Why did John Wilkes assassinated Abraham Lincoln? Just saw a movie about the true story of Abraham Lincoln and I'm curious why he was murdered. Was it because he was successful in passing bill of abolition of the slave trade?

Taiwo Henry Olajide | Oct 2, 2018 | Category: Performing arts theater in Washington, District of Columbia

Ford's Theatre - All questions

Address: 511 10th St NW, Washington, DC 20004, USA

kurt jahnke | Oct 2, 2018

There are several theories, none actually mention slavery unless in biassed opinion. One was to attempt to reenergize the separatists, cutting the head off the snake so to speak.

Azh | Oct 2, 2019

Well, right before pulling the trigger, Booth said the words said when Julius Caesar was killed, so that meant he was a supporter of the South separating, so he was mad that U.S became a union and, you know.

Kevlar Kid | Oct 2, 2019

Google is your friend.

kevin fitzpatrick | Oct 2, 2019

The original plan was to kidnap Lincoln by Southern sympathizers to create chaos in the Union. However, after Robert E. Lee surrendered the last major Confederate army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865 the war ended. JWB took it upon himself to assassinate the president in retaliation for the confederate loss in the Civil War.

rajesh sharma | Oct 2, 2018

Many different theories exist

Chris Seale | Oct 2, 2018

John Wilkes Booth supported the Confederacy. This includes their use of slaves to work the land. Abraham Lincoln was about to defeat the Confederacy and force them into the Union.

Michael Forgione | Oct 2, 2018

There are many theories out there onto why he assassinated him.

Not Me | Nov 5, 2021

Lincoln actually committed suicide. But he cleverly arranged his death by his own hand to appear as though he had been assassinated, for the good of the country of course. Lincoln, after learning of his grave financial condition, a condition brought upon him by his wife Mary Todd's insatiable shopping addiction, and the insurmountable debt she accumulated in his name, "took the easy way out". Lincoln likely arrived at the decision to cancel himself only after giving the matter careful consideration. He was a man of reason. A calculated thinker. To his mind, commiting suicide, but elaborately disguising it as a murder, while he's still a sitting President, is much preferable to a life of poverty and embarrassment that was sure to follow his time in the White House. The ridicule would become intolerable. This was certainly not an "easy way out" to Lincoln's mind, but likely "the only way out".

DesertFlower | Oct 1, 2020

Booth felt like Lincoln was a tyrant... When in fact the opposite was true. After Lee surrendered which was the ultimate proof that the Confederacy (south) lost the war, and this angered Booth. Once, before the bloody civil war, Booth was a pretty nice, down to earth happy old boy (definite southern.. Rebel) , but all that changed with the war and his beloved south getting beat. He drastically changed about this time. Sure some if it had to do with the abolishment of slavery thru Lincoln, but that's only part of it. This time in history is so deep with many sorrows & loss of lives, the young and highly respectable boys & men - all dying for a cause of Unionship. Lincoln, Grant and many others wanted our split nation to become one union, not be the Confederacy (south) and the Union (north). And that meant the abolishment of slavery in the south. Slavery was already illegal in the north but not the south. There are so many conspiracy theories, lost evidence!!

Bradley Washburn | Oct 2, 2018

Sometimes people are just crazy. Can't use logic to understand that kind of person

Robert Folker | Oct 2, 2018

Many held Lincoln responsible for the growing power of the federal government, which they saw as supplanting state's rights. I'm not sure how they justified the obvious abuse of human rights by the slave states, though.

Jack Christensen | Oct 2, 2018

More or less. Booth was a confederate and of course supported slavery. After the civil war ended and the South lost, he had lots of anger towards the president, who ended up creating a path to abolish slavery. Slavery was over with, but the South still found ways of using African Americans to their advantage.

Ford's Theatre | Oct 1, 2021

John Wilkes Booth, a popular 26-year-old actor who was also a Confederate sympathizer and white supremacist, had been plotting for months to abduct Lincoln and give the Confederacy another chance. But three days before the assassination, hearing the president talk of his plans to bring the nation together—in particular, Lincoln’s plans to grant some African-American men the right to vote—Booth’s plans turned murderous. Read more here: https://www.fords.org/lincolns-assassination/investigating-the-assassination/

Jason Paisley | Oct 1, 2020

Simple revenge. The plan was to assassinate Lincoln, Johnson and Seward after Booth and his conspirators gave up on kidnapping after Lee surrendered. He had hoped that by killing all three or just Lincoln the south would be galvanized to restart the war but the night before Booth was killed he found that General Joseph E Johnston and the Army of Tennessee , which was the largest single army in the Confederacy surrendered in North Carolina to General Sherman. Booth then decided to flee to Mexico but it was too late he had been tracked by Union troops and shot in the back despite orders that he be taken alive.

angrysoldier100 | Oct 2, 2019

Jwb was a time traveler who came to save us from alien invasion by killing Lincoln. Dont believe me? Have we been invaded by aliens? No....guess I'm right.

tupac shakur | Oct 2, 2018

He hated him and wanted the war to keep on thats why he assisn president abraham lincoln

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