The assassination of Lincoln

847 Words2 Pages

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln, not a simple act committed by a confederate sympathizer, stems from larger, more intricate conspiracies involving Andrew Johnson, the Church of Rome, and Jefferson Davis.
Although there are many conspiracy theories surrounding the murder, a proven conspiracy can be found in most textbooks. In the assassination of Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth was not the only man behind the well-orchestrated plot. This proven conspiracy does support the idea that Booth was a southern sympathizer who wanted to get revenge on the president who had just destroyed his beloved confederacy. Booth, with various other conspirators, were set on creating a plan to get their revenge on the president. Originally, Booth and his co-conspirators had the intention of kidnapping the president, on March 20th, 1865, taking him to the confederate capitol of Richmond, and then using Lincoln as a bargaining tool for a revival of the confederacy (Abraham). Although, this plan was quickly thrown out when Lincoln did not appear at the event where the conspirators were planning to kidnap him (Abraham). Nearly a month later, Booth and his conspirators carried out their fatal plan for the president. On April 14th, 1865 at 10:15 p.m., John Wilkes Booth entered Fords Theater where President Lincoln, his wife Mary, Union army officer Henry Rathbone, and Henry’s fiancé Clara were in a private box enjoying a play, when Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head with a .44 caliber gun (Abraham). This atrocious act was committed only five days after the confederate army surrendered to Union General Lee, a possible motive for Booth’s fury. While escaping from the theater, Officer Rathbone was stabbed as Booth fled from the scene after br...

... middle of paper ...

...ice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward, further linking Jefferson Davis to the entire assassination plot. Although Jefferson Davis did have multiple plausible motives for hiring Lincoln’s assassin, he did not have enough contact with Booth, other than one meeting, to design and influence the plan.

Works Cited

"Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2014
Chiniquy, Charles Paschal Telesphore. Fifty Years in the Church of Rome. Montreal: W. Drysdale, 1886. Print.
Linder, Douglas. "Jefferson Davis and the Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy." Jefferson Davis and the Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy. N.p., 2002. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
O'Reilly, Bill, and Martin Dugard. Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever. New York: Henry Holt and, 2011. Print.

Open Document