Question

When summarizing the events leading up to the assassination of President Lincoln, which of the following incited anger in Southerners after the Civil War ended?
A. The Confederacy was angry over Lincoln’s efforts to free the enslaved persons in the South.
B. The Confederate Army was angry after their defeat when Lincoln rode pridefully through all of the Southern states.
C. The Confederacy was angry over Lincoln’s desire to punish the Southern states for the Civil War.
D. The Confederacy was angry because they were on the verge of defeating the Union Army at Appomattox Court House.

Answer 1

A.

Southerners were enraged by Lincoln’s efforts to free enslaved people (e.g., the Emancipation Proclamation and moves toward abolition), which fed resentment after the war. The other choices are historically inaccurate: Lincoln sought reconciliation rather than punishment (C), he did not “ride pridefully through all of the Southern states” (B), and the Confederacy had been defeated at Appomattox, not on the verge of victory (D).