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The Inaccuracies Of The Conspirator

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The Conspirator is a movie directed by Robert Redford that brought a tragic error in the American legal system to light, the trial of Mary Elizabeth Surratt. Surratt was put on trial for her alleged accessory to John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. This movie follows the court proceedings; however, as with most Hollywood productions, The Conspirator is only to some extent historically accurate. The significant parts of the movie, such as, the main people and overall story ring true to history. Redford just made some minor tweaks. Some of the inaccuracies include her children, John Wilkes Booth’s death, and the lawyers involved. The Conspirator is accurate with the main plot of the story. President Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre (Ferguson 154). Booth was an actor at the theater and knew the play, entitled Our American Cousin, so well that he chose the height of audience laughter to shoot (Ferguson 165). Samuel Arnold, Lewis Payne, George Atzerodt, Samuel Mudd, David Herold, Edward Spangler, Michael O’Laughlin, and Mary Surratt were all arrested and tried for the conspiracy to kill Abraham Lincoln and Secretary Seward. The jury was made up of nine military judges and the defendants were not allowed to see their …show more content…

The Conspirator shows a priest leading her up to the gallows clutching a crucifix. She held on to the crucifix even as her platform fell. The crucifix was then given to Aiken to present to her son John. Aiken tried to hand it to him in jail, but he told Aiken to keep it because Aiken was more of a son then he had been. Even this scene is almost accurate. The only difference in actual history is that there were two Roman Catholic Priests and she “kissed the crucifix of Jesus Carried by the priest” (Schuetz 35). So it may not have been her crucifix the priest carried and she didn’t get to hold it as she met her

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1463 Words | 6 Pages

The book that I decided to read for my quarter book report was Manhunt, The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson. I chose this book because I thought it would be interesting to learn about how they actually tracked down Abraham Lincoln’s killer after he was assassinated. Manhunt went into a lot of detail about how Lincoln’s killer, John Wilkes Booth, was found. The story started off on the morning of March 4th, 1865, which was the morning of Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration.

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698 Words | 3 Pages

James L. Swanson Chasing Lincoln’s Killer 2009 Chasing Lincoln’s Killer is a book about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a past United States of America president. The introduction of the book is how John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s killer, and his accomplices, made a plan to kidnap the American president, but their plan failed. So, John Wilkes Booth and his little gang decide to kill the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State in one night. John Wilkes Booth would kill the president at Ford’s theater, His accomplice George Atzerodt would kill the Vice President at the Vice President’s hotel room. Lewis Powell and David Herold would kill the Secretary of State.

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323 Words | 2 Pages

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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959 Words | 4 Pages

After hearing the news of President Lincoln's assassination, the employee had made a report to which military police John Lee investigated. Officer Lee’s search of Atzerodt’s hotel room showed no traces of the room actually being used and the intended murder weapons found under his pillow along with a book of Mr. Booth’s leading to Mr. Atzerodt becoming a “prime conspiracy suspect.” (http://law2.umkc.edu/,Linder 2002). Six days later, in the home of his cousin, George Atzerodt was arrested and charged. Along with Mary Surratt, and Dr. Samuel Mudd, he was sentenced to

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1333 Words | 6 Pages

Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard’s book, Killing Lincoln, is mainly about President Lincoln’s time as President of the United States. Little do people know that Lincoln was hated by many Americans. President Lincoln’s assassination was slowly being planned out by a murder named John Wilkes Booth. Despite his careful planning, Booth’s plans had to be suddenly changed at the last minute when his plans to change. Booth immediately had to come up with a new plan and go a total different route.

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427 Words | 2 Pages

In hindsight, this seems the only way America’s worst moment could end. After some 600,000 American men had died of wounds, or grossly unsanitary medical practice, Lincoln gave his second inaugural address, the famous “charity for all” speech, on March 4, 1865, one month before his death. There is a photograph of him giving this speech, which also shows John Wilkes Booth standing above and behind him, on a balcony. Lincoln ended his speech with these words: “With malice toward none; with charity for all;…let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.”

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224 Words | 1 Pages

On November 22, 1963, our 35th President, John F. Kennedy, was shot and killed. John and Jacqueline Kennedy, along with Texas Governor John Connally and his wife were riding in a convertible through Dallas. This was one of the most publicly known assassinations in history, yet there is so much evidence being withheld. After the assassination, government officials and investigators discovered that Lee Harvey Ozwald fired the shot.

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1790 Words | 8 Pages

Secretary Seward was supposed to be assassinated by Lewis Powell and David Herold, while George Atzerodt was supposed to kill Vice President Andrew

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278 Words | 2 Pages

Mary Surratt should have been put to death because, she helped the killer and knew other plots John Wilkes Booth was planning. Mary Surratt worked with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. She hid guns that were later used in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Source 2). This shows that she gave weapons to John Wilkes Booth on purpose. She lied to the police that she didn’t know John Wilkes Booth(Source 2).

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Lincoln’s assassination was part of a larger conspiracy to assassinate that involved more than just Lincoln, but it also involved Secretary of State William Seward and Andrew Johnson himself. These assassinations were to take place on the night of April 14, 1865. John Wilkes Booth successfully assassinated Lincoln while he was at Ford’s Theater and William Seward barely survived his wounds after being viciously stabbed several times by Lewis Powell. The assassination of Andrew Johnson turned out to be a complete failure. Johnson’s would-be assassin, George Atzerodt, could not gather the courage to murder him.

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432 Words | 2 Pages

Tragedy struck tonight in Washington DC ending with 2 murders and killers out on the loose. Tonight Abraham Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln, Henry Rathbone, and his wife all attended the following play “Our American Cousin” written by Laura Keene. With the Lincoln’s arriving late, John Wilkes Booth had the advantage of knowing exactly where the Lincolns were located. Hiding in the darkness of the theater John Wilkes Booth was able to sneak towards the President’s box with a .44 caliber and a knife ready for an easy attack since there seemed to be no guards out on the watch.

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473 Words | 2 Pages

Many of America's leaders were assassinated such as John F. Kennedy and MLK. The motives to their assassinations were most from disagreements which is the same motive for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On April 14th 1865, John Wilkes, shot and killed Abraham Lincoln at a play at ford Theatre . John Wilkes Booth was born in Maryland and was born in 1838. He lived in the north during the civil War but but yet he still didn’t agree with Abraham Lincoln.

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1016 Words | 5 Pages

One of the greatest actors of all time who decided to abandon his career to kill the president was John Wilkes Booth. Booth had a very complicated life; it led him to make wrong decisions, so for that reason, John Wilkes Booth is an ideal person to give advice to. A native of Bel-Air, Maryland, he lived from 1838 to 1865. He won acclaim as a contemporary Shakespearean actor in the 1850’s and 60’s (“John”). People admired his talent; however his life was much more complicated than that.

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519 Words | 3 Pages

As Booth began his bold escape, the fate of Abraham Lincoln was unknown. According to “Abraham,” Charles Leale heard the pistol fire and Mary’s scream, so the twenty-three year old doctor sprinted towards the wounded President . When Leale reached Lincoln, the young doctor saw the physical condition of the President. “He found the president slumped in his chair, paralyzed and struggling to breath” (History.com). “Assassination” states that the doctor reacted quickly by ripping the President’s shirt open for a physical examination, but Leale could not find the bullet wound.

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1084 Words | 5 Pages

Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth who supported the Confederacy even though they lost the American Civil war to the Union. Booth murdered Lincoln while he was watching a play at Ford’s Theatre. The murder was similar because there were apparently several co-conspiritors who helped Booth plan the assassination. Both of

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