"With history-minded Americans flocking to see Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln movie, many are beset with questions about the accuracy of some of the neglected facts and episodes featured in the film."
"Lincoln focuses closely on about five weeks in early 1865, when the House of Representatives was debating the 13th Amendment and Confederate peace commissioners explored a way to end the Civil War. Weaving the two stories together with an intimate view of President Lincoln, his official family and his real family, the movie presents a compelling portrait of a leader in a time of extraordinary strain and challenge. Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal of Lincoln distills the man’s humor, intelligence, sadness, and power. At least four fundamental questions will arise for any viewer who is not a Civil War junkie.", states David O. Stewart who is the author of Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy. His novel about the John Wilkes Booth conspiracy, The Lincoln Deception, will issue in September 2013.
Here are the questions that Stewart addresses.
Were the House vote on the 13th Amendment and the Peace Conference with the Confederates really so closely intertwined?
Did Secretary of State Seward field a group of backstairs lobbyists to recruit Democratic votes for the 13th Amendment, even offering patronage jobs as inducements?
Did Pennsylvania Representative Thaddeus Stevens really have a romantic liaison with his black housekeeper?
The movie attributes its story to Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals but how much of the book is in the film?
Full Text Available History News Network, November 21, 2012.
History News Network, November 21, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment