Butterfly

 

April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln. The president died the following morning. General Lee had surrendered only five days earlier. Booth believed if he killed Lincoln, the Union would fall into disarray and the Confederacy could be restored. If the one thing you know about Lincoln is he was an abolitionist, think again. Lincoln was opposed to slavery on moral and economic grounds, but knew the institution was sanctioned by the Constitution. He felt impoverishing slave owners by emancipating slaves was unfair. Lincoln was opposed to people of color having the right to vote, serve on juries, hold office and intermarry with white people. He didn’t believe different “races” could live together in peace, and he tried to ship free black citizens to the Caribbean. Does this sound like the hero you learned about in grade school? My point? Humans are very complex creatures. And we’re ALL shaped by the times in which we live.