Lincoln (2012)

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Lincoln (2012)

Post by bunniefuu »

Some of us was in the
Second Kansas Coloured.

We fought the Rebs at
Jenkins' Ferry last April

just after they k*lled
every n*gro soldier

they captured at Poison Springs.

So at Jenkins' Ferry,

we decided warn't taking
no Reb prisoners.

And we didn't leave
a one of 'em alive.

The ones of us that
didn't die that day,

we joined up with the
116th US Coloured, sir,

from Camp Nelson, Kentucky.

What's your name, soldier?

Private. Harold Green, sir.

I'm Corporal Ira Clark, sir.

Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry.

We're waiting over there.

We're leaving our horses behind

and shipping out with
the 24th Infantry

for the as*ault next
week on Wilmington.

How long have you been a soldier?

Two years, sir.

The Second Kansas
Coloured Infantry,

they fought bravely
at Jenkins' Ferry.

That's right, sir.

They k*lled a thousand
Rebel soldiers, sir.

They were very brave.

And making $3 less each
month than white soldiers.

Us Second Kansas boys...

Another $3 subtracted from
our pay for our uniforms.

That was true, yes sir,
but that's changed.

Equal pay now, but still no
commissioned n*gro officers.

I'm aware of that, Corporal Clark.

Yes, sir. That's good
that you're aware, sir...

Do you think the
Wilmington att*ck...

Now that white people have
accustomed themselves

to seeing n*gro men with g*ns
fighting on their behalf,

and now that they can tolerate.

n*gro soldiers getting equal pay

maybe in a few years,
they can abide the idea

of n*gro lieutenants and captains.

In fifty years, maybe
a n*gro colonel.

In a hundred years, the vote.

What will you do after
the w*r, Corporal Clark?

Work, sir.

Perhaps you'll hire me.

Perhaps I will.

But you should know, sir,

that I get sick at the
smell of boot black

and I cannot cut hair.

I've yet to find a
man could cut mine

so that it'd make any difference.

You got springy hair
for a white man.

Yes, I do.

My last barber hanged himself.

And the one before that.

Left me his scissors in his will.

President Lincoln, sir.

Good evening, boys.

We saw you, and...

- We were at...
- We was at Gettysburg.

You boys fight at Gettysburg?

No, didn't fight there, we
just signed up last month.

We saw him two years ago at
the cemetery dedication.

Yeah. We heard you
speak... g*dd*mn.

Hey, how tall are you, anyway?

Aw, jeez, shut up.

Could you hear what I said?

No, sir. Not much.

It was...

Four score and seven years ago,

our fathers brought forth
from this continent

a new nation, conceived in liberty

and dedicated to the proposition

that all men are created equal.

That's good. Thank you.

Now we are engaged in
a great civil w*r,

testing whether that
nation or any nation

so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure.

We are met on a great
b*ttlefield of that w*r.

That's good, thank you.

We come to dedicate a
portion of that field

as a final resting place
for those who here

gave their lives that
that nation might live.

His uncles, they d*ed on the
second day of fighting.

I know the last part. It is...
Company up. Moving out.

You boys best go and
find your company.

- And thank you.
- Thank you, sir.

- God bless you.
- God bless you, too.

God bless you.

That we here highly
resolve that these dead

shall not have d*ed in vain.

That this nation, under God, shall
have a new birth of freedom

and that government of the
people, by the people,

for the people shall not
perish from the earth.

It's night time.

Ship's moved by
some terrible power

at a terrific speed.

And though it's imperceptible
in the darkness,

I have an intuition that we're
headed towards a shore.

No one else seems to
be aboard the vessel.

I'm very keenly aware
of my aloneness.

I could be bounded in a nutshell

and count myself a
king of infinite space

were it not that I
have bad dreams.

I reckon it's the speed
that's strange to me.

I'm used to going at
a deliberate pace.

I should spare you, Molly.

I shouldn't tell you my dreams.

I don't want to be
spared if you aren't.

And you spare me nothing.

Perhaps it's...

It's the as*ault on
Wilmington Port.

You dream about the ship
before a battle, usually.

How's the coconut?

Beyond description.

Almost two years, nothing mends.

Another casualty of the w*r.

Who wants to listen
to a useless woman

grouse about her
carriage accident?

- I do.
- Stuff.

You tell me dreams, that's all.

I'm your soothsayer.

That's all I am to you any more.

I'm not to be trusted

even if it was not a
carriage accident.

Even if it was an
attempted assassination.

It was most probably an accident.

It was an assassin whose
intended target was you.

How are the plans coming
along for the big shindy?

I don't want to
talk about parties.

You don't care about parties.

Not much, but they're a
necessary hindrance.

I know.

I know what it's about, the ship.

It's not Wilmington Port.
It's not a m*llitary campaign.

It's the amendment
to abolish sl*very.

Why else would you force me

to invite demented
radicals into my home?

You're going to try to
get the amendment passed

in the House of Representatives
before the term ends?

Before the Inauguration?

Don't spend too much
money on the flubdubs.

No one is loved as much as you.

No one's ever been loved
so much by the people.

You might do anything now.

Don't... Don't waste that power

on an amendment bill
that's sure of defeat.

Did you remember Robert's
coming home for the reception?

I knew you'd forget.

That's the ship you're sailing
on, the 13th Amendment.

You needn't tell me I'm
right. I know I am.

Oh.

Oh, it's late, Mrs Keckley.

Well, she needs this for
the grand reception.

It's slow work.

Good night.

Did you tell her a dream?

Papa.

Papa, I want to see Willie.

Me, too, Taddie, but we can't.

Why not?

Willie's gone.

It's three years now he's gone.

The part assigned to me
is to raise the flag.

Which, if there be no fault
in the machinery, I will do.

And when up

it'll be for the
people to keep it up.

That's my speech.

We are coming, Father Abraham.

Three hundred thousand more.

From Mississippi's winding stream.

And from New England's shore.

We leave our plough and workshops.

Our wives...

Even if every Republican
in the House votes yes,

far from guaranteed.
Since when has our party

unanimously supported anything?

But say all our fellow
Republicans vote for it.

We'd still be twenty votes short.

Only twenty?

Only twenty?

We can find twenty votes.

Twenty House Democrats who'll
vote to abolish sl*very?

In my opinion...

To which I always listen.

- Or pretend to.
- With all three of my ears.

We'll win the w*r soon.

It's inevitable, isn't it?

Well, it ain't won yet.

You'll begin your second term
with semi-divine stature.

Imagine the possibilities
peace will bring.

Why tarnish your invaluable lustre
with a battle in the House?

It's a rat's nest in there.

It's the same g*ng of
talentless hicks and hacks

who rejected the
amendment 10 months ago.

We'll lose.

I like our chances now.

Well, consider the
obstacles that we'd face.

The aforementioned
two-thirds majority

needed to pass an amendment.

We have a Republican majority,
but barely more than 50%.

Fifty-six.

We need Democratic support.
There's none to be had.

Since the House last
voted on the amendment,

there's been an election.

Sixty-four Democrats lost their
House seats in November.

That's 64 Democrats looking
for work come March.

I know.

They don't need to worry
about re-election.

They can vote however
it suits them.

But we can't buy the
vote for the amendment.

It's too important.

I said nothing of buying anything.

We need twenty votes
was all I said.

Start of my second term,
plenty of positions to fill.

Mr President, may I present.

Mr And Mrs Jolly who've
come from Missouri...

From Jeff City, President.

Mr Jolly.

Ma'am.

And this here by the fire is
Secretary of State Seward.

Jeff City?

I heard tell once of a
Jefferson City lawyer

who had a parrot that'd wake
him each morning, crying out,

Today is the day the
world shall end,

as scripture has foretold.

And, one day

the lawyer sh*t him,

for the sake of peace
and quiet, I presume.

Thus fulfilling, for the
bird at least, his prophecy.

There's only one toll booth in
Jeff City, to the southwest

and this man Heinz
Sauermagen from Rolla

been in illegal possession
for near two Yar

since your man General
Schofield set him up there.

But President Monroe give
that toll gate to my granpap

and Quincy Adams
give my pap a letter

saying it's our'n for keeps.

Mrs Jolly got the...

Show Mr Lincoln the
Quincy Adams letter.

That's unnecessary, Mrs Jolly.

Just tell me what
you want from me.

Mr Jolly's emphysema
don't care for cigars.

Madame, do you know
about the proposed

13th Amendment of
the Constitution?

Yes, sir, everybody knows of it.

The President favours it.

- Do you?
- We do.

You know that it
abolishes sl*very?

Yes, sir, I know it.

And is that why you favour it?

What I favour is ending the w*r.

Once we do away with sl*very,
the Rebs'll quit fighting

since sl*very's what
they're fighting for.

Mr Lincoln, you always says so.

With the amendment,
sl*very's ended.

And they'll give up. The
w*r can finish then.

If the w*r finished first,
before we end sl*very...

President Lincoln says
the w*r won't stop

unless we finish sl*very.

But if it did.

The South is exhausted.

If they run out of b*ll*ts and men

would you still want your...

Who's your Representative?

Jeff City? That's
Congressman Burton.

Beanpole Burton.

I mean, Josiah Burton, yes, sir.

A Republican,

undecided on the question of
the amendment, I believe.

Perhaps you could call on him

and inform him of your enthusiasm.

Yeah.

Madame.

If the Rebels
surrendered next week

would you, at the
end of this month

want Congressman Burton to
vote for the 13th Amendment?

If that was how it was,
no more w*r and all

I reckon Mr Jolly much
prefer not to have.

Congress pass the amendment.

And,

why is that?

n*gg*r*s.

If he don't have to let some
Alabama co*n come up to Missouri

steal his chickens and his
job, we'd much prefer that.

The people.

I begin to see why you're
in such a great hurry

to put it through.

Would you let me study
this letter, sir,

about the toll booth?

Come back to me in the morning

and we'll consider
what the law says.

You be sure to

visit Beanpole.

Tell him that you support
passage of the amendment

as a m*llitary necessity.

Thank you.

Oh, Nicolay, when
you have a moment.

If procuring votes

with offers of employment
is what you intend

I'll fetch a friend from Albany
who can supply the skulky men

gifted at this kind of shady
work and spare me the indignity

of actually speaking to Democrats.

Spare you the exposure
and liability.

Pardon me, that's
a distress signal

which I am bound, by solemn
oath, to respond to.

Tom Pendel took away the
glass camera plates

of slaves Mr Gardner sent over

because Tom says Mama says
they're too distressing.

You had nightmares all night long.

I'll have worse nightmares
if you don't let me look

at the plates again.

Perhaps.

You can't afford a
single defection

from anyone in the party.

Not even a single Republican
absent when they vote.

You know who you've got to see.

Send over to Blair House.

Ask Preston Blair can I
call on him around 5:00.

God help you.

God alone knows what he'll
ask you to give him.

If the Blairs tell them to,

no Republican will baulk at
voting for the amendment.

No conservative Republican
is what you mean.

All Republicans ought
to be conservative.

I founded this party, in my
own g*dd*mn home, to be a

conservative anti-sl*very party,

not a hobby-horse for g*dd*mn
radical abolitionists.

Damp down the dyspepsia, Daddy.

You'll frighten the child.

You need us to keep
the conservative side

of the party in the traces
while you diddle the radicals

and bundle up with
Thaddeus Stevens's g*ng.

You need our help.

Yes, sir, I do.

Well, what do we get?

Whoa. Blunt.

Your manners, Monty,
must be why Mr Lincoln

pushed you out of his Cabinet.

- I wasn't pushed.
- Oh, of course you weren't.

He was pushed out to
placate the damn radicals.

- I agreed to resign.
- Oh, Daddy, please. Daddy.

Oh. You don't mind, boy, do you?

He spends his days with soldiers.

They taught me a song.

Did they?

Soldiers know all manner of songs.

How's your brother Bob?

He's at school now,
but he's coming

to visit in four
days for the shindy.

At school. Ain't that fine?

Good he's not in the Army.

He wants to be, but
Mama said he cannot.

Dangerous life, soldiering.

Your mama is wise to keep
him clean out of that.

Now, your daddy knows
that what I want

in return for all the
help I can give him

is to go down to Richmond,
like he said I could

as soon as Savannah fell

and talk to Jefferson Davis.

Now give me terms I can
offer to Jefferson Davis

to start negotiating for peace.

He'll talk to me.

Conservative members of your party

want you to listen to
overtures from Richmond.

That above all.

They'll vote for this rash
and dangerous amendment

only if every other
possibility is exhausted.

Our Republicans ain't
abolitionists.

We can't tell our people
they can vote yes

on abolishing sl*very

unless at the same
time we can tell them

that you're seeking
a negotiated peace.

Leo, it's 100 miles to Richmond.

Get him drunk so he can sleep.

Yes, ma'am.

Here, Daddy.

Oh.

- Thank you.
- Yes, sir, all right.

Where's my hat?

Leo has your hat.

All right?

Go make peace.

Thunder forth, God of w*r.

We'll commence our as*ault
on Wilmington from the sea.

Why is this burnt?

Was the boy playing with it?

It got took by a breeze
several nights back.

This is an official
w*r Department map.

And the entire Cabinet's waiting
to hear what it portends.

A bombardment.

From the largest fleet the
Navy has ever assembled.

Old Neptune, shake
thy hoary locks.

Fifty-eight ships are under way,

of every tonnage and f*ring range.

We'll keep up a steady barrage.

Our first target is Fort Fisher.

It defends Wilmington Port.

A steady barrage?

A hundred shells a minute.

Till they surrender.

Dear God.

Wilmington's their last
open seaport, therefore...

Wilmington falls,
Richmond falls after.

And the w*r is done.

Hear, hear.

Then why, if I might ask
are we not concentrating

the nation's attention
on Wilmington?

Why, instead, are we
reading in the Herald

that the anti-sl*very amendment

is being precipitated onto
the House floor for debate?

Because your eagerness,

in what seems an
unwarranted intrusion

of the executive into
legislative prerogatives,

is compelling it to what's...

To what's likely to be
its premature demise.

Hear, hear.

You signed the
Emancipation Proclamation.

You've done all
that could be done.

The Emancipation Proclamation's

merely a w*r measure. After
the w*r, the courts...

When Edward Bates was
Attorney General,

he felt confident enough
to let you sign it.

Different lawyers,
different opinions.

It frees slaves as a
m*llitary exigent. Not...

I don't recall Edward Bates
being any too certain about

the legality of my proclamation.

Just it wasn't downright criminal.

Somewhere in between.

Back when I rode the legal
circuit in Illinois,

I defended a woman from
Metamora named Melissa Goings.

Seventy-seven years old.

They said she'd m*rder*d
her husband. He was 83.

He was choking her

and she grabbed a hold
of a stick of firewood

and fractured his
skull and he d*ed.

In his will, he wrote,

I expect she has k*lled me.

If I get over it, I
will have revenge.

No one was keen to
see her convicted,

he was that kind of husband.

I asked the prosecuting attorney

if I might have a short
conference with my client.

She and I went into a
room in the courthouse,

but I alone emerged.

The window in the room was
found to be wide open.

It was believed the old lady
may have climbed out of it.

I told the bailiff,

right before I left
her in the room

she asked me where she could get

a good drink of water, and
I told her, Tennessee.

Mrs Goings was seen
no more in Metamora.

Enough justice had been done.

They even forgave the
bondsman her bail.

I'm afraid I don't see...

I decided

that the Constitution
gives me w*r powers

but no one knows just exactly
what those powers are.

Some say they don't exist.

I don't know. I decided

I needed them to exist
to uphold my oath

to protect the Constitution.

Which I decided meant I could take

the Rebels' slaves from them as
property confiscated in w*r.

That might recommend to
suspicion that I agree

with the Rebs that their slaves

are property in the first place.

Of course, I don't. Never have.

I'm glad to see any man free,
and if calling a man property

or w*r contraband

does the trick, why I
caught at the opportunity.

Now here's where it
gets truly slippery.

I use the law allowing for the
seizure of property in a w*r

knowing it applies
only to the property

of governments and citizens
of belligerent nations.

Well, the South ain't a nation.

That's why I can't
negotiate with them.

So if, in fact, the
Negroes are property,

according to the law,

have I the right to take
the Rebels' property

from them, if I insist
they're rebels only

and not citizens of a
belligerent country?

And slipperier still,
I maintain it ain't

our actual Southern
states in rebellion

but only the rebels
living in those states,

the laws of which
states remain in force.

The laws of which
states remain in force.

That means that since it's
states' laws that determine

whether Negroes can be sold
as slaves, as property,

the federal government
doesn't have a say in that.

At least not yet.

Then Negroes in those states
are slaves, hence property,

hence my w*r powers allow
me to confiscate them

as such, so I confiscate them.

But if I'm a respecter
of states' laws,

how then can I legally free them

with my Proclamation as I done?

Unless I'm cancelling
states' laws?

I felt the w*r demanded it.

My oath demanded it.

I felt right with myself, and I
hoped it was legal to do it.

I'm hoping still.

Two years ago, I proclaimed
these people emancipated.

Then, thenceforward
and forever free.

Now let's say the courts
decide I had no authority

to do it. They might
well decide that.

Say there's no amendment
abolishing sl*very,

say it's after the w*r and I can
no longer use my w*r powers

to just ignore the
courts' decisions

like I sometimes felt I had to do.

Might those people I freed be
ordered back into sl*very?

That's why I'd like to get

the 13th Amendment
through the House,

on its way to ratification
by the states.

Wrap the whole sl*very thing up,

forever and aye, as
soon as I'm able. Now.

End of this month.

And I'd like you
to stand behind me

like my Cabinet's
most always done.

As the preacher said,

I could write shorter sermons,

but once I start, I
get too lazy to stop.

It seems to me, sir,
you're describing

precisely the sort of dictator

the Democrats have
been howling about.

Dictators aren't
susceptible to law.

Neither is he. He
just said as much.

Ignoring the courts?
Twisting meanings?

What reins him in from... From...

Well, the people do
that, I suppose.

I signed the Emancipation
Proclamation,

what, a year and a half
before my second election?

I felt I was within
my power to do it,

however, I also felt that I
might be wrong about that.

I knew the people would tell me.

I gave them a year and a
half to think about it,

and they re-elected me.

And come February the first,

I intend to sign the
13th Amendment.

Well, Mr Representative Ashley.

Tell us the news from the Hill.

Ah, well, the news...

Why, for instance, is this thus,

and what is the reason
for this thusness?

James, we want you to bring
the anti-sl*very amendment

to the floor for debate,

- immediately.
- Excuse me, what?

You are the amendment's
manager, are you not?

I am, of course, but...

Then we're counting on
robust radical support

so tell Mr Stevens we expect
him to put his back into it.

It's not going to be easy, but...

It's impossible.

No. I am sorry, no.

We can't organise anything
immediately in the House.

I have been canvassing the
Democrats since the election,

in case any of them have softened
after they got walloped, but

they have stiffened, if
anything, Mr Secretary.

There aren't nearly enough votes.

We're whalers, Mr Ashley.

Whalers? As in... Whales?

We've been chasing this
whale for a long time.

And we finally placed a harpoon
in the monster's back.

It's in, James. It's in.

We finish the deed
now. We can't wait.

Or with one flop of his
tail, he'll smash the boat

and send us all to eternity.

On the 31 St of this
month, of this year,

put the amendment up for a vote.

Whalers?

That's what he said.

The man's never been near
a whale ship in his life.

Withdraw radical support.

Force him to abandon this
scheme, whatever he's up to.

He drags his feet
about everything,

Lincoln... Why this urgency?

We got it through the
Senate without difficulty

because we had the numbers.

Come December, you'll have
the same in the House.

The amendment will be the
easy work of 10 minutes.

He's using the thr*at
of the amendment

to frighten the Rebels into
an immediate surrender.

I imagine we'd
rejoice to see that.

Will you rejoice when
the Southern states

have rejoined the Union pell-mell,

as Lincoln intends them
to, and one by one,

each refuses to
ratify the amendment?

If we pass it, which we won't.

Why are we cooperating with him?

We all know what he's doing and
we all know what he'll do.

We can't offer up abolition's
best legal prayer

to his games and tricks.

He said he'd welcome
the South back

with all its slaves in chains.

Three years ago he said that,
to calm the border states.

I don't.

You said we all know what
he'll do. I don't know.

You know he isn't to be trusted.

Trust? Oh.

I'm sorry, I was under
the misapprehension

that your chosen
profession was politics.

I never trusted the President,
never trusted anyone,

but hasn't he surprised you?

No, Mr Stevens, he hasn't.

Nothing surprises you, Asa,

therefore nothing about
you is surprising.

Perhaps that is why
your constituents

did not re-elect you
to the coming term.

It's late.

I'm old.

I'm going home.

Lincoln, the inveterate dawdler.

Lincoln, the Southerner.

Lincoln, the capitulating
compromiser,

our adversary, and

leader of the godforsaken
Republican party.

Our party.

Abraham Lincoln has asked
us to work with him

to accomplish the death
of sl*very in America.

Retain, even in opposition

your capacity for astonishment.

The President is never
to be mentioned. Nor I.

You're paid for your discretion.

Hell, you can have
that for nothing.

What we need money for is
bribes, to speed things up.

No, nothing strictly illegal.

It's not illegal to
bribe Congressmen,

they'd starve otherwise.

I have explained to Mr
Bilbo and Mr Latham that

we are offering patronage jobs
to the Dems who vote yes.

- Jobs and nothing more.
- That's correct.

Congressmen come cheap.

Few thousand bucks will
buy you all you need.

The President would be unhappy
to hear you did that.

Will he be unhappy if we lose?

The money I managed to
raise for this endeavour

is only for your fees,
your food and lodging.

Huh.

If that squirrel-infested attic

you've quartered us in is any
measure, you ain't raised much.

Shall we get to work?

The House recognises
Fernando Wood,

the honourable Representative
from New York.

Estimable colleagues.

Two bloody years ago this month.

His Highness, King Abraham
Africanus the First,

our great usurping Caesar,

violator of habeas corpus
and freedom of the press,

abuser of states' rights...

If Lincoln really were
a tyrant, Mr Wood,

he'd have had your empty
head impaled on a pike.

And the country better for it.

Radical Republican autocrat,
ruling by fiat and martial law,

affixed his name to his
heinous and illicit.

Emancipation Proclamation

promising it would hasten
the end of the w*r,

which yet rages on and on.

He claimed, as tyrants do

that the w*r's emergencies

permitted him to turn
our army into...

The New York delegation is
looking decidedly uninspired.

And radical Republicanism's
abolitionist fanaticism.

His Emancipation Proclamation

has obliterated
millions of dollars...

Over in Pennsylvania, who's the
sweaty man eating his thumb?

Unknown to me. Seems jumpy.

Perhaps he'll jump.

But all that was not
enough for this dictator,

who now seeks to insinuate...

Jesus.

When's this son of liberty
sum-a-bitch gonna sit down?

John Ellis is gonna break his
watch if he doesn't stop.

We are once again asked, nay

commanded, to consider a
proposed 13th Amendment

which, if passed, shall
set at immediate liberty

four million coloureds
while manacling

the limbs of the white
race in America.

If it is passed,

but it shall not pass.

What's more interesting is
how dismal and disgruntled.

Mr Yeaman appears.

Every member of this House...

He should be cheering right now.

Looks like he ate a bad oyster.

Party and the constituents
it serves shall oppose...

Point of order, Mr
Speaker, if you please.

Mr Speaker, I still
have the floor.

And the gentleman from
Pennsylvania is out of order.

When will Mr Wood conclude
his interminable gabble?

Some of us breathe oxygen

and we find the mephitic
fumes of his oratory

a lethal challenge to our
pulmonary capabilities.

We shall oppose this amendment,

and any legislation that
so affronts natural law

insulting to God as to man.

Congress must never declare equal

those whom God created unequal.

sl*very is the only
insult to natural law,

you fatuous nincompoop.

Order.

Procedure, Mr Speaker.

Mr Wood has the floor.

Instruct us, oh, Great Commoner.

What is unnatural,
in your opinion?

Niggrahs casting ballots?

Niggrah representatives?

Is that natural, Stevens?

Intermarriage?

What violates natural law?

sl*very and you.

Pendleton, you insult God.

You unnatural noise.

Mr Colfax, please, use your gavel.

- You are out of order.
- Order in the Cabinet.

Instruct the Sergeant-at-Arms
to suppress this.

We are in session.

Please don't encourage this.

Don't encourage this.

You're back. You're
back. You're back.

I am. The goat got big.

Help me get one of
these to my room.

- She in there?
- She's asleep, probably.

- You need help, sir?
- No, sir.

They went to see Avonia
Jones last night

in a play about Israelites.

Could you bring your
pa this letter I writ

about my insolvency proceeding?

Deliver your own g*dd*mn petition.

There's a new book. Sam Beckwith

says it's about finches
and finches' beaks,

about how they change.

He's here.

He's here. Mrs
Cuthbert, he's here.

- Robbie.
- Hi, Mum.

- Oh, Robbie.
- Hey.

- Robbie.
- Hey.

Oh.

You're only staying a few days,
why'd you pack all that?

Well, I don't know how long...

Go tell your father Robert's home.

Mr Nicolay says Daddy's
secluded with Mr Blair.

Tell him anyway.

Did you forget to eat?

- Exactly like him.
- No.

You'll linger a few days
extra after the reception

before you go back to school.

Well, I don't know if
I'm going to go back...

We'll fatten you up before
you return to Boston.

- All right, Mum.
- All right.

Oh, Robbie.

Jefferson Davis is
sending three delegates.

Stephens, Hunter and Campbell.

Vice President of the Confederacy,

the former Secretary of State

and their Assistant
Secretary of w*r.

They're coming in earnest
to propose peace.

I know this is unwelcome
news for you.

Now hear me.

I went to Richmond
to talk to traitors.

To smile at and
plead with traitors

because it'll be
spring in two months.

The roads will be passable, the
spring slaughter commences.

Four bloody springs now.

Think of my Frank,

whom you've taken to your heart.

How you'll blame yourself
if the w*r takes my son

as it's taken multitudes of sons.

Think of all the boys who will
die if you don't make peace.

You must talk with these men.

I intend to, Preston.

In return, I must
ask you to support

our push for the amendment...
No, this is not horse trading.

Not now.

Bob. I'm sorry.

- Welcome home.
- Thank you, sir.

Looking fit, Robert.
Harvard agrees with you.

- Mr Blair.
- Fit and rested.

Could you give us a moment,
please, Robert? Thank you.

I will procure your votes
for you, as I promised.

You have always kept
your word to me.

Those Southern men are coming.

I beg you, in the name
of gentle Christ, sir.

I understand.

Talk peace with these men.

I understand, Preston.

We have one abstention so far.

Jacob Graylor.

He'd like to be Federal
Revenue Assessor

for the 5th District
of Pennsylvania.

So the total of Representatives

voting three weeks from
today is reduced to 182,

which means 122 yes votes

to reach the requisite
two-thirds of the House.

Assuming all Republicans
vote for the amendment.

Then despite our abstention, to
reach a two-thirds majority,

we remain twenty yeses short.

For which we're seeking from
among 64 lame duck Democrats.

Fully 39 of these we deem
unredeemable no votes.

The kind that hates n*gg*r*s.

Hates God for making n*gg*r*s.

The Good Lord on high would
despair of their souls.

Thank you for that pithy
explanation, Mr Bilbo.

We've abandoned these 39 to the
devil that possesses them.

We would...

The remaining lame ducks, on whom
we've been working with a purpose.

Charles Hanson.

Congressman.

My colleagues and I would
like a moment of your time.

I wonder if you've
given much thought...

Giles Stuart.

Rather clumsy.

Nelson Merrick.

Homer Benson.

My name is Richard Schell.

I wanted you to have a look
at this prospectus here.

And lastly,

Clay Hawkins. Of Ohio.

Tax Collector for the
Western Reserve.

That pays handsomely.

Don't just reach for
the highest branches,

they sway in every breeze.

Assistant Port Inspector
in Morristown

looks like the ticket to me.

Boats, they, they make me sick.

So just stand on the dock.

Let the Assistant Assistant Port
Inspector's stomach go weak.

And, lastly, Democratic yes
vote number six, Hawkins.

From Ohio.

Six?

Well, thus far.

Plus Graylor's abstention.

- From tiny acorns and so on.
- What did Hawkins get?

Postmaster of the
Millersburg Post Office.

He's selling himself
cheap, ain't he?

Well, he wanted Tax Collector
of the Western Reserve.

First term Congressman who
couldn't manage re-election.

I felt it unseemly and they
bargained him down to Postmaster.

Scatter them over several
rounds of appointments

so no one notices,
then burn this ledger,

please, after you're done.

Time for my public opinion bath.

Might as well let them in.

Seven yeses with Mr Ellis.

Thirteen to go.

One last item.

An absurdity, but

my associates report that
among the Representatives

a fantastical rumour's
bruited about,

which I immediately disavowed,

that you'd allowed
bleary old Preston Blair

to sojourn to Richmond

to invite Jeff Davis
to send commissioners

up to Washington
with a peace plan.

I, of course, told them
that you would never.

Not without consulting
me, you wouldn't.

Because why on earth would you?

Much obliged.

Why wasn't I consulted?

I'm Secretary of State.

And you informally send a
reactionary dotard to...

What will happen, do you imagine,

when these peace
commissioners arrive?

We'll hear them out.

Oh. Splendid.

And next, the Democrats
will invite them

up to hearings on the Hill.

And the newspapers...
Oh, the newspapers.

The newspapers will ask, Why
risk enraging the Confederacy

over the issue of sl*very when
they're here to make peace?

We'll lose every
Democrat we've got,

more than likely
conservative Republicans

will join them, and all our work,

all our preparing the
ground for the vote

laid waste for nought.

The Blairs promised
support for the amendment

if we listen to these people.

Oh, the Blairs promise, do they?

You think they'll
keep their promise

once we've heard these delegates

and refused them, which
we will have to do,

since their proposal most
certainly will be predicated on

keeping their slaves.

What hope for any
Democratic votes, Willum,

if word gets out that I've
refused a chance to end the w*r?

You think word won't get out?

In Washington?

It's either the amendment
or this Confederate peace.

You cannot have both.

If you can look into
the seeds of time,

And say which grain will
grow and which will not,.

Speak then to me.

A disaster. This is a disaster.

Time is a great thickener
of things, Willum.

Yes, I suppose it is.

Actually, I have no idea
what you mean by that.

Get me 13 votes.

Them fellas from
Richmond ain't here yet.

You drafted half
the men in Boston.

What do you think their
families think about me?

The only reason they don't
throw things and spit on me

is because you're so popular.

I can't concentrate on, on
British Mercantile Law.

I don't care about
British Mercantile Law.

I might not even
want to be a lawyer.

It's a sturdy profession.
And a useful one.

Yes, and I want to be useful,
but now, not afterwards.

I ain't wearing them
things, Mr Slade.

They never fit right.

The missus will have you
wear them. Don't think...

You're delaying, that's
your favourite tactic.

- Be useful...
- You won't tell me no,

but the w*r will be over in a
month, and you know it will.

I've found that prophesying

is one of life's less
profitable occupations.

Why do some slaves
cost more than others?

If they're still
young and healthy,

or if the women can still
conceive, they pay more.

Put them back in the
box, you scoundrel.

We'll return them to Mr Gardner's
studio day after next.

Be careful with them now.

These things should have
stayed on the calf.

When you were a sl*ve, Mr
Slade, did they b*at you?

I was born a free man.

Nobody b*at me except I
b*at them right back.

Mr Lincoln...

Mrs Keckley was a sl*ve.
Ask her if she was beaten.

- Were you...
- Tad.

I was beaten with a fire shovel
when I was younger than you.

You should go to Mrs Lincoln.
She's in Willie's room.

She never goes in there.

The reception line is already
stretching out the door.

See, I'll be the only man
over 15 and under 65

in this whole place
not in uniform.

I'm under 15.

My head hurts so.

I prayed for death the
night Willie d*ed.

My headaches are how I
know I didn't get my wish.

How to endure the long afternoon
and deep into the night.

I know.

Trying not to think about
him. How will I manage?

- Somehow. You will.
- Somehow?

Oh.

Somehow. Somehow.

Every party.

Every...

And now

four years more in this
terrible house, reproaching us.

He was a very sick little boy.

We should have cancelled that
reception, shouldn't we?

We didn't know how sick he was.

I knew. I knew.

I saw that night he was dying.

Three years ago, the w*r
was going so badly.

We had to put on a face.

But I saw Willie was dying.

Molly...

I saw him.

It's too hard.

Too hard.

Oh, gracious saints.

She's just ten feet yonder.
I'd like to keep my job.

- How nice to see you.
- Nice to see you.

Senator Sumner. It's
been much too long.

Oh, who can look on
that celestial face...

And?

James Ashley, ma'am.
We've met several times.

Praise heavens, praise heavens.

Just when I had abandoned
hope of amusement,

it's the Chairman
of the House Ways

- and Means Committee.
- Mrs Lincoln.

Madame President, if you please.

Don't convene another subcommittee
to investigate me, sir.

I'm teasing. Smile, Senator Wade.

I believe I am
smiling, Mrs Lincoln.

As long as your household
accounts are in order, madam,

we'll have no need
to investigate them.

You have always taken
such a lively,

even prosecutorial interest
in my household accounts.

Your household accounts have
always been so interesting.

Yes, thank you. It's true.

The miracles I have wrought

out of fertiliser bills and
cutlery invoices, but I had to.

Four years ago, when the
President and I arrived,

this was pure pigsty.

Tobacco stains on
the Turkey carpets.

Mushrooms, green as the moon,
sprouting from the ceilings.

And a pauper's pittance
allotted for improvements.

As if your committee joined
with all of Washington

awaiting in what you anticipated

would be our comfort in squalor.

Further proof that my husband
and I were prairie primitives

unsuited to the position to
which an error of the people,

a flaw in the Democratic
process had elevated us.

The past is the past.
It's a new year now

and we are all getting
along, or so they tell me.

I gather we are working together.

The White House and
the other House,

hatching little plans together.

- Mother.
- What?

- You're creating a bottleneck.
- Oh.

Oh, I'm detaining you.

And more importantly,
the people behind you.

How the people love my husband.

They flock to see him by their
thousands on public days.

They will never love you
the way they love him.

How difficult it must
be for you to know that

and yet how important
to remember it.

Since we have the floor
next in the debate,

I thought I'd suggest you might

temper your contribution

so as not to frighten our
conservative friends.

Ashley insists you're
ensuring approval

by dispensing patronage to
otherwise undeserving Democrats.

I can't ensure a single damn thing

if you scare the whole House silly

with talk of land appropriations
and revolutionary tribunals.

When the w*r ends, I intend to

push for full equality, the
n*gro vote, and much more.

Congress shall mandate the seizure
of every foot of Rebel land

and every dollar
of their property.

We'll use their confiscated wealth

to establish hundreds of
thousands of free n*gro farmers

and, at their side,
soldiers armed to occupy

and transform the
heritage of traitors.

We'll build up a land down there

of free men and free women and
free children and freedom.

The nation needs to know
that we have such plans.

That's the untempered
version of reconstruction.

It is not...

It's not quite exactly
what I intend.

But we shall oppose one another
in the course of time.

Now we're working together,
and I'm asking you...

For patience, I expect.

When the people disagree,
bringing them together

requires going slow until
they're ready to...

sh*t on the people
and what they want

and what they're ready for.

I don't give a g*dd*mn about
the people and what they want.

This is the face of someone
who has fought long and hard

for the good of the people

without caring much
for any of them.

And I look a lot worse
without my wig.

The people elected me
to represent them,

to lead them, and I lead.
You ought to try it.

I admire your zeal, Mr Stevens

and I have tried to profit
from the example of it, but

if I'd listened to you, I'd
have declared every sl*ve free

the minute the first shell
struck Fort Sumter.

And the border states
would have gone over

to the Confederacy, the
w*r would have been lost

and the Union along with it, and
instead of abolishing sl*very

as we hope to do in two weeks,

we'd be watching, helpless
as infants, as it spread

from the American South
into South America.

Oh, how you have longed
to say that to me.

You claim you trust them, but
you know what the people are.

You know that the inner compass,

that should direct the
soul towards justice

has ossified in white men
and women, North and South,

unto utter uselessness,

through tolerating
the evil of sl*very.

White people cannot
bear the thought

of sharing this country's
infinite abundance with Negroes.

A compass, I learned
when I was surveying,

it'll point you true north
from where you're standing.

But it's got no advice about the
swamps and deserts and chasms

that you'll encounter
along the way.

If in pursuit of your destination,

you plunge ahead,
heedless of obstacles

and achieve nothing more
than to sink in a swamp,

what's the use of
knowing true north?

Robert's going to plead
with us to let him enlist.

Make time to talk to Robbie.
You only have time for Tad.

Tad is young.

So is Robert. Too
young for the Army.

Plenty of boys younger
than Robert signing up.

Don't take Robbie.

Don't let me lose my son.

Go away. We're occupied.

Secretary Stanton has sent over

to tell you that as
of half an hour ago

the shelling of Wilmington
Harbour has commenced.

They cannot possibly maintain
under this kind of an as*ault.

Terry has got 10,000 men
surrounding the g*dd*mn port.

Why doesn't he answer...

Fort Fisher is a mountain
of a building, Edwin.

It's the largest
fort they have, sir.

Twenty-two big Seacoast
g*ns on each rampart.

They've been reinforcing
it for the last two years.

They've taken 17,000
shells since yesterday.

I want to hear Fort Fisher is
ours and Wilmington has fallen.

Send another damn cable.

The problem's their
commander, Whiting.

He engineered the
fortress himself,

the damn thing's his child.

He'll defend it till his
every last man is gone.

Come on out, you old rat.

That's what Ethan Allen called out

to the commander of Fort
Ticonderoga in 1776.

Come on out, you old rat.

Of course, there were only 40
odd Redcoats at Ticonderoga.

There is one Ethan Allen story
that I'm very partial to.

No, you're going to tell a story.

I don't believe that I can bear

to listen to another one
of your stories right now.

I need the B&O sideyard
schedules for Alexandria.

I asked for them this morning.

It was right after the Revolution,

right after peace
had been concluded.

And Ethan Allen went to London
to help our new country

conduct its business
with the King.

The English sneered
at how rough we are

and rude and simple-minded,
and on like that,

everywhere he went

till one day he was
invited to the townhouse

of a great English lord.

Dinner was served and
beverages imbibed,

time passed, as happens, and.

Mr Allen found he
needed the privy.

He was grateful to
be directed thence.

Relieved, you might say.

Now, Mr Allen discovered

on entering the water closet,
that the only decoration therein

was a portrait of
George Washington.

Ethan Allen done
what he came to do,

and returned to the drawing room.

His host and the others
were disappointed

when he didn't mention
Washington's portrait.

Finally, His Lordship couldn't
resist and asked Mr Allen

had he noticed it, the
picture of Washington.

He had.

Well, what did he think
of its placement,

did it seem appropriately
located to Mr Allen?

Mr Allen said it did.

His host was astounded.

Appropriate?

George Washington's
likeness in a water closet?

Yes, said Mr Allen. Where
it'll do good service.

The whole world knows nothing
will make an Englishman

sh*t quicker than the sight
of George Washington.

I love that story.

Fort Fisher is ours.
We've taken the port.

And Wilmington?

We've taken the fort,

but the city of Wilmington
has not surrendered.

How many casualties?

- Heavy losses.
- And more to come.

It sours the national
mood. It might suffice...

To what? To bring this down?

Not in a fight like this.
This is to the death.

That's gruesome.

Are you despairing or merely lazy?

This fight is for the
United States of America.

Nothing suffices. A
rumour? Nothing.

They're not lazy. They're
busily buying votes

while we hope to be saved
by the national mood?

Before this blood is dry, when
Stevens next takes the floor,

taunt him. You excel at that.

Get him to proclaim what
we all know he believes

in his coal-coloured heart.

That this vote is meant to
set the black race on high,

to niggerate America...

George, please, stay on course.

Bring Stevens to full froth.

I can ensure that
every newspaperman

from Louisville to San Francisco

will be here to witness
it and print it.

The floor belongs to the
mellifluent gentleman

from Kentucky, Mr George Yeaman.

I thank you, Speaker Colfax.

Although I am
disgusted by sl*very,

I rise on this sad and solemn day

to announce that I'm
opposed to the amendment.

We must consider what will
become of coloured folk

if four million are, in
one instant, set free.

They'll be free, George, that's
what will become of them.

Think how splendid

if Mr Yeaman switched.

Too publicly against us. He
can't change course now.

Not for some miserable
little job, anyway.

And we will be forced
to enfranchise

the men of the coloured race.

It would be inhuman not to.

Now who among us is prepared
to give Negroes the vote?

And, and, what shall
follow upon that?

Universal enfranchisement?

Votes for women?

We...

Bless my eyes.

If it isn't the Postmaster
of Millersburg, Ohio.

Mr LeClerk felt
honour-bound to inform us

of your disgusting betrayal.

Your prostitution.

Is that true, Postmaster Hawkins?

Is your maidenly virtue for sale?

If my neighbours hear that I
voted yes for n*gg*r freedom

and no to peace,
they will k*ll me.

A deal is a deal.

You men know better
than to piss your pants

just because there's
talk about peace talks.

- Look, I'll find another job.
- My neighbours in Nashville,

they found out I was
loyal to the Union,

they came after me
with gelding knives.

- I'll find another job.
- You do right, Clay Hawkins.

I want to do right.
But I got no courage.

Wait. You wanted... What was it?

A tax man for the Western Reserve?

Hell, you can have the whole
state of Ohio if you want...

Oh, crap.

Eleven votes?

Two days ago, we had
twelve. What happened?

There are defections in the ranks.

It's the g*dd*mn rumours regarding
the Richmond delegation.

- Yes. The peace offer.
- Groundless.

- And yet the rumours persist.
- They are ruining us.

Among the few remaining
Representatives

who seem remotely plausible,

there is a perceptible
increase in resistance.

Resistance, hell.

Thingamabob Hollister,
Dem from Indiana.

I approached him, sumbitch
near to m*rder*d me.

Colorado Territory...
What's this one?

Job description...
Taxpayers and...

Oh, sh*t. Cracky.

f*ck you, you son of
a bitch. g*dd*mn.

- Perhaps you pushed too hard.
- I push nobody.

Perhaps we need reinforcements.

If Jeff Davis wants
to cease hostilities,

who do you think is going to
give a genuine solid sh*t

to free slaves?

Get back to it.

And gentlemen, good day.

We are at an impasse.

Tell Lincoln to deny
the rumours, publicly.

Tell us what you expect of us.

I expect you to do your work.

And have sufficient
sense and taste

not to presume to
instruct the President.

Or me.

Is there a Confederate
offer, or not?

Gentlemen.

I suggest you work some
changes to your proposal

before you give it
to the President.

We're eager to be on
our way to Washington.

Mr Lincoln tell you
to tell us this?

It says securing peace
for our two countries

and it goes on like that.

- I don't...
- There is just one country.

You and I, we're citizens
of that country.

I'm fighting to protect
it from armed rebels.

From you.

But Mr Blair, he told us,

he told President Jefferson
Davis that we...

A private citizen like Preston
Blair can say what he pleases,

since he has no authority
over anything.

If you want to discuss peace
with President Lincoln,

consider revisions.

If we're not to discuss a truce
between warring nations,

what in heaven's
name can we discuss?

Terms of surrender.

Office United States m*llitary
Telegraph, w*r Department.

For Abraham Lincoln, President
of the United States.

January 20, 1865.

I will state confidentially
that I am convinced

upon conversation with
these commissioners

that their intentions are good

and their desire sincere to
restore peace and union.

I fear now they're going back

without any expression
of interest from anyone

in authority, Mr Lincoln,
will have a bad influence.

I will be sorry should it
prove impossible for you

to have an interview with them.

I am awaiting your instructions.

US Grant, Lieutenant General,.

Commanding Armies, United States.

After four years of w*r, and

near 600,000 lives lost, he
believes we can end this w*r now.

My trust in him is marrow deep.

You could bring the
delegates to Washington.

In exchange for the South's
immediate surrender,

we could promise them
the amendment's defeat.

They'd agree, don't you think?
We'd end the w*r. This week.

Or, if you could manage without
seeming to do it, to...

The peace delegation
might encounter delays

as they travel up the James River.

Particularly with the
fighting around Wilmington.

Within ten days' time, we might
pass the 13th Amendment.

Here's a 16-year-old boy,
they're going to hang him.

He's with the Fifteenth
Indiana Cavalry near Bulford.

It seems he lamed his
horse to avoid battle.

I don't think even Stanton would
complain if I pardoned him.

You think Stanton would complain?

I don't know, sir. I
don't know who you're...

- What time is it?
- It's 3:40 in the morning.

Don't let him pardon
any more deserters.

Mr Stanton thinks you
pardon too many.

He's generally apoplectic
on the subject.

He oughtn't have done
that, crippled his horse.

That was cruel, but
you don't just hang

a 16-year-old boy for that...

Ask the horse what he thinks.

For cruelty. There'd be
no 16-year-old boys left.

Grant wants me to bring the
secesh delegates to Washington.

So there are secesh delegates?

He was afraid, that's all it was.

I don't care to hang a boy for
being frightened, either.

What good would it do him?

w*r's nearly done, ain't that so?

What use is one more corpse?

Any more corpses?

Do you need company?

In times like this,
I'm best alone.

Lieutenant General Ulysses
S. Grant, City Point.

I have read your
words with interest.

I ask that, regardless of any
action I take in the matter

of the visit of the
Richmond commissioners

you maintain among your troops

m*llitary preparedness for battle

as you have done until now.

Have Captain Saunders convey
the commissioners to me

here in Washington.

A. Lincoln. And the date.

Yes, sir.

Shall I transmit, sir?

You think we choose to be born?

I don't suppose so.

Are we fitted to the
times we're born into?

Well, I don't know about myself.

You may be,

sir. Fitted.

What do you reckon?

Well, I'm an engineer.

I reckon there's machinery, but
no one's done the fitting.

You're an engineer.

You must know Euclid's
axioms and common notions.

I must have in school, but...

I never had much of schooling,

but I read Euclid in an
old book I borrowed.

Little enough ever
found its way in here,

but once learnt, it stayed learnt.

Euclid's first common
notion is this,

Things which are equal
to the same thing

are equal to each other.

That's a rule of
mathematical reasoning.

It's true because it works.

Has done and always will do.

In his book,

Euclid says this is self-evident.

You see? There it is, even
in that 2,000-year-old book

of mechanical law.

It is a self-evident truth

that things which are
equal to the same thing

are equal to each other.

We begin with equality.

That's the origin, isn't it?

That's balance. That's...
That's fairness.

That's justice.

Just read me back the last
sentence of the telegram, please.

Have Captain Saunders convey
the commissioners to me

here in Washington.

A slight emendation,
if you would, Sam.

Have Captain Saunders
convey the gentlemen

aboard the River Queen

as far as Hampton Roads,
Virginia, and there wait until

further advice from me.

Do not proceed to Washington.

The World, the Herald, the
Times, New York, Chicago,

the Journal of Commerce, even
your home-town paper's here.

Say you believe only in legal
equality for all races,

not racial equality.

I beg you, sir.

Compromise. Or you risk it all.

I've asked you a
question, Mr Stevens,

and you must answer me.

Do you or do you not
hold that the precept

that All men are created
equal is meant literally?

Is that not the true
purpose of the amendment?

To promote your ultimate and
ardent dream to elevate...

The true purpose of the
amendment, Mr Wood,

you perfectly named, brainless
obstructive object...

Now you have always
insisted, Mr Stevens,

that Negroes are the
same as white men are.

The true purpose of
the amendment...

I don't hold with
equality in all things,

only with equality before
the law. Nothing more.

That's... That's not so.

You believe that Negroes are
entirely equal to white men.

You've said it a thousand times.

For shame. For shame.

Stop prevaricating and
answer Representative Wood.

I don't hold with
equality in all things,

only with equality before the law.

After the decades of
fervent advocacy...

He's answered your questions.

This amendment's not to
do with race equality.

I don't hold with
equality in all things,

only with equality before
the law, and nothing more.

Who'd ever have guessed
that old nightmare

capable of such control?

He might make a
politician someday.

I need to go.

Mrs Keckley.

Your frantic attempt
to delude us now

is unworthy of a representative.

It is, in fact, unworthy
of a white man.

How can I hold that all
men are created equal

when here before me
stands, stinking,

the moral carcass of the
gentleman from Ohio, proof

that some men are inferior,

endowed by their Maker with dim
wits, impermeable to reason,

with cold, pallid
slime in their veins

instead of hot, red blood.

You are more reptile
than man, George.

So low and flat that
the foot of man

is incapable of crushing you.

How dare you?

Yet even you, Pendleton,

who should have been gibbeted
for treason long before today.

Even worthless, unworthy you

ought to be treated
equally before the law.

And so again, sir, again
and again and again I say,

I do not hold with
equality in all things,

only with equality before the law.

Mr Speaker, will you permit
this vile, boorish man

to slander and to thr*aten me?

And to reduce these proceedings

on this most important
matter into an anarchic

and tawdry burlesque?

You asked if ever I was surprised.

Today, Mr Stevens,
I was surprised.

You've led the battle for
race equality for 30 years.

The basis of every hope for
this country's future life,

you denied n*gro
equality. I'm nauseated.

You refused to say
that all humans are...

Well, human.

Have you lost your
very soul, Mr Stevens?

Is there nothing you won't say?

I'm sorry you're nauseous, Asa.

That must be unpleasant.

I want the amendment to pass, so
that the Constitution's first

and only mention of sl*very
is its absolute prohibition.

For this amendment, for which
I have worked all my life

and for which countless
coloured men and women

have fought and d*ed

and now hundreds of
thousands of soldiers...

No, sir, no.

It seems there's very
nearly nothing I won't say.

I'm not going in.

You said you wanted to help me.

But this is just a clumsy
attempt to discourage me.

I've been to Army hospitals.
I've seen surgeries.

I went and visited the
malaria barges with Mama.

She told me she didn't
take you inside.

I snuck in afterwards.

I've seen what it's like.
This changes nothing.

Well, at all rate, son, I'm
happy to have your company.

- Good morning, Jim.
- Hello, Mr President.

- Good to see you again.
- Good to see you.

Well, boys, first question.
You getting enough to eat?

Hello, sir.

- What's your name, soldier?
- Robert.

- Good to meet you, Robert.
- Nice to meet you.

- What's your name?
- Kevin.

Tell me your names as I go past.

I'd like to know who
I'm talking to. Kevin.

- Mr President. John.
- John. I've seen you before.

Mr President.

Make sure you get some steak.

I wouldn't mind one
myself, right now.

What's the matter, Bob?

I have to do this,
and I will do it.

And I don't need your
permission to enlist.

That same speech has been
made by how many sons

to how many fathers
since the w*r began?

I don't need your damn permission,

you miserable old goat,
I'm gonna enlist anyhow.

And what wouldn't those
numberless fathers have given

to be able to say to their sons

as I now say to mine,
I'm Commander in Chief.

So, in point of fact,
without my permission

you ain't enlisting in
nothing nowhere, young man.

It's Mama you're scared of,
it's not me getting k*lled.

I have to do this. And I will.

Or I will feel ashamed of
myself for the rest of my life.

Whether or not you fought
is what's gonna matter,

and not just to other
people, but to myself.

I won't be you, Pa,
I can't do that,

but I don't want to be nothing.

I can't lose you.

He'll be fine, Molly.

City Point's a way back
from the front lines

and the fighting.

He'll be an adjutant, running
messages for General Grant.

The w*r will take our son.

A sn*per, or a shrapnel shell,
a typhus same as took Willie.

It takes hundreds of boys a
day. He'll die uselessly.

And how will I ever forgive you?

Most men, their firstborn
is their favourite.

You've always blamed
Robert for being born.

For trapping you in a marriage

that's only ever given you grief

- and caused you regret.
- That's simply not true.

And if the slaughter
of Cold Harbor's

on your hands same as
Grant, God help us.

We'll pay for the
oceans of spilled blood

you've sanctioned, the
uncountable corpses.

We'll be made to pay with
our son's dear blood.

Just this once, Mrs Lincoln,

I demand of you to try
and take the liberal

and not the selfish point of view.

Robert will never forgive himself.

You imagine he'll forgive us

if we continue to stifle
this very natural ambition?

And if I refuse to
take the high road?

If I won't pick up
the rough old cross,

will you thr*aten me
again with the madhouse?

As you did when I couldn't
stop crying over Willie.

When I showed you what heartbreak,

real heartbreak, looked like.

And you hadn't the courage

- to countenance, to help me.
- That's right, that's right...

When you refused so
much as to comfort Tad,

a child who was not only
sick, dangerously sick,

but beside himself with grief.

I was holding him in
my arms when he d*ed.

But your grief, your grief,
your inexhaustible grief.

How dare you throw that up at me?

And his mother wouldn't
let him near her

because she's screaming
from morning to night.

I couldn't risk him
seeing how angry I was.

Pacing the halls,
howling at shadows

and furniture and ghosts.

I ought to have done
it for Tad's sake,

for everybody's g*dd*mn sake,

I should have clapped
you in the madhouse.

Then do it.

Do it. Don't you thr*aten me.

You do it this time. Lock me away.

You'll have to, I swear,
if Robert is k*lled.

I couldn't tolerate you
grieving so for Willie

because I couldn't
permit it in myself.

Though I wanted to, Mary.

I wanted to crawl under the earth,

into the vault, with his coffin.

And I still do. Every day I do.

Don't speak to me about grief.

I must make my decisions, Bob
must make his, you yours.

And bear what we must. Hold
and carry what we must.

What I carry within me, you
must allow me to do it.

Alone, as I must. And
you alone, Mary,

you alone may lighten this burden.

Or render it intolerable.

As you choose.

You think I'm ignorant
of what you're up to

because you haven't discussed

this scheme with me as
you ought to have done?

When have I ever been
so easily bamboozled?

I believe you when you insist
that amending the Constitution

and abolishing sl*very
will end this w*r.

And since you are sending
my son into the w*r,

woe unto you if you fail
to pass the amendment.

Seward doesn't want me
leaving big muddy footprints

all over town.

No one has ever lived who
knows better than you

the proper placement of
footfalls on treacherous paths.

Seward can't do it. You must.

Because if you fail to
acquire the necessary votes,

woe unto you, sir. You
will answer to me.

Thank you.

I know the vote is
only four days away.

I know you're concerned.

Thank you for your
concern over this.

And I want you to know,
they'll approve it.

God will see to it.

I don't envy Him his task.

He may wish He'd chosen an
instrument for His purpose

more wieldy than the House
of Representatives.

Then you'll see to it.

Are you afraid of what
lies ahead for your people

if we succeed?

White people don't want us here.

- Many don't.
- What about you?

I don't know you, Mrs Keckley.

Any of you.

You're familiar to me,
as all people are,

unaccommodated, poor,
bare, forked creatures,

such as we all are.

You have a right to
expect what I expect.

And likely our expectations

are not incomprehensible
to each other.

I assume I'll get used to you.

Now what you are to the nation,

what'll become of you once
sl*very's day is done,

I don't know.

What my people are
to be, I can't say.

Negroes have been fighting
and dying for freedom

since the first of us was a sl*ve.

I never heard any ask
what freedom would bring.

Freedom is first.

As for me,

my son d*ed fighting
for the Union,

wearing the Union blue.

For freedom he d*ed.

And I'm his mother.

That's what I am to the
nation, Mr Lincoln.

What else must I be?

My whole hand's gonna be
proud in about five seconds.

Let's see how proud you can be.

Go away. That watch
fob, is that gold?

You keep your eyes off my fob.

Gentlemen, you have a visitor.

g*dd*mn. Hey, Bill.

Well, I'll be f*cked.

I wouldn't bet against it.

Mr

W. N. Bilbo.

Yeah, Mr Bilbo. Gentlemen.

Sir.

Why are you here? No offence,

but Mr Seward's banished the
very mention of your name.

He won't even let us
use fifty cent pieces

because they've got
your face on 'em.

The Secretary of State
here tells me that you got

11 Democrats in the bag.
That's encouraging.

Oh, you've got no cause
to be encouraged, sir.

Are we being fired?

We have heard the chimes at
midnight, Master Shallow.

I'm here to alert you boys

that the great day of
reckoning is nigh upon us.

The Democrats we've
yet to bag, sir,

the patronage jobs
simply won't bag 'em.

They require more
convincing, Mr President.

Do me a favour, will you?

Sure.

It snagged my eye in
the paper this morning

that the Governor Curtin

is set to declare a
winner in the disputed.

Congressional election for the...

Pennsylvania 16th District.

District. What a joy
to be comprehended.

Hop on a train to Philadel,
call on the Governor...

Send Latham. Or Schell.

No, he'll do fine. Just
polish yourself up first.

The incumbent is claiming
he won it. Name of...

Coffroth.

- That's him.
- Coffroth.

- He's a Democrat.
- I understand that.

- Silly name.
- A little bit silly.

Tell Governor Curtin
it'd be much appreciated

if he'd invite the House
of Representatives

to decide who won.

He's entitled to do that.
He'll agree to it.

Then advise Coffroth if he
hopes to retain his seat,

then he'd better pay a
visit to Thaddeus Stevens.

Well, pity poor Coffroth.

It opens.

You are Canfrey?

Coffroth, Mr Stevens.
Alexander Coffroth.

Are we representatives
of the same state?

Yes, sir. We sit only
three desks apart.

I haven't noticed you.

I'm a Republican and you,
Coughdrop, are a Democrat?

Well, I, that is to say...

The modern travesty
of Thomas Jefferson's

political organisation

to which you've attached
yourself like a barnacle

has the effrontery to call
itself the Democratic Party.

You are a Democrat. What's
the matter with you?

Are you wicked?

- Well, I felt...
- Never mind.

Coffsnot, you were
ignominiously trounced

at the hustings in
November's election

by your worthy challenger,
a Republican.

No, sir, I was not trounced.

He wants to steal my seat. I
didn't lose the election.

What difference does it
make if you lost or not?

The governor of our
state is... A Democrat?

No, he's, he's a...

Re...

- pub... lic...
- pub... lic...

- can.
- Can. Republican.

I know what he is. This
is a rhetorical exercise.

And Congress is controlled
by what party? Yours?

Your party was beaten.

Your challenger's party
now controls the House

and hence the House
Committee on Elections,

so you have been beaten.

You shall shortly be sent
home in disgrace. Unless...

I know what I must do, sir.

I will immediately become a
Republican and vote yes...

No.

Coffroth will vote yes,

but Coffroth will remain a
Democrat until after he does so.

Why wait to switch?
I'm happy to...

We want to show the amendment
has bipartisan support,

you idiot. Early in
the next Congress,

when I tell you to do so,
you will switch parties.

Now congratulations on
your victory, and get out.

Now, give me the names of whoever
else you've been hunting.

Aw, hell.

George Yeaman.

Yes. Yeaman.

Among others.

- But Yeaman, that'd count.
- Yeah.

Y-E-A-M-A-N.

I got it.

Kentucky.

I can't vote for the
amendment, Mr Lincoln.

I saw a barge once, Mr Yeaman,

filled with coloured men in chains

heading down the Mississippi to
the New Orleans sl*ve markets.

It sickened me.

And more than that, it
brought a shadow down.

A pall around my eyes.

sl*very troubled me as
long as I can remember

in a way it never
troubled my father,

though he hated it,
in his own fashion.

He knew no smallholding
dirt farmer

could compete with
sl*ve plantations

so he took us out from
Kentucky to get away from 'em.

He wanted Indiana kept free.

He wasn't a kind man

but there was a rough,
moral urge for fairness,

for freedom in him.

I learnt that from him, I suppose.

If little else from him.

We didn't care for one
another, Mr Yeaman.

Well, I'm sorry to hear that.

Loving kindness, that most
ordinary thing, came to me

from other sources. I'm
grateful for that.

Well, I hate it, too, sir.

sl*very, but...

But we're entirely unready
for emancipation.

And there's too many questions...

We're unready for
peace, too, ain't we?

Yeah, when it comes, it'll
present us with conundrums

and dangers greater than any
we faced during the w*r,

bloody as it's been.

We'll have to extemporise and
experiment with what it is,

when it is.

I read your speech, George.

Negroes and the vote,

that's a puzzle.

No, no. But, but,
but Negroes can't

vote, Mr Lincoln.

You're not suggesting we
enfranchise coloured people?

I'm asking only that

you disenthral yourself
from the sl*ve powers.

I'll let you know when

there's an offer on my
desk for surrender.

There's none before us now.

What's before us now, that's the
vote on the 13th Amendment.

And it's going to
be so very close.

You see what you can do.

I can't make sense of it.

What he d*ed for.

Mr Lincoln, I hate them all.

I do. All black people.

I am a prejudiced man.

Well, I'd change that
in you if I could,

but that's not why I come.

I might be wrong, Mr Hutton,

but I expect coloured
people most likely be free.

And when that's so,
it's simple truth

that your brother's bravery and
his death helped make it so.

Only you can decide whether

that's sense enough
for you or not.

My deepest sympathies
to your family.

We've managed our members
to a fare-thee-well.

You've had no defections

from the Republican
right to trouble you.

Whereas as to what you promised,

where the hell are
the commissioners?

Oh, my God. It's true.

You... You lied to me.

Mr Lincoln, you evaded
my request for a denial

that there is a
Confederate peace offer,

because there is one.

We are absolutely guaranteed
to lose the whole thing.

We don't need a g*dd*mn
abolition amendment.

Leave the Constitution alone.

What if the peace commissioners
appear today, or worse...

I can't listen to this any more.

I can't accomplish a g*dd*mn thing

of any human meaning or worth

until we cure ourselves of sl*very

and end this pestilential w*r.

And whether any of you
or anyone else knows it,

I know I need this.

This amendment is that cure.

We are stepped out upon
the world stage now.

Now.

With the fate of human
dignity in our hands.

Blood's been spilt to
afford us this moment.

Now. Now. Now.

And you grousle and heckle
and dodge about like

pettifogging Tammany
Hall hucksters.

See what is before you.

See the here and now, that's the

hardest thing, the only
thing that accounts.

Abolishing sl*very by
constitutional provision

settles the fate for
all coming time

not only of the
millions now in bondage

but of unborn millions to come.

Two votes stand in its way.
These votes must be procured.

We need two yeses, three
abstentions, or four yeses

and one more abstention, and
the amendment will pass.

You got a night, and
a day, and a night,

and several perfectly good hours.

Now get the hell out
of here and get 'em.

Yes. But how?

Buzzards' guts, man.

I am the President of the
United States of America

clothed in immense power.

You will procure me these votes.

We welcome you,
ladies and gentlemen,

first in the history of
this people's chamber,

to your House.

Mr Ashley, the floor is yours.

On the matter of the joint
resolution before us,

presenting a 13th Amendment
to our National Constitution,

which was passed last
year by the Senate

and which has been debated now

by this estimable body for
the past several weeks,

today we will vote.

By mutual agreement, we shall
hear brief, final statements,

beginning with the honourable
George Pendleton of Ohio.

I have just received

confirmation

of what previously has
been merely rumoured.

Affidavits from loyal citizens

recently returned from Richmond.

They testify that
commissioners have indeed

come north and ought
to have arrived

by now in Washington City

bearing an offer of immediate
cessation of our civil w*r.

Is it true, sir?

Are there Confederate
commissioners in the capital?

I have no idea where they
are or if they've arrived.

They'll arrive.

I appeal to my fellow Democrats,

to all Republican representatives
who give a fig for peace,

postpone this vote.

Until we have answers from
the President himself.

Postpone the vote.

Postpone the vote.

Postpone the vote.
Postpone the vote.

Postpone the vote.

- Postpone the vote.
- Gentlemen.

Postpone the vote.

Postpone the vote.
Postpone the vote.

I have made a motion.

Does anyone care to
second my motion?

Gentlemen.

The conservative faction of
border and western Republicans

cannot approve this amendment,

about which we harbour
grave doubts,

if a peace offer is being
held hostage to its success.

Joining together with our
Democratic colleagues,

I second the motion to postpone.

He must deny peace
commissioners are in the city.

Quick, man. Quick.

This is precisely what Mr
Wood wishes me to respond to?

Word for word, this is precisely

the assurance that
he demands of me?

Yes, sir.

Give this to Mr Ashley.

I feel I have to say,
Mr Lincoln, that...

Could you please
just step outside?

You want to have a chat now,

with the whole of the
House of Representatives

waiting on this?

Making false representation
to Congress, is...

- It's...
- It's impeachable,

but I've made no such
false representation.

But there are.

There is a delegation
from Richmond.

Give me the note, Johnnie.

Please, deliver that to Mr Ashley.

From the President.

So far as I know, there are no
peace commissioners in the city

nor are there likely to be.

So far as I know?

That means nothing.

Are there commissioners from
the South, or aren't there?

The President has
answered you, sir.

Your peace offer is a fiction.

That is not a denial.

It is a lawyer's dodge.

Mr Haddam, is your
faction satisfied?

The conservative Republican
faction is satisfied.

And we thank Mr Lincoln.

I move to table Mr Wood's motion.

Tabled.

Mr Colfax, I order
the main question.

A motion has been made
to bring the bill

for the 13th Amendment to a vote.

Do I hear a second?

I second the motion.

So moved, so ordered.

The Clerk will now...

Quiet, please.

The Clerk will now call
the roll for the voting.

We begin with Connecticut.

Mr Augustus Benjamin,

on the matter of this
amendment, how say you?

Nay.

Mr Arthur Bentleigh.

Nay.

Mr John Ellis, how say you?

Aye.

What.

Missouri next. Mr Walter Appleton.

I vote no.

Mr Josiah Burton.

Beanpole Burton is
pleased to vote yea.

The State of New Jersey.

- Mr Nehemiah Cleary.
- No.

Mr James Martinson.

Mr Martinson has delegated
me to say he is indisposed.

And he abstains.

Mr Austin J. Roberts.

Also indisposed, also abstaining.

Illinois concluded.

Mr Harold Hollister. How say you?

No.

Mr Hutton.

Mr William Hutton. Cast your vote.

William Hutton, remembering
at this moment

his beloved brother Frederick
votes against the amendment.

Webster Allen votes no.

Webster Allen, Illinois,
Democrat, votes no.

Halberd Law, Indiana,
Democrat, votes no.

Archibald Moran, yes.

Ambrose Baylor, yes.

Mr Walter H. Washburn.

Votes no.

And Mr George Yeaman, how say you?

My vote ties us.

Sir, Mr Yeaman, I
didn't hear your vote.

I said Aye, Mr McPherson.

Aye.

Traitor.

Order.

Order in my chamber.

Mr McPherson, you may proceed.

Mr Clay R. Hawkins of Ohio.

g*dd*mn it, I'm voting yes.

I don't care, you sh**t me dead.

You sh**t me dead.
I am voting yes.

Mr Edwin F. LeClerk.

No.

Oh, to hell with it.
sh**t me dead, too. Yes.

I mean...

Abstention. Abstention.

Spineless. No gender.

Mr Alexander Coffroth.

I vote

yes.

Yea.

James Brooks...

Nay.

Josiah Grenelle...

Yea.

Meyer Strauss...

Nay.

- Mr Joseph Marstern.
- Nay.

- Mr Chilton A. Elliot.
- No.

- Mr Daniel G. Stuart.
- I vote yes.

- Mr Howard Guilfoyle.
- Yea.

- John F. McKenzie.
- Yea.

- Andrew E. Fink.
- Nay.

- Mr John A. Castle.
- Yea.

- Mr Hanready.
- Nay.

- And Mr Rufus Warren?
- Yea.

The roll call concludes.

The voting is completed. Now...

Mr Clerk, please call my name.

I want to cast a vote.

I object.

The Speaker doesn't vote.

The Speaker may vote
if he so chooses.

It is highly unusual, sir.

This isn't usual, Mr Pendleton.

This is history.

How does Mr Schuyler Colfax vote?

Aye, of course.

The final vote.

Eight absent or not voting.

Fifty-six votes against.

One hundred and
nineteen votes for.

With a margin of two votes...

We chose great leadership.

♪ We'll rally round
the flag, boys ♪

♪ We'll rally once again ♪

♪ Shouting the battle
cry of freedom ♪

♪ We will rally
from the hillside ♪

♪ We'll gather from the plain ♪

♪ Shouting the battle
cry of freedom ♪

♪ The Union forever.
Hurrah, boys, hurrah ♪

♪ Down with the traitor ♪

♪ And up with the star ♪

♪ Shout, shout the
battle cry of Freedom ♪

♪ Congratulations, Mr Chairman ♪

The bill, Mr McPherson. May I?

♪ The Union forever.
Hurrah, boys, hurrah ♪

That's, that's the official bill.

I'll return it in the morning.

Creased,

but unharmed.

♪ Shouting the battle
cry of freedom ♪

♪ We are springing to the call
of the loyal, true and brave ♪

♪ Shouting the battle
cry of freedom ♪

♪ And we'll fill
our vacant ranks ♪

♪ With a million freemen more ♪

♪ Shouting the battle
cry of freedom ♪

♪ The Union forever ♪

♪ Hurrah, boys, hurrah ♪

♪ Down with the traitor
and up with the star ♪

A gift for you.

The greatest measure
of the 19th century,

passed by corruption,

aided and abetted by the
purest man in America.

I wish you had been present.

- I wish I'd been.
- It was a spectacle.

You can't bring your
housekeeper to the House.

I won't give them gossip.

This is enough.

This is...

It's more than enough for now.

Read it to me again, my love.

- Proposed...
- And adopted.

Adopted,

an amendment to the Constitution
of the United States.

Section One.

Neither sl*very nor
involuntary servitude

except as a punishment for crime

whereof the party shall
have been duly convicted

shall exist within
the United States

or any place subject
to their jurisdiction.

Section Two.

Congress shall have power
to enforce this amendment

by appropriate legislation.

Let me be blunt.

Will the Southern states

resume their former
position in the Union

speedily enough to enable us

to block ratification to
this here 13th Amendment?

I'd like peace immediately.

Yes, and?

I'd like your states restored to

their practical relations
with the Union immediately.

If this could be given
to me in writing,

as Vice President of the

Confederacy, I'd
bring that document

with celerity, to Jefferson Davis.

Surrender.

And we can discuss reconstruction.

Surrender won't be thought of.

Unless you've assured
us, in writing,

that we'll be readmitted in
time to block this amendment.

This is the arrogant
demand of a conqueror.

You'll not be a conquered
people, Mr Hunter.

You will be citizens.

Returned to the laws and
the guarantees of rights

of the Constitution.

Which now extinguishes sl*very.

And with it, our economy.

All our laws will be determined by

a Congress of vengeful Yankees.

All our rights will be
subject to a Supreme Court

benched by bloody
Republican radicals.

All our traditions
will be obliterated.

We won't know ourselves any more.

We ain't here to discuss
reconstruction.

We have no legal basis
for that discussion.

But I don't want to deal falsely.

The Northern states will
ratify, most of them.

As I figure it, it remains for
two of the Southern states

to do the same, even after
all are readmitted.

And I've been working on that.

Tennessee and Louisiana.

Arkansas, too, most likely.
It'll be ratified.

sl*very, sir... It's done.

If we submit ourselves
to law, Alex,

even submit to losing freedoms,

the freedom to
oppress, for instance

we may discover other freedoms
previously unknown to us.

Had you kept faith with
the democratic process,

as frustrating as that can be...

Come, sir.

Spare us, at least, these pieties.

Did you defeat us with ballots?

How have you held
your Union together?

Through democracy?

How many hundreds of
thousands have d*ed

during your administration?

Your Union, sir, is bonded
in cannon fire and death.

It may be you're right.

But say all we done
is show the world

that democracy isn't chaos.

That there is a great,
invisible strength

in a people's union.

Say we've shown that a people
can endure awful sacrifice

and yet cohere.

Mightn't that save at least

the idea of democracy
to aspire to?

Eventually to become worthy of?

At all rates, whatever may be
proven by blood and sacrifice

must have been proved by now.

Shall we stop this bleeding?

Once he surrenders, send his
boys back to their homes

and their farms, their shops.

Yes, sir.

As we discussed.

Liberality all around,
not punishment.

I don't want that.

And their leaders, Jeff
and the rest of them,

they escape, leave the country

while my back's turned, that
wouldn't upset me none.

When peace comes, it
mustn't just be hangings.

By outward appearance

you're 10 years older
than you were a year ago.

Some weariness has
bit at my bones.

I never seen the like of it
before, what I seen today.

Never seen the like of it before.

You always knew that.

What this was going to be.

Intimate and ugly.

You must have needed
to see it close

when you decided
to come down here.

We've made it possible for one
another to do terrible things.

We've won the w*r.

Now you have to lead us out of it.

You have an itch to travel?

I'd like that.

To the West, by rail.

Overseas.

The Holy Land.

Awfully pious for a man

who takes his wife out
buggy-riding on Good Friday.

Jerusalem.

Where David and Solomon walked.

I dream of walking in
that ancient city.

All anyone will remember of me

is I was crazy and I
ruined your happiness.

Anyone thinks that doesn't
understand, Molly.

When they look at you,

at what it cost to live
at the heart of this,

they'll wonder at it.
They'll wonder at you.

They should.

But they should also look at the
wretched woman by your side

if they want to understand
what this was truly like.

For the ordinary person.

For anyone other than you.

You must try to be happier.

We must, both of us.

We've been so miserable
for so long.

I did say some coloured men...

The intelligent, the
educated, and the

veterans. I qualified it.

Mr Stevens is furious.

He wants to know why
you qualified it.

No one heard the intelligent
or educated part.

All they heard was the first time

any president has ever made
mention of n*gro voting.

Still, I wish I'd mentioned
it in a better speech.

Mr Stevens also wants to know

why you didn't make
a better speech.

Mrs Lincoln is waiting
in the carriage.

She wants me to remind you
of the hour, and that

you'll have to pick up Miss
Harris and Major Rathbone.

- Am I in trouble?
- No, sir.

Thank you, Mr Slade.

I suppose it's time to go.

Though I would rather stay.

The President has been sh*t.

The President has been
sh*t. At Ford's Theatre.

No. No.

It's 7:22 in the morning.

Saturday, the 15th of April.

It's all over.

The President is no more.

Now he belongs to the ages.

Fondly do we hope,

fervently do we pray,

that this mighty scourge of
w*r, may speedily pass away.

Yet if God wills that it continue

until all the wealth piled
by the bondman's 250 years

of unrequited toil shall be sunk

and until every drop of
blood drawn with the lash

shall be paid by another
drawn with the sword

as was said 3,000 years ago,
so still it must be said,

The judgements of the Lord

are true and righteous altogether.

With malice toward none,

with charity for all,

with firmness in the right, as
God gives us to see the right,

let us strive on to finish
the work we are in,

to bind up the nation's wounds,

to care for him who shall
have borne the battle

and for his widow

and his orphan,

to do all which may
achieve and cherish

a just and a lasting
peace among ourselves
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