Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012) focused almost completely on how Abraham Lincoln moved the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery forever in the United States through the House of Representatives. Such amendments are very difficult to pass under any conditions, since they require a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress and then ratification of three-quarters of the states. It had already passed the Senate in April 1864 but in the House there were still enough Democrats opposed to the abolition of slavery to block it. As the film showed, Lincoln, Secretary of State William Seward and House Republican leader Thaddeus Stevens, used every known political method to obtain enough Democratic votes, including bribery, promises of federal offices, persuasion, presidential visits and intimidation. All of the people portrayed were real historical actors and experts in using and manipulating the political system to obtain the ends they desired. It showed how the American political process actually works, although never before in a more important cause. Slavery was the cause of the most destructive war in U.S. history, and had divided the nation from the beginning, but Lincoln hoped that abolition would result in the creation of a new country in which all people would have equal rights and citizenship. This did not occur after the Civil War and the First Reconstruction in 1861-77, but Lincoln had certainly done everything humanly possible in the attempt to bring it about.
As the film showed, Lincoln decided after his election victory in November 1864 to move for passage of the 13th Amendment even before his inauguration and the swearing in of the new Congress in March 1865. He had not been in favor of the total abolition of slavery when he was first elected in 1861, and as late as 1863 stated that he only regarded the Emancipation Proclamation as a war measure necessary to save the Union (Woodward 3). After the 1864 election, though, he insisted that all Southern states would be required to abolish slavery as a condition for being readmitted to the Union (Tsesis 2004). The film correctly depicted how he brought pressure to bear on recalcitrant Democrats in the House of Representatives, especially those who had lost their seats in the election and would soon be out of office. Many of them were indeed racists and hostile to the idea of abolishing slavery, and were even hoping for some type of stalemate in the Civil War that would still allow the Confederacy to become an independent nation. In both the movie and real life, Lincoln outmaneuvered them by appearing to be willing to negotiate with the Confederate government, but only on the basis of ending the war and reunifying the country. At the same time, a major Union victory at Fort Fisher and the capture of the Confederacy’s last major port at Wilmington, North Carolina, also made it clear that the military defeat of the South was inevitable.
Spielberg’s film concentrates mainly on how these events impacted in the insider politics of Washington, rather than describing the battles of the Civil War out the role that outside abolitionist groups (including black leaders like Frederick Douglass) played in pressuring Congress. It also shows that Lincoln was dealing with domestic problems, such as the mental illness of his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, who had suffered a breakdown when their son Willie had died and how distraught she was at the prospect of their oldest son Robert joining the army. In the movie, it is clear just how bloody the war was, with wounded and crippled soldiers flooding the Washington hospitals. Even though Lincoln sympathized with Robert’s desire not to appear to be a coward and a shirker when so many other young men his age were being killed and wounded, he doubted that Mary’s sanity would survive the loss of another child, so he arranged for Robert to have a staff position in the headquarters of General Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia.
In the film and in reality, Lincoln had to perform many roles simultaneously, including husband and father, commander-in-chief and military strategist, as well as political leader of the Republican Party. Having to manage all this even in ‘normal’ times might have broken a lesser man, but these events occurred in the Civil War, and the huge burdens of office had left him exhausted. He told one of his key allies, Charles Dana, that he was “very anxious” about the vote on the 13th Amendment and that it was “going to be a great deal closer than I wish it was” (Blumenthal 2012). Many of the Democrats were still hoping that the Union would give up on the war and were opposed to the abolition of slavery under any circumstances, but for those who could be bought Lincoln informed Dana that “whatever promises you make to them I will perform” (Blumenthal 2012). In the film, Lincoln’s agents approached various Democratic members of the House with offers of bribes and patronage, which resulted in angry confrontations and on one occasion, a Representative pulled a pistol on them and started shooting. Others had such a hatred of blacks that not even a personal visit from the president could change their minds, although Lincoln made the attempt. Some of the Democrats accepted lucrative government posts, however, such as internal revenue collectors or positions at the New York Custom’s House.
This happened all the time in American politics, but never in such an important cause, and the film was true in its depiction of Lincoln’s persistence in collecting all of the required votes, using any means necessary. He called the Missouri Democrat James Rollins to the White House, and was surprised to learn that even though he was a large slave owner he had already decided to vote for the 13th Amendment and persuade other Border State Democrats to do the same. In the movie, Lincoln personally appeals to Democratic Representative from his native state of Kentucky to break with the slaveholders and take a stand for human freedom, and he provided one of the key votes for passage of the amendment. He freely handed out federal jobs to others, such as naval agent, a federal judgeship and the ambassadorship to Denmark (Blumenthal 2012). Thaddeus Stevens, who is rightly portrayed in the film as a fiery abolitionist and supporter of equal citizenship for blacks (and also living with a black mistress), stated afterwards that the 13th Amendment was “passed by corruption, aided and abetted by the purest man in America” (Blumenthal 2012).
In the 19th Century, it was still customary for crowds to serenade political leaders, who were then expected to give a speech on important topics of the day, which Lincoln did on February 1, 1865. He had just signed the 13th Amendment even though he was not required to do so and transmitted it to the states for ratification. He was proud to note that Illinois was the first and that Maryland would soon follow. Indeed, at the end of the Civil War, all of the Southern states were required to abolish slavery as a condition for being readmitted to the Union, and most agreed to ratify the amendment at that time. Lincoln told the crowd that the “occasion was one of congratulation to the country and to the whole world” (Fehrenbacher 670). He declared that slavery had been the main cause of the Civil War, and that this “original disturbing cause should, if possible, be removed”, with the 13th Amendment being the “King’s cure for all the evils [Appluase]. It winds the whole thing up” (Fehrenbacher 670). Lincoln was right that the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 was only a temporary war measure and expedient that did not free all slaves everywhere, much less their children, but the 13th Amendment did so and was therefore a “great moral victory” (Fehrenbacher 670).
In the film, Spielberg downplayed the disagreements that Lincoln had with Radical Republicans like Stevens and Senator Ben Wade, who would have required the Southern states to grant voting rights and equal citizenship to blacks as a condition of readmission. This eventually occurred with the 14th and 15th Amendments in 1868 and 1870, but since the film ends in 1865 and these events took place after Lincoln’s assassination it does not portray them (McPherson 701). It clearly shows how difficult it was just to win the vote to abolish slavery, even when all eleven Confederate states were still out of the Union and hints and just how racist white Southern Democrats and their Northern allies would be on questions of civil rights and voting rights for blacks. In the end, abolition of slavery and the passage of other constitutional amendments were not the cure-all for racism in the U.S., and the same battles would have to be fought again in the Second Reconstruction of the 1950s and 1960s. At the time of his death in April 1865, Lincoln was moving in the direction of equal rights for black citizens and mentioned this in a speech on April 11th. John Wilkes Booth was in the audience and felt so enraged at the idea of black citizenship that he said “that’s the last speech he’ll ever give” (Blumenthal 2012).
WORKS CITED
Blumenthal, Sidney. “Abraham Lincoln: The Great Campaigner”. The Daily Beast, October 15, 2012.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/10/14/sidney-blumenthal-on-how-lincoln-played-the-political-game-to-win.html
Fehrenbacher, Donald (ed). Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings, 1859-1865. NY: Literary Classics of the United States, 1989.
Lincoln. Dir and Prod: Steven Spielberg. USA: Walt Disney Studios, 2012.
McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom. Oxford University Press, 1988.
Tsesis, A. The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom: A Legal History. New York: NYU Press, 2004.
Woodward, C. Vann. Reunion and Reaction: The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction. Oxford University Press, 1966/1992.
