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The Story Of John Wilkes Booth's Assassination

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Although John Wilkes Booth committed an awful crime, he took a huge stand by assassinating President Abraham Lincoln and changed the course of U.S. history forever. This tragic event happened at a very important point in history. The Civil War had been raging since 1861, resulting in the loss of thousands of Americans and further splitting the country in half. On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered the last of the Confederate army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, ending the Civil War. The union was thrilled. The South however was not at all happy. John Wilkes Booth was particularly outraged. After hearing the news he would make a plan to do something that would forever alter the course of American history. He planned to assassinate …show more content…

Lincoln, along with his wife and other political figures, were seated in the Presidential Box for the show. There was a guard posted outside the door named John F. Parker. To Booth’s advantage, the guard decided to go get a drink at a nearby tavern. The door to the Presidential Box was closed but not locked, giving Booth the perfect opportunity to carry out his awful plan. He went into the Box and pulled out his .44-caliber derringer pistol and shot the president of the United States. Of course what followed was utter shock and panic. Many of the people in the Box tried to stop Booth from escaping but Booth was too fast. He jumped out of the Box and aimed for the stage. However, his foot got caught on the decorating on the outside of the Box so he landed rather awkwardly on the stage, breaking his shin in the process. He then yelled “Sic semper tyrannis” (thus always to tyrants) and disappeared without a trace. Lincoln would die early the next morning on April 15, …show more content…

After assassinating the sixteenth president of the United States, Booth left behind a legacy of being a villain and a murderer. One action erased the rest of his life of being an actor. He will forever be remembered as the man who murdered Abraham Lincoln. As covered in my paper, this tragic event has left a long lasting impact on America with the creation of the secret service and Andrew Johnson becoming president and creating mass chaos in the government. If Booth could’ve see the legacy he left behind, he may have felt regret but as he said in his famous diary entries, “Right or Wrong, God Judge

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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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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 author’s reason for writing this book was to vividly reflect on President Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and how this manhunt led The Union Cavalry and troops on a manhunt chase that lasted twelve long devastated days. Swanson believes that the murder of President Lincoln, Booth, was a raciest and a murderer who killed one of the greatest Americans who ever lived. Swanson believes that the people think of Booth as an anti-hero, a tragic young flawed actor who thought he was serving his cause but Booth shortly became America’s most

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April 14, 1865 would go down in history as the day when the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, was assassinated; marking history as the first time this happened to a president. It happened five days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant thus ending the Civil War and causing displeasure among those in the South who did not agree with the outcome. Among them was the young John Wilkes Booth who had access to the theatre due to his family’s influence because of their skills as actors (Clarke). Booth would later be known in history as the man who would change history using a weapon commonly referred to as a pocket cannon (Slomski). John Wilkes Booth used the pocket canon after making sure no one was able to enter the room with a wooden block that he placed in the way of the door (Nicolay 299).

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The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln changed America forever. Lincoln’s assassination happened on April 14th, 1865 at Ford’s Theatre. A famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth, shot Abraham Lincoln. Booth’s plan was to kidnap Lincoln and take him to Richmond, VA, but failed. Abraham Lincoln made a huge impact in our history as President (History.com, 1).

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After, The Supreme Court’s confirmation on the legality of slavery in the territories convinced a lot of Southerners that the Northern was seeking the destruction of the “peculiar institution” that was sustained, which made the Southern, and Northern ties almost on its last straw. Then Lincoln’s election was the final straw, and made seven of the Southern states seceding from the United States. When the Civil War was over The Union won even though their armies weren’t as great as the South’s they managed a close victory possibly because of The Union’s sheer number of troops, but even though The Union won they lost a great leader, Abraham Lincoln who was assassinated by a Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes which turned the hearts of the people of the United States dearly, thus ending the American Civil War at a cost of 620,000 soldiers from both sides, plus a great leader Abraham

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“John” notes that Booth’s family was a renowned acting dynasty at the time of the Civil War. Booth himself was an ardent supporter of slavery with a burning hatred for Abraham Lincoln (Britannica.com). “Assassination,” suggests that Booth’s hatred of Lincoln may have been caused in part Lincoln’s undemocratic practices. The President deemed censorship of speeches and newspapers necessary during the Civil War. Additionally, the President was able to suspend any writ of habeas corpus, which prevented trials from taking place (2009).

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