American Studies

Harrison / Liptak

Question for "Lincoln" Film Journal Responses

Directions:

At the end of each day of viewing, you will be asked to write a minimum of 250 word response to that day's viewing. You can respond to one of the following questions or write a response to one of your own.

Day 1 Prompts

1. What are some of the obstacles that Lincoln faced in passing the 13th Amendment and why does he want to pass the 13th Amendment so badly?

2. Who are the "Radicals" in the Republican Party and why do they distrust Lincoln? What does Lincoln say or do to make the Radicals distrust him?

3. What is the nature of Lincoln's relationship with his son Robert? How is Lincoln's relationship with Robert different than his relationship with other people?

4. In the film, Thaddeus Stevens states 'The inner compass that should direct people to justice has ossified.' Considering the institution of American slavery, why do you think that tolerating injustice affects people's moral compass? In what ways did slavery affect people's moral compass?

5. Mary Todd Lincoln feared her son Robert's death if he joined the army, as an inevitable judgment for all the blood on Abraham Lincoln's hands. What is the significance of this aspect of Mary Todd Lincoln's character in the development of the narrative? What does Mary Todd Lincoln's character tell us about the life during the Civil War?

Day 2 Prompts

Directions: Respond to one of these questions or select another prompt from the day 1 list

1. What does the issue of "racial equality" tell us about the race relations in America in 1860's . Why is there such a controversy between the idea of "equality in all things" versus "equality before the law."

2. What does the conversation between the former slave Mrs. Keckley and Abraham Lincoln tell us about how Lincoln saw and understood African-Americans?

3. In what ways did Lincoln use political deception to gain acceptance of the 13th Amendment?

•  Mrs. Keckley's son, who was at least 3/4s white, had claimed to be a white man and enlisted in the U.S. Army when blacks were not permitted to enlist. Had the army recruiters known that his mother was a mulatta slave, he would not have been permitted to serve. Mrs. Keckley's son was killed in battle early in the war. In the movie, when the Abraham Lincoln character says that he doesn't know her people, she responds by saying:

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•  As for me: My son died, fighting for the Union, wearing the Union blue. For freedom he died. I'm his mother. That's what I am to the nation, Mr. Lincoln. What else must I be?

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What does it mean that in 1865 a black woman would say that her significance to the nation was that she was the mother of a Union soldier who died in the war?