 By targeting Lincoln and his two immediate successors to the presidency , Booth seems to have intended to decapitate the Union government and throw it into a state of panic and confusion . The possibility of assassinating the Union Army 's commanding general as well was foiled when Grant declined the theatre invitation at his wife 's insistence . Instead , the Grants departed Washington by train that evening for a visit to relatives in New Jersey . Booth had hoped that the assassinations would create sufficient chaos within the Union that the Confederate government could reorganize and continue the war if one Confederate army remained in the field or , that failing , to avenge the South 's defeat . In his 2005 analysis of Lincoln 's assassination , Thomas Goodrich wrote , " All the elements in Booth 's nature came together at once – his hatred of tyranny , his love of liberty , his passion for the stage , his sense of drama , and his lifelong quest to become immortal . " 
