WAS PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S ASSASSINATION JUSTIFIED?
Ponder this. A country had just experienced one of the worst wars they had ever faced, fighting each other. What if when it was all over the leader of this war torn nation, whose sole intention was to bring the divided factions back together, was assassinated. How would one who experienced this feel?
“On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth became the first person to assassinate an American president in his box at Ford’s Theater in Washington.” (Hamner) “Booth masterminded the simultaneous assassination of President Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward.” (history.com) This would get the president and his two successors out of the way and by
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As stated previously President Lincoln had already achieved the South’s hatred through his anti-slavery platform, even before he was elected president. This only multiplied when he stated in the Emancipation Proclamation, “All persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” (civilwar.org) His logic in this next statement is impeccable. He says, “I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.” (civilwar.org) By saying this he is not saying that this “thing” needs to be no slavery. However, based on the perspective from today’s world, slavery is a terrible ideal and the people of the 1800s should have realized this, thus making this reason for assassination …show more content…
An example of one of these ridiculous thoughts is, “Booth believed that Lincoln was determined to overthrow the Constitution and to destroy his beloved South.” (Hamner) John Wilkes Booth had many warped thoughts as well. Thus leading to his plans to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. These thoughts included, “I will be the first man to ever kill a president,” (O’Reilly, 70) “Lincoln is still the enemy. He always will be,” (O’Reilly, 68) “I am the man that will end Lincoln’s Life,” (O’Reilly, 69) and “This is war-time. Killing the enemy is no more illegal than capturing him.” (O’Reilly, 69) These thoughts need no further explanation to prove their insanity. One can understand that the Southerners did not want change, however, that is not reason enough to start a war or even kill a man who only wanted to do what was best for his country. One must seek peace until there is absolutely no other way. These warped thoughts, Abraham Lincoln’s anti-slavery platform, and his powerful and influential position are all invalid reasons for assassinating this man. Whether one is looking at President Lincoln’s assassination from the perspective of someone from the Union or a Southerner, it was unjust. He was the man that was best qualified for bringing the Union back together
John Wilkes Booth was a famous actor, and could have had many assassination chances, including Lincoln’s second inauguration. Wanting the South to win the war, he never wanted the punishment of assassinating the president of the United States. Being a supporter of the Confederate, Booth believed that he assassinated Lincoln the momentum would spark the Confederate troops to life and lead them to victory. This book is very vivid in detail and is a great educational tool if you would like to learn more about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
In Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, by James L. Swanson, the main characters were; John Wilkes Booth, Dr. Leale, Abraham Lincoln (even though he dies.) When John Wilkes Booth (a.k.a Booth) found out that the North had won the Civil War, he felt anger and disgust but he could do nothing. Booth had one plot that the book talked about and that was to kidnap the president and sell him to the leaders of the South but that plot never got put into action. When booth went to Ford's theatre got a letter, Booth worked at the theatre, the letter that said that the President of the United states would be visiting ford's theatre quickly he put a plot into works. First he went to get accomplices and they too would kill someone that night. When the time had come to Booth snuck into the President’s box, not even noticed he pulled out a gun and shot a bullet into the left side and under the left ear of the President's head. That didn’t kill the President, yet. When Booth tried to leave he was stopped by General Henry Rathbone, they had a knife fight while trying to stop both of them from leaving, although Booth got away jumping from the President's box and onto the stage shouting "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (Chasing Lincoln's Killer, by James L. Swanson.)
Killing Lincoln Book Review The mystery of how John Wilkes Booth pulled off the most influential and notorious assassination in history is revealed in Killing Lincoln. The author of this book, Bill O’Reilly, built up the plot of the story through vivid historical details and pieced them together like a thriller. He tries to explain all of what happened on one of the most interesting and sad days in American history. Many conspiracies and Civil War ideals are on full display in the book. I agree with most of O’Reilly’s ideas, but there are some that I am not really sure about because of his point of view, like many of the conspiracy theories.
(A) Make a list of the evidence that suggests that Oswald was preparing to kill President Kennedy.
At the time, the South depended on slavery to support their way of life. In fact, “to protect slavery the Confederate States of America would challenge the peaceful, lawful, orderly means of changing governments in the United States, even by resorting to war.” (635) Lincoln believed that slavery was morally wrong and realized that slavery was bitterly dividing the country. Not only was slavery dividing the nation, but slavery was also endangering the Union, hurting both black and white people and threatening the processes of government. At first, Lincoln’s goal was to save the Union in which “he would free none, some, or all the slaves to save that Union.” (634) However, Lincoln realized that “freeing the slaves and saving the Union were linked as one goal, not two optional goals.” (634) Therefore, Lincoln’s primary goal was to save the Union and in order to save the Union, Lincoln had to free the slaves. However, Paludan states that, “slave states understood this; that is why the seceded and why the Union needed saving.” (634) Lincoln’s presidential victory was the final sign to many Southerners that their position in the Union was
Abraham Lincoln's position on slavery was the belief that the expansion of it to Free states and new territories should be ceased and that it eventually be abolished completely throughout the country. He believed simply that slavery was morally wrong, along with socially and politically wrong in the eyes of a Republican. Lincoln felt that this was a very important issue during the time period because there was starting to be much controversy between the Republicans and the Democrats regarding this issue. There was also a separation between the north and the south in the union, the north harboring the Free states and the south harboring the slave states. Lincoln refers many times to the Constitution and its relations to slavery. He was convinced that when our founding fathers wrote the Constitution their intentions were to be quite vague surrounding the topic of slavery and African-Americans, for the reason that he believes was because the fathers intended for slavery to come to an end in the distant future, in which Lincoln refers to the "ultimate extinction" of slavery. He also states that the men who wrote the constitution were wiser men, but obviously did not have the experience or technological advances that the men of his day did, hence the reasons of the measures taken by our founding fathers.
Assassination is a strong word with a powerful meaning. Assassination is defined as to kill suddenly or secretively, especially a politically prominent person; murder premeditatedly and treacherously. Assassinations and attempts have occurred throughout history. The victim is sometimes aware or unaware about their dangerous situation but is either guarded or unguarded. The assassin must have qualities of being determined, courage and intelligence to make the mission successful. Assassination is a long process of planning. It can take even years just to plan an assassination of a victim. Often times, assassination planning cannot be on paper because it can be evidence. The most common ways of assassination are using weapons, drugs, accidents and explosives. Surprisingly, the most common way of assassination is by gun. There can be many motives for assassination such as jealousy, political or religious ideas, revenge and etc. There are many famous assassinations. The assassination of Julius Caesar is very famous. Julius Caesar was Roman political figure, who was later was made the dictator of Rome, that was assassinated by the Senators.
Although Lincoln was a good man, he was not favored in the South as much as he was by the Northerners. Abraham Lincoln was an abolitionist and wanted to better America as a whole and bring the North and the South together, which meant ending the very big issue of slavery. The South was totally against the idea of abolishing slavery and did not want to have any part of Lincoln's attitude towards equality amongst all men. He had practically no support coming from the South. If more Southerners were to vote, he would have definitely lost the race. The Southerners used slaves to bring in the bulk of
Reading Lincoln’s first Inaugural Address, one wouldn’t think he would be the president to end slavery.Speaking on outlawing slavery, he says,“I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” At the time, Lincoln wasn’t worried about slavery,
Without any question, most people have a very clear and distinct picture of John Wilkes Booth a in their minds. It is April 1865, the night president Lincoln decides to take a much-needed night off, to attend a stage play. Before anyone knows it a lunatic third-rate actor creeps into Lincoln's box at Ford's theater and kills the president. Leaping to the stage, he runs past a confused audience and flees into the night, only to suffer a coward’s death Selma asset some two weeks later. From the very moment that Booth pulled the trigger, the victors of the Civil War had a new enemy on their hands, and a good concept of whom they were dealing with. A close examination of the facts, however, paint a different view of Booth, a picture that is far less black and white, but a picture with many shades of gray.
In a speech that Lincoln gave prior to his presidency, we can see how ambiguous his stance on slavery truly was. This speech, known as the ‘House Divided’ speech, was given on the 16th of June, 1858, and outlined his beliefs regarding secession, but did not solidify the abolition of slavery as his main goal. Lincoln states that the nation “could not endure, permanently half slave and half free,” and that the slavery will either cease to exist, or will encompass all states lawfully (Lincoln). At this point in his life, Lincoln’s primary concern is clearly with the preservation of the nation.
...ld not protect the interest of the Southern states. Coupled with the hostilities, lack of votes for Lincoln from the South and disregard for the constitutional protection of slavery is a justifiable reason from the Southern leaders to secede from the Union.
After President Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Johnson took his place. President Johnson supported white supremacy. It was quite clear that he never wanted slavery to be abolished and he sided with many of the southern state leaders (The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, 2002). The laws were made under the false pretense that they would be “separate but equal”.
As you can imagine the assassination of Lincoln greatly influenced the relationship between the north and the south. The assassination soured their relationship, increasing the north’s hate toward the south (The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln pg.51). Even before the north even knew who killed Lincoln, they blamed the south. The north mourned whereas the south was happy (History Engine). In the north, not only whites, but blacks too mourned for their fallen president (History Engine). In the south most were happy, but not all of them (History Engine). Some southerners joined with the north in their sadness and sorrow. The ones who mo...
Abraham Lincoln’s original views on slavery were formed through the way he was raised and the American customs of the period. Throughout Lincoln’s influential years, slavery was a recognized and a legal institution in the United States of America. Even though Lincoln began his career by declaring that he was “anti-slavery,” he was not likely to agree to instant emancipation. However, although Lincoln did not begin as a radical anti-slavery Republican, he eventually issued his Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves and in his last speech, even recommended extending voting to blacks. Although Lincoln’s feeling about blacks and slavery was quite constant over time, the evidence found between his debate with Stephen A. Douglas and his Gettysburg Address, proves that his political position and actions towards slavery have changed profoundly.