Do you know what happened today, April 14th, 150 years ago? President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. 150 years ago! That's a long time in history and yet it still is one of the worst assassinations known to man kind. President Lincoln was and is one the best presidents to ever step foot in the presidency role. Most of you know the story about how Lincoln went to Ford's Theater to watch a play and Booth came up behind him and shot in the back of the head.
But did you know that Booth and 6 other men had planned to kidnap Lincoln just weeks before but Lincoln never showed up to the spot where they were waiting. And did you also know that he brought 2 other men with him to assassinate VP Andrew Johnson and Security of State William H. Seward but the 2 men couldn't go through with it (even though Seward was stabbed multiple times)? I had never known that till I read about it. The shooting of Lincoln always trumps the planned kidnapping and other 2 attempts but I wonder what would have happened if he had been kidnapped instead. Would he have survived, would he have continue on as President and have done other great things. I know he would have been around to see the thing he worked the hardest on go into play the December after he was shot, the Emancipation Proclamation.
10 facts about President Lincoln and why to me, he is one of the best President's to ever walk this world.
1. He made the decision to fight to prevent the nation from splitting apart.
2. He was an unfaltering commander in chief during the Civil War which preserved the United States as one nation.
3. Lincoln's foreign policy was successful in preventing other countries from intervening in America's Civil War.
4. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which began the process of freedom for America's slaves. The document also allowed black soldiers to fight for the Union.
5. He was a strong supporter of the Thirteenth Amendment that formally ended slavery in the United States.
6. Legislation Abraham Lincoln signed into law included the Homestead Act, the Morrill Act, the National Banking Act, and a bill that chartered the first transcontinental railroad.
7. He set an example of strong character, leadership, and honesty which succeeding presidents tried to emulate. Barack Obama stated during his campaign that he would look to Lincoln as a model. (what happened there...?)
8. He gave a series of great speeches before and during his presidency including the House Divided Speech, the Cooper Union Address, the First Inaugural Address, the Gettysburg Address, and the Second Inaugural Address.
9. He wrote a series of famous letters including the letters to Grace Bedell, Horace Greeley, Fanny McCullough, and Lydia Bixby.
10. Abraham Lincoln's quotes are among the most famous quotes in the world.
Lincoln stands for freedom, he stands for rights. He stands for independence and love. He stands for equality and that we are created equal in the eyes of God. He gave a voice for the mute, he stood up when people tried to go against him, and in the end a coward who hid for 12 days before getting shot himself took his life. Lincoln didn't want to go to the play but he felt obligated. I still think Booth would have found a way to kidnap him or murder him either way.
Thank you Abraham Lincoln for being a voice we can stand behind, a voice in the dark that started the whole equality thing, a person we can look up to and only pray to have as much courage as you have shown in your days. Many people were saved based off the things you did on this Earth, the things you put into play and I, for one, thank you!
Love, Me
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