Lincoln · written by Tony Kushner · 2012

Lincoln appeals personally to Yeaman, separating the immediate abolition vote from fears about emancipation's aftermath.

Scene 69 of 102 · ≈ 2 min on screen · Act two

George Yeaman
Lincoln

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:34 into a 2:06 film

The story so farBefore scene 69

In the final winter of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln risks a fragile coalition and the chance of an early peace to force an amendment abolishing slavery through a divided House of Representatives.

Scenes 1–7
The reelected president balances military command, popular affection and a household wounded by grief.
Scenes 8–13
Lincoln needs a durable constitutional abolition measure and commits to passing it before the term ends.
Scenes 14–16
Radical allies and discreet patronage operatives join the campaign as the amendment enters House debate.
Scene 17
Robert returns, bringing the family's private struggle over his enlistment into Lincoln's public campaign.
Scene 56
Lincoln changes his telegram to hold the Confederate commissioners outside Washington, choosing time for the amendment over immediate talks.
Scene 63
Mary predicts losing Robert and confronts Lincoln over the grief and bloodshed carried by his decisions.
Just before
Scene 66
Lincoln visits Seward's operatives and devises a way to pressure Coffroth through his disputed congressional seat.
Scene 67
Stevens secures Coffroth's vote by threatening his seat, while requiring him to remain a Democrat through the vote.
Scene 68
Lincoln asks the operatives for the remaining names and singles out George Yeaman.
Scene 69
This scene

69INT. SEWARD'S OFFICE, STATE DEPARTMENT - DAY

Seward sits at his grand desk, looking on with an anxious scowl. Lincoln sits on the edge of Seward's desk. Yeaman sits in a chair facing him.

GEORGE YEAMAN

I can't vote for the amendment, Mr.

Lincoln.

LINCOLN

I saw a barge once, Mr. Yeaman,

filled with colored men in chains,

heading down the Mississippi to the

New Orleans slave markets. It

sickened me, `n more than that, it

brought a shadow down, a pall

around my eyes.

(BEAT)

Slavery troubled me, as long as I

can remember, in a way it never

troubled my father, though he hated

it. In his own fashion. He knew no

smallholding dirt farmer could

compete with slave plantations. He

took us out from Kentucky to get

away from `em. He wanted Indiana

kept free. He wasn't a kind man,

but there was a rough moral urge

for fairness, for freedom in him. I

learnt that from him, I suppose, if

little else from him. We didn't

care for one another, Mr. Yeaman.

GEORGE YEAMAN

(EMBARRASSED)

I... Well, I'm sorry to hear that -

LINCOLN

Lovingkindness, that most ordinary

thing, came to me from other

sources. I'm grateful for that.

GEORGE YEAMAN

I hate it, too, sir, slavery, but -

but we're entirely unready for

emancipation. There's too many

questions -

LINCOLN

(LAUGHS)

We're unready for peace too, ain't

we? When it comes, it'll present us

with conundrums and dangers greater