Quiz on Abraham Lincoln

Which U.S. political party did Abraham Lincoln represent as president?

• Republican ✓ (Correct answer)
• Democratic
• Whig
• Federalist

Source: Lincoln was the first Republican to win the presidency, though he started his career as a Whig.

What war defined Lincoln's entire time in the White House?

• American Civil War ✓ (Correct answer)
• War of 1812
• Mexican-American War
• Spanish-American War

Source: Lincoln took office weeks before the war began and was killed days after it effectively ended.

How did Abraham Lincoln die?

• Assassination ✓ (Correct answer)
• Illness
• Heart attack
• Battle wound

Source: Lincoln was the first U.S. president to be assassinated, shot at Ford's Theatre in 1865.

Which famous 1863 document declared enslaved people in rebel states free?

• Emancipation Proclamation ✓ (Correct answer)
• Gettysburg Address
• Bill of Rights
• Missouri Compromise

Source: It freed slaves only in Confederate states, reframing the war as a fight against slavery.

In which building was Lincoln shot?

• Ford's Theatre ✓ (Correct answer)
• Ford's Opera House
• The Capitol
• The White House

Source: He was watching a comedy called 'Our American Cousin' when John Wilkes Booth struck.

What was Lincoln's profession before entering politics?

• Lawyer ✓ (Correct answer)
• Doctor
• Newspaper editor
• Banker

Source: Largely self-taught, Lincoln built a successful law practice in Illinois before the presidency.

Which U.S. state did Lincoln represent in Congress and call home as an adult?

• Illinois ✓ (Correct answer)
• Kentucky
• Indiana
• Ohio

Source: Though born in Kentucky, Lincoln earned the nickname the 'Rail-Splitter' of Illinois.

Lincoln's famous beard was reportedly inspired by a letter from whom?

• A young girl ✓ (Correct answer)
• His wife
• A newspaper
• A general

Source: Eleven-year-old Grace Bedell wrote that whiskers would help him win votes, and he grew them.

What number president was Abraham Lincoln?

• 16th ✓ (Correct answer)
• 15th
• 17th
• 14th

Source: Lincoln followed James Buchanan and was succeeded by his vice president, Andrew Johnson.

Lincoln delivered which short, famous speech at a battlefield cemetery?

• Gettysburg Address ✓ (Correct answer)
• House Divided Speech
• Cooper Union Address
• Second Inaugural

Source: At barely 270 words, it became one of history's most quoted speeches.

Which constitutional amendment, championed by Lincoln, abolished slavery?

• 13th ✓ (Correct answer)
• 14th
• 15th
• 12th

Source: Lincoln pushed the 13th Amendment through Congress; it was ratified months after his death.

Who assassinated Abraham Lincoln?

• John Wilkes Booth ✓ (Correct answer)
• Charles Guiteau
• Leon Czolgosz
• Lee Harvey Oswald

Source: Booth was a famous stage actor who saw himself as avenging the defeated Confederacy.

Which general did Lincoln finally appoint to lead all Union armies in 1864?

• Ulysses S. Grant ✓ (Correct answer)
• Robert E. Lee
• George McClellan
• William Sherman

Source: After cycling through cautious generals, Lincoln backed the aggressive Grant to win the war.

What was the name of Lincoln's wife?

• Mary Todd ✓ (Correct answer)
• Eleanor Roosevelt
• Martha Custis
• Abigail Smith

Source: Mary Todd came from a slaveholding Kentucky family, a fact critics used against the president.

Lincoln's 1858 debates over slavery were against which Senate rival?

• Stephen Douglas ✓ (Correct answer)
• Jefferson Davis
• John Calhoun
• Henry Clay

Source: Lincoln lost that Senate race to Douglas but the debates made him a national figure.

Which cabinet rivals did Lincoln famously appoint, later called his 'Team of Rivals'?

• Former election opponents ✓ (Correct answer)
• Confederate leaders
• Family members
• Foreign diplomats

Source: Lincoln filled his cabinet with men who had run against him, valuing talent over loyalty.

What was the profession that gave young Lincoln his 'Rail-Splitter' nickname?

• Splitting fence rails ✓ (Correct answer)
• Logging rivers
• Railroad work
• Carpentry

Source: His campaign turned his hard frontier labor splitting wooden fence rails into a political brand.

Which 1860 speech in New York is credited with launching Lincoln toward the presidency?

• Cooper Union Address ✓ (Correct answer)
• Gettysburg Address
• Peoria Speech
• Farewell Address

Source: His Cooper Union case against slavery's spread won over skeptical Eastern Republicans.

What U.S. agency did Lincoln establish on the very day of his assassination?

• Secret Service ✓ (Correct answer)
• Federal Reserve
• FBI
• Treasury Department

Source: Ironically, the agency he authorized to fight counterfeiting later guarded presidents.

Which phrase opens the Gettysburg Address?

• Four score and seven ✓ (Correct answer)
• We the people
• With malice toward none
• A house divided

Source: 'Four score and seven years ago' counts back 87 years to the 1776 Declaration of Independence.