13 - -
RECONSTRUCTION
Onthe nigh tofApril13. 1865. crowd sofpeople
movedthroug htheb righ tlylitstree tso f Washington
to celebr ate Lee'ssurrend erat Appomattox.A man
whow astherew rotein hisd iar y:" G UllSa rc firing,
bellsringin g,flagsfly in g ,m en laughing, children
cheering ,all, allarc j u bilan t."
T henextd ayw asGood Frid ay. Intheevening
Presid en tLin co ln an d his wifewent(0Ford's
T h eater in Washi ngt ontosecaplaycalled"Our
Ameri ca n COllSIIl." T h etheat erwasfullandthe
au dien cecheeredth e Pr esid ent as hetook h is scat in a
boxbes id ethe stage. On ceLin colnwas safel yin his
seat, hisbodygu ardsmovedaway to watch thep lay
themselvesfromscats in the galle ry.Atexactly10:13. w h en thep lay waspartway
through. a pisto l shot r a ngt h ro u ght hedarke ned
theater.As th e P resi dent slumpedforward in hisscat,
amanina blackfcl rhatand high bo orsjumped from
theboxontoth e stage .H e w a veda g unintheair and
shouted"Sicsempertyran ni st'j'lhus alw a ysto
tyran ts] andt he n rano u t o f th etheater.Itwas
disco ve redlate rthatth egunmanwas anactorn a me d
JohnWilkesBoo th. He w ascaptured afewday s
later,h iding ina barnin th eVirgi niacountr y side.
Lincoln wascarried acrossthestree t[Qthehouseofa
tailo r.I I c diedt he reIIIadownstairsbedroomth e
54
nextmornutg.Mel! andwomenweptinthestreets
whentheyhear dt henews.T he po etJ a mesRus sell
Lo well wrote:"Ne verbefo ret hatstartledApril
mornlllg didsuchm ulti tudeso f me n shedtearsfo r
thedeathofoneth e yhadneverseen,asifwithhima
fri endly prese ncehad bee n ta ken fromth eirlives."
Lincolnwass ucceed edasPres identby hisVice
President. An d rewJohnso n .T he biggestproblem
then e w Pres id en t fac edw ashowto dealwiththe
defeate dSouth. Lin colnhad m adenosecre tofhis
ownideasaboutth is.Onlya feww eeksbefo rehis
deathhehadbegunhissecondtermo f officeas
Presid ent. In hisinaugural addresshe had ask edthe
America npeop le to helphi m to "bindupthenatio n 's
wounds"andrebuildth eir war-battered ho m el an d.
Lincoln blamedindividualsouthernleaders(o rth e
w ar. ratherth anth e peopleofthese cedingsta te sasa
whole. H e in tended to punisho n lythoseguilty
individ ualsandto le tth e rest oftheSout h 'speople
playafu llpanillthenation'slife again.
Johnson hadsimilarideas.H ebegantointroduce
planstoreunite th e Sou t h wit h t herest ofthenation.
I I e said thatasSOOIlasthecitizenso f the se ceded
statespromis ed to b e lo yal toth egovcnuncnrofthe
UnitedSt at esthey could electfle wstateassembl iesto
runtheiraffairs .\Vhe na statevotedto accept the
1 3thAmendmenttoth eConst irur io n(t heoneth at
comp le tel y abolish edslavery) Johnsonintendedthat
itshouldbe acceptedbackin totheUnionas a fu ll and
equalmember.
Bucwhitesoutherne rswerede terminedtore sist an y
changest hatrhrcarc ncdt hei rpo w e rtocontrolt helife
ofth eSouth.The yw ere especiallyhorri fiedatthe
ideaofgivingequal r ig ht s totheirformer black
slaves.T heassemb lyofthestateofMississippi
expressedt he \vay it fclrIIIt hese blu ntword s:
"Under th e pressureoffederalbayonetsth epeople
ofMississip pi ha ve abo lishedthein stitutio nof
slavery.T hen eg roI Sfreewhetherwelike ito r nor.
Tobe fr ee.however, d oe snorm akehima citize n or
entitl ehim tosoci al o r politi ca lequal ityw iththe
white mall."