Mr. John Wilkes Booth's Assassination

America is being torn in two, the Union and Confederacy are taking shape, and tension is increasing in the country. Abraham Lincoln was just starting his term in office as president and coming into what was Americas bloodiest war. As frustration arises in the south with enraged confederates, the first “shot” of the war is released in renowned Fort Sumter, South Carolina. President Lincoln begins to do all he can to sew a savagely ripped nation back into one. The president juggles saving the Union while addressing matters that are influential to the division of country. And as the president is doing all he can do, a Mr. John Wilkes Booth is doing the same but in retaliation to what Lincoln is doing. Many contributors to Booth’s hate towards

When hearing a speech from the president, Booth was quoted saying “Now, by God, I’ll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make,” and three days later he didn’t secede on his promise of making that the final address vocalized by Lincoln. When sneaking up the balcony where the president and his fiancé were enjoying a play, Booth was confronted with his greatest desire. He took a .44 caliber pistol and shot the president in the head and stood on the balcony shouting the words: “Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.” Booth remarkably managed to escape the theater after jumping of the balcony thus giving him a broken leg in the process. As he advances on his getaway route, finds himself hiding out in a barn when the investigators catch up to him. He refuses to come out which causes a fire to be started on the barn. A soldier aims to shoot Booth in the arm to disable him for an easier capture but in turn paralyzes him with missing and hitting his neck. Booth will die hours later having completed the main goal of his

Many factors contributed to his outrage in Lincoln; the South losing the war along with the abolishment to slavery were key points to a mental break that took place with Booth. Throughout his life, Booth grew up with slavery. Coming from a southern family that taught him the values that he would eventually take to the grave, one can’t help but notice other factors that portrayed a role in his behavior such as his political views; views that would one day make Booth loath whoever stood in the way of keeping his ideals, even a