time

• cause and effect

• compare and contrast

The author states that Abraham Lincoln overcame many hard times in his life. Which sentence best supports that claim?

• "The accounts of his early life are somewhat meager, but he has told us himself that he had only about one year of school-life."

• "Like many of our great men, Lincoln was what we style a self-made man, and yet it seems that he owed something of his making to his stepmother."

• "He worked through his early manhood and boyhood with his hands, sometimes on a farm, sometimes as a clerk in a country store."

• "At length the way opened-or, as I think, he by his exertions forced a way to study law, and he began his practice of the profession in Springfield, Ill.”

Which two sentences best explain how slavery affected Abraham Lincoln's political career?

• "He opposed the war because he saw it as a way to extend slavery."

• "The Lincolns moved to Indiana in 1816 partly because of their opposition to slavery."

• "Lincoln became disappointed with politics and others' views on slavery and returned home to practice law."

• "Southern voters split their votes among the four candidates, with Lincoln eventually winning the race."

How does the author show that Abraham Lincoln had to work hard to become president?

• The author includes the fact that Mary Todd's family owned slaves.

• The author includes the fact that three of Abraham Lincoln's four sons died in childhood.

• The author includes a paragraph on Abraham Lincoln's opposition to the U.S.-Mexican War.

• The author includes Abraham Lincoln's disappointment with politics and his loss in a Senate race.

In the final sentence of the passage, what does the word departed mean?

In February 1861, Lincoln and his wife Mary, departed by train for Washington, D.C. President Lincoln was sworn in on March 4, 1861.

• arrived

• left

• moved

• traveled

The author structures the passage by discussing each event in the order it happened. However, the passage does not give the reader a clear picture of what Lincoln was doing from 1854 through 1860. Why did the author choose to leave out these years?

• During this time, Abraham Lincoln was mostly a private citizen.

• During this time, Abraham Lincoln did not do anything important.

• During this time, Abraham Lincoln did not record what he was doing.

• During this time, Abraham Lincoln kept losing arguments and elections.

Why does the author include paragraph 4 in this passage even though it does not say what role, if any, Lincoln had in the battles?

• because it shows that it was OK for a president to use Federal troops

• because it shows that there was fighting in the United States before the Civil War

• because it shows that President Franklin Pierce was a bad president compared to Lincoln.

• because it shows that Abraham Lincoln wanted to get back into the fight against slavery through politics