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The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Essay

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Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America. He was elected into presidency on November 6, 1860. Many of the southern states were unsupportive of Lincoln becoming president because he had run on an anti-slavery platform. Lincoln being elected into presidency caused states such as South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas to split from the Union. In his inaugural address Lincoln proclaimed it was his duty to maintain the Union; a month later the Civil War began. Although Lincoln did many great things for our country, his vital role in the Civil War is what most likely lead to his assassination. Many people believe that the main reason for the Civil War was to end slavery. …show more content…

However, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free all slaves in the United States. It declared that only slaves living in states not under Union control be free. This officially changed the purpose of the Civil War. The North was no longer only fighting to preserve the Union but also to end slavery. The Civil War continued for the next four years, ending on April 9, 1865. Legal freedom for all slaves did not come until the final passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in December of 1865. President Lincoln was a strong supporter of the Thirteenth Amendment; however, he was assassinated before its final presentation. It was on April 14, 1865 that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Lincoln went to see a play with his wife at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. During the play a man by the name of John Wilkes Booth snuck in and up the steps that lead to the balcony where Lincoln was sitting. He waited until there was a part in the play for the crowd to make noise and it was then that he shot President Lincoln in the back of his head. It is said that after shooting Lincoln in the back of the head, Booth jumped onto the stage from the balcony where Lincoln was sitting and shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis! (Ever thus to tyrants!) The South is avenged” and fled on horseback (history.com). Lincoln died the next morning. John Wilkes Booth was born in Maryland and remained in the North during the Civil War. However, he sympathized for the Southern Confederate states.

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