President Lincoln said that he had no political ideas that didn't spring from the Declaration of Independence. He proved that when he advocated voting rights for blacks.
That's why Booth shot him.
Walt
Hmmm. Well, in that case, up 'til now I've been laboring under the misapprehension that Booth thought, along with many of his fellows, that the participation of states in this Union of ours was on a voluntary basis, and could be withdrawn. That would have made Lincoln's forcible de-secession of the confederate states a usurpation of power; such a notion would be consistent with Booth's reported utterance upon completing the deed, which was "Sic semper tyrannus" if I remember correctly... meaning "Thus always to tyrants."
Of course, I'm not much of a student of the history of those times, so I'm eager to hear what you have to say on that point.