1) In 1854 Abraham Lincoln was retired single-term congressman and the state legislator practicing law in Springfield, Illinois. The Kansas-Nebraska Act drew him back into politics. this controversial legislation sent shockwaves throughout the northern electorate. Compare Lincoln''s speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act (pp. 45-49) with his letter to his good friend Joshua Speed (pp. 51-54). Why does Lincoln object to the Kansas-Nebraska Act? How does his language and reasoning differ in the public and private communications? what arguments does he use in both cases? 2) In 1858 Abraham Lincoln ran as a candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois. How do Lincoln''s House Divided Speech (pp. 63-69) and his comments during the Seventh Lincoln-Douglas Debate (pp. 78-80) differ from his comments four years earlier? what new arguments does he make in 1858? what features are similar to the 1854 arguments? 3) If you took these four documents, how would you summarize in a few sentences Abraham Lincoln''s attitudes towards slavery in the 1850s? 4) Early in the war several of Lincoln''s generals, including John C. Fermont who ran as the first Republican Party preidential candidate in 1856, took the matter of emancipating slaves into their own hands. Read pages 182-187 (letters to fermont, Browning and Raymond and Message to Congress) and 204-205 ( letter to Greely). How does Lincoln view the issue of slavery in 1861 and early 1862? What does he want to do about slavery? What arguments does he make to support his decisions? 5) His contemporaries saw Lincoln as a controversial war leader who made some questionable decisions regarding civil liberties. Read pages 175-177 (Proclamation on Habeas Corpus and letter to Carl Schurz) and 247-253 (letter to Erastus Corning). How did Lincoln respond to criticism? How did he justify his actions? What arguments did he make? 6) Lincoln''s claim as "the Great Emancipator" rests on his singning the Emancipation Proclamation. Read pages 206-208 (Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation), 218-219 (Emancipation Proclamation), and 255-259 ( letter to Conkling). What did the Emancipation Proclamation do and what did it not do? How did Lincoln defend the Emancipation to critics? 7) It took Abraham Lincoln less than five minutes to deliver the Gettysburg Address and the cameraman did not even have enough time to take a picture of him making it. Yet, it is considered one of the most important speeches in American history. Read the Address on page 263. What do you think he is saying in the Address? What do think is important about what he is saying? Remember, this was made during the Civil War and that Lincoln recognized the war was a moment of great historical change. 8) Read Lincoln''s Second Inaugural Address (pp. 320-321). Imagine you are in the audience. You can be a soldier, a soldier''s wife, mother, or father, or anyone else in 1865. What do you take away from this speech? 9) Reconstruction was the question of how best to integrate the former Confederate States and the newly freed slaves into the Union. Compare Lincoln''s Reconstruction Proclamation Of December 1863 (pp. 276-278) with his last speech in April 1865 (pp. 329-333). How would you describe Lincoln''s plan of Reconstruction? What protections did he propose be given to the freedmen ( from slaves) under both plans?