You must go see the movie Lincoln. It is a wonder and I promise you will learn something that you didn’t know, no matter how history bound you think you are.
Lincoln is considered America’s greatest President because of the hard decisions he had to make to keep the union together. The Spielberg movie shows us Lincoln, the politician.
He did not just free the slaves, the bill that freed the slaves was combined with ending the war, where countless men were dying and the slaves were fighting. The bill had two parts. I wonder if Lincoln realized that if he had just ended the Civil War he might not have been able to free the slaves. The combine was a stroke of genius. Lincoln knew his politicians. He knew what they wanted, he knew how to persuade. He did a lot of horse-trading to get the votes necessary to pass the Bill of Emancipation.
As I consider the movie, I wonder today if Lincoln could have gotten his bill passed. The horse-trading that was necessary might have landed him under investigation by the Ethics Committee.
The bill passed by only two votes. President Abraham Lincoln was in charge. The people loved him as he was a people’s president. He traveled and mingled amongst the people. He even had an open door policy at the White House. Mary referred to herself as Madame President rather than The First Lady.
We saw Lincoln the man, not the myth. And as the slaves were freed, Lincoln was concerned where they would go and what they would do with there newly found freedom.
He was killed in his second term, the first president assassinated. You wonder what would have happened had he lived to complete the second term. What else would he have done?
This movie should be mandatory viewing for all politicians. It would be great to show the movie to the current administration and have a discussion.
