The Classroom: Abraham Lincoln

PLOT SUMMARY: During April, 1865, Abraham Lincoln made a speech that suggested a negro president. John Wilkes Booth was in the audience and didn't like this idea one bit. John Wilkes Booth makes a plan to assassinate Abraham Lincoln and succeeds. Abraham Lincoln dies. Now he belongs to the ages. This was the first time a president had been killed. The north was not very sad about Lincoln's because they thought he was to soft and easy on the south. Sherman (North) and Johnston (South) met to compromise an agreement on slavery and to end the war. Sherman made a proposal to Johnston to end the war. When officials find out that Sherman was meeting with the south, they got mad and said he went out of his league as a general. They said he is not a part of the political group. He is a military cabinet and he should not have been there. South rejected the terms of the contract and the war went on. Lincoln's casket was on a train and it went throughout many towns and people would throw flowers on the train tracks. Abraham Lincoln was more popular when he was dead.
John Wilkes Booth was captured while hiding from police and he was killed. After John Wilkes Booth was killed, Sherman met with Johnston another time and they come to an agreement. General Lee speaks to newspapers and spreads the news about a peaceful ending to the war. However, the North is still resistant. During the Civil War, over 600 soldiers were killed. General Lee was considered a traitor after the war but Grant spoke to the President on Lee's behalf and they decided to just make him promise to not fight anymore. The war did end slavery, even though the South did not want this outcome. In the end, it was Robert E. Lee who knelt down next to a black man in an all white church, to symbolize the end of slavery.


CHARACTERS: Abraham Lincoln was the the first President to be killed while in office. I like President Lincoln because he stood up for what he believed and his goal was accomplished. He was a tall man with brown hair and a beard. He sometimes wore a top hat. He was beloved by many following his death.

General Sherman went out of his way to try to stop the war. He secretly met with Johnston to try to come up with an agreement to show to the government. When government found out about his meetings with Johnston, they rscolded him because he went out of his ranking and he should not have overstepped his role. I like that Sherman cared enough to take a risk to make a difference for the sake of his country.

YOUR THOUGHTS: I thought Abraham Lincoln made a big impact on slavery. He knew the right thing to do in order to end slavery. I think that Sherman and Johnston, Grant and Lee made the right choice by meeting to try to end the war. There should be no reason why you should fight within your own country. It is important to show that these men tried to resolve matters through meeting together, not violence.