Lincoln Page #31

powers. I'll let you know when

there's an offer on my desk for

surrender.

There's none before us now. What's

before us now, that's the vote on

the Thirteenth Amendment. It's

going to be so very close.

You see what you can do.

Lincoln leaves Yeaman, considering.

EXT. A WORKING CLASS NEIGHBORHOOD IN WASHINGTON - NIGHT

Lincoln stands in front of William Hutton's row house,

talking to Hutton. The funeral wreath still hangs on the door

behind them, displaying the marks of time passing: faded,

weatherbeaten, dusty.

WILLIAM HUTTON:

I can't make sense of it, what he

died for. Mr. Lincoln, I hate them

all, I do, all black people. I am a

prejudiced man.

The door opens slightly behind Hutton. His wife looks out.

Hutton exchanges a glance with her, and the door shuts again.

97.

LINCOLN:

I'd change that in you if I could,

but that's not why I come. I might

be wrong, Mr. Hutton, but I

expect... Colored people will most

likely be free, and when that's so,

it's simple truth that your

brother's bravery, and his death,

helped make it so. Only you can

decide whether that's sense enough

for you, or not.

Hutton walks slowly back to his house.

LINCOLN (CONT'D)

My deepest sympathies to your

family.

Lincoln goes back to his buggy. Hutton pauses at his door to

watch Lincoln's buggy drive away.

INT. LINCOLN'S OFFICE - NIGHT

Lincoln is seated at the head of the cabinet table along with

Seward. Ashley, Preston and Montgomery Blair. Hay and Nicolay

sit in their usual chairs.

PRESTON BLAIR:

(ANGRY:
)

We've managed our members to a fare-

thee-well, you've had no defections

from the Republican right to

trouble you, whereas as to what you

promised - Where the hell are the

commissioners?!

JAMES ASHLEY:

Oh God...

(TO LINCOLN:
)

It's true! You, you...lied to me,

Mr. Lincoln! You evaded my requests

for a denial that, that there is a

Confederate peace offer because,

because there is one! We are

absolutely guaranteed to lose the

whole thing -

98.

JAMES ASHLEY (CONT'D) MONTGOMERY BLAIR

- and we'll be discredited, We don't need a goddamned

the amendment itself will be abolition amendment! Leave

tainted. What if, what if the Constitution alone! State

these peace commissioners by state you can extirpate -

appear today? Or worse, on

the morning -

LINCOLN:

I can't listen to this anymore! I

can't accomplish a goddamned thing

of any human meaning or worth until

we cure ourselves of slavery and

end this pestilential war, and

whether any of you or anyone else

knows it, I know I need this! This

amendment is that cure! We're

stepped out upon the world's stage

now, now, with the fate of human

dignity in our hands! Blood's been

spilt to afford us this moment!

He points around the table at Ashley, Monty, Preston.

LINCOLN (CONT'D)

Now now now! And you grousle and

heckle and dodge about like

pettifogging Tammany Hall

hucksters! See what is before you!

See the here and now! That's the

hardest thing, the only thing that

accounts! Abolishing slavery by

constitutional provision settles

the fate, for all coming time, not

only of the millions now in bondage

but of unborn millions to come. Two

votes stand in its way, and these

votes must be procured.

SEWARD:

We need two yeses, three

abstentions, or four yeses and one

more abstention and the amendment

will pass -

LINCOLN:

You got a night and a day and a

night and several perfectly good

hours! Now get the hell out of here

and get `em!

JAMES ASHLEY:

Yes but how?

99.

LINCOLN:

Buzzards' guts, man.

Lincoln rises, and keeps rising, till he seems eight feet

tall.

LINCOLN (CONT'D)

I am the President of the United

States of America, clothed in

immense power! You will procure me

these votes.

INT. THE HOUSE CHAMBER - DAWN

The chamber is quiet and dark. Pages and clerks prepare the

desks, laying out pens and paper, filling inkwells.

TITLE:
THE MORNING OF THE VOTE

JANUARY 31, 1865

A CLERK is draping red-white-and-blue bunting on the desks of

representatives from seceded states. These will of course

remain unoccupied during the vote.

The first Congressman to arrive, Thaddeus Stevens clumps in.

He goes to his desk and sits. He looks around the empty

chamber, ready and waiting.

INT. THE HOUSE CHAMBER - MORNING, SEVERAL HOURS LATER

Thaddeus Stevens is at his desk. The House is in session, the

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