Larry England
Dr. Vinzant

Steven Spielberg’s film Lincoln accurately depicted the sixteenth president as portrayed by Daniel Day Lewis in his Oscar winning performance. Some critics say that no other film has ever captured the sixteenth president as clearly as Lincoln. However, there were a few major mistakes made in the movie. One of the biggest inaccuracies in the movie was that two Connecticut congressman voted against the thirteenth amendment. However, all four Connecticut congressmen actually supported the thirteenth amendment. It is also said that the last five minutes of the movie were probably the most historically inaccurate of the whole film. The film showed Lincoln lying in bed in a nightgown. In reality he was laid in bed nude while the doctors looked over his body and then he was covered with a blanket. He also would have been laid diagonally across the bed because a 6’ 4” man was too tall to lay in the bed the regular lengthwise direction. Another of the other major inaccuracies was that Lincoln’s image was on currency. History shows us that the Union did not print his image on any currency until after he had died. Lincoln’s face appeared on the hundred dollar bill in 1869.

Some of the other historical inaccuracies centered on Mary Todd-Lincoln. The film shows that she attended meetings of the U.S. House of Representatives. It would have been very unusual for the First Lady to watch any of the house proceedings. Mrs. Lincoln also never would have publicly criticized Thaddeus Stevens. Even though she did not agree with Mr. Stevens’ inquiries about her spending habits she would never have verbally assaulted him at the White House as depicted in the movie. At that time, women were not allowed publicly to speak out like that in front of men. Also, Mary would not have embarrassed her husband or Mr. Stevens