Lincoln

Some of us was in the Second Kansas Colored.

We fought the Rebs at Jenkins' Ferry last April...

...just after they killed every Negro soldier captured at Poison Springs.

So at Jenkins' Ferry, we decided warn't takin' no Reb prisoners.

And we didn't leave a one of 'em alive.

The ones of us that didn't die that day, we joined up with the 116th U.S. Colored, sir...

...from Camp Nelson, Kentucky.

What's your name, soldier?

Private...Harold Green, sir.

I'm Corporal Ira Clark, sir. Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry.

We're waiting over there.

We're leaving our horses, shipping out with the 24th Infantry...

...for the assault next week on Wilmington.

How long have you been a soldier?

Two year, sir.

The Second Kansas Colored Infantry fought bravely at Jenkins' Ferry.

That's right, sir.

They killed a thousand Rebel soldiers, sir. They were very brave.

And making $3 less each month than white soldiers.

Us Second Kansas boys--

Another $3 subtracted from our pay for our uniforms.

That was true, but--

Equal pay now, but still no commissioned Negro officers.

I'm aware of that, Corporal Clark.

That's good that you're aware, sir, but...

Will the Wilmington attack--

...now that white people are accustomed to seeing Negro men with guns...

...fighting on their behalf, and they tolerate Negro soldiers getting equal pay...

...maybe in a few years, they can abide the idea of Negro lieutenants and captains.

In fifty years, maybe a Negro colonel.

In a hundred years...the vote.

What will you do after the war, Corporal Clark?

Work, sir.

Perhaps you'll hire me.

Perhaps I will.

But you should know, sir, I get sick at the smell of boot black...

...and I cannot cut hair.

I've yet to find a man could cut mine so that it'd make any difference.

- You got springy hair for a white man. - Yes, I do.

My last barber hanged himself.

And the one before that. Left me his scissors in his will.

- President Lincoln, sir. - Good evening, boys.

We saw you, and...

- We were at-- - We was at Gettysburg.

You boys fight at Gettysburg?

No, we just signed up last month.

We saw him at the cemetery dedication.

We heard you speak... Goddamn. How tall are you, anyway?

Aw, jeez, shut up.

- Could you hear what I said? - Not much, sir.

"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth from this continent...

...a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated

to the proposition that all men are created equal."

That's good. Thank you.

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation...

...so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

We are met on a great battlefield of that war."

That's good, thank you.

"We come to dedicate a portion of that field...

...as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live."

His uncles died on the second day of fighting.

I know the last part.

Company up! Moving out!

You boys best go and find your company. And thank you.

Thank you, sir. God bless you.

God bless you, too. God bless you.

"That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.

That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom...

...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people...

...shall not perish from the earth."

It's nighttime.

Ship's moved by some terrible power...

...at a terrific speed.

And though it's imperceptible in the darkness,

I have an intuition that we're headed towards a shore.

No one else seems to be aboard the vessel.

I'm very keenly aware of my...aloneness.

"I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space...

...were it not that I have bad dreams."

I reckon it's the speed that's strange to me. I'm used to going at a deliberate pace.

I should spare you, Molly. I shouldn't tell you my dreams.

I don't want to be spared if you aren't. And you spare me nothing.

Perhaps it's...

...it's the assault on Wilmington Port.

You dream about the ship before a battle, usually.

How's the coconut?

Beyond description.

Almost two years, nothing mends.

Another casualty of the war.

Who wants to listen to a useless woman grouse about her carriage accident?

- I do. - Stuff.

You tell me dreams, that's all. I'm your soothsayer.

That's all I am to you anymore. I'm not to be trusted...

...even if it was not a carriage accident.

- Even if it was an attempted assassination. - It was most probably an accident.

It was an assassin whose intended target was you.

How are the plans coming along for the big shindy?

I don't want to talk about parties. You don't care about parties.

Not much, but they're a necessary hindrance.

I know.

I know what it's about, the ship.

It's not Wilmington Port. It's not a military campaign.

It's the amendment to abolish slavery.

Why else would you force me to invite demented radicals into my home?

You're going to try to get the amendment passed in the House of Representatives...

...before the term ends? Before the Inauguration?

Don't spend too much money on the flubdubs.

No one is loved as much as you.

No one's ever been loved so much by the people.

You might do anything now.

Don't waste that power on an amendment that's sure of defeat.

Did you remember Robert's coming home for the reception?

I knew you'd forget.

That's the ship you're sailing on-- the Thirteenth Amendment.

You needn't tell me I'm right. I know I am.

It's late, Mrs. Keckley.

She needs this for the grand reception.

It's slow work.

Good night.

Did you tell her a dream?

Papa.

Papa, I want to see Willie.

Me, too, Taddie, but we can't.

Why not?

Willie's gone. It's three years now he's gone.

The part assigned to me is to raise the flag.

Which, if there be no fault in the machinery, I will do.

And when up...

...it'll be for the people to keep it up.

That's my speech.

We are coming, Father Abraham

Three hundred thousand more

From Mississippi's winding stream And from New England's shore

We leave our plow and workshops Our wives--

Even if every Republican in the House votes yes--

- -Far from guaranteed, since when has our party unanimously supported anything?

But say all our fellow Republicans vote for it.

We'd still be twenty votes short.

- Only twenty? - "Only twenty"?

We can find twenty votes.

Twenty House Democrats who'll vote to abolish slavery? In my opinion--

To which I always listen.

- Or pretend to. - With all three of my ears.

We'll win the war soon. It's inevitable, isn't it?

Well, it ain't won yet.

You'll begin your second term with semi-divine stature.

Imagine the possibilities peace will bring.

Why tarnish your invaluable luster with a battle in the House? It's a rat's nest.

It's the same gang of talentless hicks and hacks

who rejected the amendment 10 months ago.

We'll lose.

I like our chances now.

Well, consider the obstacles that we'd face.

The two-thirds majority needed to pass an amendment.

We have a Republican majority, but barely more than 50%.

Fifty-six.

We need Democratic support. There's none to be had.

Since the House last voted on it, there's been an election.

Sixty-four Democrats lost their House seats in November.

That's 64 Democrats looking for work come March.

They're not worried about re-election. They can vote however it suits them.

But we can't buy the vote for the amendment. It's too important.

I said nothing of buying anything. We need 20 votes was all I said.

Start of my second term, plenty of positions to fill.

Mr. President, may I present Mr. and Mrs. Jolly from Missouri--

From Jeff City, President.

Mr. Jolly.

Ma'am.

And this here by the fire is Secretary of State Seward.

Jeff City?

I heard tell once of a Jefferson City lawyer...

...who had a parrot...

...that'd wake him each morning, crying out:

"Today is the day the world shall end, as scripture has foretold."

And, one day...

...the lawyer shot him, for the sake of peace and quiet, I presume.

Thus fulfilling, for the bird at least, his prophecy.

There's only one toll booth in Jeff City, to the southwest...

...and this man Heinz Sauermagen from Rolla

been in illegal possession for near two yar...

...since your man General Schofield set him up there.

But President Monroe give that toll gate to my granpap...

...and Quincy Adams...

...give my pap a letter saying it's our'n for keeps.

Mrs. Jolly got the-- Show Mr. Lincoln the Quincy Adams letter.

That's unnecessary. Just tell me what you want from me.

Mr. Jolly's emphysema don't care for cigars.

Madame, do you know about the proposed 13th Amendment?

Yes, sir, everybody knows of it. The President favors it.

- Do you? - We do.

- You know that it abolishes slavery? - Yes, sir, I know it.

And that is why you favor it?

What I favor is ending the war.

Once we do away with slavery, the Rebs'll quit fighting...

...since slavery's what they're fighting for.

Mr. Lincoln, you always says so.

With the amendment, slavery's ended. They'll give up.

If the war finished first, before we end slavery--

President Lincoln says the war won't stop unless we finish slavery.

But...if it did.