strict rules, and a few simple quality ingredients are all they need to conjure up a kind of magic and create incredible dishes that are famous the world over. previously on "lincoln: divided we stand" -- >> the kansas-nebraska act repealed the missouri compromise, which had said there can be no slavery north of the 36-30 line. it's tremendously controversial. >> the kansas-nebraska act propels lincoln back into politics. >> he thinks it's an outrage. he does not want to see slavery expand. >> so he begins to speak out against the kansas-nebraska act. >> he is an absolute sensation. republican papers praise him. democratic papers are fearful of this rising man. >> lincoln is going to win the

1860 election. >> from the moment abraham lincoln is elected, lincoln is confronted with crisis. >> to white southerners, lincoln's election means the greatest of their fears being realized. they are convinced, despite all the things lincoln says, he wants to create racial equality. >> lincoln and his family were subjected to unnerving threats that no other president-elect has ever faced. abraham lincoln was sent a letter saying, i'm going to put a spider in your dumpling, you goddamn son of a bitch. and then other expressions that i didn't know existed in the 19th century. >> people had sent nooses. >> robert lincoln, the teenager, opened this threatening envelope and was unnerved by it.

the situation required his father to calm him down. >> folks in the south, using the dynamics of polarization and violence to move people into supporting secession. violence creates that sense of tribalism that is what the entire fight's about. >> and it's clear that it could descend into war . >> when abraham lincoln is elected in 1860, there are nearly 4 million enslaved people in the united states. in some counties in the south, over 70% of the population is enslaved. the booming southern economy relies on their forced labor.

>> enslaved people are engaged primarily in cotton production, tobacco production, mixed farming. you're up before dawn. you go out into the fields. you can expect to work until dark. and if it's harvest time, you're going to work 20 hours a day. but the issue is not the day-to-day labor of enslaved people. it's the lack of ability to control your life the way you would expect a human being to be able to control it. there was a tremendous amount of violence, rapes, murders, beatings, but none of that compares to what the real evil of slavery was, and that was separation. removing children from their parents, removing husbands from

wives. most of those people never saw those folk again. that's about as dehumanizing as you can get. >> the core of the american economy was rural. it was agrarian. it was in the south, and the core of that economy enslaved africans. >> in the 1860 census, slaves as property were worth $3.8 billion. that's more than $100 billion today. more than all the banks, railroads, and factories put together. >> and let's remember, people in the north benefit from the cotton that is grown in the south. new york city was the banking center. an awful lot of banks lent money to southern plantation owners. shippers based in new york and new england shipped goods to the south and cotton to the rest of the world. >> but even though the north benefitted from slavery, it was never the cornerstone of their economy. it was always the cornerstone of

the southern economy. >> amongst white southerners, talk of southern separatism had been going on for quite a long time. and particularly out of south carolina, they were the hotbed of talking about how slaveholders have different interests from the rest of the nation. maybe we would be better off making our own nation. but for a very long time, that was a really fringe, marginal position. >> until lincoln's election on november 6th, 1860. >> his election is an earthquake. even though there were strong signs that lincoln was going to win, it was still shocking when he did win. in the south, it's a catastrophe. even though he is not a hard core abolitionist, the mere fact of lincoln's election, the

threat of this new party united in opposition to the expansion of slavery is threatening enough that it spurred secession. >> seven southern states secede from the union before lincoln is inaugurated. south carolina. >> mississippi, florida. >> alabama. >> georgia. >> louisiana. >> texas. they all secede from the union and a parallel government is forming in what is now called the confederate states of america. >> and the real question is going to be are his words and his policies going to drive other states into the breakaway confederacy? >> with the nation in crisis, lincoln is in an impossible position. the fate of the union will eventually be his responsibility, but until his inauguration in march, the president-elect is powerless. >> during the four months between lincoln's election and his inauguration, lincoln is terribly frustrated because he sees that these states are pulling out of the union and the

federal government is not doing anything about it. president buchanan, in his annual message to congress, says the south has no right to secede. it's unconstitutional. but we have no power to do anything about it. buchanan's basic stance seems to be dear god, don't let it happen on my watch. let him deal with it. >> although he is frustrated, at the same time he does not want to be bound by anybody else's agreements. he doesn't want anything to tie his hands. >> all presidents-elect since washington have not done anything to interfere with the operation of government before they are inaugurated. but lincoln was different. >> he's quiet on the surface, but he's writing letters to a network of key allies in washington. >> he sends top secret instructions to senators and congressmen who he trusts. >> let there be no compromise on the question of extending slavery. if there be, all our labor is

lost and ere long must be done again. the dangerous ground that into which some of our friends have a hankering to run is popular sovereignty. have none of it. stand firm. the tug has to come, and better now than anytime hereafter. >> no compromise on my watch. i'm on my way. this is one of those moments when you realize that humble abraham lincoln, as he described himself in his first political message, is really pretty secure in his own ability. >> this inexperienced man from illinois, in the face of the country tearing itself to pieces, he will always have that confidence that he's heading in the right direction. >> many people came to lincoln after the election and said, okay. you have to say something to conciliate the south.

you have to reassure them again that you will not take action against the institution of slavery in the south. other people came to him and said, you've got to reaffirm that you're anti-slavery. so lincoln decided to say absolutely nothing. >> i think he believed that if he did not do anything, he would be able to return those states that had seceded from the union without touching slavery. >> he believed that the country was indissolvable and that pro-union sentiment would prevail and there would be an opportunity to work things out. i think he unrealistically held that yview longer than he shoul have. >> announcer: this cnn original series, "lincoln: divided we stand," is brought to you by cologuard.

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as the secession crisis worsens and lincoln awaits his inauguration, mary lincoln relishes in a lifelong dream come true. >> as a girl, she declared that she was going to marry a president of the united states. >> this is something that she has dreamed about for years. so mary is in a bit of an oblivious fog here. she's going to be the first lady of the united states. she has felt that this is her destiny. none of the talk of secession is going to inhibit her from putting her best foot forward in washington.

so in the middle of all this, mary goes on a shopping trip to new york. she uses the period between the election and the inauguration to get her wardrobe ready, because her job she thinks is to outfit herself magnificently, to buy the right dishes, to buy the right jewelry, and to buy and to buy and to buy. >> it's here that mary began to encounter the troubled reputation that she would later encounter. >> mary believes she has a firm grasp on her responsibilities as first lady, but the task before her husband is unprecedented. the dream that america's forefathers bled for only 84 years before lies in lincoln's hands. >> the survival of the union is not just about national survival. it's not even just about the institution of slavery. it's about whether democracy, whether given ordinary people a

strong voice in their governance is a good idea or a bad idea. >> we're the only nation in the history of the world founded on an idea, not a tribal identity. >> all the old powers, all the monarchies are predicting our failure very confidently. >> commonly, it's been believed that you have to have the educated, the well born running the show. but we're trying to prove to the rest of the world that that isn't true. we represent an experiment. the stakes are much bigger even than the united states. it's about whether democracy can succeed, and all the smart money's on the other side. ♪ >> finally, on february 11th, 1861, after months of anticipation, the lincolns head to the springfield depot. there they will board the train

to washington, d.c. and to the helm of the worst crisis in american history. >> as lincoln departs farewell. >> everyone has been told that the president-elect is not going make a farewell speech. this man has said not a public word to anybody since his nomination. but he begins to speak. >> lincoln, off the cuff, delivers one of his most heartfelt and eloquent addresses. >> here i have passed from a young to an old man. here my children have been born and one is buried. i now leave not knowing when or whether ever i may return with a task before me greater than that which rested upon washington.

>> he is able to say in two minutes something more profound, more touching than anything he had ever said in two hours. and the people stand silently in place watching as that tall figure recedes into just a small dot on the horizon. >> in february 1861, abraham lincoln says good-bye to the place where he started his family and ascended from circuit lawyer to the highest office in the nation. the next time he returns to springfield will be four years later in a coffin. tand why. (money manager) because our way works great for us! (judith) but not for your clients. that's why we're a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. (money manager) so, what do you provide? cookie cutter portfolios? (judith) nope, we tailor portfolios to our client's needs.

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on his train trip from springfield to d.c., abraham lincoln breaks his public silence. he stops in cities along the route, reassuring his constituents of his resolve to preserve the union and defend democracy. >> most americans whoever saw lincoln saw him during that 13-day train trip. >> he is seeing a growing industrial north. just in the last decade, these

places, they've gone through a revolution -- economically, politically and socially. it is the part of the country that made him president. >> what he won't see interestingly on this trip is the south. the closest he comes to speaking to the south is by giving a speech on the banks of the ohio river and saying, if they can hear me over there, but they can't. they can't hear his words of reconciliation because when he makes his inaugural journey, there is another inaugural journey taking place. jefferson davis is heading to montgomery, alabama, to be inaugurated as president of the confe confederacy. that's a pretty serious sign that this is going to be a conflict. >> slave-owning mississippi senator and former secretary of war jefferson davis is chosen to lead the confederacy. >> on february 22nd, 1861, when

lincoln was in philadelphia en route to his inauguration, he spoke outside of independence hall, and he said that every idea he had ever had politically came from the deliberations of those men in that hall. he said rather than be false to those ideas, he would rather be assassinated on the spot. >> on the trip, he received information that a mob in baltimore was going to assassinate him. >> even though maryland was in the union, baltimore was a hotbed of confederate sentiment. >> it is the only city below the mason-dixon line in which he is scheduled to stop and speak.

>> he could get shot, stabbed, kidnapped. it's a terrible situation he's in. >> lincoln's advisers beg him to end his speaking tour and get to washington under cover. >> lincoln said that's going to look pretty bad. i'm going to look like a wimp, like a coward, but i have a responsibility to the country to actually get there and not to prove that i'm a macho guy that will stand up and defy assassins. >> what happens next is a combination of secrecy and mystery. >> the plot is hatched to have him disguise himself. >> lincoln is encouraged to get rid of the tall stovepipe hat, which is already a trademark, and he wears a hat, as he writes later, such as i've never worn before or since.

he also wears a long overcoat, practically down to his ankles. >> he had one bodyguard to protect him >> ward hill lamon, his old friend from illinois, his banjo playing boon companion. lamon has brass knuckles, a dagger, pistols, and they go to baltimore by train at night. in those days, there was no continuity of railroad stations. you had to switch the tracks. >> so to get from the north through baltimore to washington, you had to come into one station in the north part of town and then cross town and then get on to another train in the south station. >> so when it arrives, their train car is pulled by a horse across town on trolley tracks to the next station.

it's a very eerie moment. it's the middle of the night. they hear voices. they really don't know what's outside. shortly after dawn on february 23rd, 1861, lincoln's car pulls into washington. >> everybody's quite surprised that he's arrived in this rather unseemly fashion. >> the mood is so tense that when congressman elihu washburn sees lincoln at the depot and rushes up and says, mr. lincoln, mr. lincoln, is that you, lamon

belts washburn in the chest thinking he poses a threat. lincoln says, oh, no, this is my friend. >> the next day, mrs. lincoln, still in philadelphia, was told that her husband was taken through baltimore in the dead of the night, and she was very upset. >> she was absolutely dramatically ballistic. threats to her husband were something that mary lincoln took quite seriously. and then to be forced to separate from his family. >> she flies into a rage, screaming no, i have to be with him. and everybody says "shhh, quiet." so they finally take her in a room and shut the door and lock it. >> once they calmed her down, mary lincoln and the boys all take the scheduled train. >> and actually, she experienced some tumult in baltimore because the mob that was going to harass

her husband was harassing her. and the car they were in was rocked and insults were hurled. >> but the presidential special arrives in washington on time. and mary and the boys are reunited with lincoln. >> now that she knew her husband was safe and sound, mary immediately saw to her business. get ready for the inauguration. >> with his family reunited upon his safe arrival in washington, lincoln focuses on his upcoming inauguration. his words will either heal a wounded nation or catapult it into a civil war. >> announcer: this cnn original series, "lincoln: divided we stand," is brought to you by fidelity investments. what you'll need,

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as his inauguration approaches, abraham lincoln faces a difficult task. with seven slave states seceded from the union, he must persuade the other eight slave states to remain while also appealing to his republican base. he has spent weeks preparing a speech that he hopes will do both.

>> we are living through a slow-motion car crash of the civil war. you saw the storm clouds coming, and here is abraham lincoln, a new president, a prairie lawyer with no experience, trying to hold together the american experiment bequeathed to us by the founding fathers with a speech. >> on inauguration day, march 4th, 1861, lincoln wakes up early, and he rehearses his inaugural address, reading it allowed to his son, robert. ♪ lincoln liked reading aloud. he liked hearing his words for speeches in advance.

the carriage of president james buchanan draws up. lincoln enters the carriage, and buchanan says to him, "if you're as happy on assuming office as i am on leaving it, then you're a happy man indeed." there's an ominous air as they proceed all the way down pennsylvania avenue up to capitol hill. but when lincoln arrives on the portico, he's greeted with a huge cheer. uncharacteristically, he is carrying a cane, his top hat and a sheaf of papers, handwritten notes, rewrites. so he puts his cane on top of the papers, and then he looks around for a place to put his hat. he hadn't thought of that. and out of the first row comes

senator steven douglas, the man he has opposed for almost all of his political career, the democrat whom he had beaten for president. >> he will hold lincoln's hat for him. what a gesture. >> it is viewed immediately as a gesture of reconciliation, if not between the south and the north, then at least between republicans and democrats who are now united in hoping that the union survives. and then he begins an underrated, brilliant speech. >> apprehension seems to exist among the people of the southern states that by the accession of a republican administration, their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. there has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. >> he lays out what kind of president he wants to be, his

hopes for quickly healing this rift that's opened up in the country. >> he makes it clear that a husband and wife may divorce, but the states may not. he says, the south has no oath registered in heaven to leave the union, but i will be taking an oath, solemnly swearing to preserve, protect, and defend it. >> he wants the states that have left to please come back. but he's also very firm about sticking with the principles that the republicans have pledged themselves to. >> he says, i will not accept the expansion of slavery, and i will not acquiesce in the doctrine of secession. but it's conciliatory in some ways to the south. he says, i will accept a constitutional amendment saying congress cannot free the slaves in individual states. >> he offers to enforce the fugitive slave act that required northerners to return runaway slaves to their owners in the

south. >> i have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in states where it exists. i believe i have no lawful right to do so, and i have no inclination to do so. >> he made clear that he did not intend to touch slavery in the southern states, which was consistent with the views that he had espoused for years. you could think that slavery philosophically was wrong, but that didn't mean that you were going out full bore to try to abolish it. >> the truth is that all of the republican anti-slavery thinkers believed that constitutionally, slavery was a local institution in the south that was supported within the four corners of the

law. and they said that in their slogan, freedom national, slavery local. lincoln believed that. >> for lincoln, it was really important for him to act within what he saw as the bounds of the presidency and the law. but i think that for black people, the law is not ever something that we can limit ourselves to in the struggle for freedom because many of the rights that i have today as an african-american man were earned because people broke laws. >> but lincoln thinks if he can just thread that needle, be sufficiently conciliatory and sufficiently firm to both the south and the republican party, that the seven states that have seceded will then voluntarily rejoin the union. the healing wonders of time will solve the problem. >> then he gets to the end, which he struggled with. he wanted to end by saying, my fellow countrymen, the choice is

yours. will it be peace or a sword? and then leave it hanging in the air, almost like a dare. his friends advised him you can't do that. you've got to appeal to their better sensibilities, their patriotism, and ended his speech really brilliantly. >> the mystic cords of memory stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and heartstone all over this broad land will yet swell the chorus of the union when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature. >> mystic chords of memory. you know, just beautiful. he nails the point, but he also gives you these great phrases. there have been occasional presidents who wrote well, and then there's lincoln. lincoln could have made it as a

writer. >> like everything else, the inaugural address is received strictly along party, regional, and even racial lines. white republicans love it. lincoln is balanced. lincoln is fair. lincoln is appealing to the better angels of our nature. southerners think his first inaugural, it's badly written, it's coercive, it's threatening. >> it did not keep them from seceding from the union. >> so his centrist politics don't get him anywhere because they don't please anybody. they don't please southerners, and they don't please the abolitionists. >> one of lincoln's harshest critics is frederick douglass. >> douglass was one of the most prominent leaders in the african-american community. >> one of the greatest figures of the abolitionist movement. a great writer, a great

newspaper editor, a great orator. >> when lincoln said he was not trying to abolish slavery in all the southern states, that did not appeal to frederick douglass. >> a lot of times when people celebrate lincoln, it's a way of also saying, lincoln is better than the radical republicans in that his restraint in really pushing hard for the freedom of african-american people, that was like a wise course to avoid a catastrophe. but it doesn't avoid a catastrophe. what actually happened is we went to war. >> the civil war as we know it begins. >> the war came home really fast for lincoln. casualties are huge. >> lincoln feels responsible.

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same month as abraham lincoln. >> but mrs. lincoln longed to be regarded as the leader of washington society. it was her dream to be first lady, and she expected deference, fame, social leadership, but it wasn't given. the washington establishment regarded her as a rube and a hick. a wild person from the prairies, even though the todd family was among the aristocracy of lexington, kentucky. >> people were talking about the lincolns as if they were h hayseeds, coming in to have a hoedown in the white house. >> they thought she was unsophisticated and unfit for the duty of social leadership. >> when her family comes to look at the white house, they tell her it looks like a third-rate hotel. >> it had been occupied for the previous four years by the only bachelor president in american history, james buchanan. >> it is absolutely shabby. so she decides that it will be

her job to redecorate. she believes that with the nation in crisis, the white house becomes a symbol of that nation, and it's not going to be frayed, and it's not going to be tired. she is not going to live in a place that reflects the uncertainty. she was given $20,000, a princely sum, to redecorate the white house. >> with the modern equivalent of more than $600,000, mary is determined to prove her worth and pedigree to polite washington society. >> so she goes to new york and shops and buys a lot of new furniture, draperies, rugs and the like. >> but she vastly overspends. >> she was just a shopaholic. she loved fine things. >> there was a lot of outrage about this. the scandal was reaching up into

congressional discussion levels. so her husband did have to intervene. >> and the president is told that he's going to have to authorize an appeal to congress to add a special appropriation to cover the extra expenses. he's indignant when he finds out how much money it's going to be. lincoln said i will be damned -- and he didn't swear very often -- if i'm going to go to congress and ask for extra appropriations for flub dubs for this old house. >> this was seen as in poor taste in a time of the country gearing up for war. lincoln didn't want this to become a political scandal, so lincoln said he wanted to pay the cost. so there was tension between mary and abraham during this period about appearances. >> despite the lincolns' attempts to keep up appearances, the democratic press maligns them. they pan mary for her frivolous spending and question if the frontier lawyer is qualified to lead a country on the brink of

civil war. >> lincoln's executive experience was in springfield as the head of a two-man law firm. on paper, lincoln looks as if he is the least qualified person to hold the position that he holds. >> he was the first president born outside the original 13 states. he had only been a congressman once. how could we entrust the nation especially at this very dramatic time to someone so inexperienced? >> people lionize lincoln now, but very few presidents have been criticized as cruelly as abraham lincoln. >> he is viciously attacked in the newspapers. he is depicted as a man who is afraid and who has been cowering. they reduce lincoln to a figure of lincoln was widely hated not just by folks in the south but he was also widely disrespect by his peers. he was seen as someone who had slipped into the office, and

was, as a matter of consensus, among his fellow republicans, not seen as equal to the task. >> but lincoln had always been able to embrace people, who had been critical of him. look at his cabinet. >> aware of his shortcomings, abraham lincoln appoints his more more experienced, former-political rivals from both sides of the aisle to the highest positions his cabinet. he names the new york senator he beat out for the presidential nomination secretary of state. ohio senator salman chase, secretary of the treasury. and former democrat, montgomery blair, post-master general. >> the original lincoln cabinet had different views on how imminently the slavery question had to be tackled. blair of maryland was a

conservative. salman chase was close to being an abolitionist. so, the cabinet divided into left and right. all of them, however, were pro-union. >> people who were, personally, terrible to lincoln. he empowered. he gave positions to because he thought they could serve the country. >> creazy idea but these people are smart so he wanted these people close by. and he wanted to use their disagreements with him to challenge his views. >> that says, to me, that this man is very secure. that he's the smartest person in the room. >> he knew that there were things more important than partisan differences and personal differences. he did work across the aisle, engage enemies constructively, and try to put country first. you don't have to mythologize that. that's the true thing about this guy that sets him apart especially from a lot of leaders

today. >> while lincoln stacks his cabinet with career politicians, tensions between north and south escalate. one by one, the confederacy begins seizing federal-military bases across the south. as the last few begin to run out of supplies, the country inches closer to armed confrontation. and the fate of the union lies in lincoln's next move.

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in april, 1861, three weeks after his inauguration, the mounting tension between the union and the confederacy finally reaches a tipping point. >> the seven states that seceded seized federal mints and custom houses and courthouses and post offices and military facilities in the south. but there were two forts, however, that were hard for the confederates to get at. one was ft. sumpter. right in the harbor of charleston, south carolina. the very epicenter of secession. the confederates ringed the fort

with artillery pointed at it from the shore. and it was extremely vulnerable. and lincoln's cabinet recommended that he let it go. just surrender it. but lincoln says, if we exceed to the demand that the south carolina takes over ft. sumpter, that, in effect, means that secession is legal and we can't do that. it's become symbolic, and so lincoln takes a hardline. >> people who are station the at ft. sumpter started to run out of provisions. and so, the question was when they ran out of things to eat, with would the united states government be permitted to bring provisions to the people there? which, obviously, the south carolinians didn't want to do because they saw the united states, now, as an enemy. and so, there's a standoff. >> so, lincoln, eventually, hits on this compromise. he will send relief to ft.

sumpter, but only food and medical supplies. no soldiers, no weapons, no ammunition, nothing warlike. >> he notifies the governor of south carolina. lincoln says i am sending a fleet down to starving men and if you don't bother that relief expedition, we won't do anything militarily. however, if you try to interrupt that, we have warships that will move in, engage. so it really put the south on the spot. >> so there is almost certainly an element of strategy involved here. lincoln has said at various points to white southerners, you cannot have war, unless, you, yourselves, are its authors. and so, lincoln sends the supply boat as a test. >> the confederate government, under president jefferson davis, sees this for what it is. >> jefferson davis makes it clear that any effort by union ships to cross into confederate territory will be viewed as an act of war. the only way to assure that the

troops on ft. sumpter do not starve would be to relinquish it to the confederacy. >> summons the surrender of sumpter. federal artilleryman robert anderson lightly replies under no circumstances, whatsoever, can he agree to that. and so, on the 12th of april, 1861, confederate artillery opens fire on ft. sumpter. >> as soon as sumpter is fired upon, the game's up. civil war as we know it begins. and what its end is going to be, now, lincoln cannot easily predict. >> nearly 800,000 americans are killed in the civil war. mak making it the deadliest conflict, in u.s. history.

president abraham lincoln is tasked with leading country through the most perilous time it's ever known. and will determine the future of democracy and the fate of our nation. hello and welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm michael holmes. appreciate your company. coming up here on cnn "newsroom." >> who knows? i may even decide to beat them for a third time. back in the spotlight, loving it, and teasing another run. donald trump recycles old lines, and lies, before a largely-adoring crowd. also, americans now have a third covid vaccine available in the fight against the coronavirus.