Abraham Lincoln s Assassination Of The United States

On April 14, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while at Ford s Theater. This is a widely known fact but many of the events leading up to his death are obscure. Why was he assassinated? What was really supposed to happen that dreadful night? What made the south so mad? How did this affect the future of the United States? All of these questions have answers, the only thing you have to do is look. Let s start by getting to know our late president. Abraham Lincoln, our sixteenth President of the United States, was elected on November 6, 1860. He only received 40% of the popular vote, none of which was from the South. Lincoln became president during the highest conflict between North and South in†¦show more content†¦He was also a Confederate sympathizer, vehement in his denunciation of Lincoln, and was strongly opposed to the abolition of slavery in the United States. Booth and a group of co-conspirators originally plotted to kidnap Lincoln but later planned to kill him, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William H. Seward in a bid to help the Confederacy s cause. Although Robert E. Lee s Army of Northern Virginia had surrendered four days earlier, Booth believed the American Civil War was not yet finished because Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston s army was still fighting the Union Army. Of the conspirators, only Booth was completely succes sful in carrying out his part of the plot. Booth shot Lincoln once in the back of the head, and the President died the next morning. Seward was severely wounded but recovered. Vice-President Johnson was never attacked at all. Following the assassination, Booth fled on horseback to southern Maryland, eventually making his way to a farm in rural northern Virginia 12 days later, where he was located. Booth s companion gave himself up, but Booth refused and was shot by Boston Corbett, a Union soldier, after the barn in which he was hiding was set ablaze. Eight other conspirators or suspects were tried and convicted, and four were