Short Quiz + Suggested Answers - "Team of Rivals"

[johnkarls]

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SUGGESTED SHORT QUIZ ANSWERS - "TEAM OF RIVALS: THE POLITICAL GENIUS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN"

Question 1 -

Did Abraham Lincoln graduate from law school?

Suggested Answer 1 -

Although a lawyer Lincoln, by his own admission, had less than 12 months of formal education in his entire life!!! He did not graduate from high school or college, much less attend a law school (quite a few of which were in operation by the time he began his career).

At the time he began his career (as is true with a handful of states even today), it was not necessary to attend law school - you could study on your own and pass the bar exam!!!

Question 2 -

Upon meeting Mary Todd (his future wife) at a Springfield IL ball at which she was the proverbial Belle, what did Abraham Lincoln mean when he told her that he "wanted to dance with her in the worst way"?

Suggested Answer 2 -

Speaking as a former practicing attorney, one of the primary functions of an attorney is to insure that no document is executed which can be interpreted in more than one way, since two possible interpretations almost always produces a law suit!!!

Obviously, Lincoln intended his statement to describe how much he wanted to dance with Mary Todd.

But Mary Todd joked with all of her friends afterwards that Lincoln's request accurately described his dancing ability!!!

Question 3 -

Did Abraham Lincoln ever hold public office before running for President?

Suggested Answer 3 -

Yes - he served for 8 years in the Illinois House of Representatives and for 2 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Prior to his 10 years of public service, he had been defeated for the Illinois House of Representatives.

After his 10 years of public service, he was defeated twice for the U.S. Senate (the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates occurred during Lincoln's second attempt in 1858).

Question 4 -

How many primaries did Abraham Lincoln win in search of the Republican nomination for President?

Suggested Answer 4 -

None!!!

However, he was the "favorite son" of the Illinois delegation. Until the last half-century, the local Governor or U.S. Senator was either selected or elected (if there was a primary) as the "favorite son" of each state's delegation. Such status was the "ticket" to the proverbial "smoke-filled back room" where the nominee was actually selected.

Incidentally, much has been written about how selection in proverbial "smoke-filled back rooms" produces nominees with a much better chance of winning general elections - since survivors of modern-day primaries are usually too extreme to "move to the center" effectively.

Abraham Lincoln would be "Exhibit A" for the preferability of "smoke-filled back rooms"!!!

Question 5 -

Was John Wilkes Booth (Lincoln's assassin) the first person who attempted to assassinate Lincoln?

Suggested Answer 5 -

No, Lincoln was incessantly plagued by innumerable groups and individuals who were planning to assassinate him.

Indeed, Lincoln had to "sneak in" to Washington for his own inauguration because of credible intelligence of numerous assassination plans.

Question 6 -

What was Lincoln's stated purpose in prosecuting the Civil War? Do you think that merely "preserving the Union" (that is, preventing any state from leaving the United States) would be a sufficient reason today to compel Americans to fight, much less to persist in a war in which millions (literally) are killed?

Suggested Answer 6 -

His stated purpose for the war was merely "preserving the Union"!!!

No.

Question 7 -

At what stage of the Civil War did Abraham Lincoln make his "Emancipation Proclamation"?

Suggested Answer 7 -

It was made on 9/22/1862 and implemented 1/1/1863 (the attack on Fort Sumter had occurred in July 1861).

Question 8 -

What legal authority did Abraham Lincoln have to make his "Emancipation Proclamation"?

Suggested Answer 8 -

Technically, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was based on his Constitutional "Commander in Chief" power.

However, it has been argued that the Second Confiscation Act (passed in July 1862), WHICH DID NOT ABOLISH SLAVERY, showed that Lincoln had the support of the U.S. Congress for his later Emancipation Proclamation.

Question 9 -

Were the Union and Confederate armies integrated racially?

Suggested Answer 9 -

African-Americans fought side-by-side with whites in both armies. Though in the case of the Confederate Army, their participation usually involved fighting side-by-side with their slave masters.

Question 10 -

When and how did the U.S. military become segregated?

Suggested Answer 10 -

An Executive Order by President Woodrow Wilson (the "Gentleman from Georgia" who had served as President of Princeton University and Governor of New Jersey)!!!

Another independent reason why Wilson was one of our most despicable Presidents??? He duplicitously campaigned on a platform of keeping America out of World War I while secretly sending munitions to the British in the holds of passenger liners in violation of the well-established "International Law of Neutrality" - successfully hoping that their sinking would provoke American public opinion to compel entry into the war!!!

Wilson's Executive Order segregating the U.S. military is the seminal event making the Democratic Party the "party of segregation" for the next half-century. Both Wilson and FDR appointed segregationists to the U.S. Supreme Court!!! And in return, the American South gratefully supported the Democratic Party.

Question 11 -

When and how did the U.S. military become re-integrated?

Suggested Answer 11 -

On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 integrating the U.S. armed forces (simultaneously he signed Executive Order 9980 to eliminate racial discrimination in federal civilian employment).

Question 12 -

According to William Manchester ("The Arms of Krupp"), why are wars in which millions (literally) are killed (such as World War I and the American Civil War) the exception rather than the norm?

Suggested Answer 12 -

Because usually one side or the other has superior weapons or tactics - from well before Hannibal's use of elephants against Rome on behalf of ancient Carthage (modern-day Tunis on the African coast of the Mediterranean).

One of the most interesting examples cited by Manchester was the Franco-Prussian War (7/19/1870 > 5/10/1871) during which Paris was captured and France surrendered in less than 10 months. "Interesting" because the French had superior weapons except for artillery - since, because of their inferior artillery, they never got close enough to use their otherwise-superior weapons.

Question 13 -

According to "Team of Rivals" at least part of Abraham Lincoln's political genius was to appoint to his cabinet his chief Republican rivals for the Presidency, and complete it with several prominent Democrats. How practical would this be today - (A) What would be the political advantage in either Barack Obama or John McCain appointing to the Cabinet opponents faced in their respective primaries? (B) The political advantages/disadvantages in appointing members of the opposing political party? (C) Would these individuals be the best choices, or should a wider net be cast? (D) Can a President force anyone to serve in the Cabinet? (E) Should either a simple majority or a filibuster-proof majority in the US Senate be sacrificed in order to appoint Senators to the cabinet?

Suggested Answer 13 -

(A) Barack's appointing Hillary might provide greater party unity. It might also reduce the chances of a primary challenge from Hillary in 2012 (though it is noted that Bobby Kennedy resigned as LBJ's Attorney General during the Spring of 1968 to enter the primaries, though LBJ had already withdrawn his candidacy in favor of Vice President Hubert Humphrey following LBJ's "worse than expected" showing in the New Hampshire primary against Sen. Eugene McCarthy).

If John McCain were elected, presumably Sarah Palin has already shored up his base with the Republican Party sufficiently that appointing any of his primary opponents to his cabinet would probably be superfluous.

(B) Since the Democratic Party will probably be in firm control of the new Congress, "reaching across the aisle" for Cabinet members would probably only be of benefit to John McCain.

(C) Although there would probably be much stronger resumes for a John McCain cabinet than those of the Democratic politicians who might be willing to serve in his cabinet, bi-partisanship in cabinet appointments should probably be more important.

(D) No.

(E) Probably not.

Question 14 -

What did Walt Whitman say about Abraham Lincoln?

Suggested Answer 14 -

"Why, if the old Greeks had had this man, what trilogies of plays - what epics - would have been made out of him! How the rhapsodes (editorial note - from context, "rhapsodes" must be people who "rhapsodize") would have recited him! How quickly that quaint tall form would have entered into the region where men vitalize gods, and gods divinify men! But Lincoln, his times, his death - great as any, any age - belong to our own."

Walt Whitman, "Death of Abraham Lincoln," 1879

Question 15 -

What did Leo Tolstoy say about Abraham Lincoln?

Suggested Answer 15 -

"The greatness of Napoleon, Caesar or Washington is only moonlight by the sun of Lincoln. His example is universal and will last thousands of years.... He is bigger than his country - bigger than all the Presidents together... and as a great character he will live as long as the world lives."

Leo Tolstoy writing in "The World" (New York), 1909

Question 16 -

How many Lincoln Memorials were built in Washington DC and by whom?

Suggested Answer 16 -

Two.

The first was erected in 1876 by African-Americans.

The second (officially known as "The Lincoln Memorial") was authorized by Congress on February 9, 1911; the first stone was laid on February 12, 1914 (Lincoln's birthday); and it was dedicated by former President and then-current Chief Justice William Howard Taft on May 30, 1922.