The Lincoln Assasination

The Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy

                Lincoln was known for being Honest Abe, and as honest of a man he was, he was also the common man. Who would want to kill, a man, that was respected and thought highly of in a society after the Civil War ended? This is where the conspiracy sets in. John Wilkes Booth, the man with a plan so to say, was a well known southern actor, that came and heard Lincoln at a speech. In the beginning, Booth was planning on just kidnapping the president as a way to get revenge towards losing the war to the Union.  Booth was planning a mass scale plot that would involve, John Surrat, Lewis Powell, David Harold, and George Atzerdot, these men along with Booth were conspiring to kidnap Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Steward and Ulysses Grant. All four of these men, were the new faces of the Union that defeated the South. On the day of April 11, 1865, the plan went from just a kidnapping to a murder plot against the president. Booth stated, “it will be the last speech the President ever gives” (Linder). It was the night of April 14, 1865, when Booth Assassinated Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre. Upon running out of the theatre Booth injured his leg and yelled out, “Sic Semper Tyrannis” for those who are tyrants to the new nation of the Union. Booth was later captured, and was accidently shot by a Union officer.

                No one truly knows who was involved in the assassination of Lincoln, but many theories began to spark up about how Booth could not have acted alone. Booth’s first conspiracy on kidnapping the President, were brought to trial for reason of co-conspiring, and then hung to death. The real question is though, was this assassination a part of a much larger conspiracy? For instance, the Union was now stronger than ever after the Civil War, so would the South be blamed for the assassination of Lincoln as a way to heal the broken hearted of the new Union? As pone article states, “Confederate grand conspiracy theorists feel Judah Benjamin, the Confederate Secretary of State, was deeply involved in the plot to kidnap/kill Abraham Lincoln. He burned all of his records before Richmond was evacuated” (Norton), thus showing that that there was more going on behind the scenes than the public knew about, and Booth was just the puppet on the other end. Why did Booth do this in the first place, even if it was a big political wrap up? He was a well known person in the actor’s world, but why would he commit such a crime? Thus, sparking the idea of the invisible man concept. Booth was able to blend within a society as a spy for the Confederate government in order to pursue killing Lincoln. A man that lives in the shadows, but climbs to fame on the stage, the stage where he left his biggest impression.

There are many theories, about the Lincoln Assassination that are still seen in today’s society. Where do you stand on this debate over whether Booth did it out of Patriarchy or was he hired by the government?

I will let you decide.

Feel free to comment below.

-Tim Mitchell

Sources: http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln74.html, http://famous-trials.com/lincoln/2165-chronology, https://www.thoughtco.com/abraham-lincoln-assassination-conspiracies-104800