Connecticut Congressman Says "Lincoln" Is Inaccurate - East Idaho News
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Connecticut Congressman Says “Lincoln” Is Inaccurate

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110512 DDLewisLincoln?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1360144557678David James, SMPSP©DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC(NEW YORK) — Connecticut congressman Joe Courtney has delivered his review of Lincoln: It’s compelling, but it contains a major error.

Courtney, a Democrat, argues a scene in which two Connecticut congressmen vote against the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery, is inaccurate.

In a letter to Lincoln director Steven Spielberg and producer DreamWorks, Courtney praises the film for its “compelling and consuming” story, and says the performance of Oscar nominee Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln is “tremendous.”

However, Courtney writes that as he watched the scene in which the two congressmen voted to reject the amendment, “I could not believe my own eyes and ears.  How could Congressmen from Connecticut — a state that supported President Lincoln and lost thousands of her sons fighting against slavery on the Union side of the Civil War — have been on the wrong side of history?”

Courtney says he did some research and discovered that his state’s entire congressional delegation voted to abolish slavery.

He concludes his letter by writing, “I understand that artistic license will be taken and that some facts may be blurred to make a story more compelling on the big screen, but placing the State of Connecticut on the wrong side of the historic and divisive fight over slavery is a distortion of easily verifiable facts and an inaccuracy that should be acknowledged, and if possible, corrected before Lincoln is released on DVD.”

Lincoln has 12 Oscar nominations, including one for best picture.

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