On April 14, Lincoln is in a meeting with members of his cabinet, discussing possible future measures to enfranchise blacks when he is reminded that First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln is waiting to take them to their evening at Ford's Theatre. That night, while Lincoln's son Tad is watching Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp at Grover's Theatre, the manager suddenly stops the play and announces that the President has been shot, to the audience's shock and Tad's distress. The next morning at the Petersen House, Lincoln dies; Secretary of War Edwin Stanton declares, "Now he belongs to the ages". The film concludes in flashback to Lincoln delivering his second inaugural address.