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The Political Genius Of Abraham Lincoln

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Derived from Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln written by Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and directed by Steven Spielberg, Lincoln is highly rated for its marvelous cinematography and Daniel Day Lewis’ accurate portrayal of Lincoln’s personal life. The movie focused on the last 4 months of Lincoln’s life instead of his whole life. Lincoln (played by Daniel Day Lewis) had negotiated with the North and the South, passed the 13th Amendment and eventually abolished slavery in these 4 months. As the President of that time, he had to deal with the pressure coming from both the conservatives and the radicals; as a family member, he had to find the balance between Mary (played by Sally Field), his …show more content…

He wanted the House of Representatives to pass his Thirteenth Amendment of abolishing slavery, but he faced the problems that the board states did not support the amendment and it required more Democratic congressmen’s support to pass the amendment. Francis Preston Blair (played by Hal Holbrook), the founder of Republican Party, who can decide whether the other western and the border state conservatives would vote for the amendment, wanted to end the Civil War and agreed to support Lincoln under one condition: he would participate in peace negotiations without mentioning slavery. Lincoln had to compromise even though he thought it would be immoral not to bring in slavery when negotiating. On the other hand, Lincoln and the Secretary of State William Seward persuaded and enticed the Democrats to support the amendment, offering them with federal jobs in Lincoln’s second term. As the voting started in the White House, a rumor that the confederate delegates were on the way to negotiate peace broke out, promoting the Democrats and Republicans to postpone the vote. Having asked the delegates to stay out of Washington in the first place, Lincoln argued that the envoy was on the river and would not be in the city, ordering the vote to …show more content…

In this way, the whole movie would be more vivid and impressive. Moreover, Spielberg understood that politicians had to play tricks. Hence He featured cheerful and relaxing background music when depicting the plot that Seward was bribing the Democrats with job offers, as if it was like a funny story. Like Isaac Asimov wrote in his fiction Foundation, “never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.” To abolish slavery, Lincoln had to try everything he can to pass the

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Abraham Lincoln ran for the presidency with the Republican party, against three other candidates, which caused Lincoln’s opposition to be divided three ways. Because of this, Lincoln won the election, but this victory sparked much more conflict between the slave states and free states. This reveals the underlying bitterness between the Southerners and Northerners. The South felt like they were losing power since all of Abraham Lincoln’s votes were cast in the North, yet he won the presidency. Lincoln said he would not interfere with slavery in the South, but didn’t want slavery extending into federal territories, saying, “Let there be no compromise.”

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Lincoln spoke to the committee to buy their side, so they can support the Emancipation. At that time, the American Civil war was already in place and was going on and he had just announced the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. He put forward the fact that freeing the slaves would weaken the Southern forces or what he called "rebels" because the slaves were their laborers and freeing them would reduce their numbers and ultimately tilt the scales for the North. Lincoln doubted arming the blacks because he felt the fire arms would end up with the South and that they did not even have enough arms to "equip their white

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Lincoln was running for public office against Fredrick Douglass. Lincoln and Douglas were far apart on certain issues, such as the expansion of slavery, equal rights, and the role of the national government. Lincoln opposed it, but he also wrote about fugitive slaves, I will bite lip and remain soundless. He would be inflexible about the stopping of slavery expansion, and at the same thought, he knew that we would be hypocrites, if we allow slavery expansion to continue. He firmed believed they would have people doubting our sincerity and our love for liberty (Fonder, 495).

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Struggle for Change Abraham Lincoln wanted for slavery to be ended because he found it unfair to the African Americans who were imprisoned. He wanted for Congress to pass the thirteenth amendment for the abolishment of slavery. Lincoln made sure that Congress and the southern states understood that he wouldn’t give up until he got what he wanted, slavery to be abolished. Getting slavery abolished was a difficult task for many reasons. Abraham Lincoln wanted to end slavery, but it was a problem among many to resolve during the Civil War (Blair 1754).

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Lincoln made sure to keep new states from becoming slave states, yet he didn’t make it illegal for states that already had slaves. This brought tension because this made it harder for the south to gain western political allies. This caused the slave states to secede and become the United Confederate States. They adopted Jefferson Davis as their president.

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Later on in his career, President Franklin Pierce made him secretary of War. It was probably his favorite job, and Davis helping President Pierce to bring important reforms to the military. When Pierce retired, he went back to the Senate. Davis spoke about North and South, urging peaceful between the two. In the 1860 presidential election, Davis opposed the Stephen A. Douglas, a person who endorse popular sovereignty, and supported John C. Breckinridge, who demanded federal government protection for slave holdings in the territories.

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He believed the war was being fought to preserve the Union and that was his non-negotiable. He said, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it” (Abraham); Following the proclamation, the 13th amendment states, “Neither slavery nor

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Lincoln only wanted to stop slavery from spreading to new territories. Even though he stated that he did not wish to end slavery in the southern states, many states still feared that if Lincoln won, they would lose their slaves, whom their economy depended on for picking the cotton on their plantations.

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Instead of interfering with existing slave states, Lincoln aimed to stop the spread of slavery to new states. His public goal was emancipation over time instead of immediate liberation. In a letter written to a slave-owning friend of his, Lincoln plainly stated, “I do oppose the extension of slavery because my judgment and feeling so prompt me, and I am under no obligations to the contrary.” In the same letter, he contended that, “I am not aware that any one is bidding you yield that right (to own slaves); very certainly I am

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While Lincoln gave his famous “House Divided” speech, he enforced that slavery cannot continue any longer. He did not say he did not want slavery anymore; rather, he stated how he did not want to increase slavery in the US, but Lincoln’s speech mislead the south into believing, otherwise.

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While looking at a map of the electoral college vote (Doc. H), it is clear that the country was geographically divided, and this had the result of increased feelings of separation for the South, from the rest of the country. Lincoln realized that no more compromises could be made, and during a speech in Alton, Illonois, he tried to turn the issues away from the main topic which resulted in all the compromises, slavery (Doc. G). In a way he was making another compromise, but the South did not like it one bit, so they later succeed from the

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Lincoln wanted to be sure that this attitude would last. In one such effort, Lincoln suggested that the Republican Party make the idea of slavery eradication by constitutional amendment a part of their political platform. By this, he aimed to make it a part of the supreme law of the land. With this idea as the successful Republican platform, Congress was urged to pass the mandate by their president and by the people. In the process, Lincoln revived the background of America; a background of freedom and equality.

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He ran on a campaign of the containment of slavery, he wanted to keep slavery contained in the states that were already considered slave states and stop the spread of slave states. The Southern states feared that if he was elected that he might would try and abolish slavery all together. In his lobbying speech to Virginia, Henry Benning quoted a statement from a speech of Abraham Lincoln in 1858, “I have always hated slavery as much as any abolitionist; I have always been an old line Whig; I have always hated it and I always believed it in the course of ultimate extinction, and if I were in Congress and a vote should come up on the question, whether slavery should be excluded from the territory, in spite of the Dred Scott decision, I would say it should” (32-33). Henry used this quote in hopes to persuade Virginia to join the secession, and in to show the Southerners what they had to fear once Lincoln won the

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I look upon it as a great evil. I believe this government (of the United States) cannot endure half slave and half free. I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. it will become all one thing, or all the other.” (D #2) This quote clearly shows that Lincoln was against slavery, but he was not going to end it completely.

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Martin Luther played an important role in The Renaissance causing people to question and turn away from the church. Martin Luther was born on 1453 in Germany. He was a strong follower of Catholicism. In 1505 he quit law school to become a monk. A few years later in 1511, he received his doctorate from the University of Wittenberg and began teaching many aspects of the Bible.

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