RECENT ASSIGNMENT

ASSIGNMENT THREE: Please write a 6-page paper based on the readings on Abraham Lincoln on pages 341-360 (“Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation”) and pages 371-380 (“Master of the Game: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln”). The paper should focus on the many personal and wartime problems that Lincoln faced and the qualities that made him an excellent president. For example, was he upset that most of his Cabinet members did not respect him, that General McClellan ignored his wartime visit, or that General Grant may have had a drinking problem? It should also examine his views on slavery when he was a young politician in Illinois, and his reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Dred Scott Decision. Why was he not ready to end slavery at the start of the Civil War and why did he later declare the Emancipation Proclamation? Are you concerned that it took so long for Lincoln to decide to emancipate the slaves? This is not a research paper and is solely based on the information in the two readings.