Killing Lincoln By Bill O Rreilly

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that,” Martin Luther Kink Jr. once said. This applies to the Civil War especially. The three works, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson, Killing Lincoln produced by National Geographic, and the excerpt from The Plot to Kill Lincoln by Karen Zeinhert all use the imagery of light and darkness when talking about Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, and the Civil War in general, though they do not all elaborate on all of the conspirators involved.

Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America is a biography that tells the life and success of Abraham Lincoln. At the beginning it talks about his life and how rough he grew up. As Lincoln grew up he wanted to learn to read and write because he was ashamed that his father couldn 't. Lincoln learning to read and write was a key factor to help him win the election and become as successful as he was. Even as a young child Lincoln claims to naturally be anti-salvory ( page 281). This is important to his stand point during the war. The book is broken down into thirds. The first third of the book talks in depth and detail about his early life. The second third of the book goes into the presidency stage, elections, office, and the obstacles headed his way. The last part of the book talks about the war and the choices Lincoln had to make.

For example, Booth gives evidence that Atzerodt was involved in the conspiracies when he wrote in his diary, “for six months we had worked to capture, but our cause being lost, something decisive and great must be done. But its failure was owing to others, who did not strike their country with a heart.”(Booth 1) The excerpt from the diary gives proof that Booth and his conspirators, including Atzerodt, planned to kidnap Lincoln, but the fact that the Southern cause was being lost due to his presidency influenced all the conspirators to put an end to their believed tyranny through the assassination plot. Nevertheless, Atzerodt was forced to be involved in the assassination conspiracy by Booth. According to the novel Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, “Booth then threatened Atzerodt, implying that he might as well kill Johnson, because if he didn’t, Booth would accuse him anyway and get him hanged.”(Swanson 27) This shows that Atzerodt did not want to be involved in the assassination plot and was not as supportive of the plot as the other conspirators in their plan to overthrow the government. Atzerodt was threatened by Booth that he would be captured anyways if he did not carry out the mission since it would make him

Chasing Lincoln’s Killer is a book about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a past United States of America president. The introduction of the book is how John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s killer, and his accomplices, made a plan to kidnap the American president, but their plan failed. So, John Wilkes Booth and his little gang decide to kill the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State in one night. John Wilkes Booth would kill the president at Ford’s theater, His accomplice George Atzerodt would kill the Vice President at the Vice President’s hotel room. Lewis Powell and David Herold would kill the Secretary of State.

Chapter 1 of Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson is about the assassination plan of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. This assassination plan had strengths and weaknesses. John Wilkes Booth was a twenty-six year old actor who was a strong, loyal, and passionate confederate. Booth and his conspirators had a mission to take down some of the top leaders of the United States of America - the President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Johnson, and U.S Secretary of State William Seward. In assessing this plan, which is similar to any other assassination plan, it includes good and bad situations with conspirators, location/time, and also weapons.

History has a tendency to be biased. Always told from the apparent side of the ‘good’. From the British being the bad guys in the Revolutionary War, to the idea, that terrorism raised because of the War in Iraq, the media, as well as other sources, tends to be biased towards the side that we, as humans, are more likely to be able to relate with. However, the untold side of the story is always the one with more facts, and it is the one that is truly the key to figure out motive. The book, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, written by James Swanson is one, such text that reports how the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, created his plan and the manhunt that followed. What may seem like a heinous crime to us was a glorious crime

James Oakes’ The Radical and the Republican is a thorough and captivating account of two of America’s most distinguished figures, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas. In his intriguing and polished work, Oakes examines the issues of slavery, race, politics, and war in America during the mid-1800’s. Though both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas engendered immense social and political change throughout the Civil War era, the relationship between the two men is often neglected. Oakes argues that as America went to war with itself, Lincoln’s antislavery politics and Douglas’s abolitionism gradually converged. James Oakes vivid political analysis chronicles the transformation of two of America’s greatest leaders as Lincoln embraces the role of the “radical” and Douglas embraces the role of the “republican” (104).

No matter how many news reports and newspapers people scour through, there is always a better chance than not that key information is missed because of a biased article writer. Through reading the book, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, no side is left out, and while Swanson is a writer from the North, he manages to cover the entire story of Booth’s manhunt, including the many hidden facts as well as the motive behind Booth’s attack. Through primary sources and other documents, the text is quite informative, and therefore is a must read for anyone and everyone. It does matter if people read this book, because it reveals so much more than what most people know, about this horrific incident. Every day, manhunts and assassinations take place around the

The President was assassinated in Springfield Illinois, so his body had to be transported, via train back to Washington DC, where his funeral would take place. According to Edward Steers Jr, the author of Blood on the Moon, a biography and explanation of Lincolns assassination, that on route to Washington D.C. “the train traveled 1,664 miles and made scheduled funeral stops in eleven cities” (Steers 278). The funeral procession was one like nobody had ever seen before. Steers gathers that “all along the sixteen-hundred-mile journey thousands upon thousands of citizens turned out and stood or sat in their buggies and wagons waiting for the train” (Steers 278). The people of the US showed up in massive crowds just to watch the train transporting Lincolns body, and pay their respects to a man that they all looked up to. At the New York stop, over 500,000 people waited in line to get a glimpse of their murdered president (Steers 283). It was obvious that the American citizens respected Abraham Lincoln.

I will be writing about how Lincoln’s killer John W. Booth as he assassinated Mr. Abraham. His plans continued to fail, but he kept trying. John came from a long line of family with good fortune.

The novel Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt is based on the story of the childhood of Hunt’s grandfather during the Civil War in the United States. The story takes place in Southern Illinois in 1861-1865, ruled by Abraham Lincoln. The Creighton family live in Jasper County, Illinois and Matt guessed that eighty percent of the people in the part of the country count Missouri or Kentucky or Tennessee as somehow being their own. Missouri and Kentucky historically stay Union while Tennessee turns Confederate, and this was why there were complicating attitudes about the war in the Creighton’s community. Between 1861 and 1865, political emotions were growing long before that. Jethro thinks right that “this year of 1863 is a find, carefree time for

There are many different books that tell the story of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. One such book is Killing Lincoln, written by Bill O’Reilly. This book is not only about the assassination of President Lincoln, but it’s about the end of the Civil War too. O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln has many strengths and weaknesses, overall, it’s a good book.

Presidents are elected to preform and achieve greatness in America; they serve as the commander and chief of armed forces, and they find ways in coming up with agreements regarding trade and aid along with many other things. Being the president is obviously not an easy task. Have you ever thought about who you thought the best presient of the United States of America was? According to a debate in Taking Sides written by Larry Madaras and James SoRelle they presented an argument between Phillip Shaw Paludan and Melvin E. Bradford debating if Abraham Lincoln was America’s Greatest President. Many people agreed and disagreed whether or not President Lincoln was the greatest; however the sides of two professors were part in the Taking Sides issue of yes or no. Paludan argued that Lincoln was the greatest because of the safeguard he provided for the Union; while Bradford thought the opposite saying that Lincoln took advantage of the authority that he had being President. This immense time was important as it took place during the American Civil War fought between the Union and the Confederates from 1861 to 1865 during the years that Lincoln was in his presidency. The Civil War took place regarding the issues of slavery and how slavery was crossing over into the

Many of America's leaders were assassinated such as John F. Kennedy and MLK. The motives to their assassinations were most from disagreements which is the same motive for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On April 14th 1865, John Wilkes, shot and killed Abraham Lincoln at a play at ford Theatre . John Wilkes Booth was born in Maryland and was born in 1838. He lived in the north during the civil War but but yet he still didn’t agree with Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln's assassination was not justified because he freed slaves and he was a great leader.

“John” notes that Booth’s family was a renowned acting dynasty at the time of the Civil War. Booth himself was an ardent supporter of slavery with a burning hatred for Abraham Lincoln (Britannica.com). “Assassination,” suggests that Booth’s hatred of Lincoln may have been caused in part Lincoln’s undemocratic practices. The President deemed censorship of speeches and newspapers necessary during the Civil War. Additionally, the President was able to suspend any writ of habeas corpus, which prevented trials from taking place (2009). Booth himself wrote about Lincoln in a negative manner. “Our country owed all her troubles to him, and God simply made me the instrument of his punishment” (Booth, April 13-14, 1865). This quote proves that Booth saw the assassination of Lincoln as both patriotic and