Nor did
emancipation create any great popular enthusiasm. The congressional
elections which followed it showed a great reaction against
anti-slavery. The Democrats carried Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York,
Illinois. For a time the administration was fighting for its life,
and won by an alarmingly small margin.
Before the year had elapsed, however, there was a great reversal in
public opinion, and at the succeeding election, Lincoln received 212 out
of 233 electoral votes. The end of the Confederacy was by this time in
sight. A month after his second inauguration, Richmond fell, and five
days later, Lee surrendered his army to General Grant. Lincoln at once
paid a visit to Richmond and then returned to Washington for the last
act of the drama.
The fourteenth of April was Good Friday, and the President arranged to
take a small party to Ford's theatre to witness a performance of a farce
comedy called "Our American Cousin." The President entered his box about
nine o'clock and was given a tumultuous reception. Then the play went
forward quietly, until suddenly the audience was startled by a pistol
shot, followed by a woman's scream. At the same instant, a man was seen
to leap from the President's box to the stage. Pausing only to wave a
dagger which he carried in his hand and to shout, "Sic semper tyrannis!"
the man disappeared behind the scenes.
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