Our American Cousin: Was Abraham Lincoln Justified?
557 Words3 Pages
Do you know why Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and killed?
Abraham Lincoln, a former president of the United States, was shot by John Wilkes Booth, a stage actor at the time, on Good Friday, April 14, 1865 while watching the play “Our American Cousin” in the presidential box at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. Lincoln died the next morning across the street in a boarding house. Booth and accomplice, David Harreld, hid in a farmhouse in Virginia. Harreld surrendered while troops set the farmhouse on fire, and shot and killed Booth. Lincoln’s death was not justified because he was killed for foolish reasons.
• Booth did not like Lincoln
• Booth was a racist
• Booth was a Confederate sympathizer who saw Lincoln as a tyrant
Booth did not like Lincoln because he wanted to extend legal rights to African Americans. Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery in the south. Booth was a supporter of slavery and believed that Lincoln was determined to overthrow the constitution and to destroy his beloved south. As a supporter of slavery he did not want Lincoln to take sides with the slaves, because if slaves were given rights and freedom,…show more content… He had made many efforts before to kid nap Lincoln, but he never succeeded. After the war, Lincoln indicated a wish to extend franchises to some African Americans, at the very least, those who had fought in the Union ranks during the war, and had also expressed a desire that the southern states would extend the vote to literate blacks. Lincoln had indicated his wish during a speech to a small crowd on the White House lawn; Booth was a part of that audience. After hearing the speech, Booth stated to Lewis Powell, one of his band of conspirators, “That means nigger citizenship, now by God, I’ll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make.” Booth liked the idea of slavery, and wanted it to stay that