The Conspirator, Directed by Robert Redford

Mary Surratt was a “forty-two-year-old Maryland widow,” (Swanson 15). She was a Southerner before she moved to Washington D.C., which means that the Confederate belief still influenced her. She was also the mother of John Surratt, who was a “Confederate secret agent and friend of Booth’s,” (Swanson 15). She owned a boarding house in Washington D.C., which has been visited by many Confederates, including John Wilkes Booth and Lewis Powell. There are numerous indications that suggest she had something to do with the assassination plot that took place on April 14th, 1865.

Mary Surratt was the defendant among the executed that received a punishment far out weighing her role in the crime. Mary Surratt was convicted of conspiracy in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. She was sentenced to death and became the first woman to be executed by the U.S. government. Mary Surratt was the mother of John Surratt who was a conspirator that helped John Wilkes Booth plan Lincoln’s kidnap and later, his assassination. With the help of Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, “Lincoln and the Writ of Liberty,” and the movie The Conspirator, it can be proven that Mary Surratt’s punishment was unjust. Mary Surratt received a punishment far worse than what she deserved because she was innocent, blamed for her son’s actions, and she did

Mary Warren, a young woman living in Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials, shows no exception to differing viewpoints. Throughout The Crucible, in which Mary Warren is a character, the very children whom the town considers holy, appear also to perpetrate the vicious crime of murder through false allegations of witchcraft. Unable to recognize the children’s crime because of their innocent appearance, citizens of Salem conduct dozens of

Everyone knows that John Wilkes Booth was the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, but not everyone knows John Wilkes Booth’s take on it. Like Why did he do it? Who were his accomplices? What happened after he did it? Well that is was this paper is about.

In the book, Killing Lincoln, author Bill O’Reilly portrayed John Wilkes Booth as an obsessed assassin who recruited various conspirators. He described the events leading to President Lincoln’s murder and the hunt to capture Booth and his cohorts. Killing Lincoln is comprehensible to anyone as young as a middle schooler, although it would be best suited for an older reader with an interest in history and politics. Killing Lincoln could also be appealing to those intrigued by conspiracy plots and criminal motives. O’Reilly constructed an action packed thriller of patriotism and war to keep the reader engaged.

Bill O’Reilly’s and Martin Dugard’s book Killing Lincoln delves into the events leading up to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the repercussions upon the people involved, as well as a detailed analysis of the ongoing war efforts and the affects one has upon the other. While unraveling the conspiracy and its members, the reader is given compelling evidence and speculative reasoning that leads the reader to believe that the plot to assassinate Lincoln involves additional people, and could in fact be a conspiracy that reaches into the regions of power far above what is historically proven.

Corruption in the United States government takes the power away from the people and puts it into the hands of elite groups and politicians. This corruption is prevalent in the film “Mr. Smith goes to Washington”. The film has a strong message about corruption in the government, and places an innocent and naïve character, Mr. Smith in the middle of the corruption. In Washington, Mr. Smith discovers the corruption that has overtaken the capitol, but does not let it falter his integrity. Although Mr. Smith is surrounded by corruption, he is able to fight the system and bring some integrity back to Washington.

John Wilkes Booth had a very mischievous plan to kill the president. It was sneaky and skillfully arranged.

The mystery of how John Wilkes Booth pulled off the most influential and notorious assassinations in history is revealed in Killing Lincoln. The author of this book, Bill O’Reilly, built up the plot of the story through vivid historical details and pieced them together like a thriller. He tries to explain all of what happened on one of the most interesting and sad days in American history. Many conspiracies and Civil War ideals are on full display in the book. I agree with most of O’Reilly’s ideas but there are some that I am not really sure about because of his point of view like many of the conspiracy theories. Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly was a very compelling read which described the Civil War, lives of

Mary Surratt: A Co-Conspirator for the Lincoln Assassination Mary Surratt should have been executed. She was guilty of lying to authorities and she held evidence for Lincoln’s murder at her tavern. Mary surratt should have been executed because she held all the supplies for the murder at her tavern.

Mary Surratt was the first woman in the United States of America to be executed by the Federal Government. She was executed because she was found guilty of conspiring to kill President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Steward. Evidence that proves Mary Surratt was guilty includes that she denied knowing Lewis Powell, she had close ties with John Wilkes Booth, and an associate of the Surratt family, Lewis J. Weichmann, who testified against Mary Surratt. One reason Mary Surratt was guilty is because she denied knowing Lewis Powell, even though she had met him many times before.

In Source 3 paragraph 4 it says” John Wilkes Booth has shot the president“. This shows that Mary Surratt did not kill Lincoln Booth did. The second reason is that Mary Surratt is innocent because there is physical proof that she is innocent. In Source 2 paragraph 10 it states “It is possible that Mary Surratt knew of the kidnapping plot but not the plot to

Mary Surratt should have been executed. Mrs. Surratt helped with the the plot such as helping with the kidnap, the package delivery, lying to the the authorities and supplying the weapons, That is why she should have been executed . Mary Surratt supplied the weapons that were in her tavern (source 1). This shows she got the weapons took them to the tavern and that's what they later used to kill Lincoln, she had them in the tavern which was not smart to keep the weapons at the tavern. Mary Surratt delivered a package to Booth (Source 2).

In The Conspirator, the audience is invited to maintain the overall assumption that humanity is inherently good. In manipulating narrative elements such as opening and closing scenes, cause and effect and range and depth of narration, the audience constantly engages in the shattering of this hope.

The film does like to allude to the fact that our bodies are constantly in battle with our minds when it comes to deceiving people or trying to conceal certain information. The most evident part of this is in the form of non-verbal communication with the characters. This can be seen especially with those who are perceived as the liars of the film. Near the beginning of the film when Roman is speaking with his fellow officers about his partner’s death, the camera immediately cuts to Niebaum. In this scene Roman is explaining the situation of his partner’s death and how it was mentioned that an officer from internal affairs was involved in the embezzling of funds that ended up in his partner’s murder.