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The '''Baltimore Plot''' was an alleged conspiracy in late February 1861 to assassinate [[President-elect]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] ''en route'' to his [[First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln|inauguration]]. [[Allan Pinkerton]], founder of the [[Pinkerton National Detective Agency]], played a key role by managing Lincoln's security throughout the journey. Though scholars debate whether or not the threat was real, and a jury of peers found the alleged conspirators innocent,clearly Lincoln and his advisors believed that there was a threat and took actions to ensure his safe passage through [[Baltimore, Maryland]].

On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected as the 16th [[President of the United States]], a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]], and the first to be elected from that [[political party|party]].  Shortly after his election, many representatives of Southern states made it clear that secession was inevitable, which greatly increased tension across the nation. A plot to assassinate Lincoln in Baltimore was alleged. On February 23, 1861, he arrived secretly in Washington, D.C. For the remainder of his presidency Lincoln's many critics would hound him for the seemingly cowardly act of sneaking through Baltimore at night, in disguise, sacrificing his honor for his personal safety. However, the efforts at security may well have been prudent.⏎

==Background==
{{Refimprove|date=November 2010}}
[[Allan Pinkerton]] was commissioned by the railroad to provide security for the president-elect on his journey to Washington, D.C., through Baltimore. Whether or not there was a plot, Maryland was a [[slave state]], and was considered a border state with strong Southern sympathies and was considered dangerous territory through which to travel for such a controversial politician.  Two months later, Baltimoreans [[Baltimore riot of 1861|attacked Union Army soldiers]] marching to Washington.  When Virginia joined the Confederacy, it was necessary to travel through Maryland to reach Washington.

Feelings were running high in the other direction as well, and the U.S. government was not about to take risks.  Later the same year, many civil liberties were effectively suspended including Freedom of Speech, Habeus Corpus, and Freedom of the Press.  Pinkerton, in particular, was a very careful man.<!--cite his work for the army, and perhaps his habitual over-estimation of Confed. troop strength?-->

==Lincoln's actions==
[[Image:Pinkerton allan late harpers.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait of [[Allan Pinkerton]] from ''Harper's Weekly'', 1884]]
(contracted; show full)clashed with Lincoln’s friend and escort, [[Ward Hill Lamon]], over the President-elect's protection.  Lamon offered Lincoln "a Revolver and a Bowie Knife" but Pinkerton protested that he "would not for the world have it said that Mr. Lincoln had to enter the National Capitol armed."<ref>Cuthbert, N: ''Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 1861,'' page 79. Huntington Library, 1949.</ref>

On the evening of February 22 telegraph lines to Baltimore were cut 
at Pinkerton's behest to prevent communications from passing between potential conspirators in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Meanwhile, Lincoln left Harrisburg on a special train and arrived secretly in Baltimore in the middle of the night. The most dangerous link in the journey was in Baltimore, where a city ordinance prohibited night-time rail travel through the downtown area. Therefore, the railcars had to be horse-drawn between the President Street and Camden Street stations.

(contracted; show full)[[Category:Assassination attempts]]
[[Category:Causes of war|American Civil War, Origins of the]]
[[Category:History of Maryland]]
[[Category:History of the United States (1849–1865)]]
[[Category:Lincoln conspirators]]
[[Category:1861 in Maryland]]

[[fr:Complot de Baltimore]]