1. Some of us was
in the Second Kansas Colored.
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2. We fought the Rebs at
Jenkins' Ferry last April
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3. just after they killed every Negro soldier
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4. they captured at Poison Springs.
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5. So at Jenkins' Ferry,
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6. we decided warn't takin'
no Reb prisoners.
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7. And we didn't leave a one of 'em alive.
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8. The ones of us that didn't die that day,
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9. we joined up with
the 116th U.S. Colored, sir,
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10. from Camp Nelson, Kentucky.
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11. What's your name, soldier?
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12. Private. Harold Green, sir.
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13. I'm Corporal Ira Clark, sir.
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14. Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry.
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15. We're waiting over there.
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16. We're leaving our horses behind
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17. and shipping outwith the 24th Infantry
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18. for the assault next week on Wilmington.
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19. How long
have you been a soldier?
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20. Two years, sir.
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21. The Second Kansas
Colored Infantry,
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22. they fought bravely at Jenkins' Ferry.
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23. That's right, sir.
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24. They killed
a thousand Rebel soldiers, sir.
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25. They were very brave.
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26. And making $3 less each month
than white soldiers.
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27. Us Second Kansas boys...
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28. Another $3 subtracted
from our pay for our uniforms.
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29. That was true, yes sir,
but that's changed.
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30. Equal pay now, but still
no commissioned Negro officers.
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31. I'm aware of that,
Corporal Clark.
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32. Yes, sir.
That's good that you're aware, sir...
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33. Do you think the Wilmington attack...
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34. Now that white people
have accustomed themselves
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35. to seeing Negro men with guns
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36. fighting on their behalf,
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37. and now that they can tolerate
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38. Negro soldiers getting equal pay
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39. maybe in a few years,
they can abide the idea
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40. of Negro lieutenants and captains.
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41. In fifty years, maybe a Negro colonel.
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42. In a hundred years, the vote.
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43. What will you do after the war,
Corporal Clark?
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44. Work, sir.
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45. - Hm.
- Perhaps you'll hire me.
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46. Perhaps I will.
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47. But you should know, sir,
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48. that I get sick at the smell of boot black
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49. and I cannot cut hair.
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50. I've yet to find a man could cut mine
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51. so that it'd make any difference.
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52. You got springy hair
for a white man.
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53. Yes, I do.
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54. My last barber hanged himself.
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55. And the one before that.
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56. Left me his scissors in his will.
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57. President Lincoln, sir.
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58. Good evening, boys.
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59. We saw you, and...
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60. - We were at...
- We was at Gettysburg.
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61. You boys fight at Gettysburg?
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62. No, didn't fight there,
we just signed up last month.
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63. We saw him two years ago
at the cemetery dedication.
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64. Yeah. We heard you speak...
Goddamn.
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65. Uh, hey, how tall are you, anyway?
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66. Aw, jeez, shut up.
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67. Could you hear what I said?
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68. No, sir. Not much.
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69. It was...
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70. "Four score and seven years ago,
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71. our fathers brought forth
from this continent
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72. a new nation, conceived in liberty
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73. and dedicated to the proposition
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74. that all men are created equal."
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75. That's good. Thank you.
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76. "Now we are engaged
in a great civil war,
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77. testing whether that nation
or any nation
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78. so conceived and so dedicated,
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79. can long endure."
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80. "We are met on a great
battlefield of that war."
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81. That's good, thank you.
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82. "We come to dedicate
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83. a portion of that field
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84. as a final resting place
for those who here
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85. gave their lives
that that nation might live."
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86. His uncles, they died
on the second day of fighting.
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87. I know the last part. It is, uh...
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88. Company up! Moving out!
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89. You boys best go
and find your company.
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90. - And thank you.
- Thank you, sir.
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91. - God bless you.
- God bless you, too.
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92. God bless you.
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93. "That we here highly resolve
that these dead
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94. shall not have died in vain."
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95. "That this nation, under God,
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96. shall have a new birth of freedom
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97. and that government
of the people, by the people,
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98. for the people
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99. shall not perish from the earth."
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100. It's nighttime.
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101. Ship's moved by some terrible power
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102. at a terrific speed.
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103. And though it's imperceptible
in the darkness,
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104. I have an intuition that
we're headed towards a shore.
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105. No one else seems to be
aboard the vessel.
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106. I'm very keenly aware of my aloneness.
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107. "I could be bounded in a nutshell
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108. and count myself
a king of infinite space
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109. were it not that I have bad dreams."
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110. Hmm.
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111. I reckon it's the speed
that's strange to me.
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112. I'm used to going at a deliberate pace.
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113. I should spare you, Molly.
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114. I shouldn't tell you my dreams.
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115. I don't want to be spared if you aren't.
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116. And you spare me nothing.
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117. Perhaps it's...
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118. It's the assault on Wilmington Port.
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119. You dream about the ship
before a battle, usually.
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120. How's the coconut?
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121. Beyond description.
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122. Almost two years, nothing mends.
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123. Another casualty of the war.
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124. Who wants to listen to a useless woman
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125. grouse about her carriage accident?
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126. - I do.
- Stuff.
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127. You tell me dreams, that's all.
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128. I'm your soothsayer.
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129. That's all I am to you anymore.
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130. I'm not to be trusted
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131. even if it was not a carriage accident.
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132. Even if it was
an attempted assassination.
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133. It was most probably an accident.
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134. It was an assassin
whose intended target was you.
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135. How are the plans coming along
for the big shindy?
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136. I don't want to talk about parties.
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137. You don't care about parties.
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138. Not much, but they're
a necessary hindrance.
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139. I know.
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140. I know what it's about, the ship.
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141. It's not Wilmington Port.
It's not a military campaign.
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142. It's the amendment to abolish slavery.
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143. Why else would you force me
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144. to invite demented radicals
into my home?
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145. You're going to try to get
the amendment passed
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146. in the House of Representatives
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147. before the term ends?
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148. Before the Inauguration?
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149. Don't spend too much money
on the flubdubs.
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150. No one is loved as much as you.
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151. No one's ever been loved
so much by the people.
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152. You might do anything now.
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153. Don't... Don't waste that power
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154. on an amendment bill
that's sure of defeat.
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155. Did you remember Robert's
coming home for the reception?
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156. Mm?
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157. I knew you'd forget.
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158. That's the ship you're sailing on,
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159. the 13th Amendment.
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160. You needn't tell me I'm right.
I know I am.
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161. Oh!
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162. Oh, it's late, Mrs. Keckley.
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163. Well, she needs this
for the grand reception.
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164. It's slow work.
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165. Good night.
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166. Did you tell her a dream?
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167. - Papa.
- Mm-hmm.
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168. Papa, I want to see Willie.
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169. Me, too, Taddie, but we can't.
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170. Why not?
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171. Willie's gone.
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172. It's three years now he's gone.
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173. The part assigned to me
is to raise the flag.
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174. Which, if there be no fault
in the machinery, I will do.
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175. And when up
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176. it'll be for the people to keep it up.
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177. That's my speech.
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178. Even if every Republican
in the House votes yes,
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179. far from guaranteed.
Since when has our party
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180. unanimously supported anything?
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181. But say all our fellow Republicans
vote for it.
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182. We'd still be twenty votes short.
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183. Only twenty?
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184. "Only twenty?"
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185. We can find twenty votes.
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186. Twenty House Democrats
who'll vote to abolish slavery?
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187. In my opinion...
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188. To which I always listen.
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189. - Or pretend to.
- With all three of my ears.
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190. We'll win the war soon.
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191. It's inevitable, isn't it?
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192. Well, it ain't won yet.
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193. You'll begin your second term
with semi-divine stature.
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194. Imagine the possibilities
peace will bring.
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195. Why tarnish your invaluable luster
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196. with a battle in the House?
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197. It's a rat's nest in there.
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198. It's the same gang of
talentless hicks and hacks
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199. who rejected the amendment
10 months ago.
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200. We'll lose.
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201. I like our chances now.
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202. Well, consider the obstacles
that we'd face.
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203. The aforementioned two-thirds majority
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204. needed to pass an amendment.
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205. We have a Republican majority,
but barely more than 50%.
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206. Fifty-six.
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207. We need Democratic support.
There's none to be had.
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208. Since the House
last voted on the amendment,
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209. there's been an election.
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210. Sixty-four Democrats
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211. lost their House seats in November.
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212. That's 64 Democrats
looking for work come March.
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213. I know.
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214. They don't need to
worry about re-election.
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215. They can vote however it suits them.
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216. But we can't buy the vote
for the amendment.
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217. It's too important.
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218. I said nothing of buying anything.
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219. We need twenty votes was all I said.
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220. Start of my second term,
plenty of positions to fill.
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221. Mr. President, may I present
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222. Mr. And Mrs. Jolly
who've come from Missouri...
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223. From Jeff City, President.
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224. Mr. Jolly.
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225. Ma'am.
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226. And this here by the fire
is Secretary of State Seward.
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227. Jeff City?
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228. I heard tell once
of a Jefferson City lawyer
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229. who had a parrot
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230. that'd wake him
each morning, crying out,
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231. "Today is the day the world shall end,
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232. as scripture has foretold."
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233. And, uh, one day
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234. the lawyer shot him,
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235. for the sake of peace and quiet,
I presume.
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236. Thus fulfilling, for the bird at least,
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237. his prophecy.
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238. There's only one toll booth in Jeff City,
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239. to the southwest
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240. and this man
Heinz Sauermagen from Rolla
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241. been in illegal possession
for near two yar
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242. since your man General Schofield
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243. set him up there.
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244. But President Monroe give that toll gate
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245. to my grandpap
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246. and Quincy Adams
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247. give my pap a letter
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248. saying it's our'n for keeps.
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249. Mrs. Jolly got the...
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250. Show Mr. Lincoln
the Quincy Adams letter.
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251. That's unnecessary, Mrs. Jolly.
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252. Just tell me what you want from me.
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253. Mr. Jolly's emphysema
don't care for cigars.
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254. Madame, do you know
about the proposed
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255. 13th Amendment of the Constitution?
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256. Yes, sir, everybody knows of it.
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257. The President favors it.
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258. - Do you?
- We do.
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259. You know that it abolishes slavery?
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260. Yes, sir, I know it.
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261. And is that why you favor it?
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262. What I favor is ending the war.
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263. Once we do away with slavery,
the Rebs'll quit fighting
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264. since slavery's what they're fighting for.
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265. Mr. Lincoln, you always says so.
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266. With the amendment, slavery's ended.
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267. And they'll give up.
The war can finish then.
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268. If the war finished first,
before we end slavery...
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269. President Lincoln
says the war won't stop
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270. unless we finish slavery.
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271. But if it did.
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272. The South is exhausted.
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273. If they run out of bullets and men
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274. would you still want your...
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275. Who's your Representative?
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276. Jeff City? That's Congressman Burton.
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277. "Beanpole" Burton.
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278. I mean, Josiah Burton, yes, sir.
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279. A Republican,
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280. undecided on the question
of the amendment, I believe.
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281. Perhaps you could call on him
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282. and inform him of your enthusiasm.
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283. Yeah.
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284. Madame.
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285. If the Rebels surrendered next week
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286. would you, at the end of this month
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287. want Congressman Burton to vote
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288. for the 13th Amendment?
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289. If that was how it was,
no more war and all
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290. I reckon Mr. Jolly
much prefer not to have
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291. Congress pass the amendment.
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292. Hmm. And, uh
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293. why is that?
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294. Niggers.
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295. If he don't have to
let some Alabama coon
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296. come up to Missouri
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297. steal his chickens and his job,
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298. we'd much prefer that.
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299. The people.
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300. I begin to see why
you're in such a great hurry
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301. to put it through.
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302. Would you let me study this letter, sir,
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303. about the toll booth?
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304. Come back to me in the morning
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305. and we'll consider what the law says.
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306. You be sure to
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307. visit Beanpole.
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308. Tell him that you support
passage of the amendment
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309. as a military necessity.
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310. Thank you.
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311. Oh, Nicolay, when you have a moment.
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312. If procuring votes
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313. with offers of employment
is what you intend
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314. I'll fetch a friend from Albany
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315. who can supply the skulky men
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316. gifted at this kind of shady work
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317. and spare me the indignity
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318. of actually speaking to Democrats.
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319. Spare you the exposure and liability.
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320. Pardon me, that's a distress signal
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321. which I am bound,
by solemn oath, to respond to.
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322. Tom Pendel took away
the glass camera plates
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323. of slaves Mr. Gardner sent over
Copy !req
324. because Tom says Mama says
they're too distressing.
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325. You had nightmares all night long.
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326. I'll have worse nightmares
if you don't let me look
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327. at the plates again.
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328. Perhaps.
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329. You can't afford a single defection
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330. from anyone in the party.
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331. Not even a single Republican
absent when they vote.
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332. You know who you've got to see.
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333. Send over to Blair House.
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334. Ask Preston Blair
can I call on him around 5:00.
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335. God help you.
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336. God alone knows
what he'll ask you to give him.
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337. If the Blairs tell them to,
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338. no Republican will balk
at voting for the amendment.
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339. No conservative Republican
is what you mean.
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340. All Republicans
ought to be conservative.
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341. I founded this party,
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342. in my own goddamn home, to be a
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343. conservative anti-slavery party,
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344. not a hobbyhorse for
goddamn radical abolitionists.
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345. Damp down the dyspepsia, Daddy.
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346. You'll frighten the child.
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347. You need us to keep
the conservative side
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348. of the party in the traces
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349. while you diddle the radicals
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350. and bundle up
with Thaddeus Stevens's gang!
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351. You need our help!
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352. Yes, sir, I do.
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353. Well, what do we get?
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354. Whoa! Blunt!
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355. Your manners, Monty,
must be why Mr. Lincoln
Copy !req
356. pushed you out of his Cabinet.
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357. - I wasn't pushed!
- Oh, of course you weren't.
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358. He was pushed out to
placate the damn radicals!
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359. - I agreed to resign.
- Oh, Daddy, please! Daddy.
Copy !req
360. Oh. You don't mind, boy, do you?
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361. He spends his days with soldiers.
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362. They taught me a song.
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363. Did they?
Copy !req
364. Soldiers know all manner of songs.
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365. How's your brother Bob?
Copy !req
366. He's at school now, but he's coming
Copy !req
367. to visit in four days for the shindy.
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368. At school. Ain't that fine?
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369. Good he's not in the Army.
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370. He wants to be,
but Mama said he cannot.
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371. Dangerous life, soldiering.
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372. Your mama is wise
to keep him clean out of that.
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373. Now, your daddy knows that what I want
Copy !req
374. in return for all the help I can give him
Copy !req
375. is to go down to Richmond,
like he said I could
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376. as soon as Savannah fell
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377. and talk to Jefferson Davis.
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378. Now give me terms
I can offer to Jefferson Davis
Copy !req
379. to start negotiating for peace.
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380. He'll talk to me.
Copy !req
381. Conservative members of your party
Copy !req
382. want you to listen
to overtures from Richmond.
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383. That above all!
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384. They'll vote for this rash
and dangerous amendment
Copy !req
385. only if every other possibility
is exhausted.
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386. Our Republicans ain't abolitionists.
Copy !req
387. We can't tell our people
they can vote yes
Copy !req
388. on abolishing slavery
Copy !req
389. unless at the same time we can tell them
Copy !req
390. that you're seeking a negotiated peace.
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391. Leo, it's 100 miles to Richmond.
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392. Get him drunk so he can sleep.
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393. Yes, ma'am.
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394. Here, Daddy.
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395. Oh.
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396. - Thank you.
- Yes, sir, all right.
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397. Where's my hat?
Copy !req
398. Leo has your hat.
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399. All right?
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400. Go make peace.
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401. Thunder forth, God of War.
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402. We'll commence our assault
on Wilmington from the sea.
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403. Why is this burnt?
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404. Was the boy playing with it?
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405. It got took by a breeze
several nights back.
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406. This is an official War Department map.
Copy !req
407. And the entire Cabinet's waiting
Copy !req
408. to hear what it portends.
Copy !req
409. A bombardment.
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410. From the largest fleet
the Navy has ever assembled.
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411. Old Neptune, shake thy hoary locks!
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412. Fifty-eight ships are under way,
Copy !req
413. of every tonnage and firing range.
Copy !req
414. We'll keep up
a steady barrage.
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415. Our first target is Fort Fisher.
Copy !req
416. It defends Wilmington Port.
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417. A steady barrage?
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418. A hundred shells a minute.
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419. Till they surrender.
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420. Dear God.
Copy !req
421. Wilmington's
their last open seaport, therefore...
Copy !req
422. Wilmington falls, Richmond falls after.
Copy !req
423. And the war is done.
Copy !req
424. Hear, hear!
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425. Then why, if I might ask
Copy !req
426. are we not concentrating
Copy !req
427. the nation's attention on Wilmington?
Copy !req
428. Why, instead, are we
reading in the Herald
Copy !req
429. that the anti-slavery amendment
Copy !req
430. is being precipitated onto
the House floor for debate?
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431. Because your eagerness,
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432. in what seems an unwarranted intrusion
Copy !req
433. of the executive into
legislative prerogatives,
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434. is compelling it to what's...
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435. To what's likely to be
its premature demise.
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436. Hear, hear!
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437. You signed
the Emancipation Proclamation.
Copy !req
438. You've done all that could be done.
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439. The Emancipation Proclamation's
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440. merely a war measure.
After the war, the courts...
Copy !req
441. When Edward Bates
was Attorney General,
Copy !req
442. he felt confident enough
to let you sign it!
Copy !req
443. Different lawyers, different opinions.
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444. It frees slaves
as a military exigent. Not...
Copy !req
445. I don't recall Edward Bates
being any too certain about
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446. the legality of my proclamation.
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447. Just it wasn't downright criminal.
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448. Somewheres in between.
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449. Mm.
Copy !req
450. Back when I rode
the legal circuit in Illinois,
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451. I defended a woman from Metamora
Copy !req
452. named Melissa Goings.
Copy !req
453. Seventy-seven years old.
Copy !req
454. They said she'd murdered
her husband. He was 83.
Copy !req
455. He was choking her
Copy !req
456. and she grabbed ahold
of a stick of firewood
Copy !req
457. and fractured his skull and he died.
Copy !req
458. In his will, he wrote,
Copy !req
459. "I expect she has killed me."
Copy !req
460. "If I get over it, I will have revenge."
Copy !req
461. No one was keen to see her convicted,
Copy !req
462. he was that kind of husband.
Copy !req
463. I asked the prosecuting attorney
Copy !req
464. if I might have a short conference
with my client.
Copy !req
465. She and I went into a room
in the courthouse,
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466. but I alone emerged.
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467. The window in the room
was found to be wide open.
Copy !req
468. It was believed the old lady
may have climbed out of it.
Copy !req
469. I told the bailiff,
Copy !req
470. right before I left her in the room
Copy !req
471. she asked me where she could get
Copy !req
472. a good drink of water,
and I told her, Tennessee.
Copy !req
473. Mrs. Goings was seen no more
in Metamora.
Copy !req
474. Enough justice had been done.
Copy !req
475. They even forgave
the bondsman her bail.
Copy !req
476. I'm afraid I don't see...
Copy !req
477. I decided
Copy !req
478. that the Constitution
gives me war powers
Copy !req
479. but no one knows just exactly
Copy !req
480. what those powers are.
Copy !req
481. Some say they don't exist.
Copy !req
482. I don't know. I decided
Copy !req
483. I needed them to exist to uphold my oath
Copy !req
484. to protect the Constitution.
Copy !req
485. Which I decided meant I could take
Copy !req
486. the Rebels' slaves from them
Copy !req
487. as property confiscated in war.
Copy !req
488. That might recommend
to suspicion that I agree
Copy !req
489. with the Rebs that their slaves
Copy !req
490. are property in the first place.
Copy !req
491. Of course, I don't. Never have.
Copy !req
492. I'm glad to see any man free,
Copy !req
493. and if calling a man property
Copy !req
494. or war contraband
Copy !req
495. does the trick,
why I caught at the opportunity.
Copy !req
496. Now here's where it gets truly slippery.
Copy !req
497. I use the law allowing for the seizure
Copy !req
498. of property in a war
Copy !req
499. knowing it applies only to the property
Copy !req
500. of governments and citizens
of belligerent nations.
Copy !req
501. Well, the South ain't a nation.
Copy !req
502. That's why I can't negotiate with them.
Copy !req
503. So if, in fact, the Negroes are property,
Copy !req
504. according to the law,
Copy !req
505. have I the right to take
the Rebels' property
Copy !req
506. from them, if I insist they're rebels only
Copy !req
507. and not citizens of a belligerent country?
Copy !req
508. And slipperier still, I maintain it ain't
Copy !req
509. our actual Southern states in rebellion
Copy !req
510. but only the rebels living in those states,
Copy !req
511. the laws of which states remain in force.
Copy !req
512. "The laws of which states
remain in force."
Copy !req
513. That means that since it's
states' laws that determine
Copy !req
514. whether Negroes can be sold as slaves,
Copy !req
515. as property,
Copy !req
516. the federal government
doesn't have a say in that.
Copy !req
517. At least not yet.
Copy !req
518. Then Negroes in those states
are slaves,
Copy !req
519. hence property,
Copy !req
520. hence my war powers
allow me to confiscate them
Copy !req
521. as such, so I confiscate them.
Copy !req
522. But if I'm a respecter of states' laws,
Copy !req
523. how then can I legally free them
Copy !req
524. with my Proclamation as I done?
Copy !req
525. Unless I'm canceling states' laws?
Copy !req
526. I felt the war demanded it.
Copy !req
527. My oath demanded it.
Copy !req
528. I felt right with myself,
Copy !req
529. and I hoped it was legal to do it.
Copy !req
530. I'm hoping still.
Copy !req
531. Two years ago, I proclaimed
these people emancipated.
Copy !req
532. "Then, thenceforward and forever free."
Copy !req
533. Now let's say the courts
decide I had no authority
Copy !req
534. to do it. They might well decide that.
Copy !req
535. Say there's no amendment
abolishing slavery,
Copy !req
536. say it's after the war
Copy !req
537. and I can no longer use my war powers
Copy !req
538. to just ignore the courts' decisions
Copy !req
539. like I sometimes felt I had to do.
Copy !req
540. Might those people I freed
be ordered back into slavery?
Copy !req
541. That's why I'd like to get
Copy !req
542. the 13th Amendment through the House,
Copy !req
543. on its way to ratification by the states.
Copy !req
544. Wrap the whole slavery thing up,
Copy !req
545. forever and aye,
as soon as I'm able. Now!
Copy !req
546. End of this month.
Copy !req
547. And I'd like you to stand behind me
Copy !req
548. like my Cabinet's most always done.
Copy !req
549. As the preacher said,
Copy !req
550. "I could write shorter sermons,
Copy !req
551. but once I start, I get too lazy to stop."
Copy !req
552. It seems to me, sir, you're describing
Copy !req
553. precisely the sort of dictator
Copy !req
554. the Democrats
have been howling about.
Copy !req
555. Dictators
aren't susceptible to law.
Copy !req
556. Neither is he.
He just said as much.
Copy !req
557. Ignoring the courts?
Twisting meanings?
Copy !req
558. What reins him in from... From...
Copy !req
559. Well, the people do that, I suppose.
Copy !req
560. I signed the Emancipation Proclamation,
Copy !req
561. what, a year and a half
before my second election?
Copy !req
562. I felt I was within my power to do it,
Copy !req
563. however, I also felt that
I might be wrong about that.
Copy !req
564. I knew the people would tell me.
Copy !req
565. I gave them a year and a half
to think about it,
Copy !req
566. and they re-elected me.
Copy !req
567. And come February the first,
Copy !req
568. I intend to sign the 13th Amendment!
Copy !req
569. Well, Mr. Representative Ashley.
Copy !req
570. Tell us the news from the Hill.
Copy !req
571. Ah, well, the news...
Copy !req
572. Why, for instance, is this thus,
Copy !req
573. and what is the reason
for this thusness?
Copy !req
574. James, we want you to bring
the anti-slavery amendment
Copy !req
575. to the floor for debate,
Copy !req
576. - immediately.
- Excuse me, what?
Copy !req
577. You are the amendment's manager,
are you not?
Copy !req
578. I am, of course, but...
Copy !req
579. Then we're counting
on robust radical support
Copy !req
580. so tell Mr. Stevens we expect him
Copy !req
581. to put his back into it.
Copy !req
582. It's not going to be easy, but...
Copy !req
583. It's impossible.
Copy !req
584. No. I am sorry, no.
Copy !req
585. We can't organize anything
immediately in the House.
Copy !req
586. I have been canvassing the Democrats
Copy !req
587. since the election,
Copy !req
588. in case any of them have softened
Copy !req
589. after they got walloped, but
Copy !req
590. they have stiffened,
if anything, Mr. Secretary.
Copy !req
591. There aren't nearly enough votes.
Copy !req
592. We're Whalers, Mr. Ashley.
Copy !req
593. Whalers? As in, uh... Whales?
Copy !req
594. We've been chasing this whale
for a long time.
Copy !req
595. And we finally placed a harpoon
Copy !req
596. in the monster's back.
Copy !req
597. It's in, James. It's in.
Copy !req
598. We finish the deed now. We can't wait.
Copy !req
599. Or with one flop of his tail,
he'll smash the boat
Copy !req
600. and send us all to eternity.
Copy !req
601. On the 31st of this month, of this year,
Copy !req
602. put the amendment up for a vote.
Copy !req
603. Whalers?
Copy !req
604. That's what he said.
Copy !req
605. The man's never been near
a whale ship in his life.
Copy !req
606. Withdraw radical support.
Copy !req
607. Force him to abandon this scheme,
Copy !req
608. whatever he's up to.
Copy !req
609. He drags his feet
about everything,
Copy !req
610. Lincoln... Why this urgency?
Copy !req
611. We got it through the Senate
without difficulty
Copy !req
612. because we had the numbers.
Copy !req
613. Come December, you'll have
the same in the House.
Copy !req
614. The amendment will be
the easy work of 10 minutes.
Copy !req
615. He's using the threat of the amendment
Copy !req
616. to frighten the Rebels
into an immediate surrender.
Copy !req
617. I imagine we'd rejoice to see that.
Copy !req
618. Will you rejoice
when the Southern states
Copy !req
619. have rejoined the Union pell-mell,
Copy !req
620. as Lincoln intends them to,
and one by one,
Copy !req
621. each refuses to ratify the amendment?
Copy !req
622. If we pass it, which we won't.
Copy !req
623. Why are we cooperating with him?
Copy !req
624. We all know what he's doing
and we all know what he'll do.
Copy !req
625. We can't offer up abolition's
best legal prayer
Copy !req
626. to his games and tricks.
Copy !req
627. He said he'd welcome the South back
Copy !req
628. with all its slaves in chains.
Copy !req
629. Three years ago he said that,
to calm the border states.
Copy !req
630. I don't!
Copy !req
631. You said we all know
what he'll do. I don't know.
Copy !req
632. You know he isn't to be trusted.
Copy !req
633. Trust? Oh.
Copy !req
634. I'm sorry, I was under
the misapprehension
Copy !req
635. that your chosen profession was politics.
Copy !req
636. I never trusted the President,
never trusted anyone,
Copy !req
637. but hasn't he surprised you?
Copy !req
638. No, Mr. Stevens, he hasn't.
Copy !req
639. Nothing surprises you, Asa,
Copy !req
640. therefore nothing about you
is surprising.
Copy !req
641. Perhaps that is why your constituents
Copy !req
642. did not re-elect you to the coming term.
Copy !req
643. It's late.
Copy !req
644. I'm old.
Copy !req
645. I'm going home.
Copy !req
646. Lincoln, the inveterate dawdler.
Copy !req
647. Lincoln, the Southerner.
Copy !req
648. Lincoln, the capitulating compromiser,
Copy !req
649. our adversary, and
Copy !req
650. leader of the godforsaken
Republican party.
Copy !req
651. Our party.
Copy !req
652. Abraham Lincoln has asked us
to work with him
Copy !req
653. to accomplish the death
of slavery in America.
Copy !req
654. Retain, even in opposition
Copy !req
655. your capacity for astonishment.
Copy !req
656. The President is never
to be mentioned. Nor I.
Copy !req
657. You're paid for your discretion.
Copy !req
658. Hell, you can have that for nothing.
Copy !req
659. What we need money for
is bribes, to speed things up.
Copy !req
660. No, nothing strictly illegal.
Copy !req
661. It's not illegal to bribe Congressmen,
Copy !req
662. they'd starve otherwise.
Copy !req
663. I have explained to Mr. Bilbo
and Mr. Latham that
Copy !req
664. we are offering patronage jobs
Copy !req
665. to the Dems who vote yes.
Copy !req
666. - Jobs and nothing more.
- That's correct.
Copy !req
667. Congressmen come cheap.
Copy !req
668. Few thousand bucks
will buy you all you need.
Copy !req
669. The President would be unhappy
to hear you did that.
Copy !req
670. Will he be unhappy if we lose?
Copy !req
671. The money I managed to raise
for this endeavor
Copy !req
672. is only for your fees,
your food and lodging.
Copy !req
673. Uh-huh.
Copy !req
674. If that squirrel-infested attic
Copy !req
675. you've quartered us in is any measure,
Copy !req
676. you ain't raised much.
Copy !req
677. Shall we get to work?
Copy !req
678. The House recognizes Fernando Wood,
Copy !req
679. the honorable Representative
from New York.
Copy !req
680. Estimable colleagues.
Copy !req
681. Two bloody years ago this month
Copy !req
682. His Highness,
Copy !req
683. King Abraham Africanus the First,
Copy !req
684. our great usurping Caesar,
Copy !req
685. violator of habeas corpus
and freedom of the press,
Copy !req
686. abuser of states' rights...
Copy !req
687. If Lincoln really were a tyrant, Mr. Wood,
Copy !req
688. he'd have had your empty head
Copy !req
689. impaled on a pike!
Copy !req
690. And the country better for it!
Copy !req
691. Radical Republican autocrat,
Copy !req
692. ruling by fiat and martial law,
Copy !req
693. affixed his name to his heinous and illicit
Copy !req
694. Emancipation Proclamation
Copy !req
695. promising it would hasten
the end of the war,
Copy !req
696. which yet rages on and on.
Copy !req
697. He claimed, as tyrants do
Copy !req
698. that the war's emergencies
Copy !req
699. permitted him to turn our army into...
Copy !req
700. The New York delegation is
looking decidedly uninspired.
Copy !req
701. and radical Republicanism's
abolitionist fanaticism!
Copy !req
702. His Emancipation Proclamation
Copy !req
703. has obliterated millions of dollars...
Copy !req
704. Over in Pennsylvania,
Copy !req
705. who's the sweaty man eating his thumb?
Copy !req
706. Unknown to me.
Seems jumpy.
Copy !req
707. Perhaps he'll jump.
Copy !req
708. But all that was not enough
for this dictator,
Copy !req
709. who now seeks to insinuate...
Copy !req
710. Jesus.
Copy !req
711. When's this son of liberty
sum-a-bitch gonna sit down?
Copy !req
712. John Ellis is gonna break
his watch if he doesn't stop.
Copy !req
713. We are once again asked, nay
Copy !req
714. commanded, to consider
a proposed 13th Amendment
Copy !req
715. which, if passed,
shall set at immediate liberty
Copy !req
716. four million coloreds while manacling
Copy !req
717. the limbs of the white race in America.
Copy !req
718. If it is passed,
Copy !req
719. but it shall not pass!
Copy !req
720. What's more interesting
Copy !req
721. is how dismal and disgruntled
Copy !req
722. Mr. Yeaman appears.
Copy !req
723. Every member of this House...
Copy !req
724. He should be cheering right now.
Copy !req
725. Looks like he ate a bad oyster.
Copy !req
726. Party and
the constituents it serves
Copy !req
727. shall oppose...
Copy !req
728. Point of order,
Mr. Speaker, if you please.
Copy !req
729. Mr. Speaker, I still have the floor.
Copy !req
730. And the gentleman from Pennsylvania
Copy !req
731. is out of order!
Copy !req
732. When will Mr. Wood conclude
his interminable gabble?
Copy !req
733. Some of us breathe oxygen
Copy !req
734. and we find the mephitic
fumes of his oratory
Copy !req
735. a lethal challenge
to our pulmonary capabilities!
Copy !req
736. We shall oppose this amendment,
Copy !req
737. and any legislation that
so affronts natural law
Copy !req
738. insulting to God as to man!
Copy !req
739. Congress must never declare equal
Copy !req
740. those whom God created unequal!
Copy !req
741. Slavery is the only insult to natural law,
Copy !req
742. you fatuous nincompoop!
Copy !req
743. Order!
Copy !req
744. Procedure, Mr. Speaker.
Copy !req
745. Mr. Wood has the floor.
Copy !req
746. Instruct us,
Copy !req
747. oh, Great Commoner.
Copy !req
748. What is unnatural, in your opinion?
Copy !req
749. Niggrahs casting ballots?
Copy !req
750. Niggrah representatives?
Copy !req
751. Is that natural, Stevens?
Copy !req
752. Intermarriage?
Copy !req
753. What violates natural law?
Copy !req
754. Slavery and you.
Copy !req
755. Pendleton, you insult God!
Copy !req
756. You unnatural noise.
Copy !req
757. Mr. Colfax, please, use your gavel!
Copy !req
758. - You are out of order!
- Order in the Cabinet!
Copy !req
759. Instruct the Sergeant-at-Arms
Copy !req
760. to suppress this!
Copy !req
761. We are in session!
Copy !req
762. Please don't encourage this!
Copy !req
763. Don't encourage this!
Copy !req
764. You're back! You're back! You're back!
Copy !req
765. I am. The goat got big.
Copy !req
766. Help me get one of these to my room.
Copy !req
767. - She in there?
- She's asleep, probably.
Copy !req
768. - You need help, sir?
- No, sir.
Copy !req
769. They went to see Avonia Jones last night
Copy !req
770. in a play about Israelites.
Copy !req
771. Could you bring your pa this letter I writ
Copy !req
772. about my insolvency proceeding?
Copy !req
773. Deliver your own goddamn petition.
Copy !req
774. There's a new book. Sam Beckwith
Copy !req
775. says it's about finches
and finches' beaks,
Copy !req
776. about how they change.
Copy !req
777. He's here.
Copy !req
778. He's here! Mrs. Cuthbert, he's here!
Copy !req
779. - Robbie.
- Hi, Mom.
Copy !req
780. - Oh, Robbie.
- Hey.
Copy !req
781. - Robbie.
- Hey.
Copy !req
782. Oh.
Copy !req
783. You're only staying a few days,
Why'd you pack all that?
Copy !req
784. Well, I don't know how long...
Copy !req
785. Go tell your father Robert's home.
Copy !req
786. Mr. Nicolay says Daddy's
secluded with Mr. Blair.
Copy !req
787. Tell him anyway.
Copy !req
788. Did you forget to eat?
Copy !req
789. - Exactly like him.
- No.
Copy !req
790. You'll linger a few days extra
after the reception
Copy !req
791. before you go back to school.
Copy !req
792. Well, I don't know
if I'm going to go back...
Copy !req
793. We'll fatten you up
before you return to Boston.
Copy !req
794. - All right, Mom.
- All right.
Copy !req
795. Oh, Robbie.
Copy !req
796. Jefferson Davis is sending
three delegates.
Copy !req
797. Stephens, Hunter and Campbell.
Copy !req
798. Vice President of the Confederacy,
Copy !req
799. the former Secretary of State
Copy !req
800. and their Assistant Secretary of War.
Copy !req
801. They're coming in earnest
to propose peace.
Copy !req
802. I know this is unwelcome news for you.
Copy !req
803. Now hear me.
Copy !req
804. I went to Richmond to talk to traitors.
Copy !req
805. To smile at and plead with traitors
Copy !req
806. because it'll be spring in two months.
Copy !req
807. The roads will be passable,
Copy !req
808. the spring slaughter commences.
Copy !req
809. Four bloody springs now.
Copy !req
810. Think of my Frank,
Copy !req
811. whom you've taken to your heart.
Copy !req
812. How you'll blame yourself
if the war takes my son
Copy !req
813. as it's taken multitudes of sons.
Copy !req
814. Think of all the boys who will die
Copy !req
815. if you don't make peace.
Copy !req
816. You must talk with these men.
Copy !req
817. I intend to, Preston.
Copy !req
818. In return, I must ask you to support
our push for the amendment...
Copy !req
819. No, this is not horse trading.
Copy !req
820. Not now!
Copy !req
821. Bob. I'm sorry.
Copy !req
822. - Welcome home.
- Thank you, sir.
Copy !req
823. Looking fit, Robert.
Harvard agrees with you.
Copy !req
824. - Mr. Blair.
- Fit and rested.
Copy !req
825. Could you give us a moment,
please, Robert? Thank you.
Copy !req
826. I will procure your votes for you,
as I promised.
Copy !req
827. You have always kept your word to me.
Copy !req
828. Those Southern men are coming.
Copy !req
829. I beg you, in the name
of gentle Christ, sir.
Copy !req
830. I understand.
Copy !req
831. Talk peace with these men.
Copy !req
832. I understand, Preston.
Copy !req
833. We have
one abstention so far.
Copy !req
834. Jacob Graylor.
Copy !req
835. He'd like to be
Federal Revenue Assessor
Copy !req
836. for the 5th District of Pennsylvania.
Copy !req
837. So the total of Representatives
Copy !req
838. voting three weeks from today
is reduced to 182,
Copy !req
839. which means 122 yes votes
Copy !req
840. to reach the requisite
two-thirds of the House.
Copy !req
841. Assuming all Republicans
vote for the amendment.
Copy !req
842. Then despite our abstention,
Copy !req
843. to reach a two-thirds majority,
Copy !req
844. we remain twenty yeses short.
Copy !req
845. For which we're seeking
Copy !req
846. from among 64 lame duck Democrats.
Copy !req
847. Fully 39 of these we deem
unredeemable no votes.
Copy !req
848. The kind that hates niggers.
Copy !req
849. Hates God for makin' niggers.
Copy !req
850. The Good Lord on high
would despair of their souls.
Copy !req
851. Thank you for that
pithy explanation, Mr. Bilbo.
Copy !req
852. We've abandoned these 39 to
Copy !req
853. the devil that possesses them.
Copy !req
854. We would...
Copy !req
855. The remaining lame ducks, on whom
we've been working with a purpose.
Copy !req
856. Charles Hanson.
Copy !req
857. Congressman.
Copy !req
858. My colleagues and I would like
a moment of your time.
Copy !req
859. I wonder if you've given much thought...
Copy !req
860. Giles Stuart.
Copy !req
861. Rather clumsy.
Copy !req
862. Nelson Merrick.
Copy !req
863. Homer Benson.
Copy !req
864. My name is Richard Schell.
Copy !req
865. I wanted you to have a look
at this prospectus here.
Copy !req
866. And lastly,
Copy !req
867. Clay Hawkins. Of Ohio.
Copy !req
868. Tax Collector for the Western Reserve.
Copy !req
869. That pays handsomely.
Copy !req
870. Don't just reach
for the highest branches,
Copy !req
871. they sway in every breeze.
Copy !req
872. Assistant Port Inspector in Morristown
Copy !req
873. looks like the ticket to me.
Copy !req
874. Boats, they, they make me sick.
Copy !req
875. So just stand on the dock.
Copy !req
876. Let the Assistant Assistant
Port Inspector's stomach
Copy !req
877. go weak.
Copy !req
878. And, lastly,
Democratic yes vote
Copy !req
879. number six, Hawkins.
Copy !req
880. From Ohio.
Copy !req
881. Six?
Copy !req
882. Well, thus far.
Copy !req
883. Plus Graylor's abstention.
Copy !req
884. - From tiny acorns and so on.
- What did Hawkins get?
Copy !req
885. Postmaster of the Millersburg
Post Office.
Copy !req
886. He's selling himself cheap, ain't he?
Copy !req
887. Well, he wanted Tax Collector
of the Western Reserve.
Copy !req
888. First term Congressman
who couldn't manage reelection.
Copy !req
889. I felt it unseemly
Copy !req
890. and they bargained him down
to Postmaster.
Copy !req
891. Scatter them over several
rounds of appointments
Copy !req
892. so no one notices, then burn this ledger,
Copy !req
893. please, after you're done.
Copy !req
894. Time for my public opinion bath.
Copy !req
895. Might as well let them in.
Copy !req
896. Seven yeses with Mr. Ellis.
Copy !req
897. Thirteen to go.
Copy !req
898. One last item.
Copy !req
899. An absurdity, but
Copy !req
900. my associates report that
among the Representatives
Copy !req
901. a fantastical rumor's bruited about,
Copy !req
902. which I immediately disavowed,
Copy !req
903. that you'd allowed
bleary old Preston Blair
Copy !req
904. to sojourn to Richmond
Copy !req
905. to invite Jeff Davis
to send commissioners
Copy !req
906. up to Washington with a peace plan.
Copy !req
907. I, of course, told them
that you would never.
Copy !req
908. Not without consulting me, you wouldn't.
Copy !req
909. Because why on earth would you?
Copy !req
910. Much obliged.
Copy !req
911. Why wasn't I consulted?
Copy !req
912. I'm Secretary of State.
Copy !req
913. And you informally send
a reactionary dotard to...
Copy !req
914. What will happen, do you imagine,
Copy !req
915. when these
peace commissioners arrive?
Copy !req
916. We'll hear them out.
Copy !req
917. Oh. Splendid.
Copy !req
918. And next, the Democrats will invite them
Copy !req
919. up to hearings on the Hill.
Copy !req
920. And the newspapers...
Oh, the newspapers.
Copy !req
921. The newspapers will ask,
Copy !req
922. "Why risk enraging the Confederacy
Copy !req
923. over the issue of slavery
Copy !req
924. when they're here to make peace?"
Copy !req
925. We'll lose every Democrat we've got,
Copy !req
926. more than likely
conservative Republicans
Copy !req
927. will join them, and all our work,
Copy !req
928. all our preparing the ground for the vote
Copy !req
929. laid waste for naught.
Copy !req
930. The Blairs promised support
for the amendment
Copy !req
931. if we listen to these people.
Copy !req
932. Oh, the Blairs promise, do they?
Copy !req
933. You think they'll keep their promise
Copy !req
934. once we've heard these delegates
Copy !req
935. and refused them,
which we will have to do,
Copy !req
936. since their proposal most certainly
Copy !req
937. will be predicated on
Copy !req
938. keeping their slaves!
Copy !req
939. What hope for
any Democratic votes, Willum,
Copy !req
940. if word gets out that
I've refused a chance
Copy !req
941. to end the war?
Copy !req
942. You think word won't get out?
Copy !req
943. In Washington?
Copy !req
944. It's either the amendment
or this Confederate peace.
Copy !req
945. You cannot have both.
Copy !req
946. "If you can look into the seeds of time,"
Copy !req
947. "And say which grain will grow
and which will not,"
Copy !req
948. "Speak then to me."
Copy !req
949. A disaster. This is a disaster.
Copy !req
950. Time is a great thickener
of things, Willum.
Copy !req
951. Yes, I suppose it is.
Copy !req
952. Actually, I have no idea
what you mean by that.
Copy !req
953. Get me 13 votes.
Copy !req
954. Them fellas from Richmond
ain't here yet.
Copy !req
955. You drafted
half the men in Boston.
Copy !req
956. What do you think
their families think about me?
Copy !req
957. The only reason they don't
throw things and spit on me
Copy !req
958. is 'cause you're so popular.
Copy !req
959. I can't concentrate on,
on British Mercantile Law.
Copy !req
960. I don't care about British Mercantile Law.
Copy !req
961. I might not even want to be a lawyer.
Copy !req
962. It's a sturdy profession.
And a useful one.
Copy !req
963. Yes, and I want to be useful,
but now, not afterwards.
Copy !req
964. I ain't wearing them things, Mr. Slade.
Copy !req
965. They never fit right.
Copy !req
966. The missus will have you
wear them. Don't think...
Copy !req
967. You're delaying,
that's your favorite tactic.
Copy !req
968. - Be useful...
- You won't tell me no,
Copy !req
969. but the war will be over in
a month, and you know it will.
Copy !req
970. I've found that prophesying
Copy !req
971. is one of life's
less profitable occupations.
Copy !req
972. Why do some slaves
cost more than others?
Copy !req
973. Uh, if they're still young and healthy,
Copy !req
974. or if the women can
still conceive, they pay more.
Copy !req
975. Put them back in the box, you scoundrel.
Copy !req
976. We'll return them to Mr. Gardner's studio
Copy !req
977. day after next.
Copy !req
978. Be careful with them now.
Copy !req
979. These things should have
stayed on the calf.
Copy !req
980. When you were a slave,
Mr. Slade, did they beat you?
Copy !req
981. I was born a free man.
Copy !req
982. Nobody beat me
except I beat them right back.
Copy !req
983. Mr. Lincoln...
Copy !req
984. Mrs. Keckley was a slave.
Ask her if she was beaten.
Copy !req
985. - Were you...
- Tad.
Copy !req
986. I was beaten
with a fire shovel
Copy !req
987. when I was younger than you.
Copy !req
988. You should go to Mrs. Lincoln.
She's in Willie's room.
Copy !req
989. She never goes in there.
Copy !req
990. The reception line is already
stretching out the door.
Copy !req
991. See, I'll be the only man
over 15 and under 65
Copy !req
992. in this whole place not in uniform.
Copy !req
993. I'm under 15.
Copy !req
994. My head hurts so.
Copy !req
995. I prayed for death the night Willie died.
Copy !req
996. My headaches are how I know
I didn't get my wish.
Copy !req
997. How to endure the long afternoon
Copy !req
998. and deep into the night.
Copy !req
999. I know.
Copy !req
1000. Trying not to think about him.
How will I manage?
Copy !req
1001. - Somehow. You will.
- Somehow?
Copy !req
1002. Oh.
Copy !req
1003. Somehow. Somehow.
Copy !req
1004. Every party.
Copy !req
1005. Every...
Copy !req
1006. And now
Copy !req
1007. four years more in this terrible house,
Copy !req
1008. reproaching us.
Copy !req
1009. He was a very sick little boy.
Copy !req
1010. We should have canceled
that reception, shouldn't we?
Copy !req
1011. We didn't know how sick he was.
Copy !req
1012. I knew. I knew.
Copy !req
1013. I saw that night
he was dying.
Copy !req
1014. Three years ago,
the war was going so badly.
Copy !req
1015. We had to put on a face.
Copy !req
1016. But I saw Willie was dying.
Copy !req
1017. Molly...
Copy !req
1018. I saw him.
Copy !req
1019. It's too hard.
Copy !req
1020. Too hard.
Copy !req
1021. Oh, gracious saints!
Copy !req
1022. She's just ten feet yonder.
I'd like to keep my job.
Copy !req
1023. - How nice to see you.
- Nice to see you.
Copy !req
1024. Senator Sumner.
It's been much too long.
Copy !req
1025. "Oh, who can look
on that celestial face..."
Copy !req
1026. And?
Copy !req
1027. James Ashley, ma'am.
We've met several times.
Copy !req
1028. Praise heavens, praise heavens.
Copy !req
1029. Just when I had abandoned
hope of amusement,
Copy !req
1030. it's the Chairman of the House Ways
Copy !req
1031. - and Means Committee.
- Mrs. Lincoln.
Copy !req
1032. Madame President, if you please.
Copy !req
1033. Don't convene another subcommittee
Copy !req
1034. to investigate me, sir.
Copy !req
1035. I'm teasing. Smile, Senator Wade.
Copy !req
1036. I believe I am smiling, Mrs. Lincoln.
Copy !req
1037. As long as your household accounts
Copy !req
1038. are in order, madam,
Copy !req
1039. we'll have no need to investigate them.
Copy !req
1040. You have always taken such a lively,
Copy !req
1041. even prosecutorial interest
in my household accounts.
Copy !req
1042. Your household accounts have
always been so interesting.
Copy !req
1043. Yes, thank you. It's true.
Copy !req
1044. The miracles I have wrought
Copy !req
1045. out of fertilizer bills and cutlery invoices,
Copy !req
1046. but I had to.
Copy !req
1047. Four years ago, when
the President and I arrived,
Copy !req
1048. this was pure pigsty.
Copy !req
1049. Tobacco stains on the Turkey carpets.
Copy !req
1050. Mushrooms, green as the moon,
sprouting from the ceilings.
Copy !req
1051. And a pauper's pittance
allotted for improvements.
Copy !req
1052. As if your committee joined
with all of Washington
Copy !req
1053. awaiting in what you anticipated
Copy !req
1054. would be our comfort in squalor.
Copy !req
1055. Further proof that my husband and I
Copy !req
1056. were prairie primitives
Copy !req
1057. unsuited to the position to
which an error of the people,
Copy !req
1058. a flaw in the Democratic
process had elevated us.
Copy !req
1059. The past is the past. It's a new year now
Copy !req
1060. and we are all getting along,
or so they tell me.
Copy !req
1061. I gather we are working together.
Copy !req
1062. The White House and the other House,
Copy !req
1063. hatching little plans together.
Copy !req
1064. - Mother.
- What?
Copy !req
1065. - You're creating a bottleneck.
- Oh.
Copy !req
1066. Oh, I'm detaining you.
Copy !req
1067. And more importantly,
the people behind you.
Copy !req
1068. How the people love my husband.
Copy !req
1069. They flock to see him by
their thousands on public days.
Copy !req
1070. They will never love you
the way they love him.
Copy !req
1071. How difficult it must be
for you to know that
Copy !req
1072. and yet how important to remember it.
Copy !req
1073. Since we have the floor
next in the debate,
Copy !req
1074. I thought I'd suggest you might
Copy !req
1075. temper your contribution
Copy !req
1076. so as not to frighten
our conservative friends.
Copy !req
1077. Ashley insists you're ensuring approval
Copy !req
1078. by dispensing patronage
Copy !req
1079. to otherwise undeserving Democrats.
Copy !req
1080. I can't ensure a single damn thing
Copy !req
1081. if you scare the whole House silly
Copy !req
1082. with talk of land appropriations
Copy !req
1083. and revolutionary tribunals.
Copy !req
1084. When the war ends, I intend to
Copy !req
1085. push for full equality,
the Negro vote, and much more.
Copy !req
1086. Congress shall mandate the seizure
Copy !req
1087. of every foot of Rebel land
Copy !req
1088. and every dollar of their property.
Copy !req
1089. We'll use their confiscated wealth
Copy !req
1090. to establish hundreds of thousands
Copy !req
1091. of free Negro farmers
Copy !req
1092. and, at their side,
soldiers armed to occupy
Copy !req
1093. and transform the heritage of traitors.
Copy !req
1094. We'll build up a land down there
Copy !req
1095. of free men and free women
and free children and freedom.
Copy !req
1096. The nation needs to know
that we have such plans.
Copy !req
1097. That's the untempered version
of reconstruction.
Copy !req
1098. It is not...
Copy !req
1099. It's not quite exactly what I intend.
Copy !req
1100. But we shall oppose one another
in the course of time.
Copy !req
1101. Now we're working together,
and I'm asking you...
Copy !req
1102. For patience, I expect.
Copy !req
1103. When the people disagree,
bringing them together
Copy !req
1104. requires going slow
until they're ready to...
Copy !req
1105. Shit on the people and what they want
Copy !req
1106. and what they're ready for.
Copy !req
1107. I don't give a goddamn about the people
Copy !req
1108. and what they want.
Copy !req
1109. This is the face of someone
Copy !req
1110. who has fought long and hard
Copy !req
1111. for the good of the people
Copy !req
1112. without caring much for any of them.
Copy !req
1113. And I look a lot worse without my wig.
Copy !req
1114. The people elected me
to represent them,
Copy !req
1115. to lead them, and I lead.
You ought to try it.
Copy !req
1116. I admire your zeal, Mr. Stevens
Copy !req
1117. and I have tried to profit
from the example of it, but
Copy !req
1118. if I'd listened to you,
Copy !req
1119. I'd have declared every slave free
Copy !req
1120. the minute the first shell
struck Fort Sumter.
Copy !req
1121. And the border states
would have gone over
Copy !req
1122. to the Confederacy,
the war would have been lost
Copy !req
1123. and the Union along with it,
Copy !req
1124. and instead of abolishing slavery
Copy !req
1125. as we hope to do in two weeks,
Copy !req
1126. we'd be watching,
helpless as infants, as it spread
Copy !req
1127. from the American South
into South America.
Copy !req
1128. Oh, how you have longed
to say that to me.
Copy !req
1129. You claim you trust them,
Copy !req
1130. but you know what the people are.
Copy !req
1131. You know that the inner compass,
Copy !req
1132. that should direct the soul
towards justice
Copy !req
1133. has ossified in white men
and women, North and South,
Copy !req
1134. unto utter uselessness,
Copy !req
1135. through tolerating the evil of slavery.
Copy !req
1136. White people cannot bear the thought
Copy !req
1137. of sharing this country's
infinite abundance
Copy !req
1138. with Negroes.
Copy !req
1139. A compass, I learned
when I was surveying,
Copy !req
1140. it'll point you true north
from where you're standing.
Copy !req
1141. But it's got no advice about
Copy !req
1142. the swamps and deserts and chasms
Copy !req
1143. that you'll encounter along the way.
Copy !req
1144. If in pursuit of your destination,
Copy !req
1145. you plunge ahead,
heedless of obstacles
Copy !req
1146. and achieve nothing more
than to sink in a swamp,
Copy !req
1147. what's the use of knowing true north?
Copy !req
1148. Robert's going to plead
with us to let him enlist.
Copy !req
1149. Make time to talk to Robbie.
You only have time for Tad.
Copy !req
1150. Tad is young.
Copy !req
1151. So is Robert. Too young for the Army.
Copy !req
1152. Plenty of boys younger
than Robert signing up.
Copy !req
1153. Don't take Robbie.
Copy !req
1154. Don't let me lose my son.
Copy !req
1155. Go away! We're occupied!
Copy !req
1156. Secretary Stanton has sent over
Copy !req
1157. to tell you that as of half an hour ago
Copy !req
1158. the shelling of Wilmington Harbor
has commenced.
Copy !req
1159. They cannot possibly maintain
under this kind of an assault.
Copy !req
1160. Terry has got 10,000 men
surrounding the goddamn port.
Copy !req
1161. Why doesn't he answer...
Copy !req
1162. Fort Fisher is a mountain
of a building, Edwin.
Copy !req
1163. It's the largest fort they have, sir.
Copy !req
1164. Twenty-two big Seacoast guns
on each rampart.
Copy !req
1165. They've been reinforcing it
for the last two years.
Copy !req
1166. They've taken 17,000 shells
since yesterday!
Copy !req
1167. I want to hear Fort Fisher is ours
Copy !req
1168. and Wilmington has fallen.
Copy !req
1169. Send another damn cable!
Copy !req
1170. The problem's their
commander, Whiting!
Copy !req
1171. He engineered the fortress himself,
Copy !req
1172. the damn thing's his child.
Copy !req
1173. He'll defend it till
his every last man is gone.
Copy !req
1174. "Come on out, you old rat!"
Copy !req
1175. That's
what Ethan Allen called out
Copy !req
1176. to the commander
of Fort Ticonderoga in 1776.
Copy !req
1177. "Come on out, you old rat!"
Copy !req
1178. Of course, there were only
Copy !req
1179. 40 odd Redcoats at Ticonderoga.
Copy !req
1180. There is one Ethan Allen story
that I'm very partial to.
Copy !req
1181. No, you're going to tell a story.
Copy !req
1182. I don't believe that I can bear
Copy !req
1183. to listen to another one
of your stories right now.
Copy !req
1184. I need the B&O sideyard
schedules for Alexandria!
Copy !req
1185. I asked for them this morning!
Copy !req
1186. It was
right after the Revolution,
Copy !req
1187. right after peace had been concluded.
Copy !req
1188. And Ethan Allen went to London
Copy !req
1189. to help our new country
Copy !req
1190. conduct its business with the King.
Copy !req
1191. The English sneered
at how rough we are
Copy !req
1192. and rude and simple-minded,
and on like that,
Copy !req
1193. everywhere he went
Copy !req
1194. till one day he was invited
to the townhouse
Copy !req
1195. of a great English lord.
Copy !req
1196. Dinner was served
and beverages imbibed,
Copy !req
1197. time passed, as happens, and
Copy !req
1198. Mr. Allen found he needed the privy.
Copy !req
1199. He was grateful to be directed thence.
Copy !req
1200. Relieved, you might say.
Copy !req
1201. Now, Mr. Allen discovered
Copy !req
1202. on entering the water closet,
Copy !req
1203. that the only decoration therein
Copy !req
1204. was a portrait of George Washington.
Copy !req
1205. Was a portrait of George Washington.
Copy !req
1206. Ethan Allen done what he came to do,
Copy !req
1207. and returned to the drawing room.
Copy !req
1208. His host and the others
were disappointed
Copy !req
1209. when he didn't mention
Washington's portrait.
Copy !req
1210. Finally, His Lordship couldn't
resist and asked Mr. Allen
Copy !req
1211. had he noticed it,
the picture of Washington.
Copy !req
1212. He had.
Copy !req
1213. Well, what did he think of its placement,
Copy !req
1214. did it seem appropriately
located to Mr. Allen?
Copy !req
1215. Mr. Allen said it did.
Copy !req
1216. His host was astounded.
Copy !req
1217. "Appropriate?"
Copy !req
1218. "George Washington's likeness
in a water closet?"
Copy !req
1219. "Yes," said Mr. Allen.
"Where it'll do good service.
Copy !req
1220. "The whole world knows nothing
will make an Englishman
Copy !req
1221. shit quicker than the sight
of George Washington."
Copy !req
1222. I love that story.
Copy !req
1223. Fort Fisher is ours. We've taken the port.
Copy !req
1224. And Wilmington?
Copy !req
1225. We've taken the fort,
Copy !req
1226. but the city of Wilmington
has not surrendered.
Copy !req
1227. How many casualties?
Copy !req
1228. - Heavy losses.
- And more to come.
Copy !req
1229. It sours the national mood.
It might suffice...
Copy !req
1230. To what? To bring this down?
Copy !req
1231. Not in a fight like this.
This is to the death.
Copy !req
1232. That's gruesome.
Copy !req
1233. Are you despairing or merely lazy?
Copy !req
1234. This fight is for
the United States of America.
Copy !req
1235. Nothing "suffices." A rumor? Nothing.
Copy !req
1236. They're not lazy.
They're busily buying votes
Copy !req
1237. while we hope to be saved
by "the national mood"?
Copy !req
1238. Before this blood is dry, when
Stevens next takes the floor,
Copy !req
1239. taunt him. You excel at that.
Copy !req
1240. Get him to proclaim what
we all know he believes
Copy !req
1241. in his coal-colored heart.
Copy !req
1242. That this vote is meant
to set the black race on high,
Copy !req
1243. to niggerate America...
Copy !req
1244. George, please, stay on course.
Copy !req
1245. Bring Stevens to full froth.
Copy !req
1246. I can ensure that every newspaperman
Copy !req
1247. from Louisville to San Francisco
Copy !req
1248. will be here to witness it and print it.
Copy !req
1249. The floor belongs to
the mellifluent gentleman
Copy !req
1250. from Kentucky, Mr. George Yeaman.
Copy !req
1251. I thank you, Speaker Colfax.
Copy !req
1252. Although I am disgusted by slavery,
Copy !req
1253. I rise on this sad and solemn day
Copy !req
1254. to announce that
I'm opposed to the amendment.
Copy !req
1255. We must consider what
will become of colored folk
Copy !req
1256. if four million are, in one instant, set free.
Copy !req
1257. They'll be free, George,
Copy !req
1258. that's what will become of them.
Copy !req
1259. Think how splendid
Copy !req
1260. if Mr. Yeaman switched.
Copy !req
1261. Too publicly against us.
He can't change course now.
Copy !req
1262. Not for some miserable
little job, anyways.
Copy !req
1263. And we will be forced to enfranchise
Copy !req
1264. the men of the colored race.
Copy !req
1265. It would be inhuman not to.
Copy !req
1266. Now who among us is prepared
to give Negroes the vote?
Copy !req
1267. And, and,
Copy !req
1268. what shall follow upon that?
Copy !req
1269. Universal enfranchisement?
Copy !req
1270. Votes for women?
Copy !req
1271. We...
Copy !req
1272. Bless my eyes.
Copy !req
1273. If it isn't the Postmaster
of Millersburg, Ohio.
Copy !req
1274. Mr. LeClerk felt honor-bound
to inform us
Copy !req
1275. of your disgusting betrayal.
Copy !req
1276. Your prostitution.
Copy !req
1277. Is that true, Postmaster Hawkins?
Copy !req
1278. Is your maidenly virtue for sale?
Copy !req
1279. Is your maidenly virtue for sale?
Copy !req
1280. If my neighbors hear
Copy !req
1281. that I voted yes for nigger freedom
Copy !req
1282. and no to peace, they will kill me.
Copy !req
1283. A deal is a deal.
Copy !req
1284. You men know better
than to piss your pants
Copy !req
1285. just 'cause there's talk
about peace talks.
Copy !req
1286. - Look, I'll find another job!
- My neighbors in Nashville,
Copy !req
1287. they found out I was loyal to the Union,
Copy !req
1288. they came after me with gelding knives.
Copy !req
1289. - I'll find another job.
- You do right, Clay Hawkins.
Copy !req
1290. I want to do right! But I got no courage!
Copy !req
1291. Wait. You wanted...
What was it?
Copy !req
1292. A tax man for the Western Reserve?
Copy !req
1293. Hell, you can have the whole
state of Ohio if you want...
Copy !req
1294. Oh, crap.
Copy !req
1295. Eleven votes?
Copy !req
1296. Two days ago, we had twelve.
What happened?
Copy !req
1297. There are defections in the ranks.
Copy !req
1298. It's the goddamn rumors
Copy !req
1299. regarding the Richmond delegation.
Copy !req
1300. - Yes. The peace offer.
- Groundless.
Copy !req
1301. - And yet the rumors persist.
- They are ruining us.
Copy !req
1302. Among the few
remaining Representatives
Copy !req
1303. who seem remotely plausible,
Copy !req
1304. there is a perceptible
increase in resistance.
Copy !req
1305. Resistance, hell.
Copy !req
1306. Thingamabob Hollister,
Dem from Indiana.
Copy !req
1307. I approached him,
sumbitch near to murdered me.
Copy !req
1308. Colorado Territory... What's this one?
Copy !req
1309. Job description... Taxpayers and...
Copy !req
1310. Oh, shit! Cracky!
Copy !req
1311. Fuck you, you son of a bitch! Goddamn!
Copy !req
1312. - Perhaps you pushed too hard.
- I push nobody.
Copy !req
1313. Perhaps we need reinforcements.
Copy !req
1314. If Jeff Davis wants to cease hostilities,
Copy !req
1315. who do you think is going to
give a genuine solid shit
Copy !req
1316. to free slaves?
Copy !req
1317. Get back to it.
Copy !req
1318. And gentlemen, good day.
Copy !req
1319. We are at an impasse.
Copy !req
1320. Tell Lincoln to deny the rumors, publicly.
Copy !req
1321. Tell us what you expect of us.
Copy !req
1322. I expect you to do your work.
Copy !req
1323. And have sufficient sense and taste
Copy !req
1324. not to presume to instruct the President.
Copy !req
1325. Or me.
Copy !req
1326. Is there a Confederate offer, or not?
Copy !req
1327. Gentlemen.
Copy !req
1328. I suggest you work some changes
to your proposal
Copy !req
1329. before you give it to the President.
Copy !req
1330. We're eager to be on our way
to Washington.
Copy !req
1331. Mr. Lincoln tell you to tell us this?
Copy !req
1332. It says "securing peace
for our two countries"
Copy !req
1333. and it goes on like that.
Copy !req
1334. - I don't...
- There is just one country.
Copy !req
1335. You and I, we're citizens of that country.
Copy !req
1336. I'm fighting to protect it
from armed rebels.
Copy !req
1337. From you.
Copy !req
1338. But Mr. Blair, he told us,
Copy !req
1339. he told President
Jefferson Davis that we...
Copy !req
1340. A private citizen like Preston Blair
Copy !req
1341. can say what he pleases,
Copy !req
1342. since he has no authority over anything.
Copy !req
1343. If you want to discuss peace
with President Lincoln,
Copy !req
1344. consider revisions.
Copy !req
1345. If we're not to discuss
Copy !req
1346. a truce between warring nations,
Copy !req
1347. what in heaven's name can we discuss?
Copy !req
1348. Terms of surrender.
Copy !req
1349. "Office United States
Military Telegraph,
Copy !req
1350. "War Department."
Copy !req
1351. "For Abraham Lincoln,
President of the United States."
Copy !req
1352. January 20, 1865.
Copy !req
1353. "I will state confidentially
that I am convinced
Copy !req
1354. upon conversation
with these commissioners
Copy !req
1355. that their intentions are good
Copy !req
1356. and their desire sincere
to restore peace and union."
Copy !req
1357. "I fear now they're going back
Copy !req
1358. without any expression
of interest from anyone
Copy !req
1359. in authority, Mr. Lincoln,
will have a bad influence."
Copy !req
1360. "I will be sorry should
it prove impossible for you
Copy !req
1361. to have an interview with them."
Copy !req
1362. "I am awaiting your instructions."
Copy !req
1363. "U.S. Grant, Lieutenant General,
Copy !req
1364. Commanding Armies, United States."
Copy !req
1365. After four years of war, and
Copy !req
1366. near 600,000 lives lost,
Copy !req
1367. he believes we can end this war now.
Copy !req
1368. My trust in him is marrow deep.
Copy !req
1369. You could bring the delegates
to Washington.
Copy !req
1370. In exchange for the South's
immediate surrender,
Copy !req
1371. we could promise them
the amendment's defeat.
Copy !req
1372. They'd agree, don't you think?
We'd end the war. This week.
Copy !req
1373. Or, if you could manage
Copy !req
1374. without seeming to do it, to, uh...
Copy !req
1375. The peace delegation
might encounter delays
Copy !req
1376. as they travel up the James River.
Copy !req
1377. Particularly with the fighting
around Wilmington.
Copy !req
1378. Within ten days' time,
Copy !req
1379. we might pass the 13th Amendment.
Copy !req
1380. Here's a 16-year-old boy,
Copy !req
1381. they're going to hang him.
Copy !req
1382. He's with the Fifteenth
Indiana Cavalry near Bulford.
Copy !req
1383. It seems he lamed his horse
to avoid battle.
Copy !req
1384. I don't think even Stanton
would complain
Copy !req
1385. if I pardoned him.
Copy !req
1386. You think Stanton would complain?
Copy !req
1387. I don't know, sir.
I don't know who you're, uh...
Copy !req
1388. - What time is it?
- It's 3:40 in the morning.
Copy !req
1389. Don't let him pardon any more deserters.
Copy !req
1390. Mr. Stanton thinks you pardon too many.
Copy !req
1391. He's generally apoplectic on the subject.
Copy !req
1392. He oughtn't have done that,
crippled his horse.
Copy !req
1393. That was cruel, but you don't just hang
Copy !req
1394. a 16-year-old boy for that...
Copy !req
1395. Ask the horse what he thinks.
Copy !req
1396. for cruelty. There'd be
no 16-year-old boys left.
Copy !req
1397. Grant wants me to bring
the secesh delegates
Copy !req
1398. to Washington.
Copy !req
1399. So there are secesh delegates?
Copy !req
1400. He was afraid, that's all it was.
Copy !req
1401. I don't care to hang a boy
for being frightened, either.
Copy !req
1402. What good would it do him?
Copy !req
1403. War's nearly done, ain't that so?
Copy !req
1404. What use is one more corpse?
Copy !req
1405. Any more corpses?
Copy !req
1406. Do you need company?
Copy !req
1407. In times like this,
I'm best alone.
Copy !req
1408. "Lieutenant General
Ulysses S. Grant, City Point."
Copy !req
1409. "I have read your words with interest."
Copy !req
1410. "I ask that,
Copy !req
1411. regardless of any action
I take in the matter
Copy !req
1412. of the visit of
the Richmond commissioners
Copy !req
1413. you maintain among your troops
Copy !req
1414. military preparedness for battle
Copy !req
1415. as you have done until now."
Copy !req
1416. "Have Captain Saunders convey
the commissioners to me
Copy !req
1417. here in Washington."
Copy !req
1418. "A. Lincoln." And the date.
Copy !req
1419. Yes, sir.
Copy !req
1420. Shall I transmit, sir?
Copy !req
1421. You think we choose to be born?
Copy !req
1422. I don't suppose so.
Copy !req
1423. Are we fitted to the times
we're born into?
Copy !req
1424. Well, I don't know about myself.
Copy !req
1425. You may be,
Copy !req
1426. sir. Fitted.
Copy !req
1427. What do you reckon?
Copy !req
1428. Well, I'm an engineer.
Copy !req
1429. I reckon there's machinery,
Copy !req
1430. but no one's done the fitting.
Copy !req
1431. You're an engineer.
Copy !req
1432. You must know Euclid's axioms
and common notions.
Copy !req
1433. I must have in school, but...
Copy !req
1434. I never had much of schooling,
Copy !req
1435. but I read Euclid
in an old book I borrowed.
Copy !req
1436. Little enough ever found its way in here,
Copy !req
1437. but once learnt, it stayed learnt.
Copy !req
1438. Euclid's first common notion is this,
Copy !req
1439. "Things which are equal
to the same thing
Copy !req
1440. are equal to each other."
Copy !req
1441. That's a rule of mathematical reasoning.
Copy !req
1442. It's true because it works.
Copy !req
1443. Has done and always will do.
Copy !req
1444. In his book, mmm,
Copy !req
1445. Euclid says this is "self-evident."
Copy !req
1446. You see? There it is,
Copy !req
1447. even in that 2,000-year-old book
Copy !req
1448. of mechanical law.
Copy !req
1449. It is a self-evident truth
Copy !req
1450. that things which are equal
to the same thing
Copy !req
1451. are equal to each other.
Copy !req
1452. We begin with equality.
Copy !req
1453. That's the origin, isn't it?
Copy !req
1454. That's balance. That's... That's fairness.
Copy !req
1455. That's justice.
Copy !req
1456. Just read me back the last sentence
Copy !req
1457. of the telegram, please.
Copy !req
1458. "Have Captain Saunders convey
the commissioners to me
Copy !req
1459. here in Washington."
Copy !req
1460. A slight emendation,
if you would, Sam.
Copy !req
1461. "Have Captain Saunders
convey the gentlemen
Copy !req
1462. aboard the River Queen
Copy !req
1463. as far as Hampton Roads, Virginia,
Copy !req
1464. and there wait until
Copy !req
1465. further advice from me."
Copy !req
1466. "Do not proceed to Washington."
Copy !req
1467. The World, the Herald,
the Times,
Copy !req
1468. New York, Chicago,
Copy !req
1469. the Journal of Commerce,
Copy !req
1470. even your hometown paper's here.
Copy !req
1471. Say you believe only in
legal equality for all races,
Copy !req
1472. not racial equality.
Copy !req
1473. I beg you, sir.
Copy !req
1474. Compromise. Or you risk it all.
Copy !req
1475. I've asked you a question, Mr. Stevens,
Copy !req
1476. and you must answer me.
Copy !req
1477. Do you or do you not
hold that the precept
Copy !req
1478. that "All men are created equal"
is meant literally?
Copy !req
1479. Is that not the true purpose
of the amendment?
Copy !req
1480. To promote your ultimate
and ardent dream to elevate...
Copy !req
1481. The true purpose
of the amendment, Mr. Wood,
Copy !req
1482. you perfectly named,
Copy !req
1483. brainless obstructive object...
Copy !req
1484. Now you have always insisted,
Mr. Stevens,
Copy !req
1485. that Negroes are the same
as white men are.
Copy !req
1486. The true purpose of the amendment...
Copy !req
1487. I don't hold with equality in all things,
Copy !req
1488. only with equality before the law.
Nothing more.
Copy !req
1489. That's... That's not so.
Copy !req
1490. You believe that Negroes are
entirely equal to white men.
Copy !req
1491. You've said it a thousand times!
Copy !req
1492. For shame! For shame!
Copy !req
1493. Stop prevaricating and
answer Representative Wood!
Copy !req
1494. I don't hold with equality in all things,
Copy !req
1495. only with equality before the law.
Copy !req
1496. After the decades of fervent advocacy...
Copy !req
1497. He's answered your questions!
Copy !req
1498. This amendment's
not to do with race equality.
Copy !req
1499. I don't hold with equality in all things,
Copy !req
1500. only with equality before
the law, and nothing more!
Copy !req
1501. Who'd ever have guessed
that old nightmare
Copy !req
1502. capable of such control?
Copy !req
1503. He might make a politician someday.
Copy !req
1504. I need to go.
Copy !req
1505. Mrs. Keckley.
Copy !req
1506. Your frantic attempt to delude us now
Copy !req
1507. is unworthy of a representative.
Copy !req
1508. It is, in fact, unworthy of a white man!
Copy !req
1509. How can I hold that
all men are created equal
Copy !req
1510. when here before me stands, stinking,
Copy !req
1511. the moral carcass of
the gentleman from Ohio, proof
Copy !req
1512. that some men are inferior,
Copy !req
1513. endowed by their Maker with dim wits,
Copy !req
1514. impermeable to reason,
Copy !req
1515. with cold, pallid slime in their veins
Copy !req
1516. instead of hot, red blood!
Copy !req
1517. You are more reptile than man, George!
Copy !req
1518. So low and flat that the foot of man
Copy !req
1519. is incapable of crushing you.
Copy !req
1520. How dare you?
Copy !req
1521. Yet even you, Pendleton,
Copy !req
1522. who should have been
gibbeted for treason
Copy !req
1523. long before today.
Copy !req
1524. Even worthless, unworthy you
Copy !req
1525. ought to be treated equally
before the law!
Copy !req
1526. And so again, sir, again
and again and again I say,
Copy !req
1527. I do not hold with equality in all things,
Copy !req
1528. only with equality before the law.
Copy !req
1529. Mr. Speaker, will you permit
this vile, boorish man
Copy !req
1530. to slander and to threaten me?
Copy !req
1531. And to reduce these proceedings
Copy !req
1532. on this most important matter
into an anarchic
Copy !req
1533. and tawdry burlesque?
Copy !req
1534. You asked if ever I was surprised.
Copy !req
1535. Today, Mr. Stevens,
Copy !req
1536. I was surprised.
Copy !req
1537. You've led the battle for
race equality for 30 years.
Copy !req
1538. The basis of every hope for
this country's future life,
Copy !req
1539. you denied Negro equality.
I'm nauseated.
Copy !req
1540. You refused to say that all humans are...
Copy !req
1541. Well, human.
Copy !req
1542. Have you lost your very soul,
Mr. Stevens?
Copy !req
1543. Is there nothing you won't say?
Copy !req
1544. I'm sorry you're nauseous, Asa.
Copy !req
1545. That must be unpleasant.
Copy !req
1546. I want the amendment to pass,
Copy !req
1547. so that the Constitution's first
Copy !req
1548. and only mention of slavery
Copy !req
1549. is its absolute prohibition.
Copy !req
1550. For this amendment, for which
I have worked all my life
Copy !req
1551. and for which countless
colored men and women
Copy !req
1552. have fought and died
Copy !req
1553. and now hundreds
of thousands of soldiers...
Copy !req
1554. No, sir, no.
Copy !req
1555. It seems there's very nearly
nothing I won't say.
Copy !req
1556. I'm not going in.
Copy !req
1557. You said you wanted to help me.
Copy !req
1558. But this is just a clumsy attempt
to discourage me.
Copy !req
1559. I've been to Army hospitals.
I've seen surgeries.
Copy !req
1560. I went and visited
the malaria barges with Mama.
Copy !req
1561. She told me she didn't take you inside.
Copy !req
1562. I snuck in afterwards.
Copy !req
1563. I've seen what it's like.
This changes nothing.
Copy !req
1564. Well, at all rate, son,
Copy !req
1565. I'm happy to have your company.
Copy !req
1566. - Good morning, Jim.
- Hello, Mr. President.
Copy !req
1567. - Good to see you again.
- Good to see you.
Copy !req
1568. Well, boys, first question.
You getting enough to eat?
Copy !req
1569. Hello, sir.
Copy !req
1570. - What's your name, soldier?
- Robert.
Copy !req
1571. - Good to meet you, Robert.
- Nice to meet you.
Copy !req
1572. - What's your name?
- Kevin.
Copy !req
1573. Tell me your names as I go past.
Copy !req
1574. I'd like to know who I'm talking to. Kevin.
Copy !req
1575. - Mr. President. John.
- John. I've seen you before.
Copy !req
1576. Mr. President.
Copy !req
1577. Make sure
you get some steak.
Copy !req
1578. I wouldn't mind one myself, right now.
Copy !req
1579. What's the matter, Bob?
Copy !req
1580. I have to do this, and I will do it.
Copy !req
1581. And I don't need
your permission to enlist.
Copy !req
1582. That same speech has been made
by how many sons
Copy !req
1583. to how many fathers
since the war began?
Copy !req
1584. "I don't need your damn permission,
Copy !req
1585. you miserable old goat,
I'm gonna enlist anyhow."
Copy !req
1586. And what wouldn't those
Copy !req
1587. numberless fathers have given
Copy !req
1588. to be able to say to their sons
Copy !req
1589. as I now say to mine,
"I'm Commander in Chief."
Copy !req
1590. So, in point of fact,
without my permission
Copy !req
1591. you ain't enlisting
in nothing nowhere, young man.
Copy !req
1592. It's Mama you're scared of,
it's not me getting killed.
Copy !req
1593. I have to do this! And I will!
Copy !req
1594. Or I will feel ashamed of myself
for the rest of my life!
Copy !req
1595. Whether or not you fought
is what's gonna matter,
Copy !req
1596. and not just to other people,
but to myself!
Copy !req
1597. I won't be you, Pa, I can't do that,
Copy !req
1598. but I don't want to be nothing!
Copy !req
1599. I can't lose you.
Copy !req
1600. He'll be fine, Molly.
Copy !req
1601. City Point's a way back
from the front lines
Copy !req
1602. and the fighting.
Copy !req
1603. He'll be an adjutant, running
messages for General Grant.
Copy !req
1604. The war will take our son.
Copy !req
1605. A sniper, or a shrapnel shell, a typhus
Copy !req
1606. same as took Willie.
Copy !req
1607. It takes hundreds of boys a day.
He'll die uselessly.
Copy !req
1608. And how will I ever forgive you?
Copy !req
1609. Most men, their firstborn is their favorite.
Copy !req
1610. You've always blamed Robert
for being born.
Copy !req
1611. For trapping you in a marriage
Copy !req
1612. that's only ever given you grief
Copy !req
1613. - and caused you regret.
- That's simply not true.
Copy !req
1614. And if the slaughter of Cold Harbor's
Copy !req
1615. on your hands same as Grant,
God help us.
Copy !req
1616. We'll pay for the oceans of spilled blood
Copy !req
1617. you've sanctioned,
the uncountable corpses!
Copy !req
1618. We'll be made to pay
with our son's dear blood!
Copy !req
1619. Just this once, Mrs. Lincoln,
Copy !req
1620. I demand of you to try
and take the liberal
Copy !req
1621. and not the selfish point of view.
Copy !req
1622. Robert will never forgive himself.
Copy !req
1623. You imagine he'll forgive us
Copy !req
1624. if we continue to stifle
this very natural ambition?
Copy !req
1625. And if I refuse to take the high road?
Copy !req
1626. If I won't pick up the rough old cross,
Copy !req
1627. will you threaten me again
with the madhouse?
Copy !req
1628. As you did when I couldn't
stop crying over Willie.
Copy !req
1629. When I showed you what heartbreak,
Copy !req
1630. real heartbreak, looked like.
Copy !req
1631. And you hadn't the courage
Copy !req
1632. - to countenance, to help me!
- That's right, that's right...
Copy !req
1633. When you refused so much
as to comfort Tad,
Copy !req
1634. a child who was not only sick,
dangerously sick,
Copy !req
1635. but beside himself with grief!
Copy !req
1636. I was holding him in my arms
when he died.
Copy !req
1637. But your grief, your grief,
your inexhaustible grief!
Copy !req
1638. How dare you throw that up at me?
Copy !req
1639. And his mother wouldn't let him near her
Copy !req
1640. because she's screaming
from morning to night!
Copy !req
1641. I couldn't risk him
seeing how angry I was!
Copy !req
1642. Pacing the halls, howling at shadows
Copy !req
1643. and furniture and ghosts!
Copy !req
1644. I ought to have done it for Tad's sake,
Copy !req
1645. for everybody's goddamn sake,
Copy !req
1646. I should have clapped you
in the madhouse!
Copy !req
1647. Then do it!
Copy !req
1648. Do it! Don't you threaten me!
Copy !req
1649. You do it this time. Lock me away.
Copy !req
1650. You'll have to, I swear,
Copy !req
1651. if Robert is killed.
Copy !req
1652. I couldn't tolerate you
grieving so for Willie
Copy !req
1653. because I couldn't permit it in myself.
Copy !req
1654. Though I wanted to, Mary.
Copy !req
1655. I wanted to crawl under the earth,
Copy !req
1656. into the vault, with his coffin.
Copy !req
1657. And I still do. Every day I do.
Copy !req
1658. Don't speak to me about grief.
Copy !req
1659. I must make my decisions,
Bob must make his, you yours.
Copy !req
1660. And bear what we must.
Hold and carry what we must.
Copy !req
1661. What I carry within me,
you must allow me to do it.
Copy !req
1662. Alone, as I must. And you alone, Mary,
Copy !req
1663. you alone may lighten this burden.
Copy !req
1664. Or render it intolerable.
Copy !req
1665. As you choose.
Copy !req
1666. You think I'm ignorant
of what you're up to
Copy !req
1667. because you haven't discussed
Copy !req
1668. this scheme with me
as you ought to have done?
Copy !req
1669. When have I ever been
so easily bamboozled?
Copy !req
1670. I believe you when you insist
Copy !req
1671. that amending the Constitution
Copy !req
1672. and abolishing slavery will end this war.
Copy !req
1673. And since you are
sending my son into the war,
Copy !req
1674. woe unto you if you fail
to pass the amendment.
Copy !req
1675. Seward doesn't want me
leaving big muddy footprints
Copy !req
1676. all over town.
Copy !req
1677. No one has ever lived
who knows better than you
Copy !req
1678. the proper placement of footfalls
Copy !req
1679. on treacherous paths.
Copy !req
1680. Seward can't do it. You must.
Copy !req
1681. Because if you fail to acquire
the necessary votes,
Copy !req
1682. woe unto you, sir. You will answer to me.
Copy !req
1683. Thank you.
Copy !req
1684. I know the vote is only four days away.
Copy !req
1685. I know you're concerned.
Copy !req
1686. Thank you for your concern over this.
Copy !req
1687. And I want you to know,
they'll approve it.
Copy !req
1688. God will see to it.
Copy !req
1689. I don't envy Him his task.
Copy !req
1690. He may wish He'd chosen
an instrument for His purpose
Copy !req
1691. more wieldy than
the House of Representatives.
Copy !req
1692. Then you'll see to it.
Copy !req
1693. Are you afraid of what
lies ahead for your people
Copy !req
1694. if we succeed?
Copy !req
1695. White people don't want us here.
Copy !req
1696. - Many don't.
- What about you?
Copy !req
1697. I don't know you, Mrs. Keckley.
Copy !req
1698. Any of you.
Copy !req
1699. You're familiar to me, as all people are,
Copy !req
1700. unaccommodated, poor, bare,
forked creatures,
Copy !req
1701. such as we all are.
Copy !req
1702. You have a right to expect what I expect.
Copy !req
1703. And likely our expectations
Copy !req
1704. are not incomprehensible to each other.
Copy !req
1705. I assume I'll get used to you.
Copy !req
1706. Now what you are to the nation,
Copy !req
1707. what'll become of you
once slavery's day is done,
Copy !req
1708. I don't know.
Copy !req
1709. What my people are to be, I can't say.
Copy !req
1710. Negroes have been fighting
and dying for freedom
Copy !req
1711. since the first of us was a slave.
Copy !req
1712. I never heard any ask
what freedom would bring.
Copy !req
1713. Freedom is first.
Copy !req
1714. As for me,
Copy !req
1715. my son died fighting for the Union,
Copy !req
1716. wearing the Union blue.
Copy !req
1717. For freedom he died.
Copy !req
1718. And I'm his mother.
Copy !req
1719. That's what I am
to the nation, Mr. Lincoln.
Copy !req
1720. What else must I be?
Copy !req
1721. My whole hand's gonna be proud
in about five seconds.
Copy !req
1722. Let's see how proud you can be.
Copy !req
1723. Go away. That watch fob, is that gold?
Copy !req
1724. You keep your eyes off my fob.
Copy !req
1725. Gentlemen, you have a visitor.
Copy !req
1726. Goddamn!
Hey, Bill.
Copy !req
1727. Well, I'll be fucked.
Copy !req
1728. I wouldn't bet against it.
Copy !req
1729. Mr, uh?
Copy !req
1730. W. N. Bilbo.
Copy !req
1731. Yeah, Mr. Bilbo. Gentlemen.
Copy !req
1732. Sir.
Copy !req
1733. Why are you here? No offense,
Copy !req
1734. but Mr. Seward's banished
the very mention of your name.
Copy !req
1735. He won't even let us use fifty cent pieces
Copy !req
1736. 'cause they've got your face on 'em.
Copy !req
1737. The Secretary of State here
tells me that you got
Copy !req
1738. 11 Democrats in the bag.
That's encouraging.
Copy !req
1739. Oh, you've got no cause
to be encouraged, sir.
Copy !req
1740. Are we being fired?
Copy !req
1741. "We have heard the chimes
at midnight, Master Shallow."
Copy !req
1742. I'm here to alert you boys
Copy !req
1743. that the great day of reckoning
is nigh upon us.
Copy !req
1744. The Democrats we've yet to bag, sir,
Copy !req
1745. the patronage jobs simply won't bag 'em.
Copy !req
1746. They require more convincing,
Mr. President.
Copy !req
1747. Mm-hmm. Do me a favor, will you?
Copy !req
1748. Sure.
Copy !req
1749. It snagged my eye
in the paper this morning
Copy !req
1750. that the Governor Curtin
Copy !req
1751. is set to declare a winner in the disputed
Copy !req
1752. Congressional election for the...
Copy !req
1753. Pennsylvania 16th District.
Copy !req
1754. District.
What a joy to be comprehended.
Copy !req
1755. Hop on a train to Philadel,
call on the Governor...
Copy !req
1756. Send Latham. Or Schell.
Copy !req
1757. No, he'll do fine.
Just polish yourself up first.
Copy !req
1758. The incumbent is claiming
he won it. Name of...
Copy !req
1759. Coffroth.
Copy !req
1760. - That's him.
- Coffroth.
Copy !req
1761. - He's a Democrat.
- I understand that.
Copy !req
1762. - Silly name.
- A little bit silly.
Copy !req
1763. Uh, tell Governor Curtin
it'd be much appreciated
Copy !req
1764. if he'd invite
the House of Representatives
Copy !req
1765. to decide who won.
Copy !req
1766. He's entitled to do that. He'll agree to it.
Copy !req
1767. Then advise Coffroth
Copy !req
1768. if he hopes to retain his seat,
Copy !req
1769. then he'd better pay a visit
to Thaddeus Stevens.
Copy !req
1770. Well, pity poor Coffroth.
Copy !req
1771. It opens!
Copy !req
1772. You are Canfrey?
Copy !req
1773. Coffroth, Mr. Stevens.
Alexander Coffroth.
Copy !req
1774. Are we representatives
of the same state?
Copy !req
1775. Yes, sir.
We sit only three desks apart.
Copy !req
1776. I haven't noticed you.
Copy !req
1777. I'm a Republican and you,
Coughdrop, are a Democrat?
Copy !req
1778. Well, uh, I, um,
that is to say...
Copy !req
1779. The modern travesty
of Thomas Jefferson's
Copy !req
1780. political organization
Copy !req
1781. to which you've attached
yourself like a barnacle
Copy !req
1782. has the effrontery to call
itself the Democratic Party.
Copy !req
1783. You are a Democrat.
What's the matter with you?
Copy !req
1784. Are you wicked?
Copy !req
1785. - Well, I felt...
- Never mind.
Copy !req
1786. Coff snot, you were
ignominiously trounced
Copy !req
1787. at the hustings in November's election
Copy !req
1788. by your worthy challenger,
a Republican.
Copy !req
1789. No, sir, I was not trounced.
Copy !req
1790. He wants to steal my seat.
I didn't lose the election.
Copy !req
1791. What difference does it make
if you lost or not?
Copy !req
1792. The governor of our state
is... A Democrat?
Copy !req
1793. No, he's, he's a...
Copy !req
1794. Re...
Copy !req
1795. Re...
Copy !req
1796. - ... pub... lic...
- ... pub... lic...
Copy !req
1797. - ... can.
- ... can. Republican.
Copy !req
1798. I know what he is.
This is a rhetorical exercise.
Copy !req
1799. And Congress is controlled
by what party? Yours?
Copy !req
1800. Your party was beaten.
Copy !req
1801. Your challenger's party
now controls the House
Copy !req
1802. and hence the House
Committee on Elections,
Copy !req
1803. so you have been beaten.
Copy !req
1804. You shall shortly be sent home
in disgrace. Unless...
Copy !req
1805. I know what I must do, sir.
Copy !req
1806. I will immediately become
a Republican and vote yes...
Copy !req
1807. No!
Copy !req
1808. Coffroth will vote yes,
Copy !req
1809. but Coffroth will remain a Democrat
Copy !req
1810. until after he does so.
Copy !req
1811. Why wait to switch? I'm happy to...
Copy !req
1812. We want to show the amendment
has bipartisan support,
Copy !req
1813. you idiot. Early in the next Congress,
Copy !req
1814. when I tell you to do so,
you will switch parties.
Copy !req
1815. Now congratulations
on your victory, and get out.
Copy !req
1816. Now, give me the names
Copy !req
1817. of whoever else you've been hunting.
Copy !req
1818. Aw, hell.
Copy !req
1819. George Yeaman.
Copy !req
1820. Yes. Yeaman.
Copy !req
1821. Among others.
Copy !req
1822. - But Yeaman, that'd count.
- Yeah.
Copy !req
1823. Y-E-A-M-A-N.
Copy !req
1824. I got it.
Copy !req
1825. Kentucky.
Copy !req
1826. I can't vote for
the amendment, Mr. Lincoln.
Copy !req
1827. I saw a barge once, Mr. Yeaman,
Copy !req
1828. filled with colored men in chains
Copy !req
1829. heading down the Mississippi
Copy !req
1830. to the New Orleans slave markets.
Copy !req
1831. It sickened me.
Copy !req
1832. And more than that,
it brought a shadow down.
Copy !req
1833. A pall around my eyes.
Copy !req
1834. Slavery troubled me
as long as I can remember
Copy !req
1835. in a way it never troubled my father,
Copy !req
1836. though he hated it, in his own fashion.
Copy !req
1837. He knew no smallholding dirt farmer
Copy !req
1838. could compete with slave plantations
Copy !req
1839. so he took us out from Kentucky
Copy !req
1840. to get away from 'em.
Copy !req
1841. He wanted Indiana kept free.
Copy !req
1842. He wasn't a kind man
Copy !req
1843. but there was a rough,
moral urge for fairness,
Copy !req
1844. for freedom in him.
Copy !req
1845. I learnt that from him, I suppose.
Copy !req
1846. If little else from him.
Copy !req
1847. We didn't care
for one another, Mr. Yeaman.
Copy !req
1848. Well, I'm sorry to hear that.
Copy !req
1849. Loving kindness, that most
ordinary thing, came to me
Copy !req
1850. from other sources. I'm grateful for that.
Copy !req
1851. Well, I hate it, too, sir.
Copy !req
1852. Slavery, but...
Copy !req
1853. But we're entirely unready
for emancipation.
Copy !req
1854. And there's too many questions...
Copy !req
1855. We're unready for peace, too, ain't we?
Copy !req
1856. Yeah, when it comes,
it'll present us with conundrums
Copy !req
1857. and dangers greater than
any we faced during the war,
Copy !req
1858. bloody as it's been.
Copy !req
1859. We'll have to extemporize and
experiment with what it is,
Copy !req
1860. when it is.
Copy !req
1861. I read your speech, George.
Copy !req
1862. Negroes and the vote,
Copy !req
1863. that's a puzzle.
Copy !req
1864. No, no. But, but, but Negroes can't
Copy !req
1865. uh, vote, Mr. Lincoln.
Copy !req
1866. You're not suggesting
we enfranchise colored people?
Copy !req
1867. I'm asking only that
Copy !req
1868. you disenthrall yourself
from the slave powers.
Copy !req
1869. I'll let you know when
Copy !req
1870. there's an offer on my desk
for surrender.
Copy !req
1871. There's none before us now.
Copy !req
1872. What's before us now,
Copy !req
1873. that's the vote on the 13th Amendment.
Copy !req
1874. And it's going to be so very close.
Copy !req
1875. You see what you can do.
Copy !req
1876. I can't make sense of it.
Copy !req
1877. What he died for.
Copy !req
1878. Mr. Lincoln, I hate them all.
Copy !req
1879. I do. All black people.
Copy !req
1880. I am a prejudiced man.
Copy !req
1881. Well, I'd change that in you if I could,
Copy !req
1882. but that's not why I come.
Copy !req
1883. I might be wrong, Mr. Hutton,
Copy !req
1884. but I expect colored people
most likely be free.
Copy !req
1885. And when that's so, it's simple truth
Copy !req
1886. that your brother's bravery
Copy !req
1887. and his death helped make it so.
Copy !req
1888. Only you can decide whether
Copy !req
1889. that's sense enough for you or not.
Copy !req
1890. My deepest sympathies to your family.
Copy !req
1891. We've managed our members
to a fare-thee-well.
Copy !req
1892. You've had no defections
Copy !req
1893. from the Republican right to trouble you.
Copy !req
1894. Whereas as to what you promised,
Copy !req
1895. where the hell are the commissioners?
Copy !req
1896. Oh, my God. It's true.
Copy !req
1897. You... You lied to me.
Copy !req
1898. Mr. Lincoln, you evaded
my request for a denial
Copy !req
1899. that there is a Confederate peace offer,
Copy !req
1900. because there is one!
Copy !req
1901. We are absolutely guaranteed
to lose the whole thing.
Copy !req
1902. We don't need a goddamn
abolition amendment!
Copy !req
1903. Leave the Constitution alone!
Copy !req
1904. What if
the peace commissioners
Copy !req
1905. appear today, or worse...
Copy !req
1906. I can't listen to this anymore.
Copy !req
1907. I can't accomplish a goddamn thing
Copy !req
1908. of any human meaning or worth
Copy !req
1909. until we cure ourselves of slavery
Copy !req
1910. and end this pestilential war!
Copy !req
1911. And whether any of you
or anyone else knows it,
Copy !req
1912. I know I need this!
Copy !req
1913. This amendment is that cure!
Copy !req
1914. We are stepped out upon
the world stage now!
Copy !req
1915. Now!
Copy !req
1916. With the fate of human dignity
in our hands!
Copy !req
1917. Blood's been spilt to
afford us this moment!
Copy !req
1918. Now! Now! Now!
Copy !req
1919. And you grousle and heckle
and dodge about like
Copy !req
1920. pettifogging Tammany Hall hucksters!
Copy !req
1921. See what is before you.
Copy !req
1922. See the here and now, that's the
Copy !req
1923. hardest thing,
the only thing that accounts.
Copy !req
1924. Abolishing slavery
by constitutional provision
Copy !req
1925. settles the fate for all coming time
Copy !req
1926. not only of the millions now in bondage
Copy !req
1927. but of unborn millions to come.
Copy !req
1928. Two votes stand in its way.
These votes must be procured.
Copy !req
1929. We need two yeses,
three abstentions, or
Copy !req
1930. four yeses
Copy !req
1931. and one more abstention,
and the amendment will pass.
Copy !req
1932. You got a night, and a day, and a night,
Copy !req
1933. and several perfectly good hours.
Copy !req
1934. Now get the hell out of here and get 'em.
Copy !req
1935. Yes. But how?
Copy !req
1936. Buzzards' guts, man.
Copy !req
1937. I am the President of the
United States of America
Copy !req
1938. clothed in immense power.
Copy !req
1939. You will procure me these votes.
Copy !req
1940. We welcome you, ladies and gentlemen,
Copy !req
1941. first in the history of
this people's chamber,
Copy !req
1942. to your House.
Copy !req
1943. Mr. Ashley, the floor is yours.
Copy !req
1944. On the matter of the
joint resolution before us,
Copy !req
1945. presenting a 13th Amendment
Copy !req
1946. to our National Constitution,
Copy !req
1947. which was passed last year
by the Senate
Copy !req
1948. and which has been debated now
Copy !req
1949. by this estimable body
for the past several weeks,
Copy !req
1950. today we will vote.
Copy !req
1951. By mutual agreement,
Copy !req
1952. we shall hear brief, final statements,
Copy !req
1953. beginning with
Copy !req
1954. the honorable
George Pendleton of Ohio.
Copy !req
1955. I have just received
Copy !req
1956. confirmation
Copy !req
1957. of what previously has
been merely rumored.
Copy !req
1958. Affidavits from loyal citizens
Copy !req
1959. recently returned from Richmond.
Copy !req
1960. They testify that
commissioners have indeed
Copy !req
1961. come north and ought to have arrived
Copy !req
1962. by now in Washington City
Copy !req
1963. bearing an offer of immediate cessation
Copy !req
1964. of our civil war.
Copy !req
1965. Is it true, sir?
Copy !req
1966. Are there Confederate
commissioners in the capital?
Copy !req
1967. I have no idea where they are
or if they've arrived.
Copy !req
1968. They'll arrive.
Copy !req
1969. I appeal to
my fellow Democrats,
Copy !req
1970. to all Republican representatives
Copy !req
1971. who give a fig for peace,
Copy !req
1972. postpone this vote!
Copy !req
1973. Until we have answers
Copy !req
1974. from the President himself!
Copy !req
1975. Postpone the vote!
Copy !req
1976. Postpone the vote!
Copy !req
1977. Postpone the vote! Postpone the vote!
Copy !req
1978. Postpone the vote! Postpone the vote!
Copy !req
1979. Postpone the vote!
Copy !req
1980. Postpone the vote!
Copy !req
1981. - Postpone the vote!
- Gentlemen!
Copy !req
1982. Postpone the vote!
Copy !req
1983. Postpone the vote! Postpone the vote!
Copy !req
1984. Postpone the vote! Postpone the vote!
Copy !req
1985. I have made a motion!
Copy !req
1986. Does anyone care to second my motion?
Copy !req
1987. Gentlemen.
Copy !req
1988. The conservative faction
Copy !req
1989. of border and western Republicans
Copy !req
1990. cannot approve this amendment,
Copy !req
1991. about which we harbor grave doubts,
Copy !req
1992. if a peace offer is being
held hostage to its success.
Copy !req
1993. Joining together with
our Democratic colleagues,
Copy !req
1994. I second the motion
Copy !req
1995. to postpone.
Copy !req
1996. He must deny peace
commissioners are in the city.
Copy !req
1997. Quick, man. Quick.
Copy !req
1998. This is precisely
what Mr. Wood wishes me
Copy !req
1999. to respond to?
Copy !req
2000. Word for word, this is precisely
Copy !req
2001. the assurance that he demands of me?
Copy !req
2002. Yes, sir.
Copy !req
2003. Give this to Mr. Ashley.
Copy !req
2004. Uh, I feel I have to say,
Mr. Lincoln, that...
Copy !req
2005. Could you please just step outside?
Copy !req
2006. You want to have a chat now,
Copy !req
2007. with the whole of the
House of Representatives
Copy !req
2008. waiting on this?
Copy !req
2009. Making false representation
to Congress, is...
Copy !req
2010. - It's...
- It's impeachable,
Copy !req
2011. but I've made no such
false representation.
Copy !req
2012. But there are.
Copy !req
2013. There is a delegation from Richmond.
Copy !req
2014. Give me the note, Johnnie.
Copy !req
2015. Please, deliver that to Mr. Ashley.
Copy !req
2016. From the President.
Copy !req
2017. "So far as I know, there are no
Copy !req
2018. peace commissioners in the city
Copy !req
2019. nor are there likely to be."
Copy !req
2020. "So far as I know"?
Copy !req
2021. That means nothing.
Copy !req
2022. Are there commissioners from
the South, or aren't there?
Copy !req
2023. The President
has answered you, sir.
Copy !req
2024. Your peace offer is a fiction.
Copy !req
2025. That is not a denial.
Copy !req
2026. It is a lawyer's dodge!
Copy !req
2027. Mr. Haddam, is your faction satisfied?
Copy !req
2028. The conservative Republican
faction is satisfied.
Copy !req
2029. And we thank Mr. Lincoln.
Copy !req
2030. I move to table Mr. Wood's motion.
Copy !req
2031. Tabled!
Copy !req
2032. Mr. Colfax, I order the main question.
Copy !req
2033. A motion has been made to bring the bill
Copy !req
2034. for the 13th Amendment to a vote.
Copy !req
2035. Do I hear a second?
Copy !req
2036. I second the motion.
Copy !req
2037. So moved, so ordered.
Copy !req
2038. The Clerk will now...
Copy !req
2039. Quiet, please!
Copy !req
2040. The Clerk will now
call the roll for the voting.
Copy !req
2041. We begin with Connecticut.
Copy !req
2042. Mr. Augustus Benjamin,
Copy !req
2043. on the matter of this amendment,
how say you?
Copy !req
2044. Nay!
Copy !req
2045. Mr. Arthur Bentleigh.
Copy !req
2046. Nay!
Copy !req
2047. Mr. John Ellis, how say you?
Copy !req
2048. Aye!
Copy !req
2049. What!
Copy !req
2050. Missouri next. Mr. Walter Appleton.
Copy !req
2051. I vote no.
Copy !req
2052. Mr. Josiah Burton.
Copy !req
2053. Beanpole Burton is pleased to vote yea!
Copy !req
2054. The State of New Jersey.
Copy !req
2055. - Mr. Nehemiah Cleary.
- No!
Copy !req
2056. Mr. James Martinson.
Copy !req
2057. Mr. Martinson has delegated me
Copy !req
2058. to say he is indisposed.
Copy !req
2059. And he abstains.
Copy !req
2060. Mr. Austin J. Roberts.
Copy !req
2061. Also indisposed, also abstaining.
Copy !req
2062. Illinois concluded.
Copy !req
2063. Mr. Harold Hollister. How say you?
Copy !req
2064. No.
Copy !req
2065. Mr. Hutton.
Copy !req
2066. Mr. William Hutton. Cast your vote.
Copy !req
2067. William Hutton,
remembering at this moment
Copy !req
2068. his beloved brother Frederick
Copy !req
2069. votes against the amendment.
Copy !req
2070. Webster Allen votes no.
Copy !req
2071. Webster Allen,
Copy !req
2072. Illinois, Democrat,
Copy !req
2073. votes no.
Copy !req
2074. Halberd Law, Indiana, Democrat,
Copy !req
2075. votes no.
Copy !req
2076. Archibald Moran, yes.
Copy !req
2077. Ambrose Baylor, yes.
Copy !req
2078. Mr. Walter H. Washburn.
Copy !req
2079. Votes no.
Copy !req
2080. And Mr. George Yeaman, how say you?
Copy !req
2081. My vote ties us.
Copy !req
2082. Sir, Mr. Yeaman,
Copy !req
2083. I didn't hear your vote.
Copy !req
2084. I said "Aye", Mr. McPherson!
Copy !req
2085. Aye!
Copy !req
2086. Traitor!
Copy !req
2087. Order!
Copy !req
2088. Order in my chamber!
Copy !req
2089. Mr. McPherson, you may proceed.
Copy !req
2090. Mr. Clay R. Hawkins of Ohio.
Copy !req
2091. Goddamn it, I'm voting yes.
Copy !req
2092. I don't care, you shoot me dead!
Copy !req
2093. You shoot me dead! I am voting yes!
Copy !req
2094. Mr. Edwin F. LeClerk.
Copy !req
2095. No!
Copy !req
2096. Oh, to hell with it.
Shoot me dead, too! Yes!
Copy !req
2097. I mean...
Copy !req
2098. Abstention. Abstention!
Copy !req
2099. Spineless! No gender.
Copy !req
2100. Mr. Alexander Coffroth.
Copy !req
2101. I vote
Copy !req
2102. Yes.
Copy !req
2103. Yea.
Copy !req
2104. James Brooks...
Copy !req
2105. Nay.
Copy !req
2106. Josiah Grenelle...
Copy !req
2107. Yea.
Copy !req
2108. Meyer Strauss...
Copy !req
2109. Nay.
Copy !req
2110. - Mr. Joseph Marstern.
- Nay.
Copy !req
2111. - Mr. Chilton A. Elliot.
- No!
Copy !req
2112. - Mr. Daniel G. Stuart.
- I vote yes.
Copy !req
2113. - Mr. Howard Guilfoyle.
- Yea.
Copy !req
2114. - John F. McKenzie.
- Yea.
Copy !req
2115. - Andrew E. Fink.
- Nay.
Copy !req
2116. - Mr. John A. Castle.
- Yea.
Copy !req
2117. - Mr. Hanready.
- Nay.
Copy !req
2118. - And Mr. Rufus Warren?
- Yea.
Copy !req
2119. The roll call concludes.
Copy !req
2120. The voting is completed. Now...
Copy !req
2121. Mr. Clerk, please call my name.
Copy !req
2122. I want to cast a vote.
Copy !req
2123. I object.
Copy !req
2124. The Speaker doesn't vote.
Copy !req
2125. The Speaker may vote if he so chooses.
Copy !req
2126. It is highly unusual, sir.
Copy !req
2127. This isn't usual, Mr. Pendleton.
Copy !req
2128. This is history.
Copy !req
2129. How does Mr. Schuyler Colfax vote?
Copy !req
2130. Aye, of course.
Copy !req
2131. The final vote.
Copy !req
2132. Eight absent or not voting.
Copy !req
2133. Fifty-six votes against.
Copy !req
2134. One hundred and nineteen votes for.
Copy !req
2135. With a margin of two votes...
Copy !req
2136. We chose great leadership.
Copy !req
2137. Congratulations, Mr. Chairman.
Copy !req
2138. The bill, Mr. McPherson. May I?
Copy !req
2139. That's, that's the official bill.
Copy !req
2140. I'll return it in the morning.
Copy !req
2141. Creased,
Copy !req
2142. but unharmed.
Copy !req
2143. A gift for you.
Copy !req
2144. The greatest measure
of the 19th century,
Copy !req
2145. passed by corruption,
Copy !req
2146. aided and abetted by
the purest man in America.
Copy !req
2147. I wish you had been present.
Copy !req
2148. - I wish I'd been.
- It was a spectacle.
Copy !req
2149. You can't bring your
housekeeper to the House.
Copy !req
2150. I won't give them gossip.
Copy !req
2151. This is enough.
Copy !req
2152. This is...
Copy !req
2153. It's more than enough for now.
Copy !req
2154. Read it to me again, my love.
Copy !req
2155. - "Proposed..."
- And adopted.
Copy !req
2156. "Adopted,
Copy !req
2157. an amendment to
Copy !req
2158. the Constitution of the United States."
Copy !req
2159. Section One.
Copy !req
2160. "Neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude
Copy !req
2161. except as a punishment for crime
Copy !req
2162. whereof the party shall
have been duly convicted
Copy !req
2163. shall exist within the United States
Copy !req
2164. or any place subject
to their jurisdiction."
Copy !req
2165. Section Two.
Copy !req
2166. "Congress shall have power
to enforce this amendment
Copy !req
2167. by appropriate legislation."
Copy !req
2168. Let me be blunt.
Copy !req
2169. Will the Southern states
Copy !req
2170. resume their former position
in the Union
Copy !req
2171. speedily enough to enable us
Copy !req
2172. to block ratification to this here
Copy !req
2173. 13th Amendment?
Copy !req
2174. I'd like peace immediately.
Copy !req
2175. Yes, and?
Copy !req
2176. I'd like your states restored to
Copy !req
2177. their practical relations
with the Union immediately.
Copy !req
2178. If this could be given to me in writing,
Copy !req
2179. as Vice President of the Confederacy,
Copy !req
2180. I'd bring that document
Copy !req
2181. with celerity, to Jefferson Davis.
Copy !req
2182. Surrender.
Copy !req
2183. And we can discuss reconstruction.
Copy !req
2184. Surrender won't be thought of.
Copy !req
2185. Unless you've assured us, in writing,
Copy !req
2186. that we'll be readmitted
in time to block this amendment.
Copy !req
2187. This is the arrogant demand
of a conqueror.
Copy !req
2188. You'll not be
a conquered people, Mr. Hunter.
Copy !req
2189. You will be citizens.
Copy !req
2190. Returned to the laws and
the guarantees of rights
Copy !req
2191. of the Constitution.
Copy !req
2192. Which now extinguishes slavery.
Copy !req
2193. And with it, our economy.
Copy !req
2194. All our laws will be determined by
Copy !req
2195. a Congress of vengeful Yankees.
Copy !req
2196. All our rights will be subject
to a Supreme Court
Copy !req
2197. benched by bloody Republican radicals.
Copy !req
2198. All our traditions will be obliterated.
Copy !req
2199. We won't know ourselves anymore.
Copy !req
2200. We ain't here to discuss reconstruction.
Copy !req
2201. We have no legal basis
for that discussion.
Copy !req
2202. But I don't want to deal falsely.
Copy !req
2203. The Northern states
will ratify, most of them.
Copy !req
2204. As I figure it, it remains for
two of the Southern states
Copy !req
2205. to do the same,
Copy !req
2206. even after all are readmitted.
Copy !req
2207. And I've been working on that.
Copy !req
2208. Tennessee and Louisiana.
Copy !req
2209. Arkansas, too, most likely.
It'll be ratified.
Copy !req
2210. Slavery, sir... It's done.
Copy !req
2211. If we submit ourselves to law, Alex,
Copy !req
2212. even submit to losing freedoms,
Copy !req
2213. the freedom to oppress, for instance
Copy !req
2214. we may discover other freedoms
Copy !req
2215. previously unknown to us.
Copy !req
2216. Had you kept faith
with the democratic process,
Copy !req
2217. as frustrating as that can be...
Copy !req
2218. Come, sir.
Copy !req
2219. Spare us, at least, these pieties.
Copy !req
2220. Did you defeat us with ballots?
Copy !req
2221. How have you held your Union together?
Copy !req
2222. Through democracy?
Copy !req
2223. How many hundreds
of thousands have died
Copy !req
2224. during your administration?
Copy !req
2225. Your Union, sir, is bonded
in cannon fire and death.
Copy !req
2226. It may be you're right.
Copy !req
2227. But say all we done is show the world
Copy !req
2228. that democracy isn't chaos.
Copy !req
2229. That there is a great, invisible strength
Copy !req
2230. in a people's union.
Copy !req
2231. Say we've shown that a people
can endure awful sacrifice
Copy !req
2232. and yet cohere.
Copy !req
2233. Mightn't that save at least
Copy !req
2234. the idea of democracy to aspire to?
Copy !req
2235. Eventually to become worthy of?
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2236. At all rates, whatever may be proven
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2237. by blood and sacrifice
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2238. must have been proved by now.
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2239. Shall we stop this bleeding?
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2240. Once he surrenders,
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2241. send his boys back to their homes
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2242. and their farms, their shops.
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2243. Yes, sir.
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2244. As we discussed.
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2245. Liberality all around, not punishment.
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2246. I don't want that.
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2247. And their leaders,
Jeff and the rest of them,
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2248. they escape, leave the country
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2249. while my back's turned,
that wouldn't upset me none.
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2250. When peace comes,
it mustn't just be hangings.
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2251. By outward appearance
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2252. you're 10 years older
than you were a year ago.
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2253. Hmm.
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2254. Some weariness has bit at my bones.
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2255. I never seen the like of it before,
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2256. what I seen today.
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2257. Never seen the like of it before.
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2258. You always knew that.
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2259. What this was going to be.
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2260. Intimate and ugly.
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2261. You must have needed to see it close
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2262. when you decided to come down here.
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2263. Hmm.
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2264. We've made it possible for
one another to do terrible things.
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2265. We've won the war.
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2266. Now you have to lead us out of it.
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2267. You have an itch to travel?
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2268. Mm-hmm. I'd like that.
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2269. To the West, by rail.
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2270. Overseas.
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2271. The Holy Land.
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2272. Awfully pious for a man
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2273. who takes his wife out
buggy-riding on Good Friday.
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2274. Jerusalem.
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2275. Where David and Solomon walked.
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2276. I dream of walking in that ancient city.
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2277. All anyone will remember of me
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2278. is I was crazy and
I ruined your happiness.
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2279. Anyone thinks that
doesn't understand, Molly.
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2280. When they look at you,
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2281. at what it cost to live at the heart of this,
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2282. they'll wonder at it.
They'll wonder at you.
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2283. They should.
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2284. But they should also look at
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2285. the wretched woman by your side
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2286. if they want to understand
what this was truly like.
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2287. For the ordinary person.
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2288. For anyone other than you.
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2289. You must try to be happier.
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2290. We must, both of us.
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2291. We've been so miserable for so long.
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2292. I did say some colored men...
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2293. The intelligent, the educated, and the
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2294. veterans. I qualified it.
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2295. Mr. Stevens is furious.
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2296. He wants to know why you qualified it.
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2297. No one heard
the intelligent or educated part.
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2298. All they heard was the first time
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2299. any president has ever made mention
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2300. of Negro voting.
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2301. Still, I wish I'd mentioned it
in a better speech.
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2302. Mr. Stevens also wants to know
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2303. why you didn't make a better speech.
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2304. Mrs. Lincoln is
waiting in the carriage.
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2305. She wants me to remind you
of the hour, and that
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2306. you'll have to pick up
Miss Harris and Major Rathbone.
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2307. - Am I in trouble?
- No, sir.
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2308. Thank you, Mr. Slade.
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2309. I suppose it's time to go.
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2310. Though I would rather stay.
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2311. The President has been shot!
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2312. The President
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2313. has been shot! At Ford's Theater!
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2314. No. No!
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2315. It's 7:22 in the morning.
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2316. Saturday, the 15th of April.
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2317. It's all over.
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2318. The President is no more.
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2319. Now he belongs to the ages.
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2320. Fondly do we hope,
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2321. fervently do we pray,
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2322. that this mighty scourge of war,
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2323. may speedily pass away.
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2324. Yet if God wills that it continue
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2325. until all the wealth piled
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2326. by the bondman's 250 years
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2327. of unrequited toil shall be sunk
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2328. and until every drop of blood
drawn with the lash
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2329. shall be paid by another
drawn with the sword
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2330. as was said 3,000 years ago,
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2331. so still it must be said,
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2332. "The judgments of the Lord
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2333. are true and righteous altogether."
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2334. With malice toward none,
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2335. with charity for all,
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2336. with firmness in the right,
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2337. as God gives us to see the right,
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2338. let us strive on to finish
the work we are in,
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2339. to bind up the nation's wounds,
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2340. to care
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2341. for him who shall have borne the battle
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2342. and for his widow
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2343. and his orphan,
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2344. to do all which may achieve and cherish
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2345. a just and a lasting peace
among ourselves
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2346. and with all nations.
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