Early American History: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln - Essay Example

Early American History (The Assassination Abraham Lincoln) Introduction Abraham Lincoln was born in the year 1809. Abraham Lincolnwas the son of Kentucky frontiersman. Like that of other renowned presidents of America such as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, the character and rare ability of Abraham Lincoln make celebrated figure in the history of America. In the year 1861, Abraham Lincoln became the sixteen president of United States. Until the year 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford Theatre. The death of the president created a spark in whole nation. The pivotal legacy of Abraham Lincoln was to remove any form of slavery in the United States. John Wilkes Booth was the man who shot in the head of Abraham Lincoln. The death of sixteenth president is regarded as the largest manhunt in the history of America. This essay will discuss about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Discussion Abraham Lincoln was regarded as one of the revered figure in the history of America. This is solely due to the ability of being a strong character and think for the betterment of the nation. The reputation gained by Abraham Lincoln during the tenure of being president is well deserved. The ability to stand behind the words spoken and do what is right for the future perspective of nations are the pivotal characters which made Abraham Lincoln as the greatest president. The role of president is not only to uphold the constitution but also to create effective strategy and empower to defend and protect it. This shrewd character made Abraham Lincoln one of the strongest personalities that have been seen in the history of America. The unforgettable devastating times of civil war was nullified by the empowerment character of Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln builds Republican Party. This party was made in to stout national organization. In the year 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation. This issue of Abraham Lincoln changed disastrous war in to battle for freedom. During the time of devastating civil war, Abraham Lincoln led United States of America and kept from splintering (Dugard, 2011). This resembles the reputation of Abraham Lincoln which was strong and astute to handle any situation. The legacy of Abraham Lincoln is to abolish the form of slavery in America. And this was the pivotal reason behind the death of Abraham Lincoln. The romantic interest of Abraham Lincoln started in the year 1835 after meeting Ann Rutledge. Despite this love and affection eventually Abraham Lincoln engaged to Mary Todd. The peculiar institution of removal of slavery is the cause behind the assassination and another wound that was hard to resist for people. The assassinator of Abraham Lincoln was John Wilkes Booth who was born in the year 1838 (Steers, 2001). John Wilkes was an actor and played in plays throughout the country. Some of the famous work of William Shakespeare that were played around the world, John Wilkes was also lead in those famous works. During the time of civil war, John Wilkes Booth was southern sympathizer. The hatred of John Wilkes Booth represented everything that was against the work of Abraham Lincoln. The hatred of John Wilkes Booth with president was so adverse that it leads to the assassination. All the reason behind the south ills was blamed by John Wilkes Booth towards Lincoln. Downfall of southern part of America, slavery and sectionalism were the reason behind the burning hatred of John Wilkes Booth. The brother Booth was Edwin Booth. Edwin booth was regarded as the leading actor in the country. This mantle of acting was inherited from father Junius Brutus Booth. This resembles the renowned family of John Wilkes Booth. The act of assassination occurred on the evening of 1865, 14 April. The murderous attack on president occurred just after the days of surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee. In summer of 1864, many plans were developed by Booth to kidnap and assassinate Abraham Lincoln. The plan was developed to take Lincoln to the confederate capital. After taking to the Richmond, plan was to hold Lincoln in return for the prisoners that were captivated during the confederate war. Some of the conspirators joined with Booth are David Herold, Samuel Arnold, Lewis Powell, Michael o Laughlen. These conspirators were all against the work of Lincoln. The work adopted by Abraham Lincoln increase hatred among these people. John Wilkes Booth kept using the boarding house of Mary Surratt to meet with other conspirators and make a plan to kidnap Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth promised mother to ignore the fight for confederacy which was against Lincoln. During the time of civil war, John Wilkes Booth remained in the north. This step of Booth to remain in North deepened the hatred against Lincoln. In the year 1865, the group of conspirators planned to kidnap Abraham Lincoln. This was planned in the sense that, Abraham Lincoln was scheduled to attend a play which was played in a hospital. The hospital in which Abraham Lincoln was scheduled to visit for play was located on the fringes of Washington. This plan of kidnapping was in vain as president decided to stay in the capital. The sudden change in plan by Abraham Lincoln leads to the failure of the plan for kidnap. The successive failure in implementation of plan resulted in to increase of anger and hatred on the mind of Booth. Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered in the year 1865, April 9. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. John Wilkes Booth was racist and it was eventually proved by the speech given by Lincoln. Two days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee, Lincoln spoke to the people gathered in the White House. The main reason behind the speech of Lincoln was to grant voting rights to certain blacks. This act of voting rights was not adopted by any president previously. Lincoln believed in unity and desired no racial discrimination in America. The voting rights implemented by Lincoln, infuriated John Wilkes Booth to change the strategy of kidnapping to assassination. On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth found out that president and General Grant have scheduled to attend performance. Our American Cousin was the name of the performance that was held at Ford Theatre. The event took place at the time of evening and five days after the end of disastrous civil war. John Wilkes Booth had a meeting other fellow conspirators and said that this is the time of assassination rather than kidnapping. Atzerodt, Powell and Herold were assigned job to kill vice-president and secretary of State. Vice president at that time was Andrew Johnson. At the Kirkwood House, Atzerodt was assigned to kill the Vice president. Herold would help Powell to kill William Seward. William Seward was the Secretary of State. It was planned by all the conspirators that attacks would be held simultaneously at time 10:15 P.M (Burgan, 2004). The reason behind the killing of Secretary and Vice-president was to weaken the government that would help to ignite the people in south. John Wilkes Booth hoped that people in south can take the initiative of resulting chaos and create a comeback. During the process of all attacks, some of the conspirators failed to complete the assignment. Atzerodt failed to complete the assignment by Killing Herold Johnson. But Johnson was never approached by Atzerodt. Powell and Herold enter the home William Seward and slashed repeatedly to the face. The face of William Seward was disfigured permanently but the attack never took the life. William Seward survived as attack was mostly done on to the face. Booth arrives at the function which took place at ford theatre. The time of arrival of Booth was at 9:30 P.M. despite reaching at 9:30 P.M; Booth went to have a drink and entered Form theatre at 10:07 P.M (Fradin, 2006). The show started as the time of 8:30 P.M.Abraham Lincoln with wife Mary Todd Lincoln was watching the show at private box. John Parker was the bodyguard of Abraham Lincoln left the post. Booth entered to the State Box at the time 10:15 P.M. Abraham Lincoln was sitting at the State Box with Major Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris. After entering in to the Box, Booth shoots at Abraham Lincoln. The distance of the shot was point blank. But Booth struggled to deal with Henry Rathbone. Booth attacked Rathbone in his arm. After stabbing, Booth jumped from 11 feet to the ground level of stage. Wife of Abraham Lincoln screamed with fear and agony. Booth showed knife to all spectators and ran past from 1,000 people. The date of assassination of Abraham Lincoln was on April 14, 1865. Government arrested Booth and other fellow conspirator and they were hanged in the year 1865, July 7 (Marinelli, 2002). Conclusion This can be concluded that the demise of the southern region of American lead to the surge in hatred on John Wilkes Booth. The process of reduction of slavery and sectionalism drove Booth to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Booth with the help of other conspirators such as George Atzerodt, David Herold, Surratt, Powell and Samuel Arnold planned to kidnap Lincoln. But due to constant failure of plot and speech of Lincoln about the inclusion of blacks in the voting rights made Booth enraged and lead to assassination. The assassination of Lincoln was viewed afterwards as the savior of Union. Ultimately, the death created sustainability of the myths of Lincoln and resulted in to the reconstruction of America in a greater tone. References Burgan, M. (2004). The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Capstone. Dugard, M. (2011). Killing Lincoln. New York: Macmillan. Fradin, D. (2006). The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. New York” Marshall Cavendish. Marinelli, D. (2002). The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. Steers, E. (2001). Blood on the Moon. New Jersey: The University Press of Kentucky. Read More