The Influence Of John Wilkes Booth's Assassination

According to historian Terry Alford, “ John Wilkes Booth was one of those people who thought the best of the country in the history of the world was the United States as it existed before the Civil War,” (Alford). When Abraham Lincoln joined the election, it infuriated Booth. To John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln was changing the country that he loved into a way that was very displeasing to him. President Lincoln wanted to increase the power of the federal government and liberate slaves, both things that Booth thought was outrageous. His anger was tested further when: the government chose to institute an income tax,, the military draft and that the government suspended habeas corpus, a legal

John Wilks Booth, an actor and hater of the south and blacks, makes plans to tear apart the United State’s government by planning his assassins timing to kill part of Lincoln’s Cabinet along with the president’s death. However, his original plan involved only capturing President Lincoln, then holding him hostage in exchange for confederate prisoners of war. But not long before his plans were going to take place,

He had believed that murdering Lincoln would cause the Union to win the war. However, that did not happen. Even after the asassination, the Union won the war and abolished slavery. “The Northern armies were victorious, and the rebellious states returned to the Union,” (Marnon, 2007). This shows that the South had to join the union as a result of losing the war.

Booth was now in the box of the theatre. On April 14, 1865, just after 10 p.m., Booth pulled a .44-calibre derringer and shot President Lincoln in the back of the head. “He grappled briefly with Union officer Maj. Henry Rathbone (who, along with his fiancée, was in the box as the Lincoln’s guest), swung himself over the balustrade, and leaped off it, reportedly shouting, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (the motto of the state of Virginia, meaning “Thus always to tyrants!”) or “The South is avenged!” or both” (Encyclopedia Britannica 2017). Booth next jumped off the stage, breaking his leg in the process, but managed to make it to his getaway horse before anyone in the shocked crowd could stop him (Biography April 28, 2017). The attempt to kill Seward did not succeed, but Lincoln died shortly after seven o’clock the following morning. (Encyclopedia Britannica 2017).

They had hoped that with the capture of the president that the Union would release captured Confederate soldiers in exchange for the safe return of the president back to the Union (law2.umkc.edu). Though his plan was ultimately foiled with General Robert E. Lee’s surrender (law2.umkc.edu). At which point it became clear to Booth that the only way to avenge the South was to murder the president (law2.umkc.edu).

What was the point of fighting to get the South back into the Union? The 16th president of our country was murdered on April 14, 1865. Disgusting. There were a lot of events that led up to that devastating day. After Lincoln’s re-election in 1864 he came up with a plan to kidnap our beloved president. Booth knew he couldn’t do this alone so he had some fellow confederate loyalists tag along. After his first two attempts to kidnap the president failed, a lot of Booth’s helpers left the group. On April 9, 1865, the confederate’s leader had surrendered and at that point the Union knew they would win this war. This did nothing but increase Booth’s urge to kill the president. Four days later, Booth’s plan would be carried out. Lincoln’s death was unjust because there was nearly no changes in the south, and the South and North had the same point of view towards blacks.

Sadly, Lincoln was killed due to the belief of Booth that “Lincoln was going to over throw the constitution and destroy the south he loved.” (Booths reason for assassination) This was most likely caused by the fact that Booth was an open confederate sympathizer during the war. It was also thought that the guards were not doing their jobs at the theatre and that they allowed Booth to sneak by and shoot Lincoln in the head with a 44 caliber derringer pistol. Recently after Lincoln’s death it was found that co-conspirators were involved in Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s

He ardently supported the institution of slavery and joined a Virginia company that helped capture abolitionist John Brown after the raid at Harper’s Ferry. Booth was present as an eyewitness at Brown’s 1859 execution and stood near a scaffold to guard against any attempt to rescue John Brown before the hanging. Booth was arrested in the spring of 1862 and taken before a provost marshal in St. Louis for making anti-government remarks. Booth tried to gain the respect of fellow Southerners by making a name for himself as an antislavery and anti-Union supporter and making himself be seen at and witness the anti-Union protests and events that were going on. He wanted to make it apparent, as he told his sister Asia, that his “soul, life, and possessions are for the South,” and gain a formidable amount of fame from both acting and politics. Booth hoped rise to stardom amongst Southerners as their advocate that was willing to dedicate his life to their cause to stop the abolishment of

Why did John Wilkes Booth want to kill Lincoln?  Booth wanted to kill Lincoln because he didn’t liked how Lincoln wanted to let black people vote. But then he attended  Lincoln’s speech and Lincoln was trying to back out of letting the blacks vote.  After this John W. Booth was so mad that he was trying to get a group together to kidnap Lincoln. This then led to Lincoln’s  assassination.(9)

John Wilkes Booth, born May 10, 1838, was an actor who performed throughout the country in many plays. He was the lead in some of William Shakespeare's most famous works. Additionally, he was a racist and Southern sympathizer during the Civil War. He hated Abraham Lincoln who represented everything Booth was against. Booth blamed Lincoln for all the South's ills. He wanted revenge.

In the years prior to 1862 and 1863, many people were calling on President Lincoln for the emancipation of the slaves. Many felt that slavery would be the evil that would bring the country down. But at that time Lincoln didn't think it wise to emancipate them

Abraham Lincoln and Slavery Many Americans believe that Abraham Lincoln was the “Great Emancipator,” the sole individual who ended slavery, and the man who epitomizes freedom. In his brief presidential term, Lincoln dealt with an unstable nation, with the South seceding from the country and in brink of leaving permanently. The differing ideologies between the North and South about the economy and slavery quickly lead to civil war.

He thought that God had put him here to correct the tyranny of Lincoln. He felt the need to justify why he was fighting in the war so he starting taking small jobs for the Confederate Underground. It was during this time that he came up with the plan to kidnap Lincoln and hold him for ransom. He knew Lincoln was not protected and often traveled alone. So he thought it was more than feasible to carry out his plan. He recruited several co-conspirators to help him including John Surratt, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Lewis Powell, Samuel Arnold and Mike O’Laughlen. They had nothing in common except the fact that they all admired Booth. Two weeks after Lincoln’s Second Inauguration, Booth laid out his plan of kidnapping him out of his theatre box, tying him up and lower him onto the stage in front of an audience including soldiers and many police outside of the theatre. They thought he was mad. On April 3rd, the war was over. Robert E. Lee had surrendered and the kidnapping plan ruined. So Booth began to hatch another plan of assassinating the president. One the morning of April 14th, 1865, Lincoln awoke gitty and happy, Booth awoke late and to his amazement found out that Lincoln would be at the Ford

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most well known presidents in the history of the United States of America. He as thought to be the man who led this great country through the toughest times it had to encounter. His determination to get the United States through the Civil War is one of the best things that have ever happened for this country. Lincoln’s argument about the relationship between slavery, the Constitution, and the Union changed throughout the Civil War. Lincoln’s view of the purpose of the war was to save the Union because of the southern states seceding from the Union. However, the argument changed to the war being about slavery because of Fredrick Douglass’s speeches and the Confederates surrendering at

Lincoln had long been opposed to slavery. But it wasn’t until 1854, that he truly became known as a prominent anti-slavery supporter and a abolitionist. When the discussion was raging in regards to the Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854, Lincoln was one of the most prominent of the opposition. He said in 1854: “I hate it, because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself.”