Lincoln Page #10

But they have stiffened if

anything, Mr. Secretary. There

aren't nearly enough votes -

LINCOLN:

We're whalers, Mr. Ashley!

30.

JAMES ASHLEY:

Whalers? As in, um, whales?

Lincoln moves in, standing very close to Ashley.

LINCOLN:

We've been chasing this whale for a

long time. We've finally placed a

harpoon in the monster's back.

It's in, James, it's in! We finish

the deed now, we can't wait! Or

with one flop of his tail he'll

smash the boat and send us all to

eternity!

SEWARD:

On the 31st of this month. Of this

year. Put the amendment up for a

vote.

Ashley is agog.

INT. THADDEUS STEVENS'S OFFICE IN THE CAPITOL - EVENING

The room's redolent of politics, ideology (a bust of

Robespierre, a print of Tom Paine), long occupancy and hard

work. On the wall opposite a massive desk hangs a faded

banner:
"RE-ELECT THADDEUS STEVENS, REPUBLICAN TICKET, 9TH

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, LANCASTER PENNSYLVANIA". At the desk

sits THADDEUS STEVENS (R, PA), 73, bald under a horrible red

wig, a gaunt, powerful face resembling Lincoln's, though

beardless and bitter.

In the office are Ashley, Speaker of the House SCHUYLER

COLFAX (R, IN), formidable Senator BLUFF WADE (R, MA), who's

never smiled, and ASA VINTNER LITTON (R, MD).

BLUFF WADE:

Whalers?

JAMES ASHLEY:

That's what he said.

BLUFF WADE:

The man's never been near a whale

ship in his life!

(TO STEVENS:
)

Withdraw radical support, force him

to abandon this scheme, whatever

he's up to - He drags his feet

about everything, Lincoln; why this

urgency? We got it through the

Senate without difficulty because

31.

we had the numbers. Come December

you'll have the same in the House.

The amendment'll be the easy work

of ten minutes.

ASA VINTNER LITTON

He's using the threat of the

amendment to frighten the rebels

into an immediate surrender.

SCHUYLER COLFAX:

I imagine we'd rejoice to see that.

ASA VINTNER LITTON

Will you rejoice when the Southern

states have re-joined the Union,

pell-mell, as Lincoln intends them

to, and one by one each refuses to

ratify the amendment? If we pass

it, which we won't.

(TO STEVENS:
)

Why are we co-operating with, with

him? We all know what he's doing

and we all know what he'll do. We

can't offer up abolition's best

legal prayer to his games and

tricks.

BLUFF WADE:

He's said he'd welcome the South

back with all its slaves in chains.

JAMES ASHLEY:

Three years ago he said that! To

calm the border states when we were-

THADDEUS STEVENS

I don't.

This confuses the room. Stevens turns to Vintner Litton.

THADDEUS STEVENS (CONT'D)

You said "we all know what he'll

do." I don't know.

ASA VINTNER LITTON

You know he isn't to be trusted.

THADDEUS STEVENS

Trust? I'm sorry, I was under the

misapprehension your chosen

profession was politics. I've never

trusted the President. I never

32.

trust anyone. But... Hasn't he

surprised you?

ASA VINTNER LITTON

No, Mr. Stevens, he hasn't.

THADDEUS STEVENS

Nothing surprises you, Asa,

therefore nothing about you is

surprising. Perhaps that is why

your constituents did not re-elect

you to the coming term.

(collecting his cane and

STANDING:
)

It's late, I'm old, I'm going home.

Stevens limps to the door, opens it, and turns.

THADDEUS STEVENS (CONT'D)

Lincoln the inveterate dawdler,

Lincoln the Southerner, Lincoln the

capitulating compromiser, our

adversary - and leader of the

godforsaken Republican Party, our

party - Abraham Lincoln has asked

us to work with him to accomplish

the death of slavery in America.

(BEAT:
)

Retain, even in opposition, your

capacity for astonishment.

Stevens leaves, shutting the door. They watch him go, Ashley

excited, Litton unmoved, insulted, skeptical.

INT. PRIVATE DINING ROOM, OLD TAVERN IN WASHINGTON DC - NIGHT

In a cramped private alcove, a low, sagging timber ceiling,

sooty walls, sawdusted floor, ancient curtain closing it off,

Seward sits at a small table with ROBERT LATHAM, an Albany NY

political operative, RICHARD SCHELL, a Wall Street

speculator, and W.N. BILBO, a Tennessee lawyer and lobbyist.

A chandelier with candles drips wax on them.

On the table, a leather folio lies open: prospectuses for

jobs in the administration. Latham and Schell study these.

Bilbo is studying Seward.

Rate this script:2.9 / 8 votes