Lincolns Democracy: A Four Point Analysis on the Spielbergs Lincoln through

the Lens of Contemporary Public Administrative Theories

1. The main conflict of Lincoln is centered on the main predicament of the period in
which it is set which is the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States of America which would abolish slavery and
involuntary servitude in all areas of the United States. This amendment would
guarantee the freedom of all slaves still held in involuntary service in any state
recognizing the authority of the Federal government. This amendment follows the
Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 which officially freed all slaves in the
rebelling states that would soon be the components of the Confederate States
of America. This proclamation was passed as a war measure and instated
through executive powers in the form of an Executive Order with Lincoln acting
as commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. Because of these
characteristics of the Proclamation, Lincoln felt that it would be insufficient in
achieving the grander political goal of abolishing slavery in America. The
proclamation was vulnerable to being junked by US courts after the state of war
and it was also lacking in the sense that it did not encompass all territories of the
United States. Thus, the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment was essential in
attaining Lincolns ultimate goal.


2. There were several obstacles to the resolution of this conflict. One main problem
was the possibility of the Amendment being defeated in the House by
representatives of returning slave states if the Amendment were to be passed
after the end of the war. Because of this, Lincoln rushed the passage since the
end of the war was already seen as looming. The idea of victory as a close
eventuality also brought hesitance upon several representatives of the Union
because they saw that the assurance of victory over the Confederacy should be
the priority. Another problem is the lack of unity of the Republican Party in terms
of when the Amendment should be passed and over the finer, more contentious
details that it proposes. To solve this, Lincoln called upon Francis Preston Blair,
founder of the Republican Party, for support. In exchange for his support, Lincoln
approved the sending of a delegation for negotiations for peace between the two
sides which was contentious among the Radical Republicans because of their
adamant opposition to negotiations. Also, the support of the Democratic Party
was also necessary in ensuring the majority vote for the passage of the
amendment.


3. To solve the problem of the Amendment being defeated by representatives of
returning slave states, Lincoln and his administration and his supporters rushed
the passage of the Amendment. For this to be done, they employed a strategy of
dealing with both internal and external problems, i.e., hindrances to the
amendment internally among members of the Republican Party and externally
among members of the Democratic Party. Externally, they targeted the lame
duck Democrats, those who have failed to be reelected, by offering them
Federal positions in Lincolns next term. This was achieved through indirect
means by use of agents that would secretly strike deals with these
representatives. Internally, Lincoln sought to unify the Republican Party by
seeking the support of party founder Francis Preston Blair. As a condition,
however, Blair wanted the go-signal from Lincoln to start negotiations with the
Confederates. Since Lincoln would lose support from the Radical Republicans
because of his approving negotiations, he sought to keep this information from
them.

4. Lincolns methods on solving the problem through partite methods emphasize the
partite nature of American politics, and is thus highly commendable because of
its recognition of the general political atmosphere and structures to achieve the
goal of passing the amendment. In gaining support of the lame-duck
democrats, his use of Federal positions as a bargaining chips seems to me very
destructive of democratic processes and highlights the Jacksonian, pre-
Pendleton Act political atmosphere of the time. His use of Francis Preston Blair,
a unifying figure in Republican politics is also highly commendable. However, the
withdrawal of information from other members of the House was again potentially
destructive of democratic processes, but this ultimately emphasizes the goal-
oriented politics of Lincoln. Thus we might say that Lincolns pursuit of
understanding political mechanisms and the grander political environment of the
time is a crucial tool in understanding the workings of politics to achieve a goal.