Bridget+Lincoln+Assassination

Abraham Lincoln's Assassination

**Introduction**
toc  In 1861 Abraham Lincoln became the sixteenth president of the United States and the Civil War began. John Wilkes Booth, an actor, began making plans to kidnap Lincoln along with a group of conspirators. When the South began to loose the Civil War and Booth's plan wasn't going anywhere he decided to assassinate Lincoln in order to help out the Confederacy. On the night of April 14, 1864 Lincoln arrived at Ford's Theater to watch Our American Cousin a play in which Booth was acting in. In the middle of the play Booth snuck into Lincoln's balcony and shot him in the head. Lincoln died the next morning and Booth escaped, but was later caught and shot in a Virginia farmhouse.

Basic Timeline of the Assassination 



Abraham Lincoln
 Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809. Lincoln was raised by his parents Nancy and Thomas in Kentucky in a small one room log cabin. In 1842 Lincoln married Mary Todd Baker and they had four kids Robert Todd Lincoln, William Wallace Lincoln, Thomas Lincoln, and Edward Baker. He earned his reputation as a skilled lawyer and debater and during his work in the U.S. House of Representatives. Lincoln argued that slavery should be kept out of the new territories. Lincoln was selected president of the United States in 1861 as the Civil War began. Although many northerners at the time wanted abolition of slaver, Lincoln's main goal dealing with slavery was to keep it from spreading into the new states.



John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth was born on May 10, 1838 in Maryland. He was born into an accomplished acting family, especially his father Junius Brutus Booth a prominent actor at the time. When the Civil War came around John Wilkes Booth was very involved in his acting career. Booth's mother was persistent and made sure that Booth pursued his acting career and did not join the Confederate Army. This didn't stop Booth from supporting the South and finding ways around his mother's rules in order to help the Confederacy. Booth remained in the North for the war but his beliefs were still those of the South.

Motive and Plan
 A year before Lincoln's assassination Booth and his group of conspirators were planning to kidnap Lincoln and take him as a hostage to Richmond, the capitol of the Confederacy. The Confederate armies began to fall and the Union gained power. The South was bitter over their defeat and upset with Lincoln's plan for black suffrage. Booth realized more immediate action was needed and immediately realized he needed a new plan to save the South. On the night of April 14, 1865 Booth was going to preform in a play put on at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. when he heard word that Lincoln was coming to see the performance. Booth immediately devised a plan, seeing this as his perfect chance to  help the South. Booth immediately called together his group of conspirators and made plans to assassinate Lincoln that night. They reasoned that if the leader of the Union was dead, the entire Union would fall into chaos. They also decided to to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward. They thought that by killing these three main parts of the Union government they would throw the entire Union into disarray.

The Assassination
 On April 14, 1865 Abraham Lincoln went to Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. with his wife Mary, and a friend and army officer Henry Rathbone, who brought along his fiancee Clara Harris. The four friends were seated on a balcony that looked down upon center stage. One of the actors in the play "Or American Cousin", which they were watching, was John Wilkes Booth. John and the rest of the conspirators who were in on the plan, were all ready for what was about to happen.

 During a particularly funny point in the play John Wilkes Booth escaped from backstage. At 10:50 he snuck into the private balcony which Lincoln and his accompaniments were seated in. Booth quickly pulled out his .44 caliber single shot derringer and fired right into the left side of Lincoln's skull. Rathbone quickly caught sight of Booth and leapt towards him slitting his arm with a knife. Booth struggled his way over the balcony and fell landing on his leg and breaking his fibula. Booth ran to center stage and shouted "Sic semper tyrannis" latin for "thus always to tyrants" which was the Virginia state motto. Then Booth quickly escaped through a back door and rode away on horse back.

<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 20px;">What Happened to Lincoln and Booth
<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; height: 262px; line-height: 19px; width: 194px;"> <span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">After John Wilkes Booth had shot Abraham Lincoln a doctor who was in the audience at the time quickly rushed to his side. Lincoln was slumped over in his chair struggling for breath. Lincoln was quickly brought across the street to William Peterson's boarding house where he was treated by a more experienced doctor. But the doctor couldn't do much to help because of the location of the shot, which was into the left side of Lincoln's head. Lincoln survived the night but in the early morning he dies at 7:22 am.

<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> While this was happening Booth had quickly escaped the theater by horse back with one of his conspirators, Herold. They traveled to Virginia and stopped at Mary Surratt's boarding house where the conspirators often congregated and stored their supplies. At the boarding house Dr. Samuel Mudd came to treat Booth's broken leg. But they were quickly rushed away from the house because the owners of the boarding house could get in trouble for housing the assassins if anyone found them, and word had come that the Army was searching for them. Booth and Herold went on their way and were surprised at how unwelcome they were in all of the Virginian's homes. They ended up hiding out in a Virginia farmhouse. On April 26 Union troops tracked the men to the farmhouse and surrounded the barn. The barn was set on fire and as Booth tried to escape he was shot and killed. The other men who were part of the plan were put on trial for the conspiracy of Lincoln's assassination. All of them were found guilty and four were sentenced to death.

<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 25px;">Effects on Country
<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; height: 133px; width: 455px;"> <span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Before Booth was killed he was not celebrated by the Confederates like he thought he would be. Booth had imagined being a hero who had saved the South from loosing the Civil War. Neither of these things happened. Booth was not praised for killing Lincoln. And the South still lost the Civil War. Booth was disappointed and upset by the turnout of his plan. After Booth's death letter that he wrote were found. Booth wrote about how astounded he was for not being commended for killing Lincoln and trying to help the Confederacy.

__<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Video of Lincoln's Assassination __

media type="youtube" key="0CkFD-lMXKg" height="349" width="560"

<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 1.3em;">Accomplishments of Abraham Lincoln
<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">By Cierra Robson

<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">During his presidency, Lincoln accomplished many things. He is credited with being one of the most influential presidents to date and his quotes are among the most famous. The first major accomplishment of Abraham Lincoln during his presidency was his decision to pursue war to unite the nation even though it would split the nation first. He was strong and continued the war even with assassination threats and constant American deaths. As well as working hard to unite the nation, Lincoln also freed the slaves with the creation of the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln also strongly supported the 13th amendment. Some other accomplishments of Lincoln were the bills he signed, among these are: The Homestead Act, which allowed people to own up to sixty-five acres of land west of the Mississippi River, The Merrill Act, which supported the creation of industrial and agricultural colleges, the National Banking Acts, which created the national banking system we use today and the Transcontinental Railroad, which created train lines that ran through the entire country. <span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Lincoln's accomplishments greatly contributed to the country as it is today.

<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 25px;">Bibliography
__<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Information: __ <span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 19px;">"Abraham Lincoln's Assassination — History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts." History.com — History Made Every Day — American & World History//. Web. 15 May 2011. <http://www.history.com/topics/abraham-lincoln-assassination>.//

<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 19px;">"The Death of John Wilkes Booth, 1865." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It//. Web. 15 May 2011. <http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/booth.htm>.//

<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 19px;">"On This Day: Abraham Lincoln Assassinated." FindingDulcinea | Online Guides | Internet Library | Web Resources//. Web. 15 May 2011.// <span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 19px;"> //<http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/March-April-08/On-this-Day--Abraham-Lincoln-Assassinated.html>//

<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 19px;">"Abraham Lincoln Timeline." __History Timelines__. 17 May 2011 <span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 19px;"> <http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/people-timelines/01-abraham-lincoln-timeline.htm>. __<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Media: __ <span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 32px;">"YouTube - The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln ‏." // YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. // 3 Nov. 2010. Web. 19 May 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CkFD-lMXKg>.

__<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Pictures: __ <span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 19px;">Photographs provided by Wikicommons

<span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Additional Sources: <span style="color: #b80505; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">"The Accomplishments of President Abraham Lincoln." //Information About Abraham Lincoln's Life, Assassination, and Family.// Web. 22 May 2011. <http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln87.html>.