Lincoln and the Thirteenth Amendment

[David Lockmiller]

(02-01-2016 11:55 AM)Christian Wrote:  Today is National Freedom Day, commemorating the anniversary of Lincoln's signing of the Thirteenth Amendment resolution (constitutionally he did not need to do so). This program at Lincoln's Cottage, aired on C-SPAN last Sunday, features me talking about Lincoln and the Thirteenth Amendment (the subject of my new book) as well as great speeches by Edna Greene Medford and George Rutherglen about other aspects of the amendment. Hope you enjoy it (and visit Lincoln's Cottage if you can)!

http://www.c-span.org/video/?401809-1/13...ndment-150

Professor Samito, in the question and answer session following your speech, you made comments regarding the historical accuracy of a number of quotes and scenes in Spielberg’s “Lincoln” movie. At 1:21:46 into the video, you state this conclusion: “So, unfortunately, the movie, a lot of times, does use historical source. The problem is that you look under the hood and you realize that the historical source is wrong, or is published forty years later and there is no corroborating evidence or anything like that.”

There is one very important scene from both the movie and the movie trailer upon which you do not make a comment. This is the scene at the theater in which Mary Todd Lincoln severely chastises Lincoln for his failure to secure passage by Congress of the Thirteenth Amendment resolution.

Would you please comment on the source and historical accuracy of this scene from the movie?

It is my opinion that this movie scene is a complete fabrication by the film’s award-winning playwright, Tony Kushner, and does a great historical disservice to the well-deserved public reputation of President Abraham Lincoln. For his work, Mr. Kushner received a National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013.