Lincoln Page #19

so as not to frighten our

conservative friends?

THADDEUS STEVENS

Ashley insists you're ensuring

approval by dispensing patronage to

otherwise undeserving Democrats.

LINCOLN:

I can't ensure a single damn thing

if you scare the whole House with

talk of land appropriations and

revolutionary tribunals and

punitive thisses and thats -

THADDEUS STEVENS

When the war ends, I intend to push

for full equality, the Negro vote

and much more. Congress shall

mandate the seizure of every foot

of rebel land and every dollar of

their property. We'll use their

confiscated wealth to establish

hundreds of thousands of free Negro

farmers, and at their side soldiers

armed to occupy and transform the

heritage of traitors. We'll build

up a land down there of free men

and free women and free children

and freedom.

The nation needs to know that we

have such plans.

LINCOLN:

That's the untempered version of

reconstruction. It's not... It's

not exactly what I intend, but we

shall oppose one another in the

course of time. Now we're working

together, and I'm asking you -

THADDEUS STEVENS

For patience, I expect.

LINCOLN:

When the people disagree, bringing

them together requires going slow

till they're ready to make up -

59.

THADDEUS STEVENS

Ah, sh*t on the people and what

they want and what they're ready

for! I don't give a goddamn about

the people and what they want! This

is the face of someone who has

fought long and hard for the good

of the people without caring much

for any of `em. And I look a lot

worse without the wig. The people

elected me! To represent them! To

lead them! And I lead! You ought to

try it!

LINCOLN:

I admire your zeal, Mr. Stevens,

and I have tried to profit from the

example of it. But if I'd listened

to you, I'd've declared every slave

free the minute the first shell

struck Fort Sumter; then the border

states would've gone over to the

confederacy, the war would've been

lost and the Union along with it,

and instead of abolishing slavery,

as we hope to do, in two weeks,

we'd be watching helpless as

infants as it spread from the

American South into South America.

Stevens glares at him, then smiles.

THADDEUS STEVENS

Oh, how you have longed to say that

to me. You claim you trust them -

but you know what the people are.

You know that the inner compass

that should direct the soul toward

justice has ossified in white men

and women, north and south, unto

utter uselessness through

tolerating the evil of slavery.

White people cannot bear the

thought of sharing this country's

infinite abundance with Negroes.

Lincoln reaches over to Stevens and gives his shoulder a

vigorous shake. Stevens endures this.

LINCOLN:

A compass, I learnt when I was

surveying, it'll - it'll point you

True North from where you're

standing, but it's got no advice

60.

about the swamps and deserts and

chasms that you'll encounter along

the way. If in pursuit of your

destination you plunge ahead,

heedless of obstacles, and achieve

nothing more than to sink in a

swamp, what's the use of knowing

True North?

INT. MARY'S BOUDOIR, THE WHITE HOUSE - NIGHT

Spectacles on, Lincoln unlaces Mary's corset.

LINCOLN:

Robert's going to plead with us to

let him enlist.

He's unlaced enough; she unhooks the front and steps out of

her corset and petticoats, turns to him in her plain thin

chemise and drawers.

MARY:

Make time to talk to Robbie. You

only have time for Tad.

LINCOLN:

Tad's young.

MARY:

So's Robert. Too young for the

army.

LINCOLN:

Plenty of boys younger than Robert

signing up...

MARY:

Don't take Robbie. Don't let me

lose my son.

There's a knock on the door. Mary turns to it, furious:

MARY (CONT'D)

Go away! We're occupied!

Lincoln opens the door. Nicolay's standing there.

JOHN NICOLAY:

Secretary Stanton has sent over to

tell you that as of half an hour

ago, the shelling of Wilmington

harbor has commenced.

61.

Lincoln leaves with Nicolay. Mary watches, frozen, unable to

let him go, knowing she can't stop him.

INT. THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE, WAR DEPARTMENT - LATE NIGHT

The telegraph office looks improvised, even after four years.

Formerly the War Department library, it's lined with

bookcases stuffed with bundled dispatches. Telegraph cables

stretch across the ceiling to the cipher-operators' desks.

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