John Wikes Booth and the Lincoln Assassination Theories

JOHN WIKES BOOTH AND THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION THEORIES
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The death of Abraham Lincoln came as a great shock to Americans especially to the people of the North who were only five days into the celebration of General Robert E. Lee’s surrender and marking the end to the civil strife. The fateful assassination of the 16th president of the United States on April 14, 1865, on a Good Friday, remains a hotly contested discussion with multiple conspiracies making it hard to differentiate fact from fiction. Competent evidence, however, confirms that John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators plotted and ultimately killed Abraham Lincoln. Despite the many misconceptions about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor at the height of his acting career and a known sympathizer, assembled he accomplishes readying to kidnap the president and hold him in exchange for Confederate prisoners held in prison camps in the North. A mere actor, one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite actors and at the height of acting career, orchestrated an atrocious crime that changed the course of history bringing the entire nation to emotional moments of mourning, grief, and confusion giving birth to multiple misinformed conspiracy theories about the death of the president.
Throughout the history after the assassination, some Americans, as well as well researched historians, find it difficult and unbelievable that the well-orchestrated assassination was done by none other than John Wilkes Booth, a theatre actor whom Abraham Lincoln adored. John Wilkes Booth is described as a carefree, jovial, lighthearted and captivating young man whose actions were “nothing like his terrible dead suggests.” His brilliant personality, simplicity, and sweet-disposition as a young actor made John Wilkes Booth a favorite of many, including the Ford Family. The lovable personality portrayed by John Wilkes Booth made it difficult to believe he would ever do such a thing, even among his acquaintances. The saddening news traveled far and wide bringing a moment of national calamity and public confusion following the death of the president and swearing of Andrew Johnson as the 17th president almost immediately. Immediately after the inauguration of Andrew Johnson as the new president, the then Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton that Lincoln’s assassination had been a plot “to murder the President, his cabinet, and leading Union generals.” Stanton postulated that Jefferson hatched the plan to assassinate President Lincoln.[Clarke, Asia Booth, and Terry Alford - John Wilkes Booth (1999)] [Frank, Seymour J- "The Conspiracy to Implicate the Confederate Leaders in Lincoln's Assassination." (1954)] [Ibid. p. 629]
Davis and other Southern leaders in a war retaliation attack against the South. Edwin M. Stanton appointed himself as the prime minister and took over the affairs of the government. Without giving Jefferson Davis and other Southern leaders a chance to respond to the purported assassination plot, Stanton used the state resources lavishly to support his assassination theory. Using the state resources, Stanton’s assistants offered bribes and other rewards to a group of people who were willing to pursue Stanton’s agenda. The group of people formulated stories to act as evidence against Jefferson Davis and other Southern leaders that would be turned over the military court through the Bureau of Military Justice. The malicious pursuit of Jefferson Davis and other Southern leaders was successful with Davis, who had been unaware of this development, together with Clay was taken to Fortress Monroe and held in strict solitary confinement without charge under the instructions of Edwin Stanton. Meanwhile, the identity of the real killer, John Wilkes Booth, had been established and killed. The unscrupulous and unjustified conspiracy to implicate General Davis Lee and other Southern leaders failed with the successful identification of the real killers threatening the rights of individuals as well as undermining the integrity of the American democratic systems, policies, and procedures.[Ibid. p. 630] [Ibid. p. 632]
John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators successfully lead a plot to kill President Abraham Lincoln. Other co-conspirators included David E. Herold, Lewis Payne, George B. Atzerodt, Michael O'Laughlin, Samuel Arnold, and John H. Surratt. The government was pursuing to arrest them and charge them with planning and consummating Lincoln's murder. But what prompted the group to assassinate the president? The entire group was comprised of the Confederate sympathizers who wanted to give Confederacy another chance. Robert R. Lee, a Confederate general, had conceded defeat on Palm Sunday, five days before the assassination of President Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth was largely a famous actor at the height of his acting career. As a Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth had contacts with the Confederate Secret Service. Before metamorphosing into a killer, John Wilkes Booth plotted a plan to kidnap Abraham Lincoln and use him to secure the release of Confederate prisoners still held in the Northern prison camps. John Wilkes Booth assembled a group that comprised of George B. Atzerodt, Michael O'Laughlin, Samuel Arnold, and Herold that was meant to kidnap President Lincoln. In March 1865, the kidnapping group was disbanded after a failed kidnapping attempt since President Lincoln was absent from his carriage as was projected. The group was unsuccessful in their kidnapping attempt.[Donald, David Herbert- Lincoln. (1996: p.586-587)] [Ibid. p. 587] [Turner, Thomas. "Myth and the Lincoln Assassination: Did John Wilkes Booth Escape? (1982- p. 5).]
John Wilkes Booth’s sympathy for the Confederacy did not stop there. On April 11, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln expressed his support for the voting of blacks. It would have been “morally indefensible for the government to deny suffrage to African American soldiers, who helped preserve the nation when peace would bring demands to re-enfranchise their former masters, who sought to divide it.” President Lincoln was keen to legalize voting by African Americans. His decision to openly support voting rights among the African-American was controversial, and President Lincoln expected this announcement to cause dissatisfaction among some member of the society. This announcement by the president was the last test to John Wilkes Booth’s patience. More than ever, John Wilkes Booth was determined to kill the president. Upon hearing President Lincoln’s remarks, Booth grumbled to Herold, his co-accomplice, “That means nigger citizenship.” Now more than ever, John Wilkes Booth had an unwavering determination to kill President Lincoln. If successful, John Wilkes Booth’s assassination plan was to become the first time a leader died through violence in the history of the United States. John Wilkes Booth was now in the ultimate plan to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln and two of his possible successors hoping to bring Confederacy back to power.[Ford's Theatre. 2018. "Lincoln's Assassination · Ford's Theatre". Fords.Org. Accessed December 21. /lincolns-assassination/.] [Remembering Lincoln. 2018. "Assassination's Aftermath". Rememberinglincoln.Fords.Org.http://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/exhibit/events.]
In his pursuit to assassinate the president, John Wilkes Booth learned that President Lincoln together with General Ulysses Grant would be attending Laura Keene’s performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre. The acclaimed play, Our American Cousin, was a popular 1850s British comedy featuring the popular Laura Keene as the star. Abraham Lincoln was famously fond of the Fords Theatre having passed many an evening at the theatre. John Wilkes Booth knew that he had to take advantage of the situation at hand. Assassinating both the president and General Grant would have been a victory to the Confederate that had conceded five days earlier. Vice President Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward were to be assassinated in their respective homes. At this ...