Lesson plan

Derringer

used by John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. A derringer or deringer is a small handgun that is neither a revolver, semi-automatic pistol, nor machine pistol. The modern derringer is often multi-barreled, and is generally the smallest usable handgun of any given caliber and barrel length due to the lack of a moving action, which takes up more space behind the barrel. It is frequently associated with discreet use by women because it is easily concealable in a purse or a stocking. The original Philadelphia Deringer was a muzzleloading caplock single-shot pistol introduced in 1825 by Henry Deringer. In total, approximately 15,000 Deringer pistols were manufactured. All were single-barrel pistols with back-action percussion locks, typically .41 caliber with rifled bores and walnut stocks. Barrel length varied from , and the hardware was commonly a copper-nickel alloy known as "German silver".

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Article summary

used by John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. A derringer or deringer is a small handgun that is neither a revolver, semi-automatic pistol, nor machine pistol. The modern derringer is often multi-barreled, and is generally the smallest usable handgun of any given caliber and barrel length due to the lack of a moving action, which takes up more space behind the barrel. It is frequently associated with discreet use by women because it is easily concealable in a purse or a stocking. The original Philadelphia Deringer was a muzzleloading caplock single-shot pistol introduced in 1825 by Henry Deringer. In total, approximately 15,000 Deringer pistols were manufactured. All were single-barrel pistols with back-action percussion locks, typically .41 caliber with rifled bores and walnut stocks. Barrel length varied from , and the hardware was commonly a copper-nickel alloy known as "German silver".

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Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  3. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.