What Happened Right After Lincoln Was Assassinated?

Summary

The video traces the immediate aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and its longer-lasting effects on American politics, culture, and public memory.

The assassination and Booth’s escape

On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth used a pause for laughter during Our American Cousin to mask the sound of his pistol as he shot Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre. Booth fought army officer Henry Rathbone, leapt from the presidential box, broke his leg, and shouted Virginia’s motto, “Sic semper tyrannis.”

Booth escaped and remained at large for 12 days. Cavalry soldiers eventually found him and co-conspirator David Herold in a Virginia barn. Booth was killed after soldiers set the barn on fire.

National mourning

Lincoln’s body was carried by funeral train through 180 cities on its way to burial in Springfield, Illinois. Crowds gathered at stops to pay their respects. His burial took place on Easter, which was declared a national day of mourning.

A dispute over the assassination play

Our American Cousin remained popular after Lincoln’s death. The video recounts how John Sleeper Clarke, Booth’s brother-in-law, staged the play without authorization from its rights-holder, actress Laura Keene. Keene sued, but Clarke continued staging it while the case proceeded.

Johnson and Reconstruction

Vice President Andrew Johnson succeeded Lincoln. The video portrays Johnson as opposing parts of Reconstruction and clashing with Congress. It describes the three Reconstruction Amendments:

• 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery, with an exception for forced labor as punishment for a crime.
• 14th Amendment: Established citizenship for people born or naturalized in the United States and included guarantees of due process and equal protection.
• 15th Amendment: Protected Black Americans’ right to vote from being denied by states.

The video says Congress overcame Johnson’s opposition to the 14th Amendment. His ongoing conflict with Congress led to impeachment; he came within one vote of removal. The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 helped readmit Southern states to the Union.

The video also stresses that Black Americans continued to face oppression, including through Jim Crow laws that persisted into the 1960s.

Lincoln’s image on the penny

The video describes how U.S. pennies changed from coins depicting Lady Liberty to other designs before Victor David Brenner created the Lincoln penny in 1909. Later designs included wheat ears, the Lincoln Memorial, and a series of designs introduced in 2009.

Presidents Day

The holiday began as a commemoration of George Washington’s birthday. The video says it was shifted to the third Monday in February under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 and came to honor both Washington and Lincoln.

It also names the following states as not observing the holiday: Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Delaware, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Rhode Island, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Ohio.

A living witness on television

The video notes that television arrived within decades of Lincoln’s assassination. In 1956, Samuel J. Seymour appeared on the quiz show I’ve Got a Secret. He said that, at age five, he had been at Ford’s Theatre and remembered seeing Booth leap from the balcony, though as a child he did not understand the event’s significance.

Speakers and sources featured

• Weird History narrator: Provides the historical account and commentary throughout.
• Samuel J. Seymour: Featured as a 1956 I’ve Got a Secret contestant and eyewitness to the assassination.