Final answer:
John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln due to his support for the Confederacy and belief in white supremacy. This act was part of a broader plan to disrupt the Union and encourage the Confederate cause.
Step-by-step explanation:
John Wilkes Booth, an actor and supporter of the Confederate cause, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. Booth held strong beliefs in white supremacy and the Confederacy, which ultimately led him to plan and carry out the assassination of Lincoln, who was a champion of abolishing slavery and unifying the country after the Civil War.The assassination intensified fear and suspicion, leading to Lincoln's martyrdom in the North.
Booth's act of dangerous desperation was part of a greater conspiracy to eliminate the heads of the Union government and keep the Confederate fight alive. Although his co-conspirators failed to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward, these acts of violence highlighted the severe divisions in society and the lengths some would go to undermine the Union.
The hoped larger goal of Booth's conspiracy was to destabilize the Union government and attempt to revive the defeated Confederacy, although it failed drastically in doing so. Instead, myths of Lincoln's martyrdom were propagated across the North, leading to hysteria and fear of an even larger conspiracy led by unrepentant leaders of the Confederacy.
Learn more about Lincoln's Assassination