Movie: Lincoln (2012)

Lincoln was born in 1809; in 1861, he was elected as the 16th president of America and was re-elected in 1864. The Civil War started immediately after his inauguration in 1861 and his famous Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves happened in 1862. In 1865, Lincoln led the North to victory. On April 15, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated and left the world at the age of 56.

Director Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln depicts Lincoln’s tumultuous life up until his final moments in April, focusing on the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution that abolished slavery. The movie has few war scenes and focuses on the discussion of the Constitution and the opposition to slavery. Spielberg presents a story that an average American is likely to understand, but a Japanese person may have difficulty in understanding the time period here without the knowledge of American history and the U.S. Constitution. It might be hard to understand the difference between the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It was not the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 but rather the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 that truly liberated a slave. I think this is why Spielberg focuses on the approval of the Thirteenth Amendment in his film Lincoln.

The U.S. Constitution can be modified through only two methods. The first method is shown in the movie where the Senate and House of Representatives of the Congress must both get two-thirds to vote in favor; then within a year, three-quarters of the states must ratify in order for the amendment to be adopted into the Constitution. Once the amendment is adopted, it is binding to all states. The Thirteenth Amendment was already approved by the Senate in April of 1864. The movie depicts the dramatic two-vote margin when the amendment was passed in the House of Representatives on January 31, 1865. After the amendment had finally passed Congress, the ratification was easy. As the Land of Lincoln, Illinois was the first to ratify in support of the amendment the next day; many states followed suit and the Thirteenth Amendment was adopted into the Constitution. The president is not supposed to be involved in this amendment process, but President Lincoln believed in the Thirteenth Amendment from the bottom of his heart and did what he could to make it happen. The biggest obstacle in the process was to get the House of Representatives to approve. Therefore, Spielberg focused on the chronicle of events with the House of Representatives in Lincoln.

So then what is the difference between the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 and passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865?

The United States had gained its independence formally in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris, but by the mid nineteenth century, there was already serious antagonism between the North and South on the direction of the country. Some scholars say that the Civil War originated from an economic conflict between the North and the South; the South was reliant on the large labor force provided by slaves for their plantations, while the North wanted free labor for industrial factories. Others think that the North believed slavery to be inhumane and wished to abolish slavery, as Europe had already. However, I believe the fundamental cause of the conflict was the tension between federal and centralized government. Another conflict was whether or not slavery was a part of the founding principles of America. Lincoln clearly says in the movie that America will never be a modern nation as long as there is slavery in America, and that slavery opposes the fundamental truth set by our Founding Fathers that all men are equal. Lincoln was running as the candidate for the Republican Party, which opposed slavery. When Lincoln was elected as President, the South (South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) withdrew from the U.S. and tensions escalated into the Civil War.

A question brought up by the Civil War was how to handle the slaves that the Union Army captured from the Confederates. Lincoln tried to solve the problem by passing a law to liberate slaves who were owned by the enemy Confederate Army. This was the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862.

A big problem still remained in this Proclamation. If either the Confederate Army won the Civil War or the Union Army did not occupy the state, slavery would continue in the South. Also, the Proclamation did not apply to the states allied to the North such as Maryland, Delaware, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri, even though slavery was legal in these states. Furthermore, the 48 counties that left Virginia to become West Virginia were not targeted. (However, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and later West Virginia abolished slavery on their own volition.) Since the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 only regarded wartime handling of enemy property, regardless of the outcome—even if the North won—it was possible slavery could still persist.

The Emancipation Proclamation was a temporary wartime countermeasure to free the slaves in the states of the Confederate Army. In contrast, the change to the U.S. Constitution with the addition of the Thirteenth Amendment made the change permanent across the whole United States. Even Lincoln was not supportive of declaring the full abolition of slavery initially. As mentioned before, there were states that supported the Union Army that still had slaves. These states fought against the Confederate Army not to fight slavery but rather to unite the nation together again as the United States. Therefore, if it was declared that they were fighting for the complete abolition of slavery, some states would’ve rescinded their alliance with the North. If that happened, the South would’ve gained the upper hand over the North in the war. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation allowed former slaves freed from the South to join the Union Army, which provided their army with 200,000 new African-American soldiers.

Some would say that Lincoln actually opposed the abolition of slavery, but I still believe that Lincoln fixed his eyes on the ultimate goal and took steps and the right method most appropriate for the time. His ultimate goal was to get rid of slavery to unify the North and South again in America. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln was able to capture this very well. By choosing to focus on the story of getting the House of Representatives to approve of the addition of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Spielberg shows Lincoln to be an excellent politician with a clear goal and realistic, steady steps. Simultaneously, Lincoln is talkative and has a gentle humor and we find him very likable and like a trusted friend. Steven Spielberg was able to find just the right actor to capture this character, and his great performance as Lincoln shines.

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