Reason For Lincoln's Assassination

The final motivating factor that influenced Booth to assassinate Lincoln is that he did it for the good of the country. Booth believed that his country wanted the same as he did, although that was not the case. In Booth’s diary it states, “The country is not what it was. This forced Union is not what I have loved. I do not care what becomes of me. I have no desire to outlive my country.” In the statement he is explaining that since Lincoln has been the president he has turn the country “upside

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).

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)

On the evening on April 14, 1856, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, who had already attempted to kidnap Lincoln twice already, while attending the play of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater. Sitting with him were Mayor Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Clare Harris. While watching the play, Booth sneaked into the box the president, a knife in his left hand and a pistol in his right. Booth shot the president in the back of the head, slashed Rathbone across the arm, and jumped off the balcony. Booth caught his leg on a flag on the way down and broke his leg. Lincoln was carried to a boarding house next door and died the next day. President Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated in United States history. John booth escaped, sought medical attention for his wounded leg, and fled into the Virginia country side. Union troops found the barn he was hiding in, surrounded it, set it on fire, and shot Booth as he attempted to escape (“The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” 34f). The president’s body was taken by train to Springfield, Illinois, where he was then buried. Accomplices of Booth’s were tried for their part in trying to assassinate other leaders, such as the Vice President and the Secretary of War. Others were tried in court for attempting to aid

On April 14th, 1865 the President and the First Lady decided to go to a showing of Our American Cousin, at Ford’s Theatre. A policeman was positioned outside of the balcony door that evening. It is said that he left the theatre during intermission and went to the saloon next door for a drink, leaving Lincoln exposed. Just then, at 10:15 p.m., Booth slipped into the box and shot President Lincoln in the back of the head,

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

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by a .44 Derringer that is stored in the Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln was a small part in the larger plan to weaken the Union so that the Confederacy may have a last hurrah. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln was an extremely destructive and led to the North to have a deep hatred towards the South. The assassination attempt on Lincoln, the Vice President, and his Secretary of State was deeply destructive to the Union. To understand the results of this assassination, one must understand the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the larger plan to weaken the North, and what happened to the other conspirators with John Wilkes Booth.

After the confederate loss he felt it was necessary to reclaim vengeance and victory for the South. Following two failed kidnapping attempts, Booth decided the only option was to kill the president, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and the Secretary of State all in the same night. However, Booth would be the only one to successfully kill his target. After assassinating President Abraham Lincoln in the Ford Theater, he screamed “thus be it ever to tyrants!” and fled on horseback. Some accounts even say he screamed “the South is avenged!” (USHistory.org. 3). His actions were justified to those who followed his cause because the south was “cheated” from its way of life. On the other hand, to those who followed Lincoln it was a complete travesty and took away any chance America had of rebuilding itself because Lincoln provided innovative ideas and abolitionist ideals.

When he heard about the news of Lincoln attending a play at Ford’s Theatre, he knew he had to take the chance. With the use of him being a highly popular actor, he was able to get into the president’s box where he then shot the president in the back of the head. Booth then jumped off the balcony breaking his leg, ran outside to the horse he was using for his escape, and then ended at the Garrett Farm where he was then captured and

Booth went to drink at a saloon near Ford’s Theatre. At about 10 p.m. he walked into the theater and up to the president’s box. Lincoln’s guard, John Parker, was not there because he had gotten bored with the play, Our American Cousin, so he went to get a beer. While Booth waited for his opportunity to assassinate the president at Ford’s Theater, two of his co-conspirators journeyed to their assigned targets.(“TeachingHistory.com”:2010) Lewis Powell gained entry to the Secretary of State’s home, where a bedridden Seward lay recuperating from a carriage accident; Powell stabbed him several times, but none of the blows were fatal. At the same time, another conspirator, George Atzerodt, made his way to the hotel where Vice President Johnson was lodging. Armed with a gun and a knife, Atzerodt detoured to the hotel saloon, where he got drunk and lost his nerve. He left the bar without confronting Johnson and discarded his knife in the streets of

John Wilkes Booth did not intend to kill Abraham Lincoln. John Wilkes at first wanted to kidnap the president. John Wilkes wanted to bring the president to the Confederate states to break up the union “After Lincoln’s reelection in November 1864, Booth devised a plan to kidnap the president and spirit him to Richmond, where he

John Wilkes Booth is famous for assassinating Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, during a play at Ford’s Theater. Although John Wilkes Booth had many opportunities to murder America’s president, Ford’s Theater was the place where he commited the crime because Booth was an actor who has worked at Ford’s theater, meaning that he was very familiar with the place. Booth has had a good chance at assassinating Lincoln on multiple occasions. In Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, Booth has said, “what an excellent chance I had ... to kill the president on Inauguration Day” (Swanson 1). Later in the prologue, Booth had another chance at murdering Lincoln as he was giving the speech in which he proposed giving African-Americans the right

“Our country owed all her troubles to him, and God simply made me the instrument of his punishment.” These are the words that John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, wrote in his diary after his crime. The sources used were Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, biography.com, and Booth’s diary. He felt that he had reasoning for killing Lincoln. There were many factors that motivated Booth to kill Abe Lincoln.

Booth was born in 1838. Booth heard about Lincoln attending the play and knew it was his chance. Booths original plan was just to kidnap Lincoln and trade him for prisoners of the war. Booth got his people helping with the assassination together and talked about their jobs. Each person had a job to go through with.(Paul Angle). George Atzerodt was supposed to kill vice president Andrew Johnson, but didn’t follow through with it. Lewis Powell was supposed to kill secretary of state William Seward, Powell stabbed Seward multiple times but it didn’t kill him. John Wilkes Booth was to Kill

When newspapers announced lincoln would attend ford's theater on the night of april 14th, booth decided to kill the president. He had played Ford’s theater for the second time just the previous month, and at any rate he was well known ; his presence there not arouse suspicion. Showing his card to a White House footman, he obtained entry to the box where Abraham and Mary Lincoln were enjoying the comedy Our American Cousin. Grant wasn’t there, only Major Henry R. Rathbone and his fiancee , Clara, seated on the far side of the box from where Booth entered around 10pm. Booth almost certainly ascertained this before entering