What Is Abraham Lincoln's Crisis Conscience

Lincoln is about the year 1865, the American Civil War winds ferociously toward denouement, Abraham Lincoln struggles to accomplish the passage of the landmark constitutional amendment which will forever ban slavery from the United States. However, his task is a competition against time for peace may come at any moment, and if it comes before the amendment is passed, the southern states will stop it before it can become a law. Lincoln must retrieve enough votes from a rebellious Congress before peace arrives and it is too late. Yet Lincoln is undecided, as an early peace would save thousands of lives. As the nation confronts its conscience over the freedom of its entire population, Lincoln faces his own crisis conscience; end slavery or end the war.

For an example, Mary Todd Lincoln always speculated that the way Lincoln treats her is because he loathes his son, Robert. He supposedly despises Robert because he has to stay with Mary, according to her. Another example is when Robert desired to join the army but Lincoln wouldn’t allow him to. Robert feels like he needs to fit in and not feel like a coward, so he feels like the only way to change that is by joining the army but his father won’t allow it.

Another example is when Seward tries to conversate with Lincoln about a battle that was happening or about making peace with the south. Lincoln just tells a joke or a story which causes Seward to get a upset or stress more and he storms out of the room. I think that joking about everything is Lincoln’s coping mechanism because of his son’s death, which was caused by a horrible illness. He doesn’t want to take anything seriously except for the amendment because he doesn’t want to be unsuccessful. He also doesn’t want anything else to get in his way of passing that amendment, banning slavery, and ending the war