“Lincoln” Movie Project (Worth 2 Daily Grades)

Overview:

Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” (2012) is as much about the Thirteenth Amendment and Washington politics as it is about the 16th president of the United States. The movie is set between January and April of 1865, from the start of Abraham Lincoln’s second term to his assassination, during which the Thirteenth Amendment was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives (January 31, 1865) and the Civil War drew to a close (officially declared at an end on May 9, 1865). The screenplay is based on the work of Pulitzer Prize winner, Doris Kearns Goodwin (author of Team of Rivals).

Lincoln (the film) does a marvelous job of illustrating how politicking and bipartisanship work in actual practice. Radical Republicans, led by Thaddeus Stevens, unabashedly want full rights for slaves. Moderate Republicans want to end slavery, but are less eager to grant full rights to freed slaves. Democrats are fearful of ending slavery for many reasons, including the threat that freed slaves will compete with whites for jobs. Through various machinations, from heartfelt appeal to outright patronage (use of the spoils system), Lincoln passes the 13th Amendment. These and other complicated issues are explained in a way that is accessible and understandable.

Key Characters and Terms:

Abraham Lincoln the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln successfully led his country through its greatest constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union while ending slavery, and promoting economic and financial modernization

Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, was a Republican leader and one of the most powerful members of the United States House of Representatives. As chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Stevens, a witty, sarcastic speaker and flamboyant party leader, dominated the House from 1861 until his death. He wrote much of the financial legislation that paid for the American Civil War. Stevens and Senator Charles Sumner were the prime leaders of the Radical Republicans during the war and Reconstruction era.

William Seward was the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. A determined opponent of the spread of slavery in the years leading up to the American Civil War, he was a dominant figure in the Republican Party in its formative years, and was widely regarded as the leading contender for the party's presidential nomination in 1860. Denied the nomination, he became a loyal member of Lincoln's wartime cabinet, and played a role in preventing foreign intervention early in the war.

The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued to the executive agencies of the United States by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. It was based on the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief of the armed forces; it was not a law passed by Congress. It proclaimed all slaves in Confederate territory to be forever free; that is, it ordered the Army to treat as free men the slaves in ten states that were still in rebellion, thus applying to 3.1 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. The Proclamation immediately resulted in the freeing of 50,000 slaves, with nearly all the rest (of the 3.1 million) actively freed as Union armies advanced. The Proclamation did not compensate the owners, did not itself outlaw slavery, and did not make the ex-slaves (called freedmen) citizens. It made the destruction of slavery an explicit war goal, in addition to the goal of reuniting the Union

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On December 18, Secretary of State William H. Seward proclaimed it to have been adopted. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted after the American Civil War.

President Lincoln and other Republicans were concerned that the Emancipation Proclamation, which in 1863 declared the freedom of slaves in ten Confederate states then in rebellion, would be seen as a temporary war measure, since it was solely based on Lincoln's war powers. The Proclamation did not free any slaves in the border states nor itself make slavery illegal

Alexander Stephens was Vice President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.

Appomattox Court House is where the surrender of the Confederate Army under Robert E. Lee to Union commander Ulysses S. Grant took place on Palm Sunday April 9, 1865, effectively ending the American Civil War.

Edwin Stanton served as Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's effective management helped organize the massive military resources of the North and guide the Union to victory.

Elizabeth Keckley was a former slave who became a successful seamstress, civic activist and author in Washington, DC. She was best known as the personal modiste and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln, the First Lady. Keckley had moved to Washington in 1860 after buying her freedom and that of her son in St. Louis. She created an independent business in the capital based on clients who were the wives of the government elite.

Assignment: Students will watch the movie Lincoln and answer the following questions (Answer #2-5 in paragraph form). You must attach the movie ticket to paper. This assignment will be due Monday 11/26. It will be worth 2 daily grades. If you are not able to see the film, there will be an alternative assignment of 3 FRQs due on the same day. The alternative assignment essays must be 5 paragraphs each. They will be available on my website during Thanksgiving Break.

Questions

1. Create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the positions of the following groups toward the proposed 13th Amendment: Radical Republicans, Moderate Republicans, and Democrats.

2. Abraham Lincoln resorts to various methods in order to get the House of Representatives to pass the amendment. Do you believe that these tactics are necessary? Why or why not?

3. Explain why the Emancipation Proclamation was able to free only those slaves living in the Confederacy, and why this freedom may have been taken away after the war, had the 13th Amendment failed to pass.

4. Thaddeus Stevens downplays his true political beliefs in order to gain passage of the amendment. Do you feel that this makes him more principled or less principled? Of standing one’s ground despite guaranteed defeat, or downplaying one’s beliefs in order to gain a small victory on the path to additional victories, which is more honorable?

5. What character in this film do you identify with most strongly, and why?