Evil Paper: Abraham Lincoln Assassination

Thesis: The Abraham Lincoln Assassination was a horrible and tragic event, and the way the country was so strongly divided up at that time affected the way the events of the assassination played out before, during and after the evil event. Topic Sentence: Much before the assassination, the Union and the confederacy were strongly divided in the country and shared many different viewpoints of how the country should be run, and the reader can see how easy it would be for a member of the Confederacy to feel the need to plot a plan for the murder of the Union leader, Abraham Lincoln.

Context: John Wilkes Booth and his fellow Confederate sympathizers wanted to plot a plan to capture the president and take him to the Confederate capital of Richmond in a plan to demand peace or the release of confederate soldiers. Example: “That means nigger citizenship, now, by God, I’ll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make”(Hamner).

Analysis: Booth is expressing his hateful emotions after the speech he just heard from Lincoln.

The speech Lincoln stated included the idea of getting the country united as one, and giving the right for literate African-Americans to vote. Booth did not like either one of these ideas Lincoln had in mind (more so giving the African-Americans the right to vote) and stated that he will put him through, and this will be the last speech that he will make. Booth is foreshadowing his murder of Abraham Lincoln. Topic Sentence: After a very well thought out plan with his fellow Confederate sympathizers, John Wilkes Booth was ready to complete the task he vowed to finish; to kill the President of the United States. Context: John Wilkes Booth and his fellow Confederates had tried numerous times to take out the president, though none of the plans worked.

However, on the night of April 14, 1865 John Wilkes Booth was excited to hear the news that Abraham Lincoln would be attending a play nearby the area that Wilkes was at that time. On that night in Ford’s theatre, at 10:15 p.m. Booth snuck into Lincoln’s private box, pulled out his .44 caliber pistol and shot Lincoln in the back of the head. Wilkes somehow escaped the theatre with a broken leg, and left everybody in the theatre in awe of what had just occurred. Example: “Sic semper tyrannis!”(John Wilkes Booth Biography) Analysis: This statement was said by John Wilkes Booth just moments after he shot the president in the back of the head.

Although this was said in Latin, in English this quote means “thus always to tyrants”, which was the Virginia state motto at the time. Lincoln was not considered to be a tyrant of the time, but that didn’t mean that Booth didn’t think that way. This quote can be translated to “this is what happens when you are a tyrant.” This shows that Booth had a very true hate for the 16th president of the United States, did not believe in his moves as a president, and most importantly wanted the Confederacy to dominate the Union. Topic Sentence: This horrible event put many Americans in a state of shock and uncertainty, and in the aftermath of the assassination many Union members seek to go after and kill everybody involved in this gruesome act.

Context: The search for Booth was one of the largest manhunts to take place in history, as many as 10,000 federal troops, police officers, and detectives were attempting to locate the trail of the assassin. After Booth fled the capitol, he was met by David Herold, who would help him cross the Anacostia River into Maryland. Booth stopped by Dr. Samuel Mudd’s house on the way, where his leg was treated (Mudd’s assistance of Booth gave him a life sentence in jail). Booth was then assisted by Confederate agent Thomas A. Jones, who helped him cross the Potomac River to Virginia, where Booth and Herold would hide for the time being. Nearly two weeks after the assassination, the union soldiers located Booth and Herold in a farmhouse, to which the soldiers set fire.

Herold surrendered, but Booth stayed inside. As the fire got worse, one of the soldiers shot Booth (the sergeant claimed that Booth raised his gun like he was going to shoot). Booth eventually crawled out and three hours later was pronounced dead. All four of the Confederates who assisted Booth in the plotting of killing Lincoln were executed by hanging. Example: “Useless, useless!” (Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination) Analysis: Moments before Booth died, Booth stared at his hands and shouted “useless” because he was referring to his inability to do anything for the last three hours of his life (as he was paralyzed from the shot he took in the barn). Booth wanted to go down with a fight and was unable to due to his disability, making Booth very mad at himself.

Works Cited
“Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.history.com/topics/abraham-lincoln-assassination>. -This
article provided by history.com provided a good description of the assassination from the plotting of the assassination to the aftermath. The website also provided some videos that proved to provide meaningful information for the sake of my research paper. Overall the best source I had, and I was able to really get a good idea of what the assassination was all about. Hamner, Christopher. “Teaching History.org, Home of the National History Education Clearinghouse.” Booth’s Reason for Assassination. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24242>. -The author of this article, Christopher Hamner seems to have a good idea of the assassination, and is very successful at giving me information about Booth’s reasoning for his murder of Lincoln. Hamner is a very qualified historian, and he teaches at George Mason University. Hamner gave me detailed information of the assassination, which will be very beneficial for my paper. “John Wilkes Booth Biography.” Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.biography.com/people/john-wilkes-booth-9219681>. -Biography.com does a very good job of giving me quotes, videos, and a good text reference of the assassin, John Wilkes Booth. My paper was focused mostly on Booth and his actions throughout the assassination, and biography.com helped give me a good portion of my information that I used in this paper.