Booth's Motivation For Lincoln Essay

Some saw him as the famous actor. Others saw him as the infamous assassin of Abraham Lincoln. In Booth’s childhood, he and his family were farmers, and they used slaves, therefore they supported slavery. This played as a factor for his hatred towards Lincoln. It came across him, that if he assassinated Lincoln, then perhaps the war could rage on and the south would have another opportunity to win ,and finally keep their way of life and continue harsh slavery. No matter what the consequences were, Booth wouldn't stop, he raged on to do whatever it takes to accomplish his mission. There were many motivations that drove Booth to assassinate Lincoln.
The first motivation of Booth to assassinate Lincoln was that Booth viewed Lincoln as a corrupt

tyrant. In his last diary, where he expressed his thoughts, he said “Our country owed all of her troubles to him, and god simply made me his instrument” This was him delineating his
idea that Lincoln was engendering a negative impact on the country (United States of America). The section in that quote where it said, “… and god simply made me his instrument.” this signified that, in Booth’s eyes, Lincoln was so destructive and evil that even the almighty God can’t help but discern Lincoln’s horribleness. Therefore God mandated for Booth to assassinate Lincoln to liberate the country from Lincoln’s grasp. In the book, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, a book that described the twelve day manhunt for Booth, it said “Thus always to tyrants!”. This indicated another point for his argument that his outlook of Lincoln was that he was a tyrant, a autocrat, a dictator, that he was a horrible person that needed to be brought down from his sovereign power. He screamed “Thus always to tyrants” on the stage at Ford’s Theater, right after he did what he longed to do (assassinate Lincoln), beginning the pursue for John Wilkes Booth.

In Booth’s last diary entry, it said “From the time Lincoln was elected in 1860, there arose several conspiracies to kidnap or murder him. Pro-southern rebels began mailing him death letters.” This was him expressing himself to not be the only person to have an all-consuming hatred towards Lincoln. That others had the same feelings towards Lincoln, and that he was not alone. Others had went out of their way to publicly declare their opinion(s) on Lincoln, and that Booth could stand with others to continue the fight for slavery.
Booth’s second motivation, was loosing the war. Booth believed that if he had captured, or killed Lincoln then the war would rage on, and the South would have another opportunity to win the war. Furthermore, if the South did win the war, then they would be able to finally keep their way of life without the North’s opinion of slavery. Booth just wanted to end the North by killing its leader. In Chasing Lincoln’s killer, it said “The Confederacy was dead. His cause was lost, and his dreams of glory were over.” This was him asserting that the Confederacy lost the war, and this profoundly made him doleful. The

part where it said, “His cause was lost..” this signified that his cause was to fight for the Confederacy, and maintain slavery, and when Lincoln won the war, and ended the Confederacy, his cause was ended. The part where it said, “..his dreams of glory were over.” that meant that he wished for glory, and recognition for aiding the Confederacy in the Civil War, and that Lincoln was the cause for this misery and for the ending of his dreams of glory, and everything else that Booth believed was good in life. All of his misery was caused by Lincoln when he won the war. Booth was obsessed with the war. He poured his heart into the war, but in the end, when Lincoln won the war and all of his dreams were shattered, Booth blamed Lincoln for his misery and for the war. Booth recognize Lincoln as the source of everything bad in his current life. In Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, page one, it said “The very next day, the tyrant Abraham Lincoln had visited his captive prize and had the nerve to sit behind the desk of the desk of the first and last president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis.” This meant that he cared for Jefferson Davis, therefore, he despised and felt a deep repugnance for Lincoln when he sat behind his “hero’s” desk. When it said “…the tyrant Abraham Lincoln had visited his captive prize,…” captive prize meant that Lincoln had won the war, which meant that Jefferson Davis was his prize, and at the same time he was his captive because Lincoln had caught him and he has surrendered. From the book, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, page one, it said “No, all he (Booth) knew this morning when he crawled out of bed was that he could not stand another day of Union victory celebrations.” All of this meant that each day, the Union was celebrating the victory of the war frequently, and Booth recognized this and dreaded having to wake up and realize that you have to go through another day of gruesome victories over the war that Booth cared deeply about. In other words, he doesn’t want to wake up in the morning only to go through another day of teasing. I say teasing because there was victories all through his city, and possibly on his street, and so that is the Union putting up in his face, “Hey, we won the war! So, now we’re going to put the thing you’re currently most dreaded about all through the city, so that we can prevent you from forgetting.” With this, Booth must be very furious.
Booth’s third motivation to assassinate Lincoln, was that he thought that he could better the country by erasing Lincoln off the surface of the United States of America.

The first quote to support this, was from his last diary, “I struck for my country, and my country alone”. When he said that, it meant that he was assassinating Lincoln for the good for the country. That he was wanting to better the country, and taking out its source of evilness would finally heal the country of its wounds from Lincoln. At the section where it said “… and my country alone.” this signified that he did it for the country, alone. Alone, he didn’t do it for him, only for the country. For the good of the country. This is saying that he did it on the behalf of the country. Not on the behalf of his desires for personal gain. No, this was saying that he did not do it for any personal gains, only for his country that he intended to make “great again”. “A country that groaned beneath his tyranny, and prayed for this to end, and yet now, behold the cold hands they extend to me.” This was from Booth’s last diary entry. This denoted that the country was being brought down from Lincoln’s iniquitous and regretted ever letting him to be president, and wished for it to end, yet now after he freed them from Lincoln, they hate him and despise him for what he saw as rescuing them. In other words, he acknowledged that the people where in pain form Lincoln, so he decides to attempt to free them. After he has

defeated their “dictator”, and done what he thought they longed for to happen, they are furious with him for doing what he did for them. This possibly confused him, and infuriated him. Confusion best describes his understanding of their reaction, because he is confused of why they hate him for freeing them from Lincoln’s destructive grasp. Infuriation best describes his understanding of their reaction, because it would make one angry for trying to help somebody out, and instead of receiving thanks from the people, he received hate. This would spark a fire inside Booth when he comes to realize that. From the diary, it said “I hoped for no gain”. This arose the idea that he didn’t do it for personal gain, only to execute Lincoln for his crimes against the country and that he expected no gain before he attempted to assassinate Lincoln.
In conclusion, the three main motivations that made Booth decide to assassinate Lincoln, were, that Booth viewed Lincoln as a tyrant, that he lost the war, and that he could better the country. Those motivations are what drove Booth to come to a conclusion that he should assassinate Lincoln. Booth was always seen as an assassin, yet he never figured out why they saw him as this. He thought his deed was a good thing, to benefit everybody, not just him. In the beginning, he sought vengeance against Lincoln, and to have an outcome that he desired. Yet in the end, he realizes that it was a mistake, choosing this path, and there is no going back. That, was Booth truly showing regret.