DISCUSSION - LINCOLN'S NEW SALEM

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The word TEXT following a factual question means the answer is found in the text relating to that site. The word VIDEO means that information is also found in the video tour of that site.

1. The town of New Salem, where Abraham Lincoln lived as a young man, was located near what river? (TEXT, VIDEO)

What importance did the river have in causing the town to be located there? (TEXT, VIDEO)

What did the mill do? (TEXT, VIDEO)

What other reasons might there be for locating a village near a river?

A second mill was built in the village. What did it do? How was it powered? (TEXT)

2. In what state was Lincoln born? (TEXT)

What other state did he live in before moving to Illinois? (TEXT)

3. How old was Lincoln when he moved to New Salem? (TEXT, VIDEO)

How long did he live there? (TEXT, VIDEO)

4. Lincoln tried many different jobs while he lived in New Salem. What were they? (TEXT)

What vocation did he finally choose? (TEXT, VIDEO)

5. Most of the buildings now at New Salem are built to look like the original buildings. However, Henry Onstot’s cooper shop is original. What did a cooper make? (TEXT, VIDEO)

What other businesses were carried on in New Salem? (TEXT, VIDEO)

6. Do you wish that you could have lived in New Salem when Lincoln lived there?

What would have been the best thing about living there?

The worst?

7. What job would you have done at New Salem? Why? Is that job still necessary today?

Why or why not?

8. Why did New Salem decline? (TEXT)