If you are planning to see the new, Steven Spielberg directed, Lincoln movie you might want to invest in an accurate history book instead. While it is successfully dramatic, the movie rehashes several 150 year old myths about the Lincoln presidency and America's most horrible war.
First, to the movie's credit, the script avoids a key, blatant lie that is currently being taught throughout American public schools today. The script focuses correctly on explaining how slaves were freed by the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, not the Emancipation Proclamation. Abraham Lincoln's proclamation did not apply to any northern states. It only applied to southern territory that was not under control of the Union. Therefore, it was ignored by the Confederacy too. The original proclamation of September 22, 1862, even stated that all southern states could keep their slaves if they returned to the Union by January 1, 1863.
LINCOLN AND SLAVERY:
Although properly focused, the
movie misleads its audience into believing that Abraham Lincoln was
consumed with the thought of freeing slaves. In reality, Lincoln was a
white segregationist from Illinois, whose state Constitution had banned
permanent black residents since 1848. Lincoln stated repeatedly in his
1861 inaugural address, his 1862 Horace Greely letter and other times
during and before the war that his only intent was to "preserve the union" not free slaves.
As a lawyer, Lincoln actually represented Robert Matson, a slave owner
who wanted his part-time seasonal slaves returned to him. In 1847, Mr.
Lincoln took his case all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court where
he lost. Throughout his presidency, Lincoln made repeated attempts to colonize all African Americans
beginning in 1862 with his Commissioner of Emigration, James Mitchell,
the former leader of the American Colonization Society. In April of
1865, wellafter Congress passed the 13th Amendment and
just before his death, Mr. Lincoln was still discussing his
colonization plans with Union Army General, Benjamin Butler.
LINCOLN AND THE WAR:
The movie aptly shows graphic
scenes depicting some of the many horrendous battles in the appalling
war against Southern independence where 620,000 Americans died, almost as many Americans killed as in all other wars combined. But the script serves to conceal Lincoln's role in instigating the war. Lincoln refused to meet
with Confederate commissioners who came to Washington to negotiate a
peaceful separation in February of 1861. He did not seek a constitutionally required declaration of war from Congress before initiating the war or petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a ruling as to the legality of secession according to the rights of the states under the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. He ignored the vast majority opinion of his own cabinet and decided to invade Virginia on July 21, 1861 over objections of his military commanders, Generals Winfield Scott and Irwin McDowell. At that time, the Union had never suffered a single casualty
from the Confederate military, which had committed no hostilities
against the Union for over three months prior to the invasion. The
script tends to ignore these well established, largely suppressed facts
and imply that Mr. Lincoln had no choice but war.
CAUSES OF LINCOLN'S WAR:
The script also tends to
deceive the audience into believing that slavery was the major cause of
the war. It avoids the issues of Constitutional rights that Jefferson Davis so frequently wrote about and the excessive tariffs
that caused South Carolina to initially threaten to secede 30 years
earlier. Given that just over 15% of southerners owned slaves, it should be obvious that 85% of southerners were not fighting for the right of the minority 15% to own slaves. Although northern soldiers fought to preserve the union
as Lincoln demanded, southern concerns about Constitutional rights and
excessive taxation were proven to be justified. After southerners
elected state representatives, who voted democratically to secede and
unanimously elected Jefferson Davis as their President, they were then
forced to fight to protect their homes, families and property from continual invasions.
Today, almost all of us are victims of the uncontrollable federal
government and taxing excesses that were spawned by President Lincoln's
war.
LINCOLN AND THE PEOPLE:
The script further misleads the
audience into believing that Lincoln was a beloved populist although
with 39.8% of the vote, he was the most unpopular president ever elected. In one scene, Sally Fields, who plays Mary Todd Lincoln, remarks that: "No one has ever been loved so much by the people…"
She obviously was not referring to southerners since they were
victimized by death and destruction from dozens of invasions. She also
could not have been referring to the 30,000 or so northerners who were imprisoned without trial for opposing the invasion of the south. Among them, 30 Maryland legislators
were imprisoned to keep the state from voting to secede and thus
preventing the war by encircling Washington D.C. with Confederate
states. Hundreds of newspaper editors, publishers and citizens were also imprisoned for publicly opposing the invasion.
Imprisoned notables include Frances Key Howard, grandson of star
spangled banner author, Francis Scott Key and George Armistead
Appleton, grandson of Major George Armistead, who commanded Fort
McHenry during the key victory in the war of 1812.
LINCOLN AND HUMANITY:
The movie theme seems to
purposely exaggerate Abraham Lincoln's concern for slaves to falsely
portray him as a great humanitarian. In another dramatic scene, Daniel
Day Lewis, who plays Lincoln, asks: "Shall we stop this bleeding?" This
line is acutely ironic since it was Lincoln who initiated the bleeding
for millions of Americans. Mr. Lincoln personally directed key
activities of the Union Army that repeatedly attacked civilian
populations. The army burned hundreds of homes in South Carolina,
destroyed dozens of farms and killed thousands of head of cattle in the
Shenandoah Valley, burned dozens of cities and towns across Georgia,
pillaged civilian homes in Fredricksburg, Virginia, and fired cannon
shells into the towns of Vicksburg, Mississippi and Petersburg,
Virginia for months. These unprecedented atrocities against American
citizens are documented in "War Crimes Against Southern Civilians" by Walter Brian Cisco.
CONCLUSION:
The movie leaves a burning
question as to why Steven Spielberg chose to continue the historical
glorification of Abraham Lincoln while covering up the horrible truths
about his administration and concealing the source of the greatest
atrocities ever committed against American citizens. The real facts
must have been uncovered given the historical research that was
performed. Did Mr. Spielberg's lust for money and a "feel good" plot far
outweigh his desire to present the full truth? We may never know the
answer to such questions. In the meantime, if you are simply looking
for dramatic entertainment that will make you comfortable by filling
your Kool-Aid cup with propaganda, this movie might be for you. If, on
the other hand, you expect any historical documentary to inform you
accurately about past events, then your admission fee would be better
spent on obtaining an accurate historical education of the Lincoln
administration by reading a book such as Professor Thomas DiLorenzo's The Real Lincoln.
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