Lincoln Movie Accuracy

First, Abraham Lincoln wasn’t a fan of slavery. He thought that slavery should be abolished. According to document 5 it says “Abraham Lincoln, who had declared “Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free…”. Lincoln also thought that it should be “Free Speech, Free Homes, and Free Territory”. He thought that blacks should have the right to talk in public and blacks should own their own homes and property. Lincoln wanted all blacks to be free and didn't want racism.

Thomas J. DiLorenzo exposes the preconceived “Hero” myth of Lincoln in his novel “The Real Lincoln”, while also conjuring an internal debate within the reader. In doing this he creates intrigue, which encourages a more thought provoking study into Lincoln’s legacy. The novel covers a wide variety of content, starting with Lincoln’s run at the local and state government levels, while also expanding on his late political career – a time during which the Union’s struggle to secure State’s rights led to the conflict we know as the Civil War. DiLorenzo delves deeper into the Lincoln political machine, and delves deeper into the economic and social policies during his tenure in office, ultimately demonstrating how the Lincoln administration changed policy for the years to come.

All though it was very dry at times, and could easily be classified as a uninteresting political movie about America’s most important historical moments, I enjoyed the film overall. Instead of focusing the movie on the life of Abraham Lincoln, it does focus on his passionate leadership in the final four months of his presidency. I soon began to sweat and clench my fists as the month of January continued in the movie, time crunching down and down as the Republican agents tried to gain more and more Democratic favor on the passing of the amendment. It felt like a fast-paced, parkour chase. I felt Lincoln wasn’t completely politically minded, constantly telling stories to many men and women who he comes in contact with, seeming humble and wise, always trying to give perspective with the moral of the story.

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most well known presidents in the history of the United States of America. He as thought to be the man who led this great country through the toughest times it had to encounter. His determination to get the United States through the Civil War is one of the best things that have ever happened for this country. Lincoln’s argument about the relationship between slavery, the Constitution, and the Union changed throughout the Civil War. Lincoln’s view of the purpose of the war was to save the Union because of the southern states seceding from the Union. However, the argument changed to the war being about slavery because of Fredrick Douglass’s speeches and the Confederates surrendering at

The movie I watched is Lincoln. This movie is about President Abraham Lincoln’s struggles to free all slaves permanently before the Civil War ended. The movie is set in 1865, just after Lincoln was reelected. Lincoln is faced with a moral dilemma. His goal is to pass the amendment to ban slavery forever, but if the war ends before he can do this he’ll never get the opportunity. As he pushes to get the votes he needs to secure the bills passing a peace offer is brought forth by the Confederates. Lincoln must now decide to either end the war now and save thousands of lives or to delay the end of the war and have the chance to save not only current lives but also future lives from a life of slavery.

Early on in Lincoln’s political career he “expressed his devotion to the cause of protectionist tariffs, taxpayer subsidies for railroads and other corporations, and the nationalization of the money supply” (2). According to Lincoln, “the constitution stood in the way of his political ambitions” (3). If you cannot already tell, Lincoln seemed maybe he did not really care for the constitution or people like he said he did. He did not care to have equality between the races and wanted to put all the blacks in one place besides the United States. We should all be treated equally but Lincoln did not feel this way. Lincoln’s primary agenda for a Civil War was not to end slavery but to save the Union (8).

The mythology of Lincoln hasn’t just happened in the world of historians, media has also taken a shot at it. Steven Spielburg even came out wish his own rendition of Lincoln with his 2012 movie Lincoln. Athough the movie was perceived well in theaters it wasn’t perceived as well with historians or did it? The movie takes place during the beginning of 1865 (Mckernie). As Eric Foner points out “slavery died on the ground as well as in the House, due to abolition efforts by feminist leaders like Susan B. Anthony, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the actions of free blacks themselves” (Coker), although missing those facts aren’t really a historical error, it just shows that those aren’t the focus of the movie (Mckernie). The

Despite the historical accuracy of the film, Lincoln did contain some mistakes. First off, Daniel-Day Lewis portrayed his character very well; He was tall and lanky, spoke calmly, and told many stories, which is true of Abraham Lincoln. As shown in the movie, there was a great deal going on in the country. Lincoln and his supporters were planning and advocating for the 13th amendment and trying to gain more supporters. Also true was the fact that Confederate officials were heading North to make peace negotiations. But in reality, discussion of the 13th amendment and peace occurred at the same time. The movie shows Lincoln would not commence with peace negotiations until the amendment passed Congress. Liberties in the director’s production are few, though. For example, the movie made no mention of the influence African Americans had in advocating for Black rights. Instead, African American characters in Lincoln were limited to domestic jobs. In addition, Mary Lincoln was not at the final voting with the House of Representatives. Despite these very few inaccuracies, Lincoln was an extremely informative film. After watching, the viewer will have a better understanding of President Lincoln’s experience in advocating for the abolishment of slavery and the process of passing the 13th amendment. The film presented a lot of information and had many characters which created confusion at times. It was, at times, difficult to distinguish between characters and their names, political affiliations, significance, and viewpoint. That aside, the characters were interesting and effective in portraying political figures of the 17th century. Any boredom experienced in the beginning of the movie was quickly pushed aside as arguments thickened and the story progressed. Altogether, Spielberg produced a successful blend of information and opinion to

One of the most significant conflicts in the film Lincoln is deciding between peace and passing the thirteenth amendment. For this reason, getting the votes on the amendment to pass is difficult because others think if we let this amendment pass the war will not end. With the Civil War going on year four and the union struggling to keep together, Lincoln decides to try and pass the thirteenth amendment and receive support from the House of Representatives. The thirteenth amendment is the abolishment of slavery and involuntary servitude. Lincoln says that the key to peace is passing this amendment. The only person who truly believes in Lincoln’s vision is Thaddeus Stevens, who was a republican. Stevens did not see eye to eye with Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is by far our most revered president in the history of the United States. He had a strong moral vision of where his country must go to preserve and enlarge the rights of all her people, but he was also a good man with a strong sense of character and a great discipline in the art of law; and he sought to continue the great and mighty legacy of the Constitution. He believed that the Founding Fathers had drawn up the Constitution without the mention of slavery because they felt that it would later die of a natural death. He would soon learn that that would not be the case.

At the beginning of the movie we see Lincoln talking to two African Americans who served in the war, and they went on to say that they loved his speech and one of them even quoted the end of his speech. This movie shows us how much we need rescuing. According to Spielberg, Lincoln and his contemporaries debated the moral merits of ending slavery now or ending the war now. Lincoln was gaining and losing votes. People are looking at it as this: if African Americans are given rights then women are next and people do not want that. A man had said that if we give African Americans the freedom then they are going to want more. Lincoln does not know that there are bribes being made in order to get 20 votes from the representatives. Lincoln is

Lincoln believed that he had “no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists.” Lincoln continues and says, “I believe that I have not lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so” (Majewaki, pg. 70). Lincoln was a humble politician. He in no way wanted to endanger the unity of the nation.

Lincoln’s original outlook on slavery was to contain it plain and simple. Not once did he say he planned to abolish it from the already established slave states in the south, however thats how they interpreted his election. Starting with South Carolina the slave states seceded from the union, and called themselves the Confederates States of America. This was the beginning of a long prolonged war between the north and south. The north, being led by Lincoln, was fighting for equality as it says in the constitution that all men are created equal.

American Experience presents The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Barak Goodman. This film interviews some of the nation’s best scholars, including several writers and historians, who recount the known facts of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865. The film was very interesting and conveys the story from the beginning starting with murderer John Wilkes Booth, a young energetic, happy kid who grew upon his family farm in Maryland and followed his family’s footsteps into acting. But he had big shoes to fill trying to follow the greatness of his family who were famous theatrical actors. His acting was not very good as he began but he eventually became

“I do not hold the equality in all things only with equality before the law,” said by actor Thomas Lee Jones, acted as Republican US Congressman Thaddeus Stevens in the movie Lincoln. This movie, relives President Abraham Lincoln’s last four months in office during the fourth year in the American Civil War (1861-1865). In the last four months in office, Lincoln contributed good for the American society, drastically ruined the human condition in terms of the unified Confederate states, and put an artistic genius at work whom realistically wants us to remember him as man less than a monument.