What led up to the event: The 1860 presidential election pitted four candidates against each other: Stephen Douglas for the Northern Democrats, John C. Breckenridge for the Southern Democrats, John Bell for the Constitutional Union Party, and Abraham Lincoln for the Republican Party. Southerners were furious over Lincoln's election ; they could not tolerate a Republican president who would limit and perhaps someday even ban slavery. In December of 1860 - South Carolina politicians held a convention in Charleston to discuss the possibility of seceding from the Union, just as many had threatened to do, if Lincoln became president. South Carolina decided to leave the Union, followed by six other states in the next six weeks and four more soon after. In February of 1861 - The Confederate States of America officially formed ; Before Lincoln took office on March 4. Tensions increased, tempers flared, and war loomed in the not-too-distant future. Only Douglas campaigned for himself with a platform of popular sovereignty. The other candidates allowed their supporters to campaign for them and spread their platforms far and wide, as Southern Democrats shouted for the unhindered expansion of slavery, the Constitutional Union Party clamored to preserve the Union, and Republicans vigorously demanded the prohibition of slavery in the West. In the end, Lincoln won the election with the large majority of electoral votes, but only 40% of the popular vote. Before he was even sworn in as president, however, 11 Southern states decided they could not tolerate a Republican in the country's highest office and seceded from the Union. As war loomed, Lincoln was about to encounter challenges no other president had ever faced. This election is what caused issues and debates that were significant, and the results of the election changed American history. States rights, the role of slavery in the southern economy, the human rights aspects of slavery were all issues that faced the nation. Lincoln's victory had disastrous effects on the Democratic Party and led us into the Civil War.
The event: On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War. Abraham Lincoln’s killer, John Wilkes Booth, was a Maryland native born in 1838 who remained in the North during the Civil War, despite his Confederate sympathies. As the conflict entered its final stages, he and several associates hatched a plot to kidnap the president and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, Lincoln failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth came up with a desperate plan to save the Confederacy.The search for John Wilkes Booth was one of the largest manhunts in history, with 10,000 federal troops, detectives and police tracking down the assassin. Lincoln occupied a private box above the stage with his wife Mary, a young army officer named Henry Rathbone and his fiancé, Clara Harris, the daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris. The Lincolns arrived late for the comedy production. At 10:15, Booth slipped into the box and fired his .44-caliber single-shot derringer into the back of Lincoln’s head. After stabbing Rathbone, who immediately rushed at him, in the shoulder, Booth leapt onto the stage and shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus ever to tyrants!”–the Virginia state motto). At first, the crowd interpreted the unfolding drama as part of the production, but a scream from the first lady told them otherwise. Although Booth broke his leg in the fall, he managed to leave the theater and escape from Washington on horseback. A 23-year-old doctor named Charles Leale was in the audience and hastened to the presidential box immediately upon hearing the shot and Mary Lincoln’s scream. He found the president slumped in his chair, paralyzed and struggling to breathe. Several soldiers carried Lincoln to a house across the street and placed him on a bed. When the surgeon general arrived at the house, he concluded that Lincoln could not be saved and would die during the night. Vice President Andrew Johnson, members of Lincoln’s cabinet and several of the president’s closest friends stood vigil by Lincoln’s bedside until he was officially pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. The first lady lay on a bed in an adjoining room with her eldest son Robert at her side, overwhelmed with shock and grief.
The Impact: Reconstruction, the period which followed the American Civil War, wherein the Southern Confederate Army lost to the North begins. During this period, the Union Government of America was debating on how to readmit all the Southern states that seceded during the civil war. Abraham Lincoln was the first American President to come up with a plan on how to go about with the Reconstruction. In December 1863, Lincoln proposed the “ten”, which state that, a southern state could be readmitted into the Union once 10 percent of its voters swore an oath of allegiance to the Union . Lincoln's plan would give all southerners, except for Confederate Army officers and officials, full pardon, and would protect all the private properties of the southerners except for the retention of their slaves. Lincoln wanted to reunite the Union quickly by being lenient and by showing forgiveness to the Southern States. Most of the moderate Republicans in Congress were in support of Lincoln's plan, realizing that his plan would make a more immediate end to the war. The death of Abraham Lincoln through assassination, however, changed all the plans and was a great blow to the Reconstruction process. If Lincoln hadn't been assassinated, the Reconstruction process would have been quicker.Lincoln had a great blow in the Reconstruction.Lincoln's death had an electrifying effect on the people of both the Northern and the Southern States. His death intensified the hatred and the vengeful attitudes of the North towards the South which gave reasons for the extreme Radical Republicans of Congress to push their bills that would punish the seceded States. The Radical Republicans wanted to punish the Southern States for seceding from the Union Government and started pushing a bill called Wade-Davis bill that will demand 50 percent of the voters to swear allegiance and give unequal treatment to southerners. Lincoln has the power of controlling these Radical Republicans had he still lived. There might be opposition from these Radical Republicans but they respected Lincoln as a statesman and reluctantly follows Lincoln's plan. Lincoln would have been able to control the Radical Republicans, at least that is the conventional wisdom. Lincoln's death, however, left a void in leadership. The new President, Andrew Johnson, was a southerner. As you can imagine this bitter irony was not lost on the Radical Republicans who hated him even before he was President. Johnson proposed a plan similar to Lincoln's. Suffice it to say, congress was not amused. The relationship between Lincoln and Congress soured quickly (How did ...).Lincoln's death also affected people at the South greatly. The South felt that Lincoln was the most-moderate and kind-hearted of the men in power at the North and they believed that he, if any one could, would hold in check all the extreme measures and stand between them and all unnecessary severities (Presidential Reconstruction...)
The event: On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War. Abraham Lincoln’s killer, John Wilkes Booth, was a Maryland native born in 1838 who remained in the North during the Civil War, despite his Confederate sympathies. As the conflict entered its final stages, he and several associates hatched a plot to kidnap the president and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, Lincoln failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth came up with a desperate plan to save the Confederacy.The search for John Wilkes Booth was one of the largest manhunts in history, with 10,000 federal troops, detectives and police tracking down the assassin. Lincoln occupied a private box above the stage with his wife Mary, a young army officer named Henry Rathbone and his fiancé, Clara Harris, the daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris. The Lincolns arrived late for the comedy production. At 10:15, Booth slipped into the box and fired his .44-caliber single-shot derringer into the back of Lincoln’s head. After stabbing Rathbone, who immediately rushed at him, in the shoulder, Booth leapt onto the stage and shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus ever to tyrants!”–the Virginia state motto). At first, the crowd interpreted the unfolding drama as part of the production, but a scream from the first lady told them otherwise. Although Booth broke his leg in the fall, he managed to leave the theater and escape from Washington on horseback. A 23-year-old doctor named Charles Leale was in the audience and hastened to the presidential box immediately upon hearing the shot and Mary Lincoln’s scream. He found the president slumped in his chair, paralyzed and struggling to breathe. Several soldiers carried Lincoln to a house across the street and placed him on a bed. When the surgeon general arrived at the house, he concluded that Lincoln could not be saved and would die during the night. Vice President Andrew Johnson, members of Lincoln’s cabinet and several of the president’s closest friends stood vigil by Lincoln’s bedside until he was officially pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. The first lady lay on a bed in an adjoining room with her eldest son Robert at her side, overwhelmed with shock and grief.
The Impact: Reconstruction, the period which followed the American Civil War, wherein the Southern Confederate Army lost to the North begins. During this period, the Union Government of America was debating on how to readmit all the Southern states that seceded during the civil war. Abraham Lincoln was the first American President to come up with a plan on how to go about with the Reconstruction. In December 1863, Lincoln proposed the “ten”, which state that, a southern state could be readmitted into the Union once 10 percent of its voters swore an oath of allegiance to the Union . Lincoln's plan would give all southerners, except for Confederate Army officers and officials, full pardon, and would protect all the private properties of the southerners except for the retention of their slaves. Lincoln wanted to reunite the Union quickly by being lenient and by showing forgiveness to the Southern States. Most of the moderate Republicans in Congress were in support of Lincoln's plan, realizing that his plan would make a more immediate end to the war. The death of Abraham Lincoln through assassination, however, changed all the plans and was a great blow to the Reconstruction process. If Lincoln hadn't been assassinated, the Reconstruction process would have been quicker.Lincoln had a great blow in the Reconstruction.Lincoln's death had an electrifying effect on the people of both the Northern and the Southern States. His death intensified the hatred and the vengeful attitudes of the North towards the South which gave reasons for the extreme Radical Republicans of Congress to push their bills that would punish the seceded States. The Radical Republicans wanted to punish the Southern States for seceding from the Union Government and started pushing a bill called Wade-Davis bill that will demand 50 percent of the voters to swear allegiance and give unequal treatment to southerners. Lincoln has the power of controlling these Radical Republicans had he still lived. There might be opposition from these Radical Republicans but they respected Lincoln as a statesman and reluctantly follows Lincoln's plan. Lincoln would have been able to control the Radical Republicans, at least that is the conventional wisdom. Lincoln's death, however, left a void in leadership. The new President, Andrew Johnson, was a southerner. As you can imagine this bitter irony was not lost on the Radical Republicans who hated him even before he was President. Johnson proposed a plan similar to Lincoln's. Suffice it to say, congress was not amused. The relationship between Lincoln and Congress soured quickly (How did ...).Lincoln's death also affected people at the South greatly. The South felt that Lincoln was the most-moderate and kind-hearted of the men in power at the North and they believed that he, if any one could, would hold in check all the extreme measures and stand between them and all unnecessary severities (Presidential Reconstruction...)