Podcast Episode 276: Lincoln and the 13th Amendment

If you watched Spielberg’s Lincoln, then you undoubtedly know that the prevailing myth has Lincoln pushing for the 13th Amendment, so much so in fact that he was unwilling to compromise when he secretly met with Southern representatives in Hampton Roads in February 1865. Except this isn’t  true. Paul Escott blew this narrative up before Spielberg produced Lincoln and yet he continued with the myth anyway. Why? Because you can’t have a war that killed nearly 1 million Americans without some moral justification, even if it is a lie. I explore Lincoln and the Hampton Roads conference in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.