![]() Debate rages even within his own cabinet, but as Lincoln sees it, the passage of the constitutional amendment cannot wait until the end of the war, for Southern slaves who had been freed as a war measure might fall into forced servitude once again. Only a constitutional amendment illegalizing slavery, he realizes, will spell its permanent end in America. He finds insufficiency, even hypocrisy, in his Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, which had freed most slaves as a war measure but had not made slavery illegal. In January 1865, the recently reƫlected Lincoln notes the imminence of the Civil War's end, wondering out loud what will become of the former slaves. ![]() They're called away, but Corporal Clark finishes the speech as he walks off. They're pleased that they're finally being paid as much as the white soldiers, but Clark complains about the lack of commissioned negro officers and sarcastically predicts that whites might be able to tolerate a negro colonel in 50 years - and "in 100 years, the vote." A couple of white soldiers who heard Lincoln speak at Gettysburg come up one repeats the beginning of the Gettysburg address and his friend recites the next lines. The soldier (Private Harold Green, Colman Domingo) and his comrade (Corporal Ira Clark, David Oyelowo) tell Lincoln their names, ranks, and where they're headed next (Wilmington). so at Jenkins Ferry, we decided we weren't taking no reb prisoners." The camera cuts to show the speaker, a black soldier in an army camp talking to someone who after a few seconds is revealed to be President Abraham Lincoln ( Daniel Day-Lewis). A voice-over says that the rebels (Confederates, or rebs) "killed every negro soldier they captured at Poison Springs. ![]() At close quarters in that wet place, the men on whom the camera closes in are attacking one another with bayonets, swords, fists, or even by holding an enemy's face in the mud to drown him. The opening scene is a brutal, muddy melee. Meanwhile, Lincoln also deals with his oft supportive but oft tumultuous relationship with wife Mary Todd Lincoln, and their latest possible rift in oldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln's want to leave law school to enlist. But other factors may also come into play on the vote, such as the Confederate forces in the war issuing their own compromise to end the war but keep slavery. While he is assured of yes votes from his fellow Republicans, he and his team have to work hard behind the scenes to assure enough yes votes from Democrats, which may require some compromise in other areas. The Amendment has already passed in the Senate, and is scheduled for vote in the House of Representatives at the end of the month. Lincoln believes that passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution - which would abolish slavery - would most importantly achieve something in which he believes to his core, but also end the war as slavery is a large part of the raison d'etre for it. However, the country is in turmoil with the Civil War entering its fourth year and having taken the lives of many a soldier on both sides. ![]() It's January, 1865, and US President Abraham Lincoln has just started his second term in office as an immensely popular leader, especially among his supporters, because of his down home attitude.
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