It was Friday evening , April 14, 1865. John Wilkes Booth , an unemployed actor, walked into Ford’s Theatre in Washington. Using the absence of the guard, hid in the foyer near the presidential box . In his pocket he clutched a loaded gun …
From a drilled hole in the door of the lodge he watched sitting in it the Abraham Lincoln. When on the scene was only one actor , Booth pushed the door open box , rushed to him and fired a pistol in the back of the head of the president. Then he jumped off the stage. Presidential Lodge dealt with more than 4 meters above , so the landing broke his leg , but even that did not stop him . Some claimed that he cried to the audience : ” Such a fate befalls tyrants .” Then he limped to the back door , mounted his horse and rode away . All played out so quickly that no one had time to react. Only once Lincoln’s wife exclaimed : ” He killed the president ! ” , People come to his senses . Unconscious moved to a house opposite the theater. He died there the next morning , without regaining consciousness . The search for the killer took almost two weeks. April 26 was found in a barn near Bowling Greek in Virginia. He died from a shot of one of the soldiers who surrounded the barn .
When Booth shot the president of the United States , a man named Lewis Powell attacked Secretary of State William Seward , who , fortunately, nothing happened . It was not a coincidence , because Booth and Powell were partners . Another conspirator was at the same time to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson , but got scared and gave up . What was it that a group of people decided overnight to deprive his country ‘s highest authority , and in just a few days after the end of the bloodiest of the war , which was fought on American soil ?
The war is called the American Civil War. 1860 years South American state of California decided to occur or secede from the United States of America. Behind him went 10 other southern states. They formed their own state : Confederate States of America – CSA with its capital at Richmond . President Abraham Lincoln refused to allow the disintegration of the state . Initiated a bloody , lasting four years war between the Union and the Confederacy.
You can often meet the claim that it was a war for the abolition of slavery. But this is only part of the truth , differences between North and South existed for a long time , and slavery in the southern states was only one of them. South was more traditional , reluctant to change. The country’s economy is based mainly on agriculture – a typical element of the landscape were great cotton plantations extending around the mansions of their respective owners , cultivated by black slaves . Life went on them slowly , to the rhythm of successive sowing and harvesting . North was dynamic, open to new ideas. Industry developed there , and big cities . Southerners feared ( as it turned out later , not without reason ) that the Yankees , or the people of the North, destroy their way of life. The Civil War was in fact a conflict between two models of society , economy and culture. By the way, it was also to confirm that the United States is the only country that has the right to use force to defend its unity against the rebels , or the compound of conditions that may occur from it , when they want. The defeat of the Confederacy meant that ultimately won by the concept of the U.S. as a single, indivisible organism. Plantations were almost perfect backdrop for great romances , presented in many books and movies. Particularly popular enjoyed filming the novel Margaret Mitchell – Gone with the Wind . The North planter in the South but had no opinion of the sophistication of a gentleman , but rather ruthless overseer of slaves. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century progressed there abolitionist movement , whose main slogan was the elimination of slavery in the southern states . Initially abolitionists considered harmless eccentrics . Thanks to intensive propaganda conducted inter alia by means of such books as Uncle Tom’s Cabin , finally gained considerable public support.
Why the independence of the South provoked such a backlash the Yankees ? Certainly it was about money , because poorly industrialized areas of the Confederacy were a market for products manufactured in the North. Secession meant among other things, the introduction of customs duties, interruption routes , trade embargo – and therefore the loss or at least less profitable . Even more important was the ideology . For residents of North Union meant freedom, democracy and the embodiment of American ideals in life . Therefore, they were determined to defend it at all costs. In the American national mythology defender of those ideals was ( and still remains ) President Abraham Lincoln . The case of slavery was the least important of all .
Yet in 1861 Congress passed a resolution which stated that the aim of war is not to abolish slavery, but to restore the unity of the state. Exactly one year later, the President announced the so-called act of emancipation , announcing the abolition of slavery on 1 January 1863. Lincoln was a strong opponent of slavery , but the declaration indicates that the dish freedom of blacks was only a political tool , Slavery would be abolished only in the Confederacy (and not four ” slave ” states that were in the Union) , and provided that the South have not capitulate . A declaration aimed at winning the support of abolitionists in the country and abroad. Another thing is that in addition to the declaration of supporters spillover President enemies.
Despite being outnumbered and economic Union for a long time did not relate the expected victory. The breakthrough became a bloody battle of Gettysburg , which runs from July 1 to July 3, 1863 year. Unionists defeated the main forces of the South, led by General Robert Lee . The defeat of the Confederacy was only a matter of time . April 9, 1865 , General Lee surrendered . This meant the end of the war , although a group of desperadoes defended until the end of May. However, President Lincoln did not live to see this moment. A week after the surrender of Booth’s bullet hit him .
Despite its undoubted size Lincoln also had many enemies also in the Union. Some felt that he was too lenient and was determined to southerners , others have argued that , on the contrary – too harsh . On the death of the president on his desk lay up to 80 threatening letters .
Although Lincoln has passed since the death of nearly 150 years , the circumstances of his murder still remains a mystery. There are many theories , but none has been clearly demonstrated. Truth bomber took with him to the grave. The simplest explanation is that the entire action was carried out only at the initiative of Booth , which does not have the hidden principals , organized a group of conspirators . They were strong supporters of the South. His action intended to cause chaos in the country and thus avenge the defeat of the Confederacy. It is known that the plan of the attack was not the first idea Booth. Even during the Civil War he intended to kidnap Lincoln to Richmond , the capital of the Confederate States of America intention failed, because on the day of the attempted kidnapping of the president changed his plans .
