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What Motivated John Wilkes Booth's Motivation To Kill John Brown

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John Wilkes Booth was a strong supporter of the South, a famous actor, and a murderer. On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was murdered by actor John Wilkes Booth while attending the play Our American Cousin at Fords Theater in Washington, D.C. He was strong-willed and loved the South. There were several factors that motivated Booth to do this.
One of the factors that motivated Booth to kill Lincoln was John Brown’s execution. John Brown was an abolitionist and tried to kill slave owners to change history. Booth was present for the execution. Even though he did not support the North and was angry with Brown, Booth was inspired. On biography.com, it said that Booth was inspired because Brown changed history through a single violent …show more content…

He had originally planned to kidnap Lincoln and trade him for the Southern soldiers in prison, but Lincoln didn’t show up where they thought he would. Because that kidnapping plot failed, he decided to go more extreme and kill him instead. In the text it says, “Frustrated at seeing his plot foiled, Booth resolved to go to a far greater extreme.” He also decided to have his friends assassinate the Secretary of State and the Vice President.
Lastly, he thought that he was doing a favor for the country. He did not love the “forced Union” and thought that by killing Lincoln, he would be doing well for the country. In his last diary entry, he wrote, “This forced Union is not what I have loved. I care not what becomes of me.” What he meant was that he did not care what would happen to him. He just thought that he would be benefiting the South by killing the President.
In conclusion, there were several reasons John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln. Some of his words from his last diary entry were, “I struck for my country and that alone.” He believed he would be remembered as a hero, like he said what Brutus was honored for. But instead, he is now remembered as one of the most hated men in the

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