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88 free Abraham Lincoln trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
85 free Abraham Lincoln trivia questions with answers. Did you know Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address was only 272 words long? You'll explore Lincoln's life, presidency, and legacy through 50 thought-provoking questions that challenge both casual history fans and serious scholars alike.
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Q 01In what year was Abraham Lincoln born?
1809
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a one-room log cabin on Sinking Spring Farm, the second child of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln.
Q 02Which national holiday did Lincoln proclaim in October 1863?
Thanksgiving
Lincoln's October 1863 proclamation made Thanksgiving a national holiday on the last Thursday of November; magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale had lobbied presidents for years for a single national day.
Q 03What was the name of the theater where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated?
Ford's Theatre
Lincoln was shot in the presidential box at Ford's Theatre on Good Friday 1865 and carried across the street to a boarding house, where he died the next morning.
Q 04Which political party did Abraham Lincoln belong to when elected president?
Republican
Lincoln was the first Republican president, elected in 1860. He had previously been a Whig but joined the newly formed Republican Party in the 1850s.
Q 05What document did Lincoln sign on January 1, 1863, declaring slaves in Confederate states to be free?
The Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, declared that all enslaved people in Confederate states were to be set free. It did not immediately free all slaves but transformed the war into a fight for human liberty.
Q 06What number president of the United States was Abraham Lincoln?
16th
The 16th president, Lincoln served from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865.
Q 07In which year did Lincoln marry Mary Todd?
1842
Lincoln married Mary Todd on November 4, 1842, at the Springfield home of her sister Elizabeth Edwards, a year after breaking off their engagement; her ring was engraved 'Love is eternal'.
Q 08Before becoming president, what profession did Lincoln practice?
Lawyer
Lincoln was a self-taught lawyer who earned his license in 1836. He practiced law in Springfield, Illinois, and became one of the most respected attorneys in the state before entering politics full-time.
Q 09In which state was Abraham Lincoln born?
Kentucky
Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, in 1809; the family moved to Indiana when he was seven and to Illinois in 1830.
Q 10What famous speech did Lincoln deliver on November 19, 1863?
The Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address, delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is one of the most quoted speeches in American history. It lasted just over two minutes.
Q 11Who assassinated Abraham Lincoln?
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer, fled on horseback after the shooting and was tracked down and killed in a Virginia barn twelve days later.
Q 12Which newspaper editor's 1862 'Prayer of Twenty Millions' prompted Lincoln's 'paramount object' reply?
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley printed 'The Prayer of Twenty Millions' in his New York Tribune in August 1862; Lincoln replied that his paramount object was to save the Union, not to save or destroy slavery.
Q 13What nickname was commonly used for Abraham Lincoln?
The Rail-Splitter
Q 21Lincoln warned that "a house divided against itself cannot stand" on accepting a 1858 nomination for which office?
U.S. Senator
Lincoln gave the speech on June 16, 1858, accepting the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator at the state convention in Springfield; the biblical line warned the nation could not endure half slave and half free.
Q 22How many sons did Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln have?
Four
The Lincolns had four sons; only the eldest lived to adulthood, while the other three died at ages 3, 11 and 18.
Q 23What was the first state to secede from the Union after Lincoln's election in 1860?
South Carolina
South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860, just six weeks after Lincoln's election. Six more states followed before Lincoln even took office on March 4, 1861.
Lincoln was nicknamed The Rail-Splitter at the 1860 Illinois Republican convention, recalling his youthful work splitting logs for fence rails.
Q 14Which amendment, championed by Lincoln, formally abolished slavery throughout the United States?
13th
The 13th Amendment, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, formally abolished slavery throughout the United States. Lincoln worked hard to secure its passage.
Q 15Who served as Lincoln's first Vice President?
Hannibal Hamlin
Hamlin of Maine served during the first term (1861-1865); for the second term Lincoln instead ran with a Southern War Democrat to broaden the ticket.
Q 16What play was being performed the night Lincoln was shot?
Our American Cousin
Tom Taylor's comedy Our American Cousin was in its third act; the assassin timed his shot to the line 'you sockdologizing old man-trap', which always drew loud laughter.
Q 17Which three-day battle of July 1863 is considered the turning point of the Civil War?
Gettysburg
Gettysburg's Union victory ended Lee's second invasion of the North; Lincoln dedicated the soldiers' cemetery there that November.
Q 18What did Lincoln's Homestead Act of 1862 provide?
160 acres of public land to settlers
The Homestead Act of 1862 granted 160 acres of public land to any adult citizen (or intended citizen) who paid a small filing fee and agreed to improve the land by living on it for five years.
Q 19How tall was Abraham Lincoln?
6'4"
At 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm), Lincoln remains the tallest president in American history. His height was notable even in his own time and contributed to his distinctive physical presence.
Q 20Which general did Lincoln appoint as commander of all Union armies in March 1864?
Ulysses S. Grant
Grant's relentless Overland Campaign wore down Lee's army over the following year, at a cost in casualties that earned him the nickname 'the Butcher' in Northern papers.
Q 24On which U.S. currency does Abraham Lincoln's portrait appear?
The $5 bill
Lincoln's portrait has appeared on the $5 bill since 1914. He also appears on the penny (one-cent coin), which has featured his image since 1909, the centennial of his birth.
Q 25What was Lincoln's 1849 patent designed to do?
Lifting riverboats over shoals
Patent No. 6,469 (1849) described inflatable bellows on a hull for lifting riverboats over shoals; Lincoln had twice been stranded on sandbars as a young flatboatman, and his wooden model went to the Smithsonian.
Q 26What was Lincoln's position on slavery when he first ran for president in 1860?
Prevent its expansion into new territories
Lincoln's 1860 platform focused on preventing slavery's expansion into new territories, not immediate abolition. He personally opposed slavery but initially prioritized preserving the Union. His views evolved during the war toward full abolition.
Q 27Where did Robert E. Lee surrender to Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, five days before Lincoln was shot?
Appomattox Court House, Virginia
Appomattox Court House, Virginia, saw Lee surrender to Grant on April 9, 1865, signalling the end of the war, though some Confederate forces kept fighting for weeks.
Q 28Who sculpted the seated Lincoln statue inside the Lincoln Memorial?
Daniel Chester French
Daniel Chester French designed the 19-foot marble statue of a seated Lincoln, carved by the Piccirilli brothers and unveiled at the Lincoln Memorial's dedication in 1922.
Q 29What legislation signed by Lincoln in 1862 provided federal funding for land-grant colleges?
The Morrill Act
The Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862, signed by Lincoln on July 2, gave states public land to endow colleges of agriculture and mechanical arts; Cornell and many state universities were founded under it.
Q 30Which two jobs did Lincoln hold in the Illinois village where he lived in his twenties?
Store clerk and postmaster
In the village Lincoln worked as a store clerk and, from 1833, as postmaster; he also surveyed and co-owned a general store whose failure left debts he called his 'national debt'.