“Sic semper tyrannis!” - Today in History...

...those words were shouted out by John Wilkes Booth as he jumped from President Abraham Lincoln's theater box onto the stage within the Ford Theater just a moment he fatally shot Lincoln on April 14, 1865. Thus Always Tyrants, what irony that Lincoln was considered a tyrant in that he strove to preserve the Union and to abolish slavery. The real irony of it all though may be much more visible today than it was at that time in that tyranny seem to be raising its ugly head within our federal government what with its absolute disregard of the majority on many current issues and it was the history changing assassination of Lincoln that may have paved the way for this to take place. You see, Lincoln forever changed the balance of power in this country from that of a group of what was then often called 'These United States', each with equal states rights, to that of the Federal Government of what forever after was referred to solely as The United States; that centralized government being a central power with ultimate authority over all of the states. I am sure Lincoln never envisioned what form of government would result, the one we are currently under, even if one of his dreams may have been fulfilled in the freedom of African Americans resulting in our first black president. I am sure that john Wilkes Booth never imagined either that such a result would partially be due to his assassination of Lincoln whereby the popularity of Lincoln, due in part to sympathy of over his death, led to policies of strong central government being forever cemented into our way of life.

Read more, at the links below, about Booth and the assassination of Lincoln and the other failed assassinations of that same evening (assassinations of Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward had also been planned):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Abraham_Lincoln

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_wilkes_booth

All the best,
Glenn B