and not what people are used to. missing food this good is a real shame. i'm sorry. but here's the thing. the one thing romans can't resist is a good meal. and i'm hopeful that soon his food will be another culinary landmark in this eternal city. ♪ previously on "lincoln: divided we stand" -- >> he was supposed to be the rock star, an amazing politician of the day. >> but after his one term in congress, president taylor passes him over for this cabinet job. >> feels like a failure. >> when lincoln and his family

leave washington, d.c., he was disa disappointed. but he worked very, very hard to build up his law practice. >> lincoln was a great spinner of tales for juries. one time, he said this reminds me of the little boy on the farm who comes running in to his father, and says, pa, pa, sister is in the barn. and she's got her pants down, and she's pinned in the hay loft, and he says, my boy, you've got your facts straight, and you've come to the wrong conclusions. and he turns to the jury and says, sometimes the facts don't leave you to the right concl

conclusions. >> lincoln was honest abe, but -- >> there's a tendency to say he's a moral paragon or a political animal. no, he's a hybrid. you have to understand both sides. ♪ by 1854, spain, france, and britain have abolished slavery. but it's very much alive in the united states. in may, president pierce signs the kansas-nebraska act. giving american slavery the opportunity to expand throughout 500,000 square miles of new territory. >> the kansas-nebraska act

repealed the missouri compromise which had said there can be no slavery north of the 3630 line. >> it wasn't just talking about the modern day states of kansas and nebraska. this immense territory, to the canadian border and west towards oregon. >> lincoln says, you can't have a democratic process to determine whether an unconstitutional process can exist. he had a good idea of when ideals weren't founded the right way. >> the kansas-nebraska act propels lincoln back into politics.

>> in the wake of the kansas-nebraska act, lincoln's whig party begins to unravel over the issue of slavery. >> the whigs and democrats were not liberals and conservatives, precisely as we divide parties today. the whigs were pretty progressive on slavery. the democrats were liberal in terms of voting opportunities in terms of suspicion about immigration, but not liberal on southern slavery, because the south was then the democratic base. >> but the whigs are unable to commit to a perspective on the question of the expansion of slavery and so -- >> by the 1850s, the whigs essentially collapse. >> but then a new anti-slavery party is born -- the republicans. >> lincoln begins to speak out on behalf of this republican party.

and the first example of it is the peoria speech in october of 1854. >> this is the moment for his big comeback. it's a great speech. >> of the larger general question of domestic slavery, i wish to make and to keep the distinction between the existing institution and the extension of it. so broad and so clear that no honest man can misunderstand me and no dishonest one successfully misrepresent me. >> lincoln puts forward very strong condemnations of slavery. he says it's a cancer eating away the life of the nation. >> let us turn slavery from its claims of moral right back upon its existing legal rights, and its arguments. and there let it rest in peace.

>> he says there can be no moral right in slavery. but at the same time, he really believes that if we stop allowing slavery to expand, he feels like that's enough. >> very rarely in his life and career did lincoln talk about the concrete injustices of enslavement. the idea that enslaved people were being exploited was not something that was important to him. it must have been profounding frustrating for someone to say you can keep slavery where you already have it. this guy gets it, but he doesn't quite get it. >> but he's an absolute sensation. republican papers go wild, praising him as the great orator of the day. democratic papers are fearful of this rising man. >> in washington, massachusetts

senator charles sumner, anti-slavery man, gives a speech in which he castigates a fellow senator for his pro-slavery views. mild considering what some of those confrontations are like. the nephew was a congressman named preston brooks. one day, brooks walks in with a cane and begins beating charles sumner over the head. sumner is caned into insensibility on the floor of the united states senate. how does the south react? brooks was flooded with gifts of new canes. >> 1830 to 1860, there are over 70 acts of violence between members of congress, north and south. these are canings, duels,

stabbings. folks in the south lashing out, trying to keep a stasis. >> ultimately, they fear, even if it's 50 years in the future, they will vote to eradicate slavery, and their investment and their world is bound around the idea of human enslavement. you're clearly someone who takes care of yourself. so why wait to screen for colon cancer? because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'll get on it! that's a step in the right direction.

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controversial legislation ignites more political unrest. >> dred scott is a black man, enslaved. he had been taken into free territory, and abolitionists sued for his freedom and for the freedom of his family. he goes to the supreme court. >> in an infamous ruling, the court says that slaves are slaves wherever they are. that slavery is in a sense national. >> and black men have no rights that white men are bound to accept. and black people are not citizens of the united states. and by the way, if you are a slaveholder, you can take your property anywhere you darn well please. and that really sets off lincoln. >> usually the supreme court

ruling settles matters. this one didn't. it caused the biggest uproar generated by any supreme court decision in history. >> lincoln argues publicly that the ruling should be ignored. a brazen stance for a man who preaches about the sanctity of the constitution. >> that's almost as outrageous as saying you don't have to respect a person's humanity based on color. so lincoln is absolutely focused during this period. he's inexhaustible, he's able to lurch from town to town. making long speeches so he's constantly on the road. >> he was gone many weeks of the year. and this was hard for a young wife. but lincoln and mary both had a

political vision. she knew that he was building his political network, and how important that was. mary saw an opportunity in that moment as she saw lincoln rising even greater as a leader, a spokesperson. she knew her husband perhaps finally could get the senate seat he deserved. >> in 1855, lincoln runs unsuccessfully for the u.s. senate. three years later, he's determined to try again. >> in 1858, the republicans have a convention, and choose him as the nominee. and lincoln gets to address the convention. >> lincoln reads the speech to his advisers before he gives it. and they say, don't give the speech. it is too radical. >> what you've said in the opening lines is going to end your political career. >> but lincoln ignores the

advice and delivers the speech as it's written. a house divided against itself cannot stand. i believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. >> words taken from the gospel. >> i do not expect the union to be dissolved. but i expect the house will cease to be divided. it will become one thing or all the other. >> he wows this convention. and he begins his campaign for the senate. think of illinois in 1858 as a microcosm of america. the northern part of illinois were anti-slavery and pro-republican. the southern part of the state was pro-slavery.

>> abraham lincoln was running against the leader of the democratic party. >> the most famous man in america. steven a. douglas. >> he was this tremendously institutionalized figure. and douglas was the author of the kansas-nebraska act. >> everybody thought lincoln was the sack official lamb in that race. >> douglas spent a fortune in the campaign. >> douglas has his own campaign train. the back of the train has a cannon on it. every time the train gets into a town, they set off the cannon, as if to announce the great man has arrived.

douglas is drawing big crowds. wherever he campaigns. so lincoln begins to show up at douglas speeches and rallies. he's getting bigger crowds than ever by campaigning in steven douglas' wake. >> the democratic press mocks lincoln for appropriating the crowds. so he comes up with an alternative. >> he writes a letter that will change his career, and really change politics. >> he challenges douglas to debates. >> here was a one-time congressman, abraham lincoln, he was going to take on steven a. douglas? oh, my goodness, you could hear

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in 1858, abraham lincoln challenges steven a. douglas, the most powerful politician in america, to a series of public debates. >> douglas had everything to lose by accepting lincoln's

invi invitation. but he can't say no. because to say no would be to look cowardly. >> they arranged for seven debates. one in each congressional district where they had not yet spoken. >> the lincoln/douglas debates were one of the highlights of the period. people didn't have tv. watching politicians make speeches was entertainment. >> the super tall abraham lincoln versus the little giant, as he's called, short, squat steven a. douglas is off to the races with 60 minutes of vi vitriol. attacking lincoln personally and politically. their styles couldn't be more different. lincoln was laid-back.

he stood in one spot. he rarely moved. douglas pranced along the stage like a caged lion. gestured wildly. >> he rips his shirt, spits, shouts. he tears at his hair. >> in the very first debate, lincoln starts off somewhat technical on certain aspects of legislation. douglas immediately challenges lincoln, saying you're a radical republican, and you were part of an abolitionist party. >> a lot of times, radical ideas are demonized. the idea of abolition is demonized because abolishing slavery was a radical idea. he has to defend himself against being an abolitionist. >> and lincoln did not succeed. douglas is a master of twisting

facts. of lying so quickly that people have forgotten that it's a lie when the second one comes. >> lincoln comes out of the first debate feeling defeated. much to mary's dismay. >> mary is always lincoln's biggest booster. >> she sat up in the gallery with her notebook and took down who in the crowd was happy or unhappy, and who was for and against lincoln. >> after the first debate, she was a little skeptical about the chances for victory. and not entirely happy. she doesn't come back. >> after the first debate, lincoln's supporters said to him, for god's sake, lincoln, charge. he needed to do much better. so he does charge, and he often used jokes. >> he kept this brilliant wit.

something i appreciate about him are some of his responses. >> the next debate, when douglas said he was hypocritical, a woman shouts out, you're two-faced. lincoln says, if i was two-faced, do you think i would use this one? this is a comeback. he's like a club comic. he had a great comic sense, and knew how to use it to get the crowd on his side. >> once lincoln begins to win over the crowds, he turns the conversation back towards policy. >> douglas had said, we can resolve this problem of conflicts over slavery in the territories by saying, when settlers move in there, they can decide. they called this popular sovereignty. >> to douglas, it seemed like the essence of democracy. let the voters decide. to lincoln, it was immoral.

>> so he backed him into a corner. he says, if a southern community decided to ban slavery by vote, would you accept that? and douglas said, yes. i'm going to stand by popular sovereignty. he was saying that individual southern communities could reject slavery. southern democrats would never support douglas for president after that. >> though it's just an illinois senate race, douglas' celebrity and lincoln's sharp rhetoric garner national attention. >> their debates fire up the nation. this man condemning the architect of the kansas-nebraska act, the policy that has divided the nation. >> and newspapers fed the beast. they were not only covering the debates, they were riling up

converts to their causes. strictly, openly partisan, the way some people believe broadcast and television is today. according to the republican newspapers, when the debate was over, abraham lincoln was carried off in triumph on the shoulders of his supporters. >> according to the democratic newspapers, when the debate was over, an exhausted abraham lincoln had to be carried off by his supporters. >> with the media fueling partisan fires, regional tribalism only escalates. and as the republican anti-slavery agenda gains traction in the north, threats of secession begin to permeate the south.

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as regional tensions around the issue of slavery escalate around the country, lincoln and douglas personify the conflict on stages across illinois. >> then lincoln goes to

charleston. here is the place where he's got to shine. this is central illinois, the swing area where the election will be decided. >> douglas was a vicious racist, who kept saying the republicans want black men to marry your daughter. end slavery, blacks will flood into the state and take over. >> he said the declaration of independence was not designed to apply to black people. >> he asked lincoln, are you in favor of equality between black people and white people? >> people laughed as if it's absurd to think that a mainstream candidate for statewide officer would harbor such radical thoughts. lincoln begins with the most extraordinary statement in the entire debate.

>> i am not, nor have ever been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races. >> he said i'm not in favor of blacks voting, in favor of blacks holding office. >> lincoln says not only does he not want a black woman for a slave, but he doesn't want a black woman for a wife. >> he's saying stuff that is just shockingly bad. there's no way to polish it up. it's just bad. >> you think of him as a great emancipator. but he had horribly bad views. >> there must be a position of superior and inferior. i as much as any other man are in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. >> lincoln believed that he belonged to the superior race.

slavery was wrong, and no man should own another. but whether or not freedom would mean equality was something very different. >> one of the things that people say is that lincoln was a man of his time. but frederick douglass and william garrison were also men of this time. we know that lincoln envisioned a world in which slavery did not exist. so we shouldn't let him off the hook for failing to imagine a different solution for race relations in the country. >> by the final debate, douglas has lost his voice. he's barely croaking his way through. and abraham lincoln gets the final word. he says, the perpetuation of

slavery was a compromise necessarily for the creation of the union. but the founders did not intend for it to expand or perpetuate forever. >> only 82 years before, the founding fathers liberated the united states from the tyranny of kings. >> he says, whether it comes from the mouth of a king who seeks to destroy the people and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of man to another, it's the same tyrannical principle. >> saying that slave owners are like tyrants, and then they're fundamentally un-american. nothing about that anti-slavery approach is predicated with concern about black people. and i think that's one of the major appeals of anti-slavery to

a lot of white northerners. >> lincoln's stance allows northern republicans to stand proudly against slavery, while remaining firmly committed to white supremacy. his rhetoric has the country abuzz with news of the dazzling orator from illinois. >> but illinois was a deeply racist state. >> plus the state was gerrymandered and tilted toward the democrats, who had created the district lines. >> he loses. >> you would think that is it for his political career. but he says, the fight must go on. and these debates provide a platform for what is going to be his launch into the presidency.

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♪ ♪ ♪ sfx: [sounds of fedex planes and vehicles engines] ♪ sfx: [sounds of children laughing and running, life moving forward] as the country prepares for the 1860 presidential election, new york senator william seward is the controversial front runner for the republican nomination. >> they're opposed to seward. they don't like his methods. he's corrupt, too much the new yorker. >> the editor of the new york

tribune and his friends invite a series of republicans to come and give speeches in new york. >> they want to hear from a variety of speakers who might be a alternatives to seward. >> and of course, the man who engaged douglas so brilliantly was invited. >> on the very day of the speech, lincoln walks all the way up broadway to matthew brady's photo gallery. the most famous gallery in the united states. to make a photographic record of this important visit to new york city. >> it's so important to realize that photography is a new phenomenon in american culture. >> you have this visual culture that sort of vivifies and makes politics real. >> lincoln knows how to present himself. that's part of what lincoln's

genius was as a politician. >> that's a remarkable shot. perhaps the most important photograph lincoln has ever taken. >> the union is in trouble. this is going to be the most important election that the country has ever seen. who do you want to lead you through that? >> here's this tall, elegant figure in a tuxedo, looking us right in the eye. his left hand is on a book. it brings home that theme of education, of learning. but look at that right hand. the sleeve comes out from underneath the coat. this was strength. this was someone who worked on the frontier. carl sandberg once said that lincoln was equal parts velvet and iron. the left hand is velvet. the right hand is iron. >> that's not accidental stuff. that's lincoln composing himself as a public figure.

>> hours later, lincoln makes his way to the cooper union great hall. it's got 2,000 seats for an audience that is described as the pick and flower of new york. >> the young men's republican club, which was really not a club for young men, it was really the organization of east coast republican leadership. >> and they're charging 25 cents a ticket. these people came to be entertained. lincoln is the last in this series. he knows so well, this is the do or die experience of his lifetime. the editor of the new york evening post introduces him as the warrior of the west. and lincoln is brought to the stage. the first part was meant to mock steven douglas. lots of laughter and shouts of

hit him again. and then he abruptly switches and gets more serious. he says, now, if people in the south would listen, we do not mean to threaten your property. all we want to do is control the spread of an constinstitution t you know is wrong. >> he goes through every single argument that has been thrown against the republicans. and logically deconstructs it. >> and he ends with -- >> let us have faith that right makes might. and in that faith, dare to do our duty as we understand it. >> it was a magical performance. >> and at the end, people are saying this is the greatest speech we've heard in new york ever. >> people threw hats in the air at the end. then he goes off to a banquet in

his honor. but he cuts across to the offices of the new york tribune, and read proof of the speech and edited it. he wanted it to be perfect. lincoln cared about getting it into the press. that's where campaigns were won and lost. >> before long, copies of the brady photos spring up in weeklies, alongside stories of lincoln's rise. >> lincoln is coming of age in the world of mass journalism. and he's a master of communication. >> he was illustrating a speech, delivering it, promoting it. all in the same 24 hours. the post cooper union momentum built spontaneously.

>> lincoln begins touring new england, performing variations on the cooper union speech for eager audiences. >> in connecticut, rhode island, new hampshire, two-hour speeches everywhere he went. always ending with right makes might. >> lincoln schedules a stop in exeter, new hampshire, where his oldest son robert is in boarding school. >> robert thinks this is really embarrassing. i have to sit with my blue-blooded friends and hear my western father give a speech. one of the boys said, too bad bob has such an ugly father. robert is sinking in his chair in shame. then lincoln stands up, and the dazzling begins. when it's over, the boys all come and slap bob on the back and say, wow, your father is something else.

>> in may of 1860, the republican national convention is held in chicago. going into the convention, senator william h. seward of new york remains the front runner. >> lincoln sneaks in. >> he's a dark horse candidate. >> the balloting begins. on the first ballot, seward is in front. no surprise there. but lincoln is second. they go to a second ballot. seward stays more or less the same. lincoln starts to catch up. the crowd is getting excited for lincoln. the third ballot comes along. lincoln draws even with seward.

and the head of the ohio delegation announces that ohio was going to change four of its votes for lincoln. >> the entire hall erupts. >> lincoln emerged as the republican nominee. >> the cincinnati newspapers said an entire tribe of shrieking comanches and hotel gongs could have been lost with the whoop that went up for lincoln. >> where was lincoln was all those ballots were being cast? he was sitting in the office of the republican newspaper in springfield, illinois, in his favorite chair. waiting for the telegram. he accepts the handshakes of all

of his friends and says, thank you, thank you, gentlemen. but i really have to go home. there is a little woman who is going to be more interested in this than you are. and he makes his way home to tell mary that her dream has come true. through all of the defeats, disappointments, setbacks, he still through words and a bit through images, he has made himself the leader of the republican party. introducing fidelity income planning. we look at what you've saved, what you'll need, and help you build a flexible plan for cash flow that lasts, even when you're not working, so you can go from saving... to living. ♪ let's go ♪ incomparable design makes it beautiful. state of the art technology, makes it brilliant. the visionary lexus nx. lease the 2021 nx 300 for $359 a month for thirty six months.

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in 1860, after a meteoric rise from obscurity, abraham lincoln, a self-educated one-term congressman wins the republican nomination for president. >> for a long time, once you get the nomination, you go back home. you're not going around shaking hands and kissing babies. that's a 20-century invention. it's up to the party bosses, how to best present the candidates. >> lincoln is sitting at home saying nothing. the great orator is silenced. >> but in a little parlor in springfield, mary lincoln was

finally able to come into her own. even though her husband can't campaign, that won't stop her. the press is invited in to their home. she entertains, she demands that there be lots of beer on hand. she was very comfortable speaking about her husband. she took to that role quite well. >> marital harmony returns to the lincoln household. their partnership had always been founded in mutual ambition, and flourished when they worked towards the same goal. >> the republican party does not want lincoln's anti-slavery views to be the major focus of the campaign. they're much happier focusing on his personal story. >> they wanted stories that showed lincoln being this sort of humble rail-splitter, a

country bumpkin. >> he was a lawyer and a politician, and had been a rail-splitter a very long time before. >> so the images of him as the boy who rises from obscurity are very much part of his appeal. >> lincoln receives mail from voters and those wishing him well. one letter from grace, a young girl from new york, makes a particularly interesting suggestion. >> i've got four brothers and part of them will vote for you anyway. and if you let your whiskers grow, i will try to get the rest of them to vote for you. you would look a great deal better, for your face is thin. all the ladies like whiskers, and they would tease their husbands to vote for you. and then you would be president. my father's going to vote for you. and if i was a man, i would vote for you, too.

>> lincoln writes back to her. >> as to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affectation if i were to begin it now? >> but at some point, he must have reflected on that. he decides to grow the beard. >> but as the republicans continue to curate lincoln's public image, the democrats scramble to organize their candidates. >> steven douglas is the overwhelming favorite to be the democratic nominee. but southern democrats never forgave douglas for trying to temporize during his debates with lincoln. >> ultimately, the democrats from the south walk out of their own convention. they re-assemble and nominate

john breckenridge. >> now you have a southern candidate and a northern candidate on the electoral ticket. and to make it worse, you have a middle group who calls down a pox on both their houses. creates what is called the constitutional union party, and nominates john bell of tennessee. now southern votes are split not two ways, but three ways. and it becomes obvious that lincoln is going to win this election. >> on november 6th, 1860, a record 81% of voters turn out for what will become the most significant presidential election in american history.

>> lincoln spends most of the day in the springfield telegraph office. every time the keys clatter, he knows that returns are coming in from another city. it's tense. but in the middle of all this, lincoln gets up and has ice cream with mary. and then he goes back to the telegraph office. by about midnight, he understands that he will win the presidency. >> as suspected, he will win it, not so much because he will win a clear majority, but because the others will fall so far behind him in their division. >> when lincoln got the news that he would be the next president of the united states, he went rushing home.

and he said, we are elected, mary. >> this is their triumph. but lincoln wins in the most sectional vote in the history of the presidency. that's a recipe for disaster. >> lincoln only wins 39% of the popular vote. >> he realizes that the political triumph has occurred, but the burdens of what is awaiting him is suddenly apparent. >> it's the worst situation anybody has ever been handed as president. literally, tag, you're it. the whole country starts to come apart. >> as soon as he's elected, the southern states start to bolt. >> they recognize the threat of lincoln being president. the threat of this new party united in opposition to the expansion of slavery coming to power is enough to have the south say, this is what we've been warning against. we will secede.

>> lincoln's next moves will determine whether the american experiment survives. will he be remembered as the greatest president of the united states, or the last? ♪ supply and big demand. cases fall but variants threaten a new surge in the u.s., as states race to get shots in everyone's arms. >> the demand far outweighs the supply. >> so when will there be enough vaccines for everyone? i'll speak to anthony fauci, next. and, the mess in texas. dozens dead after major power outages left millions in texas cold and in the dark. many still without water. who is to blame for the emergency? two republicans, michael mccaul and arkansas governor asa hutchinson jn