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In a democracy, change comes from the ballot box, but sometimes the will of the people is overridden by an assassin's bullet. From Wondery, American History Tellers is a podcast that explores the events and people who shaped our country, including assassins, the focus of our newest season. Long before the Secret Service was created, presidents walked freely amongst the people, and that was by design, as armed guards were synonymous with European monarchs and dictators. In America's idealistic innocence would soon change, starting with President Lincoln's assassination, and as recently as Ronald Reagan, an American president has comparatively close to being killed in office. Each episode this season details a different madman's pursuit and the root of their animosity for the leader they struck down. You'll learn about every critical moment leading to the assassination and how as a result, they change the country forever. You're about to hear a clip from American History Tellers while you're listening. Also American History Tellers, wherever you get your podcasts, and hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. Imagine it's before dawn on April 26, 1865. You're inside a tobacco barn in rural Northern Virginia. You're on the run with the most wanted man in America, John Wilkes Booth. Twelve days ago Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, but he didn't do it alone. You helped him in the plot, and now you're both fleeing ahead of federal troops. You're pretending to be Confederate soldiers on the way home from the war, and you've convinced a local farmer to give you shelter. You wake to the sound of barking. Booth stirs beside you. Hey, you awake? You hear that? You've found the dog's going. You shoot upright as Booth presses his ear against a crack in the barn wall, listening to the sounds outside. I hear hooves. Your heart starts pounding in your chest. You sure? Yeah. We gotta get out of here. Grab the revolvers. I'll take the car mine. You snatch up the weapons and rush to the front of the barn. But when you reach the door and pull, it won't open. It's locked. That was bad enough the farmer refused us a bed. Now he's trapped us in here. You and Booth try to force the door open, but it won't budge. You feel sweat trickling down your neck. God's no use. Well, they're getting closer. Come on, we gotta find another way. Booth wheels around and limps over to the back wall. He injured his leg jumping from a balcony when he shot the president. Let's try and kick a board off and crawl out. Booth swings his good leg at the barn wall, but his wounded leg can't support his weight and he collapses in the ground and agony. Now let me try. But your attempts are no better. It's clear there's no way out. Oh, this is it. We better give up. No. I'd rather die than surrender. Booth looks at you with a steely gaze and you know that look. You may be ready to turn yourself in, but he's still spoiling for a fight. You just hope that when Booth dies at the hands of these soldiers, he doesn't take you with him. From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham and this is American History Tellers, Our History, Your Story. In our show, we'll take you to the events, the times and the people that shaped America and Americans. Our values, our struggles and our dreams. We'll put you in the shoes of everyday people as history was being made and we'll show you how the events of the times affected them, their families and affects you now. On April 26, 1865, Union soldiers closed in on the barn where Lincoln, assassin John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirator David Herald were hiding. When Booth refused to give himself up, soldiers lit the barn on fire to drive him out. Herald surrendered and was later tried and executed. But Booth refused surrender and was instead shot at the scene. It was the end of a twelve-day manhunt that gripped a grieving nation. Abraham Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated, but he would not be the last. In the decades that followed, more American presidents would find themselves in the crosshairs of an assassin's gun. Some would survive these attempts on their lives, but three more presidents would not. The motives behind these murderous plots varied, but all left a deep mark on American history. The assassins bullets ricocheting through the years, causing far-reaching political shifts, social change, and international consequences. The effects of Lincoln's death were obvious and immediate. The nation not only lost its leader just at the moment of victory in a bloody civil war, but also its most steady moral compass, sorely missed in the subsequent years of reconstruction. But only sixteen years after Lincoln's death, another assassin again forever changed America by plotting to kill the man who stood between him and his thirst for power, President James Garfield. This is the first in our four-part series on presidential assassinations, exploring their perpetrators, their targets, and the fallout few could predict. This is episode one, Murder for Spoils. Hey Prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers ad-free on Amazon Music. Now load the Amazon Music app today.