What Was the Lincoln Conspiracy?

I would really like to know more of the motivations of the conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

I really have to wonder exactly what they were thinking, as far as what their actions would accomplish and whether or not they thought they would actually create change, since the war was realistically over.

I do not see what change they thought they could create, but I find it interesting, because it involved so many people and was so complex that they had to have some types of goals in the conspiracy besides just killing the leaders.

I have a really random question, but how famous was John Wilkes Booth at the time of the conspiracy?

I am only asking because I am trying to imagine if he was a really famous actor, and he all of a sudden killed the president of the United States, then that would be something in itself.

Unlike another politician killing one of their peers in an overthrow, it would be someone that was unaffiliated with politics, but famous nonetheless, committing what would probably be considered the biggest murder in the history of the country.

@TreeMan - You are correct. I have even heard a story that while John Wilkes Booth was on the run he read newspaper articles about himself and was surprised that he was not being praised by Southerners, but rather vilified.

I honestly believe that it was a conspiracy created by really idealistic people that did not know any better, like they just assumed killing the leader would be a good thing, but did not think it all the way through.

In studying history, there was a minority of people that felt that killing Lincoln would do a whole lot and towards the end of the war, when defeat was assured, it was well known among Southerners that Lincoln was not going to punish them as hard as Congress would, but there were still people that acted without thinking through.

I find the whole Lincoln conspiracy to be incredibly interesting for two reasons. One of them concerns how amazingly bold their strategy was as they not only conspired to kill the president, hard enough to begin with, but other people high up in government, all at the some time in different locations. I find this to be quite amazing that they thought they could actually accomplish all these assassinations.

The other thing that is interesting is the fact that killing Lincoln would not accomplish much at all for the south and even proved to be a bad thing.

Lincoln was the one person in government keeping Congress from punishing the South and with him gone Reconstruction began in a way that it was difficult for the south to recover quickly.

The war was already over and killing Lincoln would have accomplished nothing, so I do not exactly see why they went through with it.

@medicchristy: Mary Surratt owned the boarding house where the co-conspirator’s met on a regular basis to plan their attack on the President, Vice President and Secretary of State. They wanted to completely wipe out the chain of command in Washington, in order to give the South control.

The day of the assassination Mary Surratt went to her tavern, supposedly to collect back rent owed by one of her tenants. When she was there, she gave John Lloyd, her innkeeper, a package containing field glasses. She also told him “to make ready the shooting irons”. She was referring to the two repeating carbines and seven revolvers. She bought and stored these items for the conspirator’s on her property.

All the conspirators were hung on July 7, 1865. This made Mary Surratt the first women ever hung in the United States.

What exactly was Mary Surratts involvement in the Lincoln Conspiracy?

Booth did not act alone. There was definitely a conspiracy. Mary Surratt and seven others wanted him dead so Booth took care of their desires.

I think there was a conspiracy because Booth had great connection with the eight people especially Mary Surratt.

Hey,

I'm a high school student and we're doing this debate. Well our group got the topic on whether there was a conspiracy to kill Lincoln or not. My partner and I are on the affirmative side and we have to argue that there was a conspiracy to kill him and we also have to criticize the other side say that there wasn't a conspiracy to kill him. I was wondering if you could give me your opnions or views on this topic, or actually on both sides because it would be much appreciated. I don't have any comments or general questions, but I'm just trying to get people's views. So please answer asap b/c its due this friday.