Multiple Choice Questions: Hawthorne on Lincoln
(The answers are below the passage.)
Of course, there was one other personage,
in die class of statesmen, whom I should have been
truly mortified to leave Washington without
seeing; since (temporarily, at least, and by force of
5 circumstances) be was the man of men. But a
private grief had built up a barrier about him,
impeding the customary free intercourse of
Americans with their chief magistrate; so that I
might have come away without a glimpse of his
very remarkable physiognomy, save for a semi-
official opportunity of which I was glad to take
advantage. The fact is, we were invited to annex
ourselves, as supernumeraries, to a deputation that
was about to wait upon die President, from a
Massachusetts whip factory, with a present of a
splendid whip.
Our immediate party consisted only of
four or five (including Major Ben Perley Poore,
with his note-book and pencil), but we were joined
by several other persons, who seemed to have been
lounging about the precincts of the White House,
under die spacious porch, or within the hall, and
who swarmed in with us to take their chances of a
presentation. Nine o'clock had been appointed as
die time for receiving die deputation, and we were
punctual to the moment; but not so oie President,
who sent us word that he was eating his breakfast,
and would come as soon as he could. His appetite,
we were glad to mink, must have been a pretty fair
one; for we waited about half an hour in one of the
antechambers, and men were ushered into a
reception-room, in one comer of which sat the
Secretaries of War and of the Treasury, expecting,
like ourselves, the termination of the Presidential
35 breakfast During mis interval mere were several
new additions to our group, one or two of whom
were in a working-garb, so that we formed a very
miscellaneous collection of people, mostly
unknown to each other, and without any common
sponsor, but all with an equal right to look our head
servant in the face.
By and by mere was a little stir on the
staircase and in the passageway, and in lounged a
tall, loose-jointed figure, of an exaggerated Yankee
port and demeanor, whom (as being about the
homeliest man I ever saw, yet by no means
repulsive or disagreeable) it was impossible not to
recognize as Uncle Abe.
Unquestionably, Western man though he
be, and Kentucldan by birm. President Lincoln is
the essential representative of all Yankees, and die
veritable specimen, physically, of what the world
seems determined to regard as our characteristic
qualities. It is the strangest and yet the fittest thing
in the jumble of human vicissitudes, that he, out of
so many millions, unlooked for, unselected by any
intelligible process dut could be based upon his
genuine qualities, unknown to those who chose
him, and unsuspected of what endowments may
adapt him for his tremendous responsibility, should
have found die way open for him to fling his lank
personality into the chair of state—where, I
presume, it was his first impulse to throw his legs
on the council-table, and tell the Cabinet Ministers
a story. There is no describing his lengthy
awkwardness, nor die uncouthness of his
movement; and yet it seemed as if I had been in the
habit of seeing him daily, and had shaken hands
with him a thousand times in some village street; so
true was he to the aspect of me pattern American,
though with a certain extravagance which, possibly,
I exaggerated still further by the delighted
eagerness with which I took it in. If put to guess his
calling and livelihood, I should have taken him for
a country school master as soon as anything else.
He was dressed in a rusty black frock coat and
pantaloons, unbrushed, and worn so faithfully that
the suit had adapted itself to die curves and
angularities of his figure, and had grown to be an
outer skin of die man. His hair was Mack, still
unmixed with gray, stiff, somewhat bushy, and had
apparently been acquainted with neither brash nor
comb that morning, after die disarrangement of die
pillow; and as to a nightcap, Uncle Abe probably
knows nothing of such effeminacies. His
complexion is dark and sallow, betokening, I fear,
an insalubrious atmosphere around the White
House; he has thick black eyebrows and an
impending brow; his nose is large; and the lines
about his mouth are very strongly defined.
The whole physiognomy is as coarse a one
as you would meet anywhere in die length and
breada of the States; but, withal, it is redeemed,
illuminated, softened, and brightened by a kindly
though serious look out of his eyes, and àn ~
expression of homely sagacity, that seems weighted
wim rich results of village experience. A great
deal of native sense; no bookish cultivation, no
refinement; honest at heart, and thoroughly so, and
yet, in some sort, sly—at least, endowed with a sort
of tact and wisdom that are akin to craft, and would
impel him, I think, to take an antagonist in flank,
rather than to make a bull-run at him right in front.
But, on the whole, I like this sallow, queer,
sagacious visage, with the homely human
sympathies that warmed it; and, for all my small
share in the matter, would as lief have Uncle Abe
for a ruler as any man whom it would have been
practicable to put in his place.
Immediately on his enounce the President
accosted our member of Congress, who had us in
charge, and, with a comical twist of his
face, made some jocular remark about the length of
his breakfast He men greeted us all round, not
115 waiting for an introduction, but shaking and
squeezing everybody's hand with the utmost
cordiality, whether the individual's name was
announced to him or not His manner towards us
was wholly without pretence, but yet had a kind
of natural dignity, quite sufficient to keep the
forwardest of us from clapping him on the shoulder
and asking him for a story. A mutual acquaintance
being established, our leader took the whip out of
its case, and began to read the address of
125 presentation. The whip was an exceedingly long
one, its handle wrought in ivory (by some artist in
the Massachusetts State Prison, I believe), and
ornamented with a medallion of the President and
other equally beautiful devices; and along its whole
130 length there was a succession of golden bands and
ferrules. The address was shorter man the whip, but
equally well made, consisting chiefly of an
explanatory description of mese artistic designs,
and closing with a hint that the gift was a
suggestive and emblematic one, and that the
President would recognize the use to which such an
instrument should be put
This suggestion gave Uncle Abe rather a
delicate task in his reply, because, slight as the
matter seemed, it apparently called for some
declaration, or intimation, or faint foreshadowing of
policy in reference to the conduct of the war, and
the final treatment of the Rebels. But the
President's Yankee aptness and not-to-be-
caughtness stood him in good stead, and he jerked
or wiggled himself out of the dilemma with an -
uncouth dexterity that was entirely in character;
although, without his gesticulation of eye and
mouth—and especially the flourish of die whip, with
which he imagined himself touching up a pair of fat
horses—I doubt whether his words would be worm
recording, even if I could remember them. The gist
of the reply was, that he accepted the whip as an
emblem of peace, not punishment; and, this great
affair over, we retired out of Die presence in high
good humor, only regretting that we could not have
seen the President sit down and fold up his legs
(which is said to be a-siost extraordinary spectacle),
or have heard him tell one of those delectable
stories for which he is so celebrated. A good many
of them are afloat upon the common talk of
Washington, and are certainly die aptest pitbiest
and funniest little things imaginable; though, to be
sure, they smack of the frontier freedom, and would
not always bear repetition in a drawing-room, or on
the immaculate page of the Atlantic.
Good Heavens! what liberties have I been
taking with one of the potentates of die earth, and
die man on whose conduct more important
consequences depend than on that of any other
historical personage of the century! But with whom
is an American citizen entitled to take a liberty, if
not with his own chief magistrate? However, lest
the above allusions to President Lincoln's little
peculiarities (already well known to the country and
to the world) should be misinterpreted,! deem it
proper to say a word or two in regard to him, of
unfeigned respect and measurable confidence. He is
evidently a man of keen faculties, and, what is still
more to the purpose, of powerful character. As to
his integrity, die people have that intuition of it
which is never deceived. Before he actually entered
upon his great office, and for a considerable time
afterwards, there is no reason to suppose that he
adequately estimated the gigantic task about to be
imposed on him, or, at least, had any distinct idea
how it was to be managed; and I presume there may
have been more than one veteran politician who
proposed to himself to take the power out of
President Lincoln's hands into his own, leaving our
honest friend only the public responsibility for the
good or ill success of the career. The extremely
imperfect development of his statesmanly qualities,
at mat period, may have justified such designs. But
the President is teachable by events, and has now
spent a year in a very arduous course of education;
he has a flexible mind, capable of much expansion,
and convertible towards far loftier studies and
activities than those of his early life; and if he came
to Washington a backwoods humorist he has
already transformed himself into as good a
statesman (to speak moderately) as his prime
minister.
1. Hawthorne's reference to Lincoln as "the man
ofmen"0»oc5)is
(A) given added importance by the "Of
course" (line 1)
(B) reinforcement for Lincoln's position of
one of die "statesmen'' (line 2)
(C) somewhat deflated by the preceding
phrases in parentheses (lines 4-5)
(D) explained by the reference to "a private
grief (lines 5-6)
(E) based on Lincoln's "very remarkable
physiognomy" (line 10)
2. As used in line 17, "Immediate" is best
understood to mean
(A) instant
(B) primary
(C) critical
(D) very close
(E) prompt
3. Which of the following contributes LEAST to
creating the overall tone and mood of the
second paragraph (lines 17-41)?
(A) lounging" (line 21)
(B) "swarmed" (line 23)
(C) "pretty fair" (line 29)
(D) "ushered" (line 31)
(E) "head servant" (lines 40-41)
4. The author's use of the term "Uncle Abe"
serves to
I. reveal bis familial relationship to
the President
II. show his disrespect for President
Lincoln
III. maintain the light, jocular tone of
the paragraph
(A) I only
(B) II only
(Q III only
(D) I and II only
(E) I and III only
5. From the long sentence in lines 54-65, the
reader can infer that Hawthorne
(A) has little respect for President Lincoln
because of his manners
(B) believes the election process is an
intelligent process for selecting a
leader
(C) feels people voted for Lincoln because of
his personal integrity
(D) thinks Lincoln's physique is ungainly
and his personality impulsive
(E) approves of Lincoln being President
because of his personal qualities
6. "The aspect of the pattern American" (line 70)
refers to the idea that Americans
(A) lack social graces in formal settings
(B) treat strangers as if they had known them
for a long time
(C) always prop their feet up on tables, even
when in public
(D) too impulsive and informal, and even
rude
(E) act in an over-eager and excited manner
when meeting the President
7. The paragraph in lines 49-90 is characterized
by the utilization of all of the following
EXCEPT
(A) metonymy
(B) personification
(C) conceit
(D) alliteration
(E) qualifiers
8. Lines 153-154 contain an example of a(n)
(A) ellipsis
(B) metaphor
(C) anaphora
(D) synecdoche
(E) apostrophe
9. The two paragraphs in lines 110-166 serve
primarily to
(A) underline Lincoln's lack of formality and
social skills
(B) reveal the difficulties Lincoln faced as
President during the Civil War
(C) hint at the President's social and political
skills through an anecdote
(D) mock the President's physical appearance
and habits of dress
(E) express Hawthorne's disappointment in
Lincoln's behavior as President
10. The basic pattern of Hawthorne's passage
could be described as one of
I. statement followed by qualifier
II. inductive description and
characterization
III. objective reporting of specific
details without commentary
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and II only
(E) I and III only
11. The overall tone of the passage is
(A) detached and formal
(B) informal but respectful
(C) humorous but hyperbolic
(D) sarcastic and harsh
(E) jocular and slightly irreverent
Answers and Reasons: Railroads with Documentation
AP Multiple Choice Practice
1. B) illustrate conflicting attitudes toward the emergence of the railroad
In this passage, the author shows how the attitudes of business people and business writers differed
greatly form the attitudes of literary writers, with the exception of Walt Whitman. He does not explore the
differences between the types of writing themselves, nor does he make any point about the impact of the
writers’ views had upon society.
2. C) evincing an optimistic outlook
The critics are not optimistic; they discuss the transformation brought about by the railroad “in stinging,
uncompromising terms.” Both critics and supporters express hyperbolic views (“satanic,” “greed,
“irreligious” vs. “greatest force ever known,” “ a panacea,” “bringing peace and prosperity to all parts of the
country and the world”). They both make religious associations (“satanic,’ “irreligious, “Christian…values”),
and both these references and the hyperbole demonstrate that both groups recognize that the railroad will
have a vast impact, whether for good or ill. Both groups use literature in expressing their opinions (the
“literary figures” mentioned in line 1 and the nationalistic Walt Whitman cited in line 6).
3. E) ambivalent
Although Aristabulus Bragg “frequently offended the sensibilities” of the Effinghams, nevertheless the
family “contains” him because of his knowledge and skills as a lawyer and land agent. That is, he remains a
part of their household in some capacity.
4. E) ironic
It is ironic that while he is trying to promote the railroad industry, Bragg “inadvertently described the most
destructive aspects” of it. He speaks of all the opportunities for lawyers as if it were ea good thing, but the
opportunities arose because of the conflicts caused by the constructions of “railroads, mills, and cities.”
Because his description is “inadvertent,” he is not being sarcastic; he is unaware of the irony himself.
5. A) can be found on page 24 of a novel by James Fennimore Cooper
The abbreviation “Ibid” means that the citation is from the same source as the one before it. Since no page
number is listed, the reader can assume that the page is the same as that in the previous reference.
6. A) I only
Bragg mentions that two houses he lived in have been “pulled down” and asserts that there are no altars “in
[his] persuasion.” However, the only specific support for his claim that “he loved a locality based on the
profit he might derive from it” is in his reference to the tree that was cut down and form which usable
“stuff” was derived, thus profiting him. There is no evidence that he profited from the destruction of his
houses.
7. C) foreboding
The first part of the sentence might be characterized as a matter‐of‐fact observation that there was a lack of
dissenting voices to counter the promoters’ predictions of peace and prosperity. However, the suggestion
that the railroads might “widen the scope of war beyond imagining” is clearly ominous.
8. D) chose select examples to make his point
The author did not need to sue multiple sources to illustrate the discrepancy between supporters and
opponents of the railroads. With a few well‐chosen examples, he successfully makes his point. There is no
evidence to support the other choices. One cannot deduce the ration of literary to non‐literary citations in
this passage (6:3) that the writer has a definite preference for literary sources.
(The answers are below the passage.)
Of course, there was one other personage,
in die class of statesmen, whom I should have been
truly mortified to leave Washington without
seeing; since (temporarily, at least, and by force of
5 circumstances) be was the man of men. But a
private grief had built up a barrier about him,
impeding the customary free intercourse of
Americans with their chief magistrate; so that I
might have come away without a glimpse of his
very remarkable physiognomy, save for a semi-
official opportunity of which I was glad to take
advantage. The fact is, we were invited to annex
ourselves, as supernumeraries, to a deputation that
was about to wait upon die President, from a
Massachusetts whip factory, with a present of a
splendid whip.
Our immediate party consisted only of
four or five (including Major Ben Perley Poore,
with his note-book and pencil), but we were joined
by several other persons, who seemed to have been
lounging about the precincts of the White House,
under die spacious porch, or within the hall, and
who swarmed in with us to take their chances of a
presentation. Nine o'clock had been appointed as
die time for receiving die deputation, and we were
punctual to the moment; but not so oie President,
who sent us word that he was eating his breakfast,
and would come as soon as he could. His appetite,
we were glad to mink, must have been a pretty fair
one; for we waited about half an hour in one of the
antechambers, and men were ushered into a
reception-room, in one comer of which sat the
Secretaries of War and of the Treasury, expecting,
like ourselves, the termination of the Presidential
35 breakfast During mis interval mere were several
new additions to our group, one or two of whom
were in a working-garb, so that we formed a very
miscellaneous collection of people, mostly
unknown to each other, and without any common
sponsor, but all with an equal right to look our head
servant in the face.
By and by mere was a little stir on the
staircase and in the passageway, and in lounged a
tall, loose-jointed figure, of an exaggerated Yankee
port and demeanor, whom (as being about the
homeliest man I ever saw, yet by no means
repulsive or disagreeable) it was impossible not to
recognize as Uncle Abe.
Unquestionably, Western man though he
be, and Kentucldan by birm. President Lincoln is
the essential representative of all Yankees, and die
veritable specimen, physically, of what the world
seems determined to regard as our characteristic
qualities. It is the strangest and yet the fittest thing
in the jumble of human vicissitudes, that he, out of
so many millions, unlooked for, unselected by any
intelligible process dut could be based upon his
genuine qualities, unknown to those who chose
him, and unsuspected of what endowments may
adapt him for his tremendous responsibility, should
have found die way open for him to fling his lank
personality into the chair of state—where, I
presume, it was his first impulse to throw his legs
on the council-table, and tell the Cabinet Ministers
a story. There is no describing his lengthy
awkwardness, nor die uncouthness of his
movement; and yet it seemed as if I had been in the
habit of seeing him daily, and had shaken hands
with him a thousand times in some village street; so
true was he to the aspect of me pattern American,
though with a certain extravagance which, possibly,
I exaggerated still further by the delighted
eagerness with which I took it in. If put to guess his
calling and livelihood, I should have taken him for
a country school master as soon as anything else.
He was dressed in a rusty black frock coat and
pantaloons, unbrushed, and worn so faithfully that
the suit had adapted itself to die curves and
angularities of his figure, and had grown to be an
outer skin of die man. His hair was Mack, still
unmixed with gray, stiff, somewhat bushy, and had
apparently been acquainted with neither brash nor
comb that morning, after die disarrangement of die
pillow; and as to a nightcap, Uncle Abe probably
knows nothing of such effeminacies. His
complexion is dark and sallow, betokening, I fear,
an insalubrious atmosphere around the White
House; he has thick black eyebrows and an
impending brow; his nose is large; and the lines
about his mouth are very strongly defined.
The whole physiognomy is as coarse a one
as you would meet anywhere in die length and
breada of the States; but, withal, it is redeemed,
illuminated, softened, and brightened by a kindly
though serious look out of his eyes, and àn ~
expression of homely sagacity, that seems weighted
wim rich results of village experience. A great
deal of native sense; no bookish cultivation, no
refinement; honest at heart, and thoroughly so, and
yet, in some sort, sly—at least, endowed with a sort
of tact and wisdom that are akin to craft, and would
impel him, I think, to take an antagonist in flank,
rather than to make a bull-run at him right in front.
But, on the whole, I like this sallow, queer,
sagacious visage, with the homely human
sympathies that warmed it; and, for all my small
share in the matter, would as lief have Uncle Abe
for a ruler as any man whom it would have been
practicable to put in his place.
Immediately on his enounce the President
accosted our member of Congress, who had us in
charge, and, with a comical twist of his
face, made some jocular remark about the length of
his breakfast He men greeted us all round, not
115 waiting for an introduction, but shaking and
squeezing everybody's hand with the utmost
cordiality, whether the individual's name was
announced to him or not His manner towards us
was wholly without pretence, but yet had a kind
of natural dignity, quite sufficient to keep the
forwardest of us from clapping him on the shoulder
and asking him for a story. A mutual acquaintance
being established, our leader took the whip out of
its case, and began to read the address of
125 presentation. The whip was an exceedingly long
one, its handle wrought in ivory (by some artist in
the Massachusetts State Prison, I believe), and
ornamented with a medallion of the President and
other equally beautiful devices; and along its whole
130 length there was a succession of golden bands and
ferrules. The address was shorter man the whip, but
equally well made, consisting chiefly of an
explanatory description of mese artistic designs,
and closing with a hint that the gift was a
suggestive and emblematic one, and that the
President would recognize the use to which such an
instrument should be put
This suggestion gave Uncle Abe rather a
delicate task in his reply, because, slight as the
matter seemed, it apparently called for some
declaration, or intimation, or faint foreshadowing of
policy in reference to the conduct of the war, and
the final treatment of the Rebels. But the
President's Yankee aptness and not-to-be-
caughtness stood him in good stead, and he jerked
or wiggled himself out of the dilemma with an -
uncouth dexterity that was entirely in character;
although, without his gesticulation of eye and
mouth—and especially the flourish of die whip, with
which he imagined himself touching up a pair of fat
horses—I doubt whether his words would be worm
recording, even if I could remember them. The gist
of the reply was, that he accepted the whip as an
emblem of peace, not punishment; and, this great
affair over, we retired out of Die presence in high
good humor, only regretting that we could not have
seen the President sit down and fold up his legs
(which is said to be a-siost extraordinary spectacle),
or have heard him tell one of those delectable
stories for which he is so celebrated. A good many
of them are afloat upon the common talk of
Washington, and are certainly die aptest pitbiest
and funniest little things imaginable; though, to be
sure, they smack of the frontier freedom, and would
not always bear repetition in a drawing-room, or on
the immaculate page of the Atlantic.
Good Heavens! what liberties have I been
taking with one of the potentates of die earth, and
die man on whose conduct more important
consequences depend than on that of any other
historical personage of the century! But with whom
is an American citizen entitled to take a liberty, if
not with his own chief magistrate? However, lest
the above allusions to President Lincoln's little
peculiarities (already well known to the country and
to the world) should be misinterpreted,! deem it
proper to say a word or two in regard to him, of
unfeigned respect and measurable confidence. He is
evidently a man of keen faculties, and, what is still
more to the purpose, of powerful character. As to
his integrity, die people have that intuition of it
which is never deceived. Before he actually entered
upon his great office, and for a considerable time
afterwards, there is no reason to suppose that he
adequately estimated the gigantic task about to be
imposed on him, or, at least, had any distinct idea
how it was to be managed; and I presume there may
have been more than one veteran politician who
proposed to himself to take the power out of
President Lincoln's hands into his own, leaving our
honest friend only the public responsibility for the
good or ill success of the career. The extremely
imperfect development of his statesmanly qualities,
at mat period, may have justified such designs. But
the President is teachable by events, and has now
spent a year in a very arduous course of education;
he has a flexible mind, capable of much expansion,
and convertible towards far loftier studies and
activities than those of his early life; and if he came
to Washington a backwoods humorist he has
already transformed himself into as good a
statesman (to speak moderately) as his prime
minister.
1. Hawthorne's reference to Lincoln as "the man
ofmen"0»oc5)is
(A) given added importance by the "Of
course" (line 1)
(B) reinforcement for Lincoln's position of
one of die "statesmen'' (line 2)
(C) somewhat deflated by the preceding
phrases in parentheses (lines 4-5)
(D) explained by the reference to "a private
grief (lines 5-6)
(E) based on Lincoln's "very remarkable
physiognomy" (line 10)
2. As used in line 17, "Immediate" is best
understood to mean
(A) instant
(B) primary
(C) critical
(D) very close
(E) prompt
3. Which of the following contributes LEAST to
creating the overall tone and mood of the
second paragraph (lines 17-41)?
(A) lounging" (line 21)
(B) "swarmed" (line 23)
(C) "pretty fair" (line 29)
(D) "ushered" (line 31)
(E) "head servant" (lines 40-41)
4. The author's use of the term "Uncle Abe"
serves to
I. reveal bis familial relationship to
the President
II. show his disrespect for President
Lincoln
III. maintain the light, jocular tone of
the paragraph
(A) I only
(B) II only
(Q III only
(D) I and II only
(E) I and III only
5. From the long sentence in lines 54-65, the
reader can infer that Hawthorne
(A) has little respect for President Lincoln
because of his manners
(B) believes the election process is an
intelligent process for selecting a
leader
(C) feels people voted for Lincoln because of
his personal integrity
(D) thinks Lincoln's physique is ungainly
and his personality impulsive
(E) approves of Lincoln being President
because of his personal qualities
6. "The aspect of the pattern American" (line 70)
refers to the idea that Americans
(A) lack social graces in formal settings
(B) treat strangers as if they had known them
for a long time
(C) always prop their feet up on tables, even
when in public
(D) too impulsive and informal, and even
rude
(E) act in an over-eager and excited manner
when meeting the President
7. The paragraph in lines 49-90 is characterized
by the utilization of all of the following
EXCEPT
(A) metonymy
(B) personification
(C) conceit
(D) alliteration
(E) qualifiers
8. Lines 153-154 contain an example of a(n)
(A) ellipsis
(B) metaphor
(C) anaphora
(D) synecdoche
(E) apostrophe
9. The two paragraphs in lines 110-166 serve
primarily to
(A) underline Lincoln's lack of formality and
social skills
(B) reveal the difficulties Lincoln faced as
President during the Civil War
(C) hint at the President's social and political
skills through an anecdote
(D) mock the President's physical appearance
and habits of dress
(E) express Hawthorne's disappointment in
Lincoln's behavior as President
10. The basic pattern of Hawthorne's passage
could be described as one of
I. statement followed by qualifier
II. inductive description and
characterization
III. objective reporting of specific
details without commentary
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and II only
(E) I and III only
11. The overall tone of the passage is
(A) detached and formal
(B) informal but respectful
(C) humorous but hyperbolic
(D) sarcastic and harsh
(E) jocular and slightly irreverent
Answers and Reasons: Railroads with Documentation
AP Multiple Choice Practice
1. B) illustrate conflicting attitudes toward the emergence of the railroad
In this passage, the author shows how the attitudes of business people and business writers differed
greatly form the attitudes of literary writers, with the exception of Walt Whitman. He does not explore the
differences between the types of writing themselves, nor does he make any point about the impact of the
writers’ views had upon society.
2. C) evincing an optimistic outlook
The critics are not optimistic; they discuss the transformation brought about by the railroad “in stinging,
uncompromising terms.” Both critics and supporters express hyperbolic views (“satanic,” “greed,
“irreligious” vs. “greatest force ever known,” “ a panacea,” “bringing peace and prosperity to all parts of the
country and the world”). They both make religious associations (“satanic,’ “irreligious, “Christian…values”),
and both these references and the hyperbole demonstrate that both groups recognize that the railroad will
have a vast impact, whether for good or ill. Both groups use literature in expressing their opinions (the
“literary figures” mentioned in line 1 and the nationalistic Walt Whitman cited in line 6).
3. E) ambivalent
Although Aristabulus Bragg “frequently offended the sensibilities” of the Effinghams, nevertheless the
family “contains” him because of his knowledge and skills as a lawyer and land agent. That is, he remains a
part of their household in some capacity.
4. E) ironic
It is ironic that while he is trying to promote the railroad industry, Bragg “inadvertently described the most
destructive aspects” of it. He speaks of all the opportunities for lawyers as if it were ea good thing, but the
opportunities arose because of the conflicts caused by the constructions of “railroads, mills, and cities.”
Because his description is “inadvertent,” he is not being sarcastic; he is unaware of the irony himself.
5. A) can be found on page 24 of a novel by James Fennimore Cooper
The abbreviation “Ibid” means that the citation is from the same source as the one before it. Since no page
number is listed, the reader can assume that the page is the same as that in the previous reference.
6. A) I only
Bragg mentions that two houses he lived in have been “pulled down” and asserts that there are no altars “in
[his] persuasion.” However, the only specific support for his claim that “he loved a locality based on the
profit he might derive from it” is in his reference to the tree that was cut down and form which usable
“stuff” was derived, thus profiting him. There is no evidence that he profited from the destruction of his
houses.
7. C) foreboding
The first part of the sentence might be characterized as a matter‐of‐fact observation that there was a lack of
dissenting voices to counter the promoters’ predictions of peace and prosperity. However, the suggestion
that the railroads might “widen the scope of war beyond imagining” is clearly ominous.
8. D) chose select examples to make his point
The author did not need to sue multiple sources to illustrate the discrepancy between supporters and
opponents of the railroads. With a few well‐chosen examples, he successfully makes his point. There is no
evidence to support the other choices. One cannot deduce the ration of literary to non‐literary citations in
this passage (6:3) that the writer has a definite preference for literary sources.