It was early Friday morning, April 14th 1865, and Abe was off to an unusually fantastic day. He was in a happy and cheerful mood, and everybody saw the difference in him. For months, the President had looked pale and haggard. Lincoln himself told people how happy he was. The first lady Mary Lincoln was worried about Abe, because she felt that it was bad luck to say this kind of stuff out loud. Late Friday night, Abe Lincoln and his wife went out for the night to see Our American Cousin at the Ford Theater. There was about 1700 in attendance that night. But it only took one of those persons to make history.
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Early on no one ever expected history to be made from a man named John Booth. Booth was a famous American stage actor that had some very strong political views. He was greatly opposed to the abolitionists who sought to end slavery in the US. After Abe Lincoln was named president, Booth wrote out a long speech that decried Northern abolitionism and made clear his strong support of the South and the institution of slavery. Booth was outspoken in his support of slavery, and also his hatred for Lincoln. When Lincoln was re-elected as President John Booth began his plans to kidnap the President of the United States. .
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John Booth's original plan was to kidnap Abe Lincoln and turn him into the confederate army until the North had agreed to resume exchanging prisoners. John Booth was "In haste" and felt like he had to do something substantial quickly. Knowing Abe would be at the theater that night, Booth had planned to assassinate him that night. .
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Abe Lincoln's body guard had left the theater during intermission to go to the tavern next door. With Abe being left unguarded it was a perfect time for Booth, also a well known actor at the theater, to make his move. Since he was such a well known actor there, when he had gone up to the president's booth, everyone just thought he was going up to call on the president.
