The scene where Lincoln leaves for Ford's theater and says "I suppose it's time to go now, though I would rather stay" before walking slowly down the dark hall of the White House would have been far more powerful close to the film.

To me, that scene perfectly captured the fact that Abraham Lincoln was a man that would have accomplished so much more, but was taken from the world too soon. Nothing more needed to be said or shown. Everyone already knows how Lincon's life ended and tossing the assassination in at the end did not seem to add anything to the movie.