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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—
Montgomery Blair: We don't need a goddamned abolition amendment! Leave the Constitution alone! State by state you can extirpate—
Abraham Lincoln: [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!
William Seward: We need two yeses. Three abstentions. Four yeses and one more abstention and the amendment will pass.
Abraham Lincoln: 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?
Abraham Lincoln: Buzzard's guts, man. I am the President of the United States of America, clothed in immense power! You will procure me these votes.
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—
Montgomery Blair: We don't need a goddamned abolition amendment! Leave the Constitution alone! State by state you can extirpate—
Abraham Lincoln: [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!
William Seward: We need two yeses. Three abstentions. Four yeses and one more abstention and the amendment will pass.
Abraham Lincoln: 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?
Abraham Lincoln: Buzzard's guts, man. I am the President of the United States of America, clothed in immense power! You will procure me these votes.
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Pvt. Harold Green: Some of us was in the 2nd Kansas Colored. We fought the rebs at Jenkins' Ferry last April, just after they'd killed every Negro soldier they captured at Poison Springs. So at Jenkins' Ferry, we decided weren't taking 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.
Abraham Lincoln: What's your name, soldier?
Pvt. Harold Green: Private Harold Green, sir.
Cpl. Ira Clark: I'm Corporal Ira Clark, sir. Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry. We're waiting over there. We're leaving our horses behind, and shipping out with the 24th Infantry for the assault next week on Wilmington.
Abraham Lincoln: How long have you been a soldier?
Cpl. Ira Clark: Two year, sir.
Abraham Lincoln: Second Kansas Colored Infantry, they fought bravely at Jenkins' Ferry.
Pvt. Harold Green: That's right, sir.
Cpl. Ira Clark: They killed a thousand rebel soldiers, sir. They were very brave. And making three dollars less each month than white soldiers.
Pvt. Harold Green: Us 2nd Kansas boys, whenever we fight now we-
Cpl. Ira Clark: Another three dollars subtracted from our pay for our uniforms.
Pvt. Harold Green: That was true, yessir, but that's changed-
Cpl. Ira Clark: Equal pay now. Still no commissioned Negro officers.
Abraham Lincoln: I am aware of it, Corporal Clark.
Cpl. Ira Clark: Yes, sir, that's good you're aware, sir. It's only that-
Pvt. Harold Green: You think the Wilmington attack is gonna be-
Cpl. Ira Clark: Now that white people have accustomed themselves to seeing Negro men with guns, fighting on their behalf, and now that they can tolerate Negro soldiers getting the same pay - in a few years perhaps they can abide the idea of Negro lieutenants and captains. In fifty years, maybe a Negro colonel. In a hundred years...the vote.
Abraham Lincoln: [short pause] What will you do after the war, Corporal Clark?
Cpl. Ira Clark: Work, sir. Perhaps you'll hire me.
Abraham Lincoln: Perhaps I will.
Cpl. Ira Clark: But you should know, sir, that I get sick at the smell of boot-black, and I cannot cut hair.
Abraham Lincoln: I've yet to find a man who could cut mine so's it'd make any difference.
Pvt. Harold Green: You've got springy hair for a white man.
Abraham Lincoln: [chuckling] I do. My last barber hanged himself. [Green laughs] And the one before that. Left me his scissors in his will.
Abraham Lincoln: What's your name, soldier?
Pvt. Harold Green: Private Harold Green, sir.
Cpl. Ira Clark: I'm Corporal Ira Clark, sir. Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry. We're waiting over there. We're leaving our horses behind, and shipping out with the 24th Infantry for the assault next week on Wilmington.
Abraham Lincoln: How long have you been a soldier?
Cpl. Ira Clark: Two year, sir.
Abraham Lincoln: Second Kansas Colored Infantry, they fought bravely at Jenkins' Ferry.
Pvt. Harold Green: That's right, sir.
Cpl. Ira Clark: They killed a thousand rebel soldiers, sir. They were very brave. And making three dollars less each month than white soldiers.
Pvt. Harold Green: Us 2nd Kansas boys, whenever we fight now we-
Cpl. Ira Clark: Another three dollars subtracted from our pay for our uniforms.
Pvt. Harold Green: That was true, yessir, but that's changed-
Cpl. Ira Clark: Equal pay now. Still no commissioned Negro officers.
Abraham Lincoln: I am aware of it, Corporal Clark.
Cpl. Ira Clark: Yes, sir, that's good you're aware, sir. It's only that-
Pvt. Harold Green: You think the Wilmington attack is gonna be-
Cpl. Ira Clark: Now that white people have accustomed themselves to seeing Negro men with guns, fighting on their behalf, and now that they can tolerate Negro soldiers getting the same pay - in a few years perhaps they can abide the idea of Negro lieutenants and captains. In fifty years, maybe a Negro colonel. In a hundred years...the vote.
Abraham Lincoln: [short pause] What will you do after the war, Corporal Clark?
Cpl. Ira Clark: Work, sir. Perhaps you'll hire me.
Abraham Lincoln: Perhaps I will.
Cpl. Ira Clark: But you should know, sir, that I get sick at the smell of boot-black, and I cannot cut hair.
Abraham Lincoln: I've yet to find a man who could cut mine so's it'd make any difference.
Pvt. Harold Green: You've got springy hair for a white man.
Abraham Lincoln: [chuckling] I do. My last barber hanged himself. [Green laughs] And the one before that. Left me his scissors in his will.
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Thaddeus Stevens: I wish you'd been present.
Lydia Hamilton Smith: I wish I'd been.
Thaddeus Stevens: It was a spectacle.
Lydia Hamilton Smith: You can't bring your housekeeper to the House. I won't give them gossip. This is enough. This is... it's more than enough for now.
Thaddeus Stevens: Read it to me again, my love.
Lydia Hamilton Smith: Proposed.
Thaddeus Stevens: And adopted.
Lydia Hamilton Smith: Adopted. An amendment to the Constituion of the United States. Section One. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Thaddeus Stevens: Section two.
Lydia Hamilton Smith: Congress shall have power to enforce this amendment by appropriate legislation.
Lydia Hamilton Smith: I wish I'd been.
Thaddeus Stevens: It was a spectacle.
Lydia Hamilton Smith: You can't bring your housekeeper to the House. I won't give them gossip. This is enough. This is... it's more than enough for now.
Thaddeus Stevens: Read it to me again, my love.
Lydia Hamilton Smith: Proposed.
Thaddeus Stevens: And adopted.
Lydia Hamilton Smith: Adopted. An amendment to the Constituion of the United States. Section One. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Thaddeus Stevens: Section two.
Lydia Hamilton Smith: Congress shall have power to enforce this amendment by appropriate legislation.
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Ulysses S. Grant: Gentlemen, I suggest you work some changes to your proposal before you give it to the President.
R.M.T. Hunter: We're eager to be on our way to Washington.
Alexander H. Stephens: Did Mr. Lincoln tell you to tell us this?
Ulysses S. Grant: It says, 'securing peace for our two countries'. And it goes on like that.
Alexander H. Stephens: I don't know what you–
Ulysses S. Grant: There's just one country. You and I, we're citizens of that country. I'm fighting to protect it from armed rebels. From you.
Alexander H. Stephens: But Mr. Blair told us, he, he told President Jefferson Davis we were–
Ulysses S. Grant: A private citizen like Preston Blair can say what he pleases, since he has no authority over anything. If you want to discuss peace with President Lincoln, consider revisions.
Alexander H. Stephens: If we're not to discuss a truce between warring nations, what in heaven's name can we discuss?
Ulysses S. Grant: Terms of surrender.
R.M.T. Hunter: We're eager to be on our way to Washington.
Alexander H. Stephens: Did Mr. Lincoln tell you to tell us this?
Ulysses S. Grant: It says, 'securing peace for our two countries'. And it goes on like that.
Alexander H. Stephens: I don't know what you–
Ulysses S. Grant: There's just one country. You and I, we're citizens of that country. I'm fighting to protect it from armed rebels. From you.
Alexander H. Stephens: But Mr. Blair told us, he, he told President Jefferson Davis we were–
Ulysses S. Grant: A private citizen like Preston Blair can say what he pleases, since he has no authority over anything. If you want to discuss peace with President Lincoln, consider revisions.
Alexander H. Stephens: If we're not to discuss a truce between warring nations, what in heaven's name can we discuss?
Ulysses S. Grant: Terms of surrender.
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William Seward: 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.
Abraham Lincoln: Only twenty? We can find twenty votes.
William Seward: Twenty House Democrats who will vote to abolish slavery? In my opinion...
Abraham Lincoln: To which I always listen.
William Seward: Or pretend to.
Abraham Lincoln: With all three of my ears.
William Seward: We'll win the war, sir. It's inevitable, isn't it?
Abraham Lincoln: Well, it ain't won yet.
William Seward: 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 rats' nest in there. The same gang of talentless hicks and hacks who rejected the amendment ten months ago; we'll lose.
Abraham Lincoln: I like our chances now.
Abraham Lincoln: Only twenty? We can find twenty votes.
William Seward: Twenty House Democrats who will vote to abolish slavery? In my opinion...
Abraham Lincoln: To which I always listen.
William Seward: Or pretend to.
Abraham Lincoln: With all three of my ears.
William Seward: We'll win the war, sir. It's inevitable, isn't it?
Abraham Lincoln: Well, it ain't won yet.
William Seward: 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 rats' nest in there. The same gang of talentless hicks and hacks who rejected the amendment ten months ago; we'll lose.
Abraham Lincoln: I like our chances now.
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William Seward: Why wasn't I consulted?! I'm Secretary of State! You, you, you informally send a reactionary dotard, to— What will happen, when these peace commissioners arrive?
Abraham Lincoln: We'll hear 'em out.
William Seward: Oh, splendid! And next the Democrats will invite them up to hearings on the Hill, and the newspapers — well, the newspapers — the newspapers will ask why risk enraging the Confederacy over the issue of slavery when they're here to make peace? We'll lose every Democrat we've got, more than likely conservative Republicans will join them, and all our work, all our preparing the ground for the vote, laid waste, naught for naught.
Abraham Lincoln: The Blairs have promised support for the amendment if we listen to these people—
William Seward: Oh, the Blairs promise, do they? You think they'll keep their promise once we have heard these delegates and refused them? Which we will have to do, since their proposal most certainly will be predicated on keeping their slaves!
Abraham Lincoln: What hope for any Democratic votes, William, if word gets out that I've refused a chance to end the war? You think word won't get out? In Washington?
William Seward: It's either the amendment or this Confederate peace, you cannot have both.
Abraham Lincoln: "If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me..."
William Seward: Oh, disaster. This is a disaster.
Abraham Lincoln: Time is a great thickener of things, William.
William Seward: Yes, I suppose it is — Actually, I have no idea what you mean by that.
Abraham Lincoln: Get me thirteen votes. [in thick Kentucky accent] Them fellers from Richmond ain't here yet.
Abraham Lincoln: We'll hear 'em out.
William Seward: Oh, splendid! And next the Democrats will invite them up to hearings on the Hill, and the newspapers — well, the newspapers — the newspapers will ask why risk enraging the Confederacy over the issue of slavery when they're here to make peace? We'll lose every Democrat we've got, more than likely conservative Republicans will join them, and all our work, all our preparing the ground for the vote, laid waste, naught for naught.
Abraham Lincoln: The Blairs have promised support for the amendment if we listen to these people—
William Seward: Oh, the Blairs promise, do they? You think they'll keep their promise once we have heard these delegates and refused them? Which we will have to do, since their proposal most certainly will be predicated on keeping their slaves!
Abraham Lincoln: What hope for any Democratic votes, William, if word gets out that I've refused a chance to end the war? You think word won't get out? In Washington?
William Seward: It's either the amendment or this Confederate peace, you cannot have both.
Abraham Lincoln: "If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me..."
William Seward: Oh, disaster. This is a disaster.
Abraham Lincoln: Time is a great thickener of things, William.
William Seward: Yes, I suppose it is — Actually, I have no idea what you mean by that.
Abraham Lincoln: Get me thirteen votes. [in thick Kentucky accent] Them fellers from Richmond ain't here yet.
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[at Lincoln's deathbed]
Dr. Joseph Barnes: It's 7:22 in the morning, Saturday the 15th of April. It's all over. The President is no more.
Edwin Stanton: Now he belongs to the ages.
Dr. Joseph Barnes: It's 7:22 in the morning, Saturday the 15th of April. It's all over. The President is no more.
Edwin Stanton: Now he belongs to the ages.
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[last lines, from Second Inaugural speech] Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
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[pounds his hand on a table as his cabinet squabbles] 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!
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[to Abraham Lincoln] No one's loved as much as you, no one's ever been loved so much, by the people. You might do anything now. Don't, don't waste that power on an amendment bill that's sure of defeat.
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[to Abraham Lincoln] You think I'm ignorant of what you're up to because you haven't discussed this scheme with me as you ought to have done? When have I ever been so easily bamboozled? I believe you when you insist that amending the Constitution and abolishing slavery will end this war. And since you're sending my son into the war, woe to you if you fail to pass the amendment.
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But all that was not enough for this dictator, who now seeks to insinuate his miscegenist pollution into the Constitution itself!
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Do you think we choose the times into which we are born? Or do we fit the times we are born into?
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Euclid's first common notion is this: "Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other." That's a rule of mathematical reasoning. It's true because it works; has done and will always will do. In his book, Euclid says this is "self-evident." You see, there it is, even in that two-thousand year old book of mechanical law: it is a self-evident truth of things which are equal to the same thing, are equal to each other. We begin with equality. That's the origin, isn't it? That balance—that's fairness, that's justice.
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Every member of the House loyal to the Democratic Party and the constituents it serves shall oppose!