Saturday, April 25, 2020

The Events Leading Up to the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln Essay Example

The Events Leading Up to the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln Essay The events leading up to the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln There are men who want to take my life. And I have no doubt they will do it. . . If it is to be done, it is impossible to prevent it. This quote can closely be related to Abraham Lincoln and his assassination. This shows that President Lincoln was committed to his beliefs and traditions. When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, it was because his killer was an anti-abolitionist, and he did not agree with Lincoln’s ways. He was a strong and intellectual way and was often frowned upon for his thinking. He died for what he believed in and he did not want it any other way. Sixteenth President-Elected March of 1861. In his short presidency Abraham Lincoln guided our country through some tough crisis and is responsible for the abolition of slavery. Abraham Lincoln had perhaps the most strong beliefs and views of any of the presidents before him. It has been questioned whether or not Abraham Lincoln’s personal beliefs outweighed his political views. One major reason people were sketchy with electing Lincoln into office is because he was the first republican president. He won mostly because he had the entire backing of the north in the election. Even before he was inaugurated Lincoln knew that people wanted to take his life primarily due to his beliefs. This was perhaps the reason that people thought his personal views got in the way of him running the country. The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by President Lincoln during the American Civil War. It claimed that â€Å"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;† Slave owners were infuriated with Lincoln. We will write a custom essay sample on The Events Leading Up to the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Events Leading Up to the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Events Leading Up to the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer President Lincoln’s belief was that reducing slavery would economically expunge it. Then on September 22, 1862, Lincoln proclaimed the formal emancipation of all slaves in the Confederate States of America. Lincoln was up for re-election in 1864; he won by a landslide and had big plans in mind for the States. Lincoln wanted change, big change. Reconstruction is referred to as the period after the Civil War, when economy and social structures were rebuilt. Reconstruction began during the war as Lincoln and his associates pondered questions of how to bring everyone together. They were all reforming from the fall of the Confederacy. When Richmond finally gave in to Lincoln in 1865, white slave owners looked at Lincoln with a look of disgust. On the other hand, free men approached him as if he were a hero. Not long after this, Lincoln â€Å"redefined† what it meant to be a republican. Lincoln directed politics more towards the Declaration of Independence. He wanted people to focus more of the freedom aspect of the Declaration of Independence. After this he guaranteed a republican form of government. The entire time Lincoln was exploring the cause and effects of democracy. John Wilkes Booth was Lincoln’s assassin. There were a plethora of reasons Booth loathed President Lincoln. The Booth families were slave owners; therefore they were not supportive of Lincoln wanting to abolish slavery. Booth was not in favor of anything that The Lincoln had in mind for our Country. On the night that Booth killed President Lincoln he had several co-conspirators. They all met at a restaurant not far from Ford’s theatre to plan to abduct the President. Booth overheard that the President would be attending a matinee performance that afternoon on the outskirts of Washington. They figured that would be a perfect opportunity to kidnap the president. The plan did not work out in their favor and that is when plans changed. When none of his attempts were successful, he set a new plan, one not quite like the others, this one-an assassination. According to Booth’s former friend Louis Weichmann, Booth set out this plan after hearing Lincoln deliver a speech about Negro Suffrage. Abraham Lincoln’s death was a horrible situation. About ten days before his assassination he had a premonition of his death while he was sleeping. In his dream he heard strong sobs coming from somewhere in the White House. He was walking from room to room without seeing anyone. Eventually he came upon the East Room, and he entered. He saw a coffin with soldiers around it, acting as guards. He remembers asking â€Å"Who is dead in the White House? † and the soldier replied with â€Å"The President, he was killed by assassin! † He recalled a woman shrieking and then the next thing he knew, he was awake. This is one of the most investigated situations surrounding President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination because no one understands how such a thing could have happened. On April 14th, 1865 the President and the First Lady decided to go to a showing of Our American Cousin, at Ford’s Theatre. A policeman was positioned outside of the balcony door that evening. It is said that he left the theatre during intermission and went to the saloon next door for a drink, leaving Lincoln exposed. Just then, at 10:15 p. m. , Booth slipped into the box and shot President Lincoln in the back of the head, point blank. He then jumped the ten feet to the stage below and broke his left fibula and shouted â€Å"Sic semper tyrannis! †, meaning thus always to tyrants. He ran as best as he could to the back door of the theatre to an awaiting horse in the back alley. Back at the theatre Dr. Charles Augustus Leale and Dr. Charles Sabin Taft were at Lincoln’s side in an instant. They removed a blood clot from Lincoln’s wound but Leale knew it would change nothing: His wound is mortal. It is impossible for him to recover. Lincoln was carried to the Peterson Boarding house across the street and ironically enough laid in the bed that was earlier occupied by his murderer. At 7:22 the next morning, President Lincoln was pronounced dead. Abraham significantly changed the path of America in his time. Throughout his presidency he accomplished many things. If only he were able to serve his full term as president we could have seen all that he had to offer. Many historians are still trying to make sense of the information that doesn’t seem to add up. The events leading up to his assassination were very significant in the motives of John Wilkes Booth, but some of the events from that evening are still to be determined. It was inevitable to please everyone with the goals that he had been reaching for. Lincoln knew that he was hated by certain people and that his ambitions would someday lead to his eventual death. He died fighting for the right of others to live.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.