rubber soul

ABRAHAM LINCOLN- Part II

Assassination: On April 3, 1865, President Lincoln arrived in Richmond Virginia, as the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, fled. He arrived to a throng of newly freed blacks shouting that he was the messiah. Indeed, to this day, blacks look at Lincoln as their national hero.

Six days later, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox and the war was over. It was a time for both celebration and reflection.

And, on April 14, President Lincoln decided on a night out with his wife at Ford’s Theatre in Washington. He had also invited General Grant with whom he now had a personal friendship with, but Grant’s wife didn’t like the high strung Mary Todd Lincoln and Grant didn’t really feel like going anyway.

As it turned out, that decision might not only have saved Grant’s life, it also saved what could have been an even worse period than what was about to befall the nation. For, there was a plot not only to kill the President, but also the Vice-President, the Secretary of State, and General Grant. As it was, Seward was stabbed was in bed but would survive and purchase Alaska. Johnson’s would be assassin, meanwhile, chickened out.

John Wilkes Booth (another Marylander to be ashamed of, hey, at least we gave you Frank Zappa), the ringleader of this motley crew, would be charged with the assassination attempt of Grant and the assassination of the President himself. Well, as already mentioned, Grant wasn’t at Ford Theatre, as Booth somehow knew that’s where the President would be, but President Lincoln was.

And Booth, as an actor himself, knew what he was doing. He timed the assassination to take place after one of the funnier lines of the play. Indeed, there was laughter from the Presidential box when Booth fired his fatal shot at close range, hitting Lincoln in the head.

After a struggle with Henry Rathbone, the President’s guard, Booth jumped from the balcony, breaking his leg in the process, and screamed Sic Semper Tyrannis which proved at least he knew some Latin.

Our friendly Confederate sympathizer got away, only to be killed twelve days later. His other conspirators would be captured, and some would be executed.

As for Lincoln, he was taken back to the White House where he would die a day later.

Odd notes: John Wilkes Booth attended Lincoln’s second inauguration

Lincoln and Mary Todd held seances at the White House

https://constitutioncenter.org/media...coln_facts.pdf

https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-abraham-lincoln/



Final Summary: To say that Abraham Lincoln paid a dear price for his convictions would be an understatement. The death toll of the Civil War would gnaw at him, and he suffered from major bouts of depression. And the freeing of the slaves most likely cost him his life.

Like George Washington, Lincoln seems to be held high on a pedestal. Like Washington, there are stories of mythical proportions surrounding the man.

But, of course, Lincoln, like anyone else, was merely a human being and as such, he was flawed. The imposition of Habeas Corpus in particular kind of bugs me. I get that you have to take certain precautions during wartime, especially one on your own land, but to lessen anyone’s freedom simply for disagreeing seems to be counter to the ideals of Democracy.

On the other hand, Lincoln grew along with the Presidency. When he began, he was more than willing to sacrifice the blacks to slavery if it meant preserving the Union. But, as he saw the humanity in black people, and certainly after meeting black abolitionist Frederick Douglass (Finally, a Marylander I can be proud of), he changed his views on blacks. I don’t know if he died seeing them as equals quite yet (the 1860s were pretty ugly times), but he was certainly heading to that conclusion.

And, of course, it is hard to find another President with the honesty and integrity this man had. And a majority of historians (I think) rate him as the greatest President in American History.

But do I think Abraham Lincoln is the greatest President in American History, well, not really.

But he comes pretty darn close.

Overall rating: A

https://millercenter.org/president/lincoln

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