Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Civil War 20140823

Reject the scholar who doesnt give them what they want. It strikes me, in other words they are engaging in some way. Just on their own terms. You know, someone like Steve Mcqueen has an idea and he found this book. He had an idea. His wife found him the book and he put it all together and that is the narrative and the story and he has his ideas and scenes. I was struck powerfully by spielberg having scenes in his mind telling the historians what he saw. Was it possible . Could it be . What was the weather at the gettysburg address . Could the flag have been flying . And the several hundred page screen play gets shrunk down to a few months. So there are ways. Theyre saying can mary lincoln wear this . Can she wear that . Well, she was actually wearing black. She was in mourning. But the larger authenticity of the film was to portray her as a vain shopaholic, someone difficult. So she wasnt accurate. If i had been someone who said, no. She must wear the black, otherwise its inaccurate, you know, i think it would have just trying to give you concrete examples. I dont think it is quite so mean spirited they dont want to lear it but i am saying i found most people doing period pieces have their ideas in mind, have their scripts ready for the stamp of approval. Can you go through and take the three things we will have to eliminate or change . You know, it depends of course. Many other film makers as i said especially documentarians are amazing the way they absorb and they consider they are taking a course and i am very grateful someone like tony did read so widely and was able to bring lincoln to life through words that i felt like i was listening in to the people who i knew but he was interpreting them in ways i didnt know and i think that is a sign of a gift most of us dont have in our writing and should try to admire these moments, these scenes at the beginning of 12 years a slave the opening scene. Im just saying ive had more conversations with people about it and that someone could make a film that so powerfully opens, about gender, about race, about slavery, and yet who is going to tell you what its about . What im trying to get at is i think that can be the power of a work of art and sometimes i think it is very deliberate to not have it reflect good historical practice. To be more complex and open ended and maybe at times just plain wrong like in glory when you have someone riding down the film slashing at watermelons. Really . In massachusetts in april . Once again at the same time the slicing of the water melons by this leader of africanamerican troops has a larger meaning. Sometimes we have to let these people have their fantasies except for the vampires. Its an excellent question because i think the film makers ive met and the ones who write the scripts are really smart people. Theyre really quite intelligent but in a way that theyve been trained differently from the way we have so that they are interested in, you know, the impact visually and what people hear. And the over arching story or theme or thesis they want to put forward and so whenever they come to historians its not as theyre writing the work. It is usually after theyve already worked out in their mind what the opening scene is going to look like. And the story holds together well for them. For what they like to portray in one way and then on the other side of it is working with the producers to find out whether theyll finance so you have to take into consideration what the producers want to see in this film, too. So they kind of are very collaborative and were only one piece, a small piece of the collaboration because they do come in with this. Its interesting because i want to know whether or not Steve Mcqueen actually shot the opening sequence for 12 years a slave which i found horrific because there is nowhere in okay using solomon northrup to masturbate herself. That is totally in somebodys imagination. But i do know most opening sequences are not filmed by the director. There are companies that do only opening scenes for them and closing scenes. They used to just do the titles and credits but now they actually do the opening sequence and of course the director has to say okay. Check that off or whatever and the producer too. I wonder if he himself shot that sequence because usually theyre no longer shot by the directors. Hed have to check it off you know but i wonder if that was something that he in terms of thinking how its going to open that he is going to open in this kind of way or somebody who was in this who does sequences and sort of gets the audience, really draws the audience in says have you thought about putting a scene in like this . They have to get approval but no longer have actually complete control over the opening sequence. One advantage he had is he is drawing entirely on a single source. Right. Single narrative. Single voice, perspective narrative in which he lifts whole scenes. He does. The book is remarkable whereas spielberg and amistad and lincoln are drawing on so much more complex, multifaceted, multi dimensional issues and events where the input of historians i wonder would matter more either to spielberg or any film maker trying to do something. Well, i know steve mcgene is visually driven so people think about his other films. They talk about him as a visual artist behind the camera and that is more important. I think spielberg is much more interested in accuracy than a lot of directors are and that he is in some ways much more like a historian i think in the way in which he decides to depict something on screen than i think Steve Mcqueen is who is really also just about the art of making a visually stunning film. Mostly along with an important story. So recently spielberg was given an award by the lincoln and Soldiers Institute because his film is story telling and history and the speaking and showing of amistad has been a lot of debate ive been involved in i point out that i remember taking my younger son to see amistad and the moment in the film where, which is certainly taken from the case. They throw them over board. The slaves are shackled and thrown overboard is one of the most visually powerful, arresting scenes. When i went to the International Museum of slavery in liverpool they had their own version of that so it is something that we deal in words and powerfully in telling stories but its something that we now in the 21st century back to media have to grapple with. Whos going to look at it . How is it going to feel . I think we have to bring our students and public to understand stories can be told in many different dimensions and i think the power of some of these scenes maybe we can deal with clips rather than the full film and deal with the powerful medium of historical film as something that can bring slavery to a modern audience. That seems like an excellent place to conclude. Thank you all so much for coming and thank you very much to our panelists for their very thoughtful and insightful comments. Our look at hollywoods depiction of the civil war and slavery will continue in a moment. Were showing you some of the American History tv programs normally seen weekends here on cspan 3. Coming up an evaluation of the film lincoln followed by university of Mary Washington professor jeffrey mcclurkin on gone with the wind. Next week special programming on cspan net works. Monday on cspan from glasgow a debate over scottish independence. Then on tuesday issue spotlight on irs targeting of conservative groups. Wednesday night the principal on educating children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Thursday, a House Budget Committee hearing on federal, state, and private antipoverty programs. And friday night, native American History. On cspan 2 next week, book tv in primetime. Monday at 8 30 eastern. A discussion about school choice. Tuesday night at 8 00, writer John Hope Bryant on his book how the poor can save capitalism and wednesday at the author of a biography about neil armstrong. Thursday night at 8 00 a tour of the headquarters of book publisher simon and shuster. On friday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, in depth with former congressman ron fult. On cspan 3 monday the reconstruction era and civil rights. On tuesday, the end of world war ii and the atomic bomb. Wednesday night the 25th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. Thursday, a look at how americans attitudes about world war i changed through the course of the war. On friday, a nasa documentary about the 1969 apollo 11 moon landing. Find our Television Schedule one week in advance at cspan. Org and let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Call us at 2026263400. On twitter use hash tag c 123 comments cspan. Org. Join the cspan conversation. Like us on facebook. Follow us on twitter. Next, Dickinson College professor Matthew Pinsker dissects Steven Spielbergs movie lincoln analyzing what is fact and what is hollywood fiction. This is a portion of the 2014 civil war symposium hosted by the u. S. Capital historical society. Its about 45 minutes. Our next speaker is matt pinsker the associate professor of history and holds the chair in American Civil War history at Dickinson College of course the alma mater of both president buchanan and chief Justice Taney for what thats worth. Matt is the author of a number of books and articles including lincolns sanctuary which is a history of the soldiers home where lincoln would go during the summer and he is the author of a forthcoming book which i think will radically force us to think about lincoln in a new way. Its hard to imagine anything that could force us to think about lincoln in a new way since there is so much on lincoln that what else is there to say . His new book will be called boss lincoln and he is going to look at lincoln as a party and president ial leader. Ill turn the podium over to matt pinsker and also let him talk to us about mr. Spielberg and lincoln goes to hollywood. Well, thank you very much. To paul and don and everyone here, it is an honor to be at a symposium like this and speak about spielbergs lincoln is important for us to do. This is a movie that is now about a year and a half old and not just a biopic about Abraham Lincoln but a really fascinating study of congress. For those of us who care about the history of congress this is a welcome event for Popular Culture to celebrate congress. The title of my talk i connected to mr. Smith goes to washington because i feel there is a dark connection between them in the sense both of these classics, spielbergs lincoln is an instant american classic and mr. Smith is. Both of them depict congress in a very dark way. I think we should acknowledge that. In spielbergs case i want to explore it deeper. It is a year and a half since the movie came out and the historical reception from people in my profession was generally very positive. There were criticisms, important ones, but some of them were large as if the subject matter was wrong. It was the wrong subject or the wrong people to feature in a movie about the abolition of slavery. That is fair but such a big criticism it is hard for a film maker to address. There were a lot of small potatoes criticisms some of which came from capitol hill itself over things like whether or not the congressman from connecticut voted for or against the final amendment. Those criticisms are fair but very precise. Now as a classroom teacher as i prepare to teach this movie and i have to teach it because its such a vivid portrayal of the period, ive been compelled to think a little more deeply about the nature of the narrative itself and in doing so, you know, i cant escape the conclusion that at the end of the day in the passage of the 13th amendment, the abolition amendment in congress in january of 65 at the heart of that narrative there is a conclusion it was passed with bribery. That not only was it passed with bribery but it was passed with bribery that Abraham Lincoln knew about and condoned. And i find that a very disturbing conclusion because theres been a lot of scholarship on this question and the scholarship addresses this question although its far, far more cautious about reaching the conclusions the movie reaches. I dont think people have realized it. I dont think the historians who commented on the movies release in the immediate months after it came out really addressed this in great detail. I think thats because almost all of them from what i can tell watched the movie. They didnt read the script. The script wasnt readily available sex ept to Academy Award voters and it was hard to get ahold of it. Now that i am preparing to teach it and worked with the script in great detail i find examples of other connections to movies like mr. Smith in that i see the fiction that is at the heart of this narrative. This is a work of historical fiction. I dont think anybody should be shocked by that and i dont mean it as an insult but i wanted to talk about that today and sort of diagram it for you. The fictions are very sweeping. Even the spoiler alert. The amendment did pass and slavery was abolished. All of that is true. To get there from the opening of the movie they had to arrange a lot of movies. Ill go through that now. You should be aware it is part of my effort to help teach this movie and i think we should teach it and study it and use it. Ive created an unofficial guide, teachers guide to the movie thats part of something we call Dickinson College the house divided project which i lead, the emancipation digital classroom. So if you google the emancipation digital classroom you will be able to see an unofficial teachers guide to lincoln that includes links to everything im about to talk about with primary sources and images and even links to the script so you can explore this issue for yourself. Let me remind you if you cant remember how the movie begins. Of course there is that great cinematic frame. Youve got the kind of seated lincoln in the Washington Navy yard and the black soldier and white soldier recite the gettysburg address to him. This is part of the poetic frame of the movie and a cinematic lincoln memorial. Seated lincoln with the gettysburg address on one side and at the end of the movie the second inaugural. The heart of the movie narrative opens with him describing a dream to his wife. In that description of the dream you realize in early january of 1865 that he is preparing to push for an abolition amendment to the constitution during the lame duck session of congress. This is a shock. Mary lincoln opposes it. Youll waste your popularity she warns him. When he explains to William Seward and congressman james ashley on capitol hill theyre worried and shocked. This is a dramatic and sort of surprising move. That is all fiction. You know, the reintroduction of the amendment that had been defeated the previous spring is real. It was all telegrafd out in the open. This is not a surprise and something lincoln comes up with in a way that was shocking to people. In his annual message in december of 1864 after he won that sweeping reelection victory he telegrafd it to the public and boasted about it you might say. Im reading from the annual message the state of the Union Address they delivered back then when congress reassembled for its session after the election in december, 64. He says to congress the next congress will pass the measure if this does not. So then he says it is only a question of time as to when the proposed amendment will go to the states. I read the next line almost as a taunt. You might read it differently. He says, may we not agree the sooner the better . Lets get this done. The telegrafg of this reintroduction of the amendment during the lame duck session was done earlier than the post election annual message. The vote in the house, the previous june in 1864, that had been a vote that was supported by all of the republican members of congress. It failed because they required the super majority and the super majority that they required meant that they needed democrats to vote for it. They didnt have enough democrats but in order to reintroduce the measure, later in the session presumably after the election because they dont reassemble again until december, james ashley the amendments sponsor switched his vote at the last minute so that he voted no. He is the only republican who voted against it in the house. In order that he could bring it back up in january. When he recalls after the war his strategy he makes it clear, right, that they had known all along this would be something that they were making a platform of the now union party in the election of 1864. They were supporting an abolition amendment, going to fight for it during the campaign, and that if they won a sweeping victory as they hoped to do they would reintroduce it in a lame duck session. He spent the next several months after the defeated measure in the house and it already passed the senate that they were going to pin point, target, wavering democrats in the north, try to persuade them to switch their votes, and then afinogenov them in december. This is what lincoln is telegraphing in his annual message. It is now all out in the open. This is not the impression the movie gives. It gives the impression the republicans are bitterly divided over this and early on you get introduced to Montgomery Blair and his father Francis Preston blair. You know, the blair family are opposed. None of thats true, right . There were conservative republicans and there were radical republicans. They argue bitterly over a lot of stuff but by january of 1865 they were not arguing necessarily over the abolition of slavery. There were differences in tactics. So one of the speakers of the symposium is michael bornberg. He is sitting right over there. His book the final freedom which came out a number of years ago offers great detail about the nuances of the debates over how to abolish slafry and how the republicans came to it but by january of 65 the Republican Party was essentially united in the idea slavery had to be abolished and they were more or less agreed it had to be abolished by constitutional amendment and even those who objected to the exact amendment or its language they werent willing to vote against it. The only votes they were targeting were democratic votes, not conservative republicans. The conservatives and radicals were arguing over reconstruction, over what happens next after the union has reconciled. Those arguments were fierce and bitter and theyre real but when the movie portrays this tension between conservative and radical republicans with lincoln in the middle, its conflating two different issues that should be separated. You know, this plays out in a host of different ways. I dont have time to go into all of it. Classic scene, arguably the most teachable scene in the movie at least for a college professor. So there is this meeting of the cabinet where Abraham Lincoln defends his emancipation policy and explains to skeptical cabinet officers why they need to push for this abolition amendment and it is like a cinematic version of the famous painting by francis carpenter which you see on the senate side of the capital on the cover of the book the team of rivals and this is teachable, Abraham Lincoln bringing to life complicated constitutional arguments. Ive seen people, historians thrilled in their reviews celebrating this. We should. Okay . That scene, circa summer of 1862, has nothing to do with the politics of the moment in january of 1865. What theyre talking about in the summer of 62 is about the threat of the Supreme Court still at that point controlled by roger taney and the votes they need arent clear but by january of 65 taney is dead. Simon chase is the next chief justice, the fugitive slaves lawyer. This is a court they now have the votes to control. They are still worried about the ultimate legality of the emancipation proclamation and the slaves there but the dynamic has shifted dramatically. There is a lot thats changed. In january of 65 maryland has abolished slavery by popular vote. Missouri is about to by constitutional convention. The confederates are talking about offering limited emancipation for service in the army. Things have changed. This is not a debate they would have in the cabinet in the way that Steven Spielberg envision it and portray it. It is such a wonderful thing to see. A film, you know, addressing such complicated issues but the timing is all wrong. Theyve conflated everything. The reason theyve done that from a dramatic perspective from an Artistic License perspective is totally understandable. Right . They need to create drama and tension and set up conflict. Act one. Screen writing 101. You set up tension a know then resolve it. Need to do that. But in getting to the resolution of this conflict between the conservatives and the radicals, they have to introduce something that doesnt actually appear in the book thats the basis for the film. So the film is supposedly built around the team of rivals. Doris kearns goodwins book. In the team of rivals the socalled seward lobby doesnt appear. These are the lobbyists that were hired by secretary of state William Seward to help secure passage of the 13th amendment. Theyre not even in the team of rivals. Theyre in the book final freedom and in other books. There is a really terrific, detailed depiction shun of the seward lobby in an old book pie john cox, politics, principle, and prejudice. If you want to read it the chapter on the seward lobby is masterful and freely Available Online through the internet archive. This lobby was real. The characters depicted in the movie are real. James spader the actor plays the tennessee attorney, real guy. Okay . There is Robert Lathum and richard shell. These are real figures. But the actual behavior of the seward lobby is totally different from the po trail on screen. So for example you remember if you saw this movie these are like shakespearian characters. This is james spader is fallstaff, funny guys, drinkers, gamblers, seedy, at this squirrel infested hotel in these dark rooms, bribing congressmen, the worst kind of, you know, stereotypical lobbyists. But in reality, okay, in reality bilbo, straight out of the cox chapter, he was known for his elaborate waist coats, long side burns and elegant manners. You remember james spader in that movie. He did not have elegant manners. Bilbo was this prominent wig attorney from tennessee who switched sides in the mid of the war. He is interesting and elusive and nefarious in some ways but also not obscure. He knew Abraham Lincoln. We have letters in the lincoln papers. They had met each other and discussed strategy in november and december of 1864. He didnt live in a squirrel infested hotel. When he was in washington he roomd with another congressman and when he was in new york where he spent most of the time, in january of 1865, he stayed at the st. Nicholas hotel, the finest hotel at the time in manhattan. Robert lathum and richard sell were old friends of William Seward. They have a long history with him. Theyre prominent businessmen and investors. A little shady ill admit but who in wall street isnt or wasnt . But nonetheless theyre prominent, familiar guys. And when they were engaged in the lobbying effort, you know, the work they did was almost exclusively in new york, not in washington. When you read books like mike warnbergs or the coxes you realize what they were doing was mostly influence the democratic press in new york. Because if you could influence the democratic press in new york, through the operations of the governor, you could affect those swing votes, the swing democratic votes in the state of new york. It turns out at the end of the day the lame duck democrats theyre going to switch over, 2 3 of them are going to come from new york and pennsylvania and what theyre trying to do in january of 65 is affect the climate that allows democrats in states like new york and pennsylvania and connecticut to switch their votes. In the movie theyre bribing these guys. You know, in the worst possible way. You know, james spader says at one point, congressmen come cheap. He makes all of these jokes about it. In practice we dont really know. We dont really know. If you read scholarship on this question theyre very reluctant to draw conclusions. You at one point Robert Lathum one of the seward lobbyists writes in a letter we actually have where he says, about the passage of the amendment and the targeting of the lame ducks, he says, money will certainly do it if patriotism fails. Money will certainly do it if patriotism fails. That is a line that should have been in the movie. Of course it wasnt. I dont understand why not. I cant tell from the letter whether he was kidding or not. It is quite possible its tongue in cheek and also possible he was serious. You know, the scholars who looked at this will point out that there is all kinds of evidence that they had money available and of course we know there was corruption in the 19th century congress. But at the end of the day they denied they were bribing congressmen. There is this letter from richard shell after it was all over. He gets approached by somebody who is sent from secretary of state sewards office to get an accounting of their expenses. And he responds indignantly to this in a letter that we have to Frederick Seward the secretarys son and top assistant. He says, a gentleman called to have me give an account of expenses which amount to nothing, he said. At any time i could be of service to the honorable secretary of state or yourself i will do all i can, but at my own expense. He goes on to talk about the importance of the issue and the patriotism of the moment. It could mean he bribed people out of his own pocket. We dont know. Almost all of the stories of the bribery that allegedly occurred in january of 65 are accounts of recollected years after the fact. I in fact dont give them most credit. Its certainly not clear at all that any of them were apparent to Abraham Lincoln. The seward lobby that seward had activated is actually in motion in new york on his own initiative in many ways. Im not clear lincoln was involved much at all in that business. He was lobbying border state representatives like James Rollins who doesnt appear in the movie but was one of the swing votes. Seward is operating in new york at this moment without even the apparent partnership of philip weed. He thought this was a misfake. Not clear at all he was involved even in this much of the operation. Now, i think theres Something Else going on with seward, and ill talk about that a little bit later. But this is not the impression the Lincoln Movie gets. You remember in the Lincoln Movie, the seward lobbyists hired and they operate independent of lincoln and at a certain important, he meets with them in their swill infested seedy attic of a hotel room, and he makes a comment on how to get things done, and later when he hears about their efforts to bribe a congressman from ohio named clay hawkins, he says, this is the guy who goes bird hunting with james spader and hes got this dopey look on his face through most of the movie, sort of young, foolish congressman from ohio whos bribed with a post mastership from millersberg, ohio. Thats the deal, hes going to be a post master. Lincoln says in the movie, he is selling himself cheap, aint he. Selling himself cheap. This is the impression my students are going to have of Abraham Lincoln for years to come, but you know, theres no congressman named clay hawkins. Theres a congressman from ohio, a lame duck democrat who switched his vote on the amendment. His name was wells hutchens. He was not a fool. And he wasnt bribed, as far as i can tell. Theres no patronage position for him after he switched. This is a very independent minded tough democrat, kind of a hero in some respects in the wars, from ohio. Hes votes to abolish slavery in the District Of Columbia in 1862. He supports habeas corpus. Thats why he was a lame duck. He had principles and he acted on them and thats why he was leaving office, but hes not a fool who goes bird hunting with james spader or William Bilbo and gets bribed to the post mastership, and certainly nng lincoln knew about, but yet thats the impression the movie leaves them. You know, like i said, its understandable that they take Artistic License and have comic relief. I can appreciate that as long as people realize what it is. Its also true thats why the tension between the radicals and the conservatives is really hammered home with their very memorable depiction of Thaddeus Stevens. Tommy lee jones. You know, Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens is one of the stars of the movie. I in particular was have been riveted by the scene you might remember in the middle of the movie, stevens and lincoln end up in the white house kitchen after a reception where mary lincoln has a confrontation with him. The reception is real. This is in the middle of january, but the scene in the kitchen is all invented. The scene in the kitchen, the script writer has lincoln and stevens engage in a debate about tactics. For me, this is in a nutshell what you see hollywood do so well and also do so wrong. So in the scene in this debate about tactics, theres a profound insight that lincoln offers to stevens, a kind of lesson about the difference between pragmatism and radicalism. And theyre debating tablctics d lincoln says to him, a compass, i learned when i was surveying, it will point you true north from where youre standing but it has no advice about the swamps and deserts and the chasms. You know, thats true. Okay. But i dont think thats anything that lincoln and stevens would have said to each other. You know, we have this cartoonish view of stevens and the Popular Culture from movies like the birth of nation and now from lincoln that depict him as this radical, wildeyed figure, but he was a pragmatic politician just like Abraham Lincoln. He doesnt come from the new england states. He comes from lancaster, pennsylvania, where hes representing a Congressional District near the Mason Dixon Line that had produced james buchanan. This is not a place where hes immune to popular pressure. He says i shit on the people, he says that, he wouldnt do that in real life. Lincoln and stevens had known each other for years. I could document that in a way that would be really special at a symposium like this because they first met in the summer of 1848, and they met when Abraham Lincoln was a congressman. He served in congress for one term, and during that one term, he spent almost his entire service in congress trying to get Zachary Taylor elected as president. That was his ambition. And he goes to the Whig National convention in philadelphia and he meets stevens who had at to time was a lawyer from lancaster, but who was about to become a candidate for congress and about to Enter Congress as a whig, and lincoln writes him a letter in september, right before hes about to leave. Its so revealing and it shows them, i think, in such a rich light that its worth reminding ourselves about. He writes him on september 3rd, 1848. D dear sir, you may possibly remember seeing me at the philadelphia convention, introduced to you as the lone whig star of illinois. I have remained here so long in the whig document room, now, there are people in the room who know what hes talking about, but this is such an insightful reference. Hes been in the whig document room in the summer of 1848. What is he doing . Hes literally sitting in a small room here in the capitol, signing his name to political pamphlets that theyre franking out at taxpayer expense for the whig campaign operation. Hes the workhorse of the whig Congressional Committee which is run by a congressman from connecticut, and lincoln as the firstterm congressman from illinois, the only whig from illinois, the lone star, hes proving his worth to the National Operators by being their workhorse. He sits in the document room and franks out 15,000 pamphlets. Hes got to sign his name to all of them. He is the most or one of the most frequent users of the franking privilege burg that session of congress. Thats why hes rising as a political operative, because hes a workhorse. Hes writing articles, correcting mistakes in the general whig newspapers across the country. He writes Horace Greely from the new york tribune and corrects one of his mistakes and hes reaching out to people, they didnt have rolodexes, but hes working his rolodex, reaching out to people he met. He asks stevens, im about to start for home. I desire the experienced opinion of a politician as to how the vote of that state for governor and president is likely to go. And listen to how smooth this is. In casting about for such a man, i have settled upon you. And i shall be much obliged if you could write me in springfield, illinois. This is Abraham Lincoln working his network, and stevens responds just as fluidly. He responds by calling Abraham Lincoln the wise one and asking for him about information for his state, and stevens at that time was a abolitionist, a supporter of the underground railroad, but his advice was utterly pragmatic. We have to reach out to the know nothings, the nativists, the anticatholics and infuse with them. This is a footnote, but its worth mentioning. 1848 is this wonderful moment where people like Thaddeus Stevens, Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Steven are all young, rising whigs who are supporting taylor and working together. It was stevens who was one of the confederate peace commissioners lincoln is dealing with in the end. When we thing of the civil war in military terms, we talk about the mexican war as a precursor, a prelude, but the congress that lincoln served in has Horace Greely and Alexander Stevens and sidelines waiting to enter. This is part of lincolns story. Its a preview for him of what is to come. You know, i dont imagine that tony kushner or Steven Spielberg could have worked all this background in somehow to the movie. Im not complaining they didnt, but all this background is important to understand what is really going on. And the details matter. They know the details matter. If you look back at the Lincoln Movie, youll realize the purpose of the scene in the kitchen is to give lincoln credit for changing stevens mind. They have this debate in the kitchen and argue over tactics and talk about compasses and maps and stevens is talking about shittin orshitting on the and a week later, and hes being race baited by democrats about what would happen after abolition, stevens says he only supports equality under the law. Thats a powerful scene, and mary lincoln points out who would have thought this old man would have ever come around in that fashion, but the problem with that scene from the historical record is it never happened. Thats all invented. We have a congressional globe and we see the passages from the debate. That scene isnt there. Stevens did Say Something just like that on january 5th, 1865, after they got the official report of the annual message when they come back from the christmas break and hes responding to the debates over lincolns prophecy in december that they would, you know, debate this new amendment, and the republicans on capitol hill are trying to actually, its complicated, but theyre trying to sort of play for a time for a day while they wait for the members show up, and the next day, ashley is going to introduce into the record the abolition amendment, and stevens is race baited on january 5th and he responds all i support is equality under the law. He did that without prompting by lincoln. In the movie, lincoln is the hero. In the movie, stevens is, you know, an important foil. He has more speaking parts than anybody else but lincoln. If you go back to team arrivals, theres only four index entries for Thaddeus Stevens. If you look at mikes book, stevens is there more frequently, but far less frequently than the Senate Author or james ashley. He doesnt play the same pivotal role. Stevens is a marginal figure in that book. You know, we all acknowledge his importance, but in the narrative of the movie, he is so central because hes straight out of hollywood central casting. You know, with the wig and the club foot and the crusty demeanor and even the black mistress. Youve got it all working. Its perfect. But thats why hes there. And thats why this is there. You know, i think the kitchen scene has another profound truth in it. I wanted to point this out and maybe if someone wants to follow up, we can talk about it more in questions. You know, the kitchen scene is really about the politics of reconstruction, and i think that thats an underlying theme in the movie that they bury. They cant really address because theyre talking about the abolition of slavery. Thats why the peace negotiations seem so important, although i think of them more as a side show, unimportant to the final narrative of the war. There are historians who disagree with this, but the reason why i think the abolition amendment is a story of reconstruction is because you cant remember the rules. And this is so important. Right . In order for an amendment to become part of the constitution, of course, it cant just pass both houses of congress by a supermajority. It has to be ratified by the states, by three fourths of the state. There are 36 states at that time. Three fourths of them would be 27. Of course, thats the question, do you count them all . What about the seceded states . What about the confederates . Theyre not counted in the vote for congress, so should they be counted in the vote for ratification. This is what the politics of january 1865 is about because this is where lincoln is pressing his advantage as a party leader where hes building a union party, not just a Republican Party, for the postwar period because he knows that hes going to be able to take this amendment and press it down the throats of the radicals on the basis that they have to count all 36 states in the math in order to get it as part of the constitution. As he says in his final speech, the one on april 11th, 1865, its the only way this will seem legitimate, if we count the Confederate States in the equation. In order to count them, in order to get the 27 votes they need, theyre going to have to have some of those former Confederate States restored to the union on his basis, on the lower threshold, speedier process for restoration. Not the wade davis process for restoration, not the higher threshold, the one stevens was supporting that would punish the south and revolutionize it. Lincoln is saying to the radicals in effect if you want abolition of slavery to be written into this constitution and irrevocable, were going to have to pursue a policy of reconciliation that goes hand and glove with it. This is what he was fighting over in the final months of the war. The movie doesnt have a chance to convey all of that, and you know, i dont blame them for that and i understand what hollywood has to do. I think spielberg does, too. Again and again, hes been very gracious and modest about pointing out the difference between historical fiction and history, right . His work in lincoln is historical fiction. Sometimes the script writer hasnt been quite as gracious about that. And there is, you know, an exchange he had after the movie came out with congressman courtney from connecticut over this question of how the congressman from connecticut voted on the amendment. In the movie, one of them votes against and all of them voted for it, although one of the lame duck switchers was james english from kektconnecticut, and in th sort of exchange over the complaint, courtney wanted a formal apology from the filmmakers. Horowitz defended the historical accuracy of the movie. He said the 13th amendment passed by a twovote margin in the house of january 1865 because president lincoln decided to push it through using persuasion and patronage to switch the votes of lame duck democrats all the while fending off a serious offer to negotiate peace from the south. None of the key moments from the story our film tells arei . et no altered, nun of them, heklkok r. I guess it depends on what the definition of key is. I think there are a lot of key moment that are altered. The roll call is one of them, but the other ones