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How Did John Wilks Booth Kill Lincoln

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Few events have happened in history that have had the magnitude that the assassination of President Lincoln had. The smallest most uneventful moments can have the most influential impact on society, a prime example of that is John Wilks Booth. In just a few minutes he was able to change the course of history. Abraham Lincoln’s assassination was a malevolent ending to an already horrid event in American history, the civil war. So why did Booth kill Lincoln? The whole plan to kill Lincoln started with Booth and the conspirators plot to topple the government.
Nearly 150 years ago President Abraham Lincoln was viewed as a martyr who ended slavery and preserved the union, he was hated as much as he was loved. A vaunted stage actor, John Wilks Booth …show more content…

So what exactly happened on the night of Lincoln’s death, and what caused booth and his accomplices to pull the trigger? After Lincoln’s reelection in November, 1864 Booth began plotting against him due to Lincoln being anti-slavery and starting war against the South. In the beginning he only wanted to kidnap Lincoln and hold him for Richmond (confederate capital) and exchange him for confederate prisoners, but once General Robert E. Lee surrendered sent Booth on a rampage and so he decided to devise a more drastic plan. (History.com) on the night of April 14th Booth and three of his conspirators met at a boarding house- Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt and unveiled his plot. After discussing the new plan Booth decided to assign the secretary of state to Powell and Herold, and Atzerodt was supposed to kill Vice President Johnson. They had decided to kill the top people in the hierarchy with hopes to topple the government so the south could take back the Union. Powell later on went to accomplish his mission of killing Seward by bashing Seward’s son with a gun putting him in a temporary coma, and slashing the bodyguard with a knife; then Powell had proceeded to Seward’s room and began stabbing him but before he was able to kill him the bodyguard and another one of Seward’s sons fought off Powell causing

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One night when they were asleep the Garrett boys locked the door behind them. Little did the Garrett boys know that the soldiers were going to come that night. Booth ends up getting shot and killed while the others are sent with prison sentences and some even get

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April 14, 1865 their plan was struck into action. John Wilkes booth had made his preparations for the attack, he had an escape route, a backup plan, his weapon, he knew where the president was going to sit, he knew secret tunnels and passageways in Ford’s theater, and he had his horse ready. All he needed was the president. Meanwhile at the Secretary’s house Lewis Powell and David Herold had arrived and waited for the perfect time to attack. When they saw no guards around Lewis Powell, disguised as a messenger, went up to the Secretary of State’s house and rang the doorbell.

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Five days after the Confederacy’s surrender, John Wilkes Booth had successfully killed one of the most influential presidents in American history to do what he believed would redeem power to the southern states. Booth’s main goal was to tear down the Union’s government by taking down their leader and his successors, but the original plan did not involve the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Historian Christopher Hammer explained in his article "Booth's Reason for Assassination", the former actor had created a group of co conspirators and designed "a ploy on March 17 to capture Lincoln as he traveled in his carriage [and had] collapsed when the president changed his itinerary—and several of Booth’s conspirators ultimately left the group.” (Teaching History). Since the failed capture of the president, Booth hatred towards Lincoln grew after hearing the president’s goal to officially abolish slavery in his Second Presidential

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“The sergeant and Augustus wrestled Powell into the hall and into the bright gaslight,”(Swanson 57). Because of the heroic actions of the Sergeant, Augustus, and Frederick(another son), Powell did not manage to come close enough to plunge a knife into Seward. Without the menacing fight posed by these people, Powell would have most definitely assassinated Secretary of State Powell, in turn causing more pandemonium in the country- enough that a Confederate takeover may have been possible. In addition to these warriors at the Seward residence, another faction of people whose acts must be remembered are the faction of Manhunters. These men devoted all their time for 12 days using clues and all sorts of wacky leads in order to trace down Booth.

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