The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

“With malice towards none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as god gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nations wounds; to care for him who shall borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphaned child-to do all which may be achieved and cherished a just and a lasting peace among ourselves, and with all other nations”-Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (Great Documents of America 19).

Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States and perhaps one of the most hated presidents that ever served, this hatred for president Lincoln came from his options and actions regarding the nation’s conflict at the time; the Civil War, this came after the succession of fourteen southern states subsequently dividing the nation into Union and Confederates (Notes). The war was about reuniting the nation and that was exactly what Lincoln focused on during his second term in office (Notes). Many people however did not believe Lincoln’s actions were in the best interest of the nation at all, one of these people was famous actor John Wilkes Booth.

John Wilkes Booth was born, March 10, 1846 (History.com). After the death of his father, Booth dropped out of the military school he had been attending and turned to the family profession, acting. He began his career at a theater in Baltimore, then moved to Philadelphia for a short amount of time before finally ending up at Marshall Theater in Richmond Virginia (History.com). By 1864 his contempt with the president had grown (history.com). Work had become scarce and after his unsuccessful investment in an oil company he lost most of his money and started to fall into debt, by this time though he had already began...

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Ito, Tom. Abraham Lincoln. San Deigo, CA: Lucent Books, 1997. Print.

O'Reilly, Bill, and Martin Dugard. Killing Lincoln. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, Print.

Swanson, James L. Chasing Lincoln's Killer. New York, NY: Scholastic Press, 2009. Print.

Swanson, James L. Manhunt: the 12-day chase for Lincoln's killer. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2006. Print.

Winik, Jay. April 1865 : The month that saved America. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2001. Print.

www.history.com