Lincoln – movie questions – Flashcards
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Who was Pres. Lincoln talking to at the beginning of the movie? What did they recite?
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Lincoln talked with the common soldiers, both black and white. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
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What was the 13th Amendment? Why was passing it so important to President Lincoln?
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The passage of the 13th Amendment addressed slavery and formally outlawed slavery in the territorial US as well as the rebellious south
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Who was brought in to try and convince Representatives to vote to vote for the 13th
Amendment? How did they try and accomplish this?
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Secretary Seward, who was Lincoln's secretary of State, and his hired lobbyists
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Why does Robert Lincoln want to join the Army? Why do Mr. & Mrs. Lincoln not want him to?
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He will be ashamed if he doesn't. Because they already lost their son, Willie, three years earlier.
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What is one way President Lincoln tried to convince Robert not to join the Army.
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He takes him to an army hospital. Robert feels it is because Lincoln wants to scare him from joining the army.
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Why does Preston Blair want to go to Richmond VA?
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thought that his former close personal relations with the Confederate leaders might aid in bringing about an end to the war.
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Why does President Lincoln not want the southern peace negotiators to come to Washington DC?
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The Radicals thought that Lincoln just used the amendment as a threat of it to end the war quickly. If the war ends too fast, then the newly rejoined southern states would never pass the amendment.
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How does Mrs. Lincoln treat Thaddeus Stevens in the reception line at the White House? Why is she upset?
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Mrs. Lincoln has qualms with Thaddeus Stevens because of his investigations into her spending habits.
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What is President Lincoln's reaction to seeing the battlefield after the Battle of Petersburg? What does he say to General Grant?
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Lincoln observes that he had never seen carnage like he had seen that day.
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In the movie, President Lincoln
said, "The part assigned to me is to raise the flag
which, if there be no fault in the machinery, I will do. And, when up, it shall be for the people to keep it up. That's my speech." When he says, "...it shall be for the people to keep it up," what does he mean?
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This is a metatphor that Abraham Lincoln will fight to keep the Emancipation Proclamation and secure the 13th Amendment in the House of Representatives but it up to the American people to agree on the fact that 'all men are created equal' (black or white)
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In the scene when Lincoln's youngest son is laying in front of the fire, he was on top of an important war strategy map - what does this say about Lincoln as a
father? What does it say about the son?
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Lincoln came to view the war as God's divine punishment for the sin of slavery. He spend time with his son after will's death and Tad adopted his father's beliefs.
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n the film, Lincoln says, "A compass will point you true north. But it won't show you the swamps between you and there. If you don't avoid the swamps, what's the use of knowing true north?" What is the metaphor of 'North' - remember the metaphor for the West? (This will help) And how does this metaphor relate the point Lincoln was making?
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Thaddeus Stevens was firm on his hard stance on full equality for all - Negroes and Whites - on marriage and voting rights. However, Lincoln only wanted to focus on equality under the legal definition of emancipation.
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Abraham Lincoln resorts to various methods in order to get the House of Representatives to pass the amendment. Do you believe that these tactics are
necessary? Why or why not?
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First you need 2/3 support in the House of Representatives, and Lincoln's Republican Party had a slim majority in the House, and not all of them were abolitionists. Secondly, the Amendment had already failed 10 months prior. Third, he would need some Democrats to support the Amendment, which was highly unlikely. Finally, while some popular support existed if passing it would end the war, if the war ended before the amendment was passed, Seward feels that the public's support would evaporate.
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Explain why the Emancipation Proclamation was able to free only those slaves living in the Confederacy, and why this freedom may have been taken away after
the war, had the 13th Amendment failed to pass.
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The Emancipation Proclamation might be deemed illegal one day and the freed slaves would be returned to bondage. If the amendment is in place, the slaves would be forever legally free.
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Thaddeus Stevens downplays his true political beliefs in order to gain passage of the amendment. Do you feel that this makes him more principled or less principled? Of standing one's ground despite guaranteed defeat, or downplaying one's beliefs in
order to gain a small victory on the path to additional victories, which is more honorable?
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Between standing one's ground despite guaranteed defeat and downplaying one's beliefs in order to gain a small victory on the path to additional victories - both are honorable.
