Alexandra Korniczky
Lincoln's Assassination On April 14, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's theatre while watching a play with his wife and friends. The assassin was later identified as John Wilkes Booth, an actor and passionate confederate. He believed that by eliminating the president, the South would rise up and start fighting the North again, but the assassination of Abraham Lincoln did not benefit the South the way John Wilkes Booth thought it would. As a passionate confederate during the time the civil war was ending, Booth was very angry about the outcome of the war. He saw Lincoln as a tyrant, and that his assassination was a blow for liberty, which is why he carried it out in public for all to see. Booth thought he was doing the South a huge favor in doing this, and nothing but good could come out for them. He devised his plan when he had heard the President would be attending a play that night. After several failed attempts to kidnap him, Booth saw his opportunity to end things once and for all. Booth's original plan was to kidnap the president and hold him hostage until he agreed to let confederate war prisoners go, and to pay a ransom. Him and his conspirators targeted the President and the others that worked with him. On the night of April 14, several other conspirators were sent out to hunt down people like the vice president. All other attempted murders failed, except Booth's. Booth had high hopes for what would become of the South after the murder of the president. Furious with the victory of the North in the Civil War. He had hoped that once the North's strong leader was eliminated, they would become weak, giving the South an opportunity to start up the war again and have a victory over the North. Booth thought of himself as a "hero" to the South for giving them this opportunity. The actual effect on the country as a result of the loss of its leaders was much different from anything Booth had hoped to happen. The North pointed fingers at the South, and blamed them for his assassination. A group of congressmen known as the "Radical Republicans" tried to use Lincoln's Reconstruction Act as a form of punishment for the South. Lincoln's Reconstruction act was designed to help being peace back to the country after they had just got out of war. The process of Reconstruction slowed down significantly after his death . Lincoln was in favor of a peaceful and easy return of the Confederate States to the Union. The group of congressmen known as the Radical Republicans were very important during this time period. They thought that Lincoln's Reconstruction Act was too lenient, and so they proposed the "ironclad Oath', which would prevent anyone who supported the confederacy from voting in Southern Elections. Lincoln vetoed it. After his death, The Radical Republicans tried to use his Act revenge on the south. They put much harsher conditions on the South and tried to eliminate all confederates. Lincoln has the ability to control them because they respected and looked up to him, had he lived. Northern hatred towards the South only worsened as time went on. As soon as Lincoln was killed, the North had blamed the South entirely for his death. Meanwhile, the South had actually thought of Lincoln as a kind and honest man, and was very good at leading the country, They did not want to be held responsible for Booth's actions. The Radical Republicans tried to make Linton's Reconstruction as a way to punish the South though. They attempted to use it to take away certain freedoms that the South had when entering the Union. After the Civil war, the South had established something called "Black codes". These "Black Codes" were created to restrict the rights of freed slaves in the South. After Lincoln's death, despite the best efforts of President Andrew Johnson to stop all legislation assisting Blacks, several significant bills were passed by the Radical
