Mary Surratt Research Paper

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“Please don’t let me fall” were Mary Surratt's last words before she was sentenced to hang and breathe her final breaths. Mary Surratt was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy that led to the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Mary Surratt was later hanged and was said to be the first woman executed by the U.S. federal government. Among the executed co-conspirators, Mary Surratt received a punishment far outweighing her crime. What have they done that had to do with Booth’s plot? Why did this action not deserve the death penalty? Mary Surratt was a friend of Booth’s and knew of his plan to assassinate Lincoln. She provided him with ammunition, guns, and other supplies they would need to achieve this plan. Swanson pg 34 “She handed him …show more content…

She knew what was going to happen, she knew Booth’s plot, but she didn’t do anything to help him with his plot. What have they done that had to do with Booth’s plot? Why did this action not deserve the death penalty? Mary Surratt did not deserve the death penalty she received because she wasn’t fully involved with the assassins, yes she knew what they were doing and she did help them a bit but she didn’t have a role IN the assassinations, she didn’t murder anyone and she didn’t try to. This is why I think she didn’t deserve the death penalty she received. “Before God, sir I do not know this man: and I have never seen him and did not hire him to dig a gutter for me.”(Swanson pg 138) She didn’t deserve to die such a morbid death, especially since a hanging execution isn’t really the most preferred death. Others would say that Mary Surratt deserved her death penalty because she knew what was going to happen and she didn’t do anything to stop them, or that she deserved her death penalty because she helped them, but they were