In this country having nothing to do with black lives really mattering, however,
as A Marxist group trying to divide the country that he united 155 years ago for democratic political gain.
Such people do not comprehend and cannot understand, for they have shut their eyes so they cannot see,
and their minds so they cannot understand. ‘They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand’ Isaiah 44:18
If you’re an American History Buff (many aren’t in this day n’ age) which I had acquired from the owner of
The Little Professor Book Store in Troy, Ohio. Shortly after I graduated from High School in 1978 and to celebrate my 40th Anniversary in 2018, I did finally make it out to all the Historical Sites in Springfield Illinois.
But within that book store: I learned if we aren’t open to learning from our past mistakes we are bound to repeat them and from a bench outside Lincoln’s Library talking to a black guy telling me:,
“The Only Racism That we have in this country are those Individuals That Believes There Is.”
As we talked about racism in this country which echoes in my head today with a 20/20 vision of the civil unrest this summer. He told me that if people put on a suit, they would quickly see that perception of them changes in other people’s eyes. Therefore, others won’t treat you like a street thug, punk or the group of counterfeiters from Chicago that tried to steal Lincoln’s body in 1870. YES Sir he said, “when you start acting respectful towards others and welcome them into your life with a smile …. your life changes rather quickly.
Was Abraham Lincoln Really a Racist? Did He Want to End Slavery? (2000)
Perhaps, in Lincoln’s immortal words, we have not finished the work, but in the indomitable spirit we hear today the hallowed 272-word document Gettysburg Address, so the living, can be inspired from our past and all its memorials to renew our lives for what Abraham Lincoln dreamed and died for – that the United States of America can remain united, not divided and perish from the earth. Lincoln’s smart use of language also helped the address leave a lasting impression, which is the second lesson we learn:
Use repetition and rhythm to emphasize and enhance speech.
Notice how Lincoln uses the rule of threes on two separate occasions in his speech.
First and foremost, the Gettysburg Address touched upon the key principles of democracy and
“a new birth of freedom” (Elmore, 2009, 40). The speech addressed the idea of nation’s identity & integrity: “The metaphor of birth and rebirth an unifying metaphor of the Gettysburg Address.” Granted, there are lessons aplenty to be learned from Gettysburg: the disasters that can follow the failure to settle issues peacefully, the horrors – waste of warfare, and the tremendous sacrifices rendered to produce the results.
It’s the evening of April 14, 1865, and President Abraham Lincoln is sitting with his beloved wife,
Mary Todd Lincoln, in their private box at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. The happy couple are engrossed in the performance of Our American Cousin that’s playing out below them – but fate has other plans.
At 10:15 p.m., you see, a gunman named John Wilkes Booth creeps up behind the president and fires off a round into the back of his skull. Of course, this much most of us know, but it’s the true nature of Lincoln’s final words to Mary that has been fiercely contested throughout the years.
Lincoln’s assassination actually came hot on the heels of a great victory.
The devastating American Civil War had ended only five days earlier, after all. Yes, after the Battle of Appomattox Court House, Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered his army to
Union General Ulysses S. Grant. And Booth – the gunman – was a known Confederate sympathizer.
So the assassination of Lincoln was part of a three-pronged attack on the U.S. government and
was seemingly intended to resuscitate the cause.
Booth had remained in the north during the conflict, despite the fact that the Confederacy
was based in the south. In fact, he had pursued his acting career while the war raged for four bloody years.
But after Lee surrendered his army, Booth – who had previously hatched a failed plan to kidnap Lincoln –
conspired to commit a far more devastating act.
So when Booth discovered that the Lincolns would be attending the theater that fateful night, he subsequently put his plan into action. He also enlisted co-conspirators to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward and
Vice President Andrew Johnson – and these two assassinations should have happened as the actor pulled the trigger on Lincoln. Booth apparently believed, you see, that the murders of the president and his two potential successors would likely throw the country into chaos.
Booth felt that Lincoln’s presence in the theater gave him a unique opportunity to get close to the president. And as the former had years of acting experience, he had actually performed there several times himself – and was therefore familiar with the layout of the building. The thespian was also known to the staff and apparently used his connections to gain easier access to Lincoln’s private box.
That evening, Lincoln and his wife were in their box above the stage with army officer Henry Rathbone and
his fiancé Clara Harris – the latter being New York senator Ira Harris’ daughter. However, Lincoln and
his group had arrived late to the theater. So in response, the orchestra momentarily halted proceedings to play
“Hail to the Chief,” and all 1,700 patrons got to their feet to applaud.
The president wasn’t without security at the event. In fact, a police officer named John Frederick Parker had been assigned the duty of protecting the president’s private box. During the play’s intermission, however, the officer accompanied Lincoln’s coachman and footman to a local watering hole. This left the box unguarded – meaning Booth was able to slip in easily and bar the door behind him to prevent anyone from escaping.
Booth knew the play well, and he timed his attack to coincide with a particularly funny line uttered by actor Harry Hawk. Lincoln was reportedly laughing when Booth snuck up behind him and shot him behind his left ear. The actor used a single-shot .44-caliber derringer pistol, and the bullet passed through Lincoln’s brain – fracturing both orbital plates. Rathbone turned to see Booth standing over the fallen president and
immediately rushed him. However, the young army officer was stabbed in the left forearm in the struggle.
Booth then jumped the 12-foot drop from the box to the stage, but he landed badly and hurt his left foot in the process. The actor then reportedly held his bloody knife above his head and addressed the audience.
At this point, most of the people in attendance thought the commotion was simply part of the performance.
It’s generally accepted that Booth yelled, “Sic semper tyrannis!”
This is the Virginia state motto and means, “Thus always to tyrants!”
The assassin then ran across the stage toward an exit door, stabbing the orchestra leader William Withers Jr. en’ route. And after Booth escaped from the theater, he mounted a horse that he had positioned in the alleyway ahead of time. He rode off into the Washington night and soon became the subject of an exhaustive manhunt.
The Petersen House (House Where Lincoln Died) at 516 10th street was the home of
William and Anna Petersen. On the night of April 14, 1865 the mortally wounded president was carried to a back bedroom in this house. The Petersen family aided as they could, although on this night their home was no longer their own. Over 90 people would come and go through the house to pay their last respects to the dying president. Soldiers stood guard at the front door and were posted on the roof to keep the crowds at bay.
While doctors cared for the president the Petersen family and some of the boarders spent the night in the basement. At 7:22 am, April 15, 1865, Abraham Lincoln died in the back bedroom of this humble house
America, A Look Back: Abraham Lincoln and The Civil War (Documentary)
Booth’s motivation for slaying the president may still seem unclear, but it was firmly rooted in the role Lincoln played during the American Civil War. You see, the infamous murder can be traced back to the president’s actions during the conflict – and one in particular set Booth on edge. As the conflict played out between two opposing forces known as the Union and the Confederacy. Union referred to the United States of America –
or more specifically, the 20 free states and four border ones where slavery was either illegal or in the process
of being phased out. These regions included Washington, D.C., New York, California, Michigan, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Conversely, the Confederate States of America was formed by the seven states in the lower south of the country whose inhabitants largely didn’t want slavery to be abolished. So as a result, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, Georgia and Louisiana seceded from the union and became an unrecognized republic. And in particular, the Confederacy believed slavery was threatened by then-presidential candidate Lincoln. He had run on a platform opposing its expansion into the western part of the country, you see.
Yes, although Lincoln was not an abolitionist, he did believe that slavery was morally wrong and questioned
the protections it had been awarded in the Constitution of the United States. And in a three-hour speech in 1854 Lincoln admitted that he didn’t know precisely what the right course of action was regarding slavery.
In 1858 – during a debate with his opponent Stephen Douglas in the Illinois race for the U.S. Senate – Lincoln was accused of supporting “negro equality.” And according to History.com, the future president responded,
“I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races.” Furthermore, he went on to argue that African-Americans shouldn’t have the right to vote, hold office, serve on juries or marry white people.
Lincoln believed, however, that African-Americans had the right to improve their societal position through
hard work and enjoy the benefits of their labor. And according to the future president, as slavery made
this kind of advancement in society impossible, the institution was morally wrong.
But Lincoln’s views regarding racial equality would grow and evolve over the course of his time in office.
On April 11, 1865, for instance – the date of the last speech that he ever gave – he argued that any black man who had served the Union during the Civil War should be granted the right to vote. And this stance seemingly indicates that the president’s position had changed somewhat from the Senate debate seven years earlier.
Lincoln’s position on race has been viewed differently by successive generations, too.
After all, even though he successfully freed the slaves, he still held opinions that many today
would consider to be problematic. In 2009, The Root’s editor-in-chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. argued the
president held some surprisingly liberal opinions for that period, though.
He said, “By the standards of his time, Lincoln’s views on race and equality were progressive and
truly changed minds, policy and – most importantly – hearts for years to come.”
But what of Lincoln’s assassin? Well, Booth came from a prominent family of actors
in Maryland. His father, Junius Brutus, and his brothers, Edwin and Junius Brutus Jr.,
all worked in the trade, and Booth followed in their footsteps. And by the end of the 1850s,
he was a genuinely wealthy and famous actor – earning the equivalent of around $570,000 today.
Before the American Civil War began, in fact, Booth was held in high esteem as an actor in the southern states. However, during the conflict, he chose to remain in the north and reportedly grew angry when audiences didn’t react to him as well as they had back home. Booth held strong political views, too, as he had a fiercely outspoken hatred of abolitionists and Lincoln – a loathing that even some members of his family didn’t share.
For instance, Booth apparently didn’t see eye to eye with his brother Edwin during the war.
Edwin did not share his siblings’ public support of slavery, for one, and he even refused to perform in their native south. But Booth’s condemnation of the Union was so severe that he was arrested
in St. Louis in 1863 and charged with “treasonous” remarks.
This came, according to several reports, after he was heard saying he wished that
“the president and the whole damn government would go to hell.”
So these extreme differences in political opinion meant that eventually Edwin told Booth that he was not welcome in his home anymore. Yes, apparently the actor’s hatred of Lincoln had only become more intense over time. And according to Asia Booth Clarke’s book John Wilkes Booth: A Sister’s Memoir, he had told her, “That man’s appearance… and his policy are a disgrace to the seat he holds.
He is made the tool of the north to crush out slavery.”
In a cruel twist of fate, though, President Lincoln may have actually been a fan of Booth. It was known that the president had watched him perform in several plays. And fellow actor Frank Mordaunt even corroborated a claim that Lincoln had invited Booth to visit him at the White House. But the actor reportedly turned down the invitation, and according to the website Civil War Saga, he apparently told his friends,
“I would rather have the applause of a negro to that of the president.”
Yet as Lincoln was doubtless unaware of how April 14 would end, he had begun the day with a cabinet meeting. The topics were the treatment of the defeated Confederate leaders as well as the nature of any economic aid that was to be offered to the south. And the president then had lunch with his wife, Mary Todd, before engaging in more meetings – including one with a former slave called Nancy Bushrod.
Afterwards, Lincoln indulged in an afternoon carriage ride with his spouse.
Later that night, the Lincolns’ carriage picked up army officer Rathbone and his fiancé Harris at her father’s home, and the four subsequently made their way to the theater.
After the stirring rendition of “Hail to the Chief,” everyone took their seats,
and Mary apparently flirted with her husband as she held his hand.
And according to Stephen Mansfield’s book Lincoln’s Battle with God, she asked,
“What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?”
Mansfield added that Lincoln’s wife Mary had something of a reputation for being fiercely jealous. She would apparently scream at any woman who dared to walk near her husband, for instance. But this jealousy seemingly didn’t rear its head in the theater, and Lincoln apparently replied, “Why, she will think nothing of it.”
For many years, these were traditionally believed to have been Lincoln’s last words.
But in 1882 a friend of the family named Reverend N.M. Miner claimed that Mary had told him her husband’s final words were quite different. Miner wrote about this revelation in a lecture entitled
“Personal Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln.”
And Mansfield wrote that Lincoln told his wife that following the war they would
“not return immediately to Springfield.” This is no doubt a reference to where the family had lived before he became president. According to the author, Lincoln continued, “We will go abroad among strangers where I can rest.” He then leaned in closely to Mary and whispered his next words. “We will visit the Holy Land,” Lincoln apparently declared. “We will visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footsteps of the Savior. There is no place I so much desire to see as Jerusalem.” The bullet fired by Booth then did its terrible work, and Lincoln subsequently succumbed to his injuries the next morning at 7:22 a.m.
In his book, Mansfield acknowledged that these final words – which allude to a deep faith –
are often not included in works concerning Lincoln’s assassination.
The author said, “It is natural that some should doubt. Schoolchildren do not learn them as they do the other facts of Lincoln’s life.” Mansfield then argued that Lincoln’s last words are likely omitted from most historical accounts because of the hesitancy of scholars to declare him to be a religious man.
He added, “Lincoln was, after all, a religious oddity. He never joined a church. In fact, he went through periods in his life when he was openly anti-religion – even anti-God.”
And the author went on, “Surely, critics will say, to insist that these words are true,
or that they are any reflection of Lincoln’s faith, is part of a religious re-working of his life – part of a misguided attempt by the pious to refashion him into a gleaming religious icon of some imagined national religion.” Mansfield continued, “Surely this is the fruit of bad research and pitiful scholarship: more myth than history.” Mansfield also argued that prominent Lincoln scholars over the years have attested
to the validity of these words – in spite of criticism.
After all, it was the president’s wife herself who had apparently relayed the words to Reverend Miner.
And as a result, the prominent Lincoln scholars such as Allen C. Guelzo, Wayne Temple and Doris Kearns Goodwin apparently regard them as the truth. Dr. James Cornelius is the curator of the Lincoln Collection at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois, and he has referred to Mary’s account of her husband’s last words. He said, “We believe [them] to be substantiated.” Perhaps this really was the last thing that Lincoln said. And, if this is true, it highlights his complicated views regarding religion.
Lincoln’s Last Words
Stephen Mansfield, details “the final, surprising words of Abraham Lincoln,” spoken to his wife immediately prior to his assassination at Ford’s Theater: “We will visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footsteps of the Savior. There is no place I so much desire to see as Jerusalem.”
For a president whose words are so studied, why aren’t these last statements better known?
The words are rarely included in accounts of Lincoln’s assassination. Schoolchildren do not learn them as they do the other facts of Lincoln’s life. Indeed, the sentiments are too religious for most teachers to dare include in their lessons. Scholars tend to exclude this episode also, usually because of a similar hesitation about religion.
It is understandable. Lincoln was, after all, a religious oddity. He never joined a church.
In fact, he went through periods in his life when he was openly antireligion—even anti-God. In his later years, he spoke often of God but rarely of Jesus Christ. That he was attending a bawdy play on Good Friday—the day Christians set aside to contemplate the crucifixion of their Savior—seems perfectly consistent with the image of Lincoln that has come to us through the years. It is reasonable to doubt that he would call Christ the Savior and declare himself eager to see the Holy Land in the last moments of his life.
>> But what happened in the aftermath of Lincoln uttering his last words and passing away the next morning? Well, his body was put in a temporary casket that was draped in the American flag.
The cadaver was then taken by an armed escort to the White House.
Here, an autopsy was conducted, and Mary reportedly requested that a lock of her husband’s hair be removed for her to keep. The nation went into mourning, too. By the end of the day of Lincoln’s death, for instance,
flags all across the country were flying at half-mast and businesses shut down.
And when his body was taken by train to Springfield, Illinois, tens of thousands stood by the railroad route – waiting to pay their final respects to the fallen president. Lincoln was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery alongside his son William Wallace Lincoln, who had died of typhoid fever three years earlier. And Mary, for her part, was apparently so consumed by grief after losing her husband that she retreated to her bed for weeks. She didn’t attend the funeral and was soon looked down upon by society due to her vocal mourning.
Unfortunately for Mary, women of her high position in society were expected to maintain their composure in public – even during times of grief. Instead of suppressing her emotions, however, Mary displayed them for all to see. A number of modern scholars now believe that she may have been bipolar, but her contemporaries simply ostracized her.
As for John Wilkes Booth, he was found hiding in a Maryland barn after a 12-day manhunt.
But he remained inside, even after Union soldiers set the structure on fire to draw him out. Booth was eventually shot in the neck and dragged into the open – where he died three hours later. Four of his co-conspirators were later hanged, too, for their involvement in Lincoln’s assassination. Sadly, because of Booth’s actions, the president never got to complete his mission in life … see Jerusalem –
and we’ll never know what actually would have greeted him upon his death. https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/abraham-lincoln-quotes
After Mary returned to Illinois she had but yet another tragedy to overcome and the death of her youngest son Thomas in 1871, and she fell into a deep depression. Her sole surviving son, Robert, brought her to court on charges of insanity in 1875. He claimed that her distorted view of her finances and fears for her own safety were signs of mental illness. The court sided with Robert, and Mary was committed to an insane asylum outside of Chicago. She was released several months later, but the incident caused her to become estranged from her son. It also left her with a lasting public perception of her as being crazy.
The Final Years
In 1876, Mary regained control over her property after a court found her to be of sound mind. She feared that her son might try again to institutionalize her again and chose to live abroad. In 1881, Lincoln returned to the United States, choosing to live with her sister Elizabeth in Springfield, Illinois. She died of a stroke there on July 16, 1882, at the age of 63. Historians have debated many aspects of Mary’s character over the years, including her sanity. She definitely had a high-strung personality and an interest in some off-beat ideas,
but she also showed herself to possess a keen mind and wit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jx9QILJeEY