Abraham Lincoln Assassination Essay

History Internal Assessment

To What Extent was John Wilkes Booth Solely Responsible for the
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln?

Candidate Number: Total Word Count: 1,719

Criterion A: Plan of the Investigation
After a failed attempt to kidnap Lincoln, a plan was made to murder him. On April 14,
1865, this plan was made successful. John Wilkes Booth is credited for this murder, but to what extent was John Wilkes Booth solely responsible for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln?
Booth was a part of a small band of coconspirators, so other conspirators may have had a role in
Lincoln’s murder. Because of this, the scope will mainly focus on the actions of John Wilkes
Booth around the time of Lincoln’s murder, along with those who associated with him. In order to examine if Booth came up with the plan to kill Lincoln alone or with the help of others, the method of the investigation will be a literary analysis of John Wilkes Booth’s actions before and after Lincoln’s murder, using sources with quotes and documents from people involved in the murder. These documents may provide evidence as to who was involved with Lincoln’s murder.
Word Count: 162
Criterion B: Summary of Evidence
● Booth planned to kidnap Lincoln on March 20, 1865, but Lincoln didn’t show up to the spot where Booth and his associates were waiting (Staff, 2009).
○ Almost a month later, on April 11, Booth decided to change the plot from kidnapping to murder (Levins, 2009).
● "Booth was enraged as he listened to Lincoln talk about how Black men should have the right to vote in that speech," said Boyle. "We believe that Booth made up his mind about the assassination on that day. We know he turned to Powell and said, 'That's the last speech Lincoln will ever give.'" (Levins, 2009).

● Samuel Mudd treated Booth’s broken leg after he jumped off the stage at Ford’s Theater
(Staff, 2009).
● Mary Surratt, the first woman put to death by the federal government, allowed the people planning to kidnap Lincoln to use her house as a meeting place (Staff, 2009).
● Lewis Thornton Powell fought in the Civil War, where he was wounded and taken prisoner of war. He escaped, using Lewis Payne, and joined a Confederate guerillawarfare unit conducting raids behind Union lines. Payne and Powell suddenly left the unit to work with John Wilkes Booth (Levins, 2009).
● Booth seeked help from John Surratt, David Herold, George Atzerodt, Samuel Arnold,
Michael O’Laughlen, and Edmund Spangler (Levins, 2009).
● Powell and Herold planned to kill Secretary of state William Seward. Powell went inside
Seward’s house, pushed past a servant, and was confronted on the stairs by Seward's son.
Powell tried to shoot him, but the gun would not fire, so he beat him across the head with it. Powell then fought a male nurse and Seward's daughter before slashing Seward multiple times with a knife. He fought Seward's second son and a State Department courier on the way out. Herold, assigned to guide Powell out of the city, had run away.
Powell wandered around Washington for days, hiding in the Congressional cemetery at night, where he slept in a tree (Levins, 2009).
● Atzerodt planned to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson. Armed with a gun, Atzerodt checked into Washington's Kirkwood House where the Vice President was staying.
Atzerodt then began drinking in the hotel bar, and became unable to bring himself to carry out the murder. So, he wandered the streets for the rest of the night (Levins, 2009).

● Booth sought refuge from Thomas A. Jones after being treated by Samuel Mudd (Staff,
2009).
● Booth and Herold took refuge in the barn of a farm owned by Richard Garrett in Virginia
(Levins, 2009).
● Eight people were convicted of being conspirators with Booth, and four of these people were sentenced to death and hung: Lewis Thornton Powell, Mary Surratt, David Herold and George Atzerodt. The other

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