I recently watched the film Lincoln (2012) and enjoyed it a great deal, but I was wondering if I could get a little help understanding the historical context of some of the events in the film – mainly the issue of passing the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

I’m from the UK, so although I know a little about this period of US history, some of the details confused me a somewhat. In particular, I was interested in the interactions and motivations of Lincoln, the Democratic Party, Thaddeus Stevens, Preston Blair, and the conservative and radical Republicans.

From what I saw in the film, it seems as though the Democratic and Republican Parties of Lincoln’s day were quite different from the modern parties – with the Republican Party being the more socially progressive, and the Democratic Party being opposed to the Thirteenth Amendment on principle.

The Republican Party seems to agree with the Thirteenth Amendment in principle, but seems somewhat divided, and it seems that Lincoln needed to get Preston Blair and Thaddeus Stevens on board to get their respective wings of the party to vote for the amendment.

I was wondering if someone could let me know if I’ve got the basics of the situation right, and perhaps explain in more detail the positions of the various parties and factions, as well as the personal motivations of Thaddeus Stevens and Preston Blair.

Thanks in advance for any help!