Well, Mr. Representative Ashley! Tell us the news from the Hill.
James Ashley Ah! Well, news...
Why for instance is this thus, and what is the reason for this thusness?
James, we want you to bring the anti-slavery amendment to the floor for debate...
James Ashley Excuse me? What?
...immediately, and... you are the amendment's manager, are you not?
James Ashley I am, of course, but... immediately?
And we're counting on robust radical support, so tell Mr. Stevens we expect him to put his back into it, it's not going to be easy, but we trust...
James Ashley It's impossible. No, I am sorry, no, we can't organize anything immediately in the House. I have been canvassing the Democrats since the election, in case any of them softened after they got walloped. But they have stiffened if anything, Mr. Secretary. There aren't nearly enough votes—
We're whalers, Mr. Ashley!
James Ashley Whalers? As in, uh, whales?
We've been chasing this whale for a long time. We've finally placed a harpoon in the monster's back. It's in, James, it's in! We finish the deed now, we can't wait! Or with one flop of his tail, [slaps Ashley's shoulder] he'll smash the boat and send us all to eternity!
On the 31st of this month, of this year, put the amendment up for a vote.
FW Fernando Wood
I've asked you a question, Mr. Stevens, and you must answer me. Do you or do you not hold that the precept that "all men are created equal" is meant literally? Is that the true purpose of the amendment? To promote your ultimate and ardent dream to elevate—
The true purpose of the amendment, Mr. Wood, you perfectly named, brainless, obstructive object?
FW Fernando Wood
You have always insisted, Mr. Stevens, that Negroes are the same as white men are.
The true purpose of the amendment... I don't hold with equality in all things, only with equality before the law and nothing more.
FW Fernando Wood
That's not true! You believe that Negroes are entirely equal to white men. You've said it a thousand times—
GP George Pendleton
For shame! For shame! Stop prevaricating and answer Representative Wood!
I don't hold with equality in all things, only with equality before the law and nothing more.
GP George Pendleton
After the decades fervent advocacy on behalf of the colored race—
James Ashley He's answered your questions! This amendment has naught to do with race equality!
GP George Pendleton
You have long insisted, have you not that the dusk-colored race is no different from the white one?
I don't hold with equality before in all things, only with equality before the law and nothing more.
GP George Pendleton
Your frantic attempt to delude us now is unworthy of a representative. It is, in fact, unworthy of a white man!
How can I hold that all men are created equal, when here before me stands, stinking, the moral carcass of the gentleman from Ohio? Proof that some men are inferior, endowed by their Maker with dim wits, impermeable to reason, with cold, pallid slime in their veins instead of hot red blood! You are more reptile than man, George! So low and flat, that the foot of man is incapable of crushing you!
GP George Pendleton
How dare you!
Yet even you, Pendleton, who should have been gibbeted for treason long before today, even worthless unworthy you ought to be treated equally before the law! And so again, sir, and again and again and again I say: I do not hold with equality in all things. Only with equality before the law.
PB Preston Blair
We've managed our members to a fare-thee-well, you've had no defections from the Republican right to trouble you, whereas to what you promised— where the hell are the commissioners?!
James Ashley Oh my God, it's true. You... you lied to me, Mr. Lincoln! You evaded my requests for a denial that, that there is a Confederate peace offer because, because there is one! We are absolutely guaranteed to lose the whole thing and we'll be discredited, the amendment itself will be tainted. What if, what if these peace commissioners appear today? Or worse, on the morning—
MB Montgomery Blair
We don't need a goddamned abolition amendment! Leave the Constitution alone! State by state you can extirpate—
[pounds his hand on the table, silencing them both]
I can't listen to this anymore. I can't accomplish a goddamn thing of any human meaning or worth until we cure ourselves of slavery and end this pestilential war, and whether any of you or anyone else knows it, I know I need this! This amendment is that cure! We're stepped out upon the world stage now, now, with the fate of human dignity in our hands. Blood's been spilled to afford us this moment! Now! Now! Now! And you grouse so and heckle and dodge about like pettifogging Tammany Hall hucksters! See what is before you! See the here and now! That's the hardest thing, the only thing that accounts! Abolishing slavery by constitutional provision settles the fate for all coming time. Not only of the millions now in bondage, but of unborn millions to come. Two votes stand in its way. These votes must be procured!
We need two yeses. Three abstentions. Four yeses and one more abstention and the amendment will pass.
You've got a night and a day and a night and several perfectly good hours! Now get the hell out of here and get them!
James Ashley Yes. But how?
Buzzard's guts, man. I am the President of the United States of America, clothed in immense power! You will procure me these votes.
I did say some colored men, the intelligent, the educated, and veterans, I qualified it.
James Ashley Mr. Stevens is furious, he wants to know why you qualified it.
SC Schuyler Colfax
No one heard the intelligent or the educated part. All they heard was the first time any president has ever made mention of Negro voting.
Still, I wish I'd mentioned it in a better speech.
James Ashley Mr. Stevens also wants to know why you didn't make a better speech.
JN John Nicolay
[There's a knock on the door; John Nicolay enters.]
Mrs. Lincoln's waiting in the carriage. She wants me to remind you of the hour, and that you'll have to pick up Miss Harris and Major Rathbone.
[Slade hands Lincoln his gloves as Colfax and Ashley drain their drinks and rise.]
I suppose it's time to go though I would rather stay.
[On the way out, Lincoln tosses the gloves on a side table. Slade grabs them, considers chasing after Lincoln, then walks back towards the office. Slade turns and watches till Lincoln turns the corner and is gone.]
