Abraham Lincoln was in politics.
Abraham Lincoln . Because he had originally agreed not to run for a second term in Congress , and because his opposition to the Mexican -- American War was unpopular among Illinois voters , Lincoln returned to Springfield and resumed his successful law practice . John Wilkes Booth ( May 10 , 1838 -- April 26 , 1865 ) was an American actor and assassin , who murdered President Abraham Lincoln at Ford 's Theatre in Washington , D.C. on April 14 , 1865 .