This play is very interesting, as it is written from an English or British perspective -- a biographical history of the
President
of the United States (Union) during the American
civil war, Abraham Lincoln.
The play begins at his family home -- men have come from the Republican Party's headquarters to offer Mr. Lincoln the opportunity to run for
President as a representative of the party. He leaves them alone together to contemplate him as candidate; when he returns to the room, they are still agreed that he is the best possible choice, and he finally consents. As soon as they leave, he kneels to pray for Divine help and guidance, having looked at the map and realizing the precarious state of the Union; he looks to GOD at once.
After Lincoln is elected to the Presidency, emissaries come from the Confederacy (Southern states who wish to affirm their right to secede from the Union). The Confederacy wants the Federal government to abandon Fort Sumpter in South Carolina.The Southerners approach Seward (one of Lincoln's cabinet ministers), his Secreatry of State, as possibly being more sympathetic to their cause. After they leave, Lincoln calls a hurried meeting of the Cabinet. They want to withdraw and accede to the Southernes' demands; Lincoln overrules them, and stands fast for the Union. Period.
A couple of years into his term, he meets with a couple of his wife's woman friends. One is a pacifist (who has lost her only son in the war), and one woman hungers only for the defeat and destruction of the Southerners -- revenge, although she has lost no one in the war. Lincoln chastises her for her petty mean-mindedness, calling her essentially a disgrace to the Union cause.
Later on, he speaks to his Cabinet about the Emancipation Proclamation (abolishing slavery in all the rebellious states). General Robert E. Lee has been defeated decisively at that point, and the President thought it was the right time to finally end the wicked wrong of human slavery. When General Ulysses Grant accepts General Lee's surrender, the war is essentially over.
The final scene is set in Ford's Theater, where-when Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth; this event is shown from the point of view of a faithful and loving long-time servant girl, sitting outside the theater box, where the Lincolns were viewing the play. President Lincoln's work was done; his time had come, the end of a life well (even arguably perfectly) lived.
This is a great play about an even greater man and time in history. It shows, through the attitudes and actions of the various minor characters, the circumstances surrounding Lincoln as he forged the strongest Union the world has ever known -- and that in, and for, freedom. Although it must be defended against any aggressors, violence should be resorted to only when absolutely necessary.
The play is divided into six (6) scenes, rather than acts-and-scenes, as is more common, especially in modern plays. There are many characters, but comparatively few appear more than one time. Although written by a Brit, it is expressed in correct and idiomatic (although rather formal, and without attempts at phonetical, dialectical speech) American English.