Abraham Lincoln's 'My American Cousin'

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Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12,1809 in Hardin County , Kentucky . Lincoln's family moved to Indiana in 1816. He received little education growing up because he had to work to help support his family. He attended several local schools for short periods of time. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14 ,1865 in Washington while attending a play in Ford's Theatre that night he was shot in the back of the head and died the next day early hours . Before President Lincoln became president he opposed slavery in the territories. Once he took office the way slavery was going to change. On January 1st, 1863 president Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation . The Emancipation Proclamation stated “ that all persons held …show more content…

Seward. In his address, President Lincoln took a piece from the Declaration of Independence, “ dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”, as well as a desire “ a new birth of freedom. While attending the play “ My American Cousin”, accompanied with his wife, Mary Todd, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln . This came five days after the surrender of General Lee ending the war. Booth believed that murdering President Lincoln would give the south a chance of turning the war around. The wound on his head would later kill the president. This started the collaborated search for John Wilkes Booth . Both the death and the search of the killer silently united a nation in mourning . Union soldiers were right behind Booth’s tracks until he hid in a farmhouse in Virginia. Forced to surrender due to a fire started by the union soldiers, Booth had stood his ground until shot in the neck area due to raising his weapon as if he would try to shoot his way out. The union soldiers wanted to make sure that the killer of their president would be caught and was later carried out alive. All that helped in the plan to assassinate the president were given the death penalty due to treason. Although, it was a shame President Lincoln was shot, he still somehow managed to reunite the nation. Once he was taken back to Illinois by train, all citizens line the tracks to pay tribute to their great leader, most businesses were closed and a nation began to mourn the death of Abraham Lincoln. It’s ironic that the goal of the assassination was to give some type of chance for the south but in reality it brought together a weakened nation to ultimately strengthen the nation as a