Lincoln Page #37

LYDIA SMITH:

"PROPOSED -"

THADDEUS STEVENS

And adopted.

LYDIA SMITH:

Adopted. "An Amendment to the

Constitution of the United States.

Section One:
Neither slavery nor

involuntary servitude, except as a

punishment for crime whereof the

party shall have been duly

convicted, shall exist within the

United States, or any place subject

to their jurisdiction."

THADDEUS STEVENS

SECTION TWO:

LYDIA SMITH:

"Congress shall have power to

enforce this amendment by

appropriate legislation."

116.

Thaddeus Stevens grins, nods, thinking, eyes sparkling.

INT./EXT. THE DOCK AT FORTRESS MONROE, HAMPTON ROADS,

VIRGINIA - LATE AFTERNOON

Sailors cheer Lincoln's arrival. Lincoln walks across the

gangway. Seward greets him amidst the cheers.

INT. THE SALOON ON BOARD THE RIVER QUEEN, HAMPTON ROADS,

VIRGINIA - DAY

Lincoln, Seward and the commissioners are seated. Seward

looks concerned at Lincoln's fatigue.

ALEXANDER STEPHENS

Let me be blunt. Will the southern

states resume their former position

in the Union speedily enough to

enable us to block ratification of

the Thirteenth Amendment?

LINCOLN:

I'd like peace immediately.

ALEXANDER STEPHENS

Yes, and...?

LINCOLN:

I'd like your states restored to

their practical relations to the

Union immediately.

Silence.

ALEXANDER STEPHENS

If this could be given me in

writing, as Vice President of the

Confederacy, I'd bring that

document with celerity to Jefferson

Davis.

SEWARD:

Surrender and we can discuss

reconstruction.

ALEXANDER STEPHENS

Surrender won't be thought of

unless you've assured us, in

writing, that we'll be readmitted

in time to block this amendment.

117.

R.M.T. HUNTER

This is the arrogant demand of a

conqueror for a humiliating,

ABJECT -

SEWARD:

You'll not be conquered people, Mr.

Hunter. You will be citizens,

returned to the laws and the

guarantees of rights of the

Constitution.

ALEXANDER STEPHENS

Which now extinguishes slavery. And

with it our economy. All our laws

will be determined by a Congress of

vengeful Yankees, all our rights'll

be subject to a Supreme Court

benched by Black Republican

radicals. All our traditions will

be obliterated. We won't know

ourselves anymore.

LINCOLN:

(a nod, then:
)

We ain't here to discuss

reconstruction, we have no legal

basis for that discussion. But I

don't want to deal falsely. The

Northern states'll ratify, most of

`em. As I figure, it remains for

two of the Southern states to do

the same, even after all are

readmitted. And I been working on

that.

ALEXANDER STEPHENS

Tennessee and Louisiana.

LINCOLN:

Arkansas too, most likely. It'll be

ratified. Slavery, sir, it's done.

Hunter storms out of the cabin.

LINCOLN (CONT'D)

If we submit ourselves to law,

Alex, even submit to losing

freedoms - the freedom to oppress,

for instance - we may discover

other freedoms previously unknown

to us. Had you kept faith with

democratic process, as frustrating

as that can be -

118.

JOHN A. CAMPBELL

Come sir, spare us at least these

pieties. Did you defeat us with

ballots?

ALEXANDER STEPHENS

How've you held your Union

together? Through democracy? How

many hundreds of thousands have

died during your administration?

Your Union, sir, is bonded in

cannonfire and death.

LINCOLN:

It may be you're right. But say all

we done is show the world that

democracy isn't chaos, that there

is a great invisible strength in a

people's union? Say we've shown

that a people can endure awful

sacrifice and yet cohere? Mightn't

that save at least the idea of

democracy, to aspire to?

Eventually, to become worthy of? At

all rates, whatever may be proven

by blood and sacrifice must've been

proved by now. Shall we stop this

bleeding?

EXT. A CITY ON A SOUTHERN RIVER - NIGHT

Like a vision of apocalypse, a city on the banks of a broad

river is being consumed in a hellish fire, as artillery

shells rend the dark sky asunder, raining down destruction.

EXT. SIEGE LINES BEFORE PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA - MORNING

The morning is grey, and a dense fog covers a vast field.

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