This was on my whiteboard this morning and I would make sure you know this in relation to the movie. HINT HINT HINT. Also because I'm giving you this information share it with everyone.
Hurdles in passing the 13th Amendment
1. 2/3 Support in the House of Representatives
- Lincoln's Republicans had a slim majority but not all were abolitionists or on board
2. Amendment already failed 10 months earlier
3. Ne needs some Democrats to support it - highly unlikely
4. If it meant the end of the war (passing the amendment) then he had public support but if the war ended before the amendment was passed then Secretary of State Seward thought that the Public support would disappear.
REMEMBER The 13th Amendment must be passed to legally end slavery - the Emancipation Proclamation was a war time measure and probably wouldn't hold after the war ended. It may be deemed illegal. Lincoln and others were worried that the freed slaves would go back into bondage.
1. Coffroth tells Stevens that he will switch parties and vote in favor of the amendment but Stevens says that he has to remain a democrat. Why? Because he wants bipartisan support (support from both parties)
2. Why did Stevens not say that he wanted racial equality but legal equality before the law while he was speaking in session? It's a politician's response. What would saying that he wants racial equality do in the minds of Democrats and some Republicans? Think about the phrasing - Racial equality versus Legal equality.
3. Did the vote pass? The Vote passes 119 to 56 - that is 2 votes above the 2/3 majority.
Lincoln Assassination: He was our First Assassinated President (Kennedy, McKinley, Garfield were the others)
1. Where was Lincoln assassinated? Ford's Theater in Washington D.C.
2. Who killed Lincoln? John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and a Marylander
3. Two other politicians and one general were supposed to be assassinated that evening - who were they? Secretary of State Seward (who ended up being badly beaten and stabbed) and Vice President Andrew Johnson and Ulysses Grant. (Grant ended up not going to the play - so he's not always considered to be a target that evening).
4. What was the name of the play that President Lincoln and Mary Todd were seeing at the time of his assassination? Our American Cousin
5. What was the date of his assassination? Shot on April 14th and died the morning of April 15, 1865.
6. What is thought to be the reason why Booth wanted Lincoln dead? He felt the Confederacy was losing the war and that killing Lincoln would rejuvenate the south and had the belief that the
simultaneous assassination of four top officials would throw the North
and the Republican Party into chaos long enough for the Confederacy to
reassemble itself.
7. What did John Wilkes Booth say on stage after shooting Lincoln? It also happens to be on the Virginia State Flag? Sic Semper Tyrannis - Meaning Thus Always to Tyrants.
8. Where did Lincoln die? Across the street from the theatre at Peterson's Boarding House
