History Sandbox / CharactersLincoln

* NiceHat: He has that famous tall hat.

* BaldOfAwesome: Though only we only see it once at the end. Usually he wears a wig.

* BadassBeard: Once fought in the Black Hawk War and is fighting a war currently with the South along with being TheDeterminator, he's also very bearded.

%%* BadassBeard

%%* BadassBeard

* BiggerBad: He is this by extension to Pendleton and the anti-Amendment opposition as one of the major leaders of and representative for the Confederate government waging the Civil War primarily to preserve slavery.

[[folder:William P. Fessenden]]
!!William Pitt Fessenden, United States Secretary of the Treasury

!!Republican Party

[[[f

!!Democratic Party

[

!!UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln, 16th President of the United States

!!First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln

[[folder:Robert Todd Lincolm]]

!!Robert Todd Lincoln

!!Tad Lincoln

!!Elizabeth Keckley
->'''Played By''': Gloria Reuben
* BlueOni: Very calm and collected in contrast with her boss and friend Mary.
* TheFashionista: Who else is responsible for Mary's PimpedOutDress ensembles?

!!William Slade
->'''Played By''': Stephen Henderson

* TheDriver: Drives the carriages for the Lincoln family.
* NiceGuy: Very congenial, good-humored, and gentle.
* OldRetainer: Worked with Abe for a long time.

[[folder:Lincoln's Cabinet]]

!!William Seward
->'''Played By''': Creator/DavidStrathairn

!!Edwin Stanton

!!John Usher
->'''Played By''': Dakin Matthews

Lincoln's Secretary of the Interior.

* {{Jerkass}}/TokenEvilTeammate: Basically his role amounts to bickering with other cabinet members and complain about Lincoln's plans to abolish slavery.

!!Gideon Welles

Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy.
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[[folder:House of Representatives]]

!!Thaddeus Stevens
[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/_Lincoln_Tommy_Lee_3784.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/TommyLeeJones

Leader of the Radical Republicans and a Representative from Pennsylv

!!Fernando Wood
->'''Played By''': Lee Pace

Copperhead Democrat representative of New York and the 13th Amendment's most outspoken opponent. The real Wood was a career politician who was Mayor of NYC when Lincoln was first elected. He had been a big supporter of the Union and Lincoln, but was known as an opportunist who would take whichever side worked to his best advantage.
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* TheDragon: He's the Democratic Party's best orator and weapon against the amendment, but he largely takes his instructions from Pendleton.
* LargeHam: Most likely intentional, as his job is to drum up opposition to the amendment.

!!George H. Pendleton
->'''Played By''': Peter [=McRobbie=]

Democrat representative from Ohio and chief opponent of the 13th Amendment.
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%%* BaldOfEvil
* BigBad: In a manner of speaking. As the de facto leader of the Democratic opposition to the 13th Amendment, he's the biggest obstacle in the way of its passage.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: While Pendleton did indeed vote against the Thirteenth Amendment, he also did many good things for the country, the most notable of which was authoring the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, which dealt a crippling blow to corruption in the national government.
%%* EvilOldFolks
%%* {{Jerkass}}
* LargeHam: More subdued than Wood, but still has his moments. Especially his epic '''"How dare you!"''' in response to one of Stevens' harangues.
* TheRival: To Stevens. Half of the latter's comments on the House floor are usually insults thrown at his direction.

!!Schuyler Colfax
->'''Played By''': Bill Raymond

The Speaker of the House.

!!James Ashley

!!Asa Vintner Litton

!!George Yeaman
->'''Played By''': Creator/MichaelStuhlbarg

* BigYes: [[spoiler:Or rather, big '''AYE!''']]
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: He's portrayed as a very soft-spoken NiceGuy who openly admits to hating slavery. But he's also uneasy about abolishing it and voices opposition to giving black people and women equal rights.
* GrewASpine: He rather meekly states "my vote ties us" so softly that the clerk has to ask him to speak up. Suddenly, vertebrae align and he exclaims "I said Aye, Mr. [=MacPherson=], AAAAAAYE!" to the jubilation of the proponents and calls of "Traitor" from the opponents.
* NiceGuy: Very polite in general, especially in comparison to all the other democrats who staunchly oppose the amendment.

!!Clay R. Hawkins
->'''Played By''': Creator/WaltonGoggins

* DirtyCoward: Switches his vote depending upon who's threatening him at a given moment. However....
* GrewASpine: When it's time to vote, he votes yes and he doesn't give a damn if the Democrats shoot him for it.

!!William Hutton
->'''Played By''': David Warshofsky
* AntiVillain: Admits he's "a prejudiced man," but he has a very personal reason for opposing the Thirteenth Amendment... his brother died in the war. Lincoln recognizes this and doesn't try pressing him overly hard.

!!Alexander Coffroth
->'''Played By''': Boris [=McGiver=]
* HeelFaceTurn: Stevens persuades him to vote for the Thirteenth Amendment and to switch parties from Democrat to Republican.
* SpeechImpediment: Has a very pronounced stutter which is PlayedForLaughs. This is ArtisticLicenseHistory, as the real Coffroth was considered a gifted orator.

[[folder:Gang of Three]]

A trio of lobbyists hired by Seward to buy votes from the Democratic Party.

* ComicTrio: Their antics throughout the film are the source of most of its humor. They have a few GreekChorus moments during the floor debates.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Almost every scene featuring these three is accompanied by a lively bluegrass piece, a marked contrast with the more somber music elsewhere in the film.
* SleazyPolitician: A rare heroic example. They rely on shady backdoor deals in favor of the amendment's passage.

!!William N. Bilbo
->'''Played By''': Creator/JamesSpader

* AscendedExtra: Very little is known about the real Bilbo, so his characterization is almost completely invented.
* BigEater: He's eating something in most of his scenes and has an ample gut.
%%* DeadpanSnarker
* LargeHam: Especially in relation to Schell and Latham, Bilbo is prone to grand gesticulating (such as kicking dirt on a Congressman attempting to shoot him while delivering a PrecisionFStrike and messily smashing shellfish with a hammer causing the bits to fly off everywhere).
* PrecisionFStrike: Gets two.
* TokenEnemyMinority: Bilbo was driven out of Tennessee when he decided to side with the Union.

!!Richard Schell
->'''Played By''': Creator/TimBlakeNelson

!!Col. Robert Latham
->'''Played By''': Creator/JohnHawkes

[[folder:Others]]

!!Francis Preston Blair
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4276232_orig.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Hal Holbrook

A founder of the Republican Party and a key advisor to President Lincoln.

* CoolOldGuy: Is in his mid-70s at the time of the film and yet is still spry enough to have influence over both Conservative and Radical Republicans, so much so that Lincoln relies on ''his'' support to get the Amendment passed.
%%* DeadpanSnarker
* PeaceConference: He's the one who initiates peace negotiations with the Confederates in exchange for his support of the Thirteenth Amendment, and constantly reminds Lincoln of the importance of peace over passing the Amendment.

!!Lieutenant General UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant
->'''Played By''': Jared Harris

General-in-Chief of the Union Army.

%%* BadassBeard
* BlingOfWar: Averted, as in RealLife. The General prefers a simple uniform at all times, whether in the field, at command HQ or at a peace conference.
* BrutalHonesty: Bluntly tells Stephens and the Confederate delegation that their offer of a negotiated peace is unacceptable. Instead he immediately demands they prepare "terms of surrender."
* FourStarBadass: The very first four-star general of the United States, in fact.
%%* TheStoic

!!Alexander Stephens
->'''Played By''': Creator/JackieEarleHaley

Vice-President of the Confederacy, leader of the peace committee.

* AffablyEvil: Besides his courteous treatment of the black Union soldiers escorting him, he's also very civil towards both Grant and Lincoln, despite the circumstances of their meeting, whereas his colleagues are more snappish and short-tempered.
* BigBadFriend: To Lincoln, as vaguely alluded to by them being on FirstNameBasis during the private negotiations
* BiggerBad: He is this by extension to Pendleton and the anti-Amendment opposition as one of the major leaders of and representative for the Confederate government waging the Civil War primarily to preserve slavery.
* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: The reason the peace conference fails. Though the Confederacy's on its last legs and slavery is a dead letter, legally and practically, Stephens insists on negotiating as a separate power and then for slavery's retention.
* TheDragon: To the unseen Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
* FirstNameBasis: With Lincoln, hinting their friendship from before the War.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Despite being a white supremacist who once declared that "Our new government is founded upon [...] the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man", Stephens is respectful to the black Union soldiers he meets even as they're greeting him with {{Death Glare}}s. The real Alexander Stephens saw the black man as inferior to the white, but did not see that as a reason to denigrate or mistreat black people. He apperantly treated his slaves well enough that many of them stayed as payed servants after the war, and one them even served as a pallbearer at his funeral. Lincoln also addresses him as "Alex", hinting to the fact that they were friends before the war.
* UnflinchingWalk: While his fellow Southerners pause in horror upon finding out their escort is made up [[OhCrap of black Union soldiers]], Alexander calmly keeps walking to the carriage awaiting them and politely talks to the soldiers escorting them.

!!George Archibald Campbell
->'''Played By''': Creator/GregoryItzin

!!The Lincoln Household]]

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[[folder:The Lincoln Household]]

!!Pres. UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln