Why Is Lincoln's Assassination Justified

When John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, it was a life changing event for the whole country. It took many days for the country to know that Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated. Then, everyone wanted to know why. Why did John Wilkes Booth assassinate Lincoln? Did he do it to be evil or did it for a specific reason? The fact that John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln was unexpected. He was a famous actor that had no criminal background. Nobody had any clue why he chose to do what he did, or did they? There were many motivating factors of why John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, and many people knew about it.

John Wilkes Booth may think that he did the right thing for the southerner, however people from the north had different point of views and by that misfortune called him out for what he has done. The Chasing Lincoln's Killer, by James L. Swanson stated the quest of what John Wilkes Booth received and the task that he needs to be done is not a easy nor an impossible job, but the outcome of the event will be macabre. Although John Wilkes Booth is doing the greater good for the south, the assassination that John Wilkes Booth did will not be forgotten. Consequently, the assassination is what some people would hoped for.

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.

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 was the murderer of the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. With the nation divided and the Confederacy falling apart, Booth murdered Washington in hope that the confederavy would have a second chance. John Wilkes Booth did not accomplish his goal because was caught and was not help the confederacy change the course of the war. Firstly, John Wilkes Booth was later caught and killed.

The United States would not be the same today if Abraham Lincoln was never assassinated on the unfortunate night of April 14, 1865. His killer, John Wilkes Booth, had a strong resent for the Union that subsequently caused a dramatic shift in history. This hatred was caused by many factors, such as his background and where he grew up, his lust for power and fame, and his mental illness. John Wilkes Booth, a master assassinator and conspirator, hoped to strengthen the confederacy by killing Abraham Lincoln. However, this murder created an even stronger opposition to the South than ever before.

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

John Wilkes Booth, the murderer of Lincoln, had many reasons for his actions. This is very important to people because there still might be some unknown factors for why John Wilkes Booth slaughtered Lincoln. Booth thought that assassinating Lincoln was a good idea, but it really only turned him into a hated and despised

The conflict of the Civil War tore the United States apart. John Wilkes Booth was a member of the Confederacy. He believed that slavery was necessary to the economy. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth crept into the balcony of Ford’s Theatre and assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth, actor, murderer, and confederate spokesperson, is linked to the downfall of the South.

John Wilkes Booth is often the first person who comes to mind when one thinks about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. However, most people are unaware that this assassination was a larger conspiracy. Booth had at least four other known co-conspirators, and many scholars argue whether or not Booth was the only conspirator, or if all of them planned the assassination together and each had different roles. Others say Vice President Andrew Johnson had a vendetta against Lincoln because of their skewed views. Several conspiracy theories have developed since 1865 when the assassination took place, but only three to four of those theories are feasible and researched heavily.

John Wilkes Booth and his fellow conspirators planned to kidnap Abraham Lincoln on March 20, 1865, but on that day the president did not arrive at the location they thought he would. Once Booth figured out that Lincoln was going to Ford’s Theater he and his conspirators planned to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and William H. Seward (“Abraham”/history.com). Abraham Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated. As the president could not escape the southern sympathizers the nation was lead through its darkest hour when our 16th president Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

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.

John Wilkes Booth may have been known as an amazing actor but he will always be remembered as the man who murdered President Abraham Lincoln. On the day of May 10, 1838 John Wilkes Booth was born. He was born by Bel Air , Maryland out of ten children he was the second to youngest. His father was a very successful actor that was well known as an alcoholic , his name was Junius Brutus Booth. John and his siblings had been raised on a farm. His family had owned slaves and they were the ones who were working the farm.

Brutus says “…yet I love him well” (I, II, 83) about Caesar, but when he says “It must be by his death” (II, I, 10) he obviously will betray his brother if that means that Rome will return to its original political status. Some people will go to any means in order to establish what was originally standing, whether it be political or any other field. A good example to help visualize this idea would be in the movie Assault on Wall Street. This movie talks about a Wall Street investor, named Jim Baxford who lost a lot of money because of a certain Stock Market company. Through the movie we find out that Baxford is not the only one who is upset about the loss of money. The boss of the certain Stock Market Company is a friend of Baxford, who betrayed him by taking all of his money and putting him in bankruptcy. The protagonist then makes a plan to try and kill the workers or conspirators and frame the boss for all the murders. Although in Julius Caesar there is no framing of murder, the principle is essentially the same because they both involve people who are feed up with officials who are above them. They both also involve certain people fighting for the rights of the common man and the status of the

As previously stated, a person’s greed often leads to their demise. This is most evident with Caesar himself. Caesar was willing to betray Pompey, his once friend and ally, in order to gain sole control over the Republic. In fact, Caesar’s drive to control the city began to evoke the jealousy and fears of many of the inhabitants, “You show'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'd like hounds, and bow'd like bondmen, kissing Caesar's feet. (Shakespeare Act V, Sc.I, lines 47-48). Ultimately this authority causes Brutus to come to the conclusion that Caesar’s tyranny must be prevented through his death (Sims). Caesar’s newfound power put Brutus, his former supporter, in a position where the only way to save the republic would be to depose of its current leader. Caesar’s demise was indirectly caused by his hunger for power, which caused Brutus to kill him in order to stop the would be dictator (Sims). The idea of deposing Caesar spread like wildfire through the Senate and eventually escalated into murder. Clearly, it was Caesar’s desire to command those around him that in due course led to his death; however, he alone is not the