Abraham Lincoln (Joseph Henabery)

Character Analysis

For a movie that's so pro-Confederacy, The Birth of a Nation is surprisingly smitten by Abraham Lincoln. He's not portrayed as a tyrant or Northern aggressor, but as a sympathetic leader with a heart of gold.

This is hammered home throughout the film. We see Lincoln weep when he signs the first order for Union troops. We see him grant Ben Cameron a pardon when he's under the threat of execution. We even see him oppose politicians like Austin Stoneman who want to punish the South for the war.

Check it out:

AUSTIN STONEMAN: Their leaders must be hanged and their states treated as conquered provinces.

LINCOLN: I shall deal with them as if they never were away.

Because of this, his assassination at the hands of John Wilkes Booth is seen as a tragedy by the entire country. The Camerons, who refer to Lincoln as the "Great Heart," are devastated when they read the news, knowing that his death will allow more extreme voices like Stoneman to take control of the South.

This gels relatively well with the historical reality...which is shocking for a film that plays so fast and loose with historical truth. Lincoln was far from a war-monger, having sought many times to avert the Civil War, and indeed favored a more hands-off approach to the South's Reconstruction. This is in contrast to the "Radical Republicans," a group of politicians with harsher beliefs, who are represented by Stoneman.

Hey—even a broken clock is right two times a day.