Abraham Lincoln was an extreme activist for the emancipation of slaves. For the previous eight years before Lincoln came into office, Pierce and Buchanan were the president and felt that slavery should be upheld in the south, much to the disapproval of the free-soil party, later to become the Republican Party. Once Lincoln received the place as president for the republican party, a few of the states in the south began to succeed from the Union and a month after his inaugural address was the commencement of the Civil War. The Union hoped that the war would be over quickly and that they could return to their daily life, but that hope was forgotten after a Confederate victory in the Battle at Bull Run. Lincoln was vaguely familiar with wartime strategies and atmospheres after serving in the Black Hawk War but surprised many with his excellent command and leadership during the Civil War. Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation that was due to take effect on the 1 January 1863 which freed all the slaves in the rebel …show more content…
William Seward and Thaddeus Steven are Lincoln’s left and right hand men and are extremely influential in the House of representative. They were the people who were responsible for getting the amendment passed in Congress. Lincoln, throughout the movie, deals with both personal struggles and hard political choices during the Civil War, in which the Union beats the Confederacy. The House of representatives are divided on if the amendment is the right step for the US to take or if slavery should die out naturally. Lincoln agreed to compromise with the South upon reentry into the Union. He allowed all the northern states to ratify the amendment and only three of the southern states were forced to ratify it which would eventually lead to the emancipation of all slaves in the