after staging a protest against vladimir putin in 2012. visit booktv.org for more information on today's television schedule. >> you're watching the tv. coming up next, chris derose recounts abraham lincoln's single term in congress. he examines the future president's personal life during his start in national politics. this is about one hour. [applause] >> good evening, everyone. thank you for being here tonight. if you are looking for what is med

this is the second then we have done a nadir. having local bookstores like this no one is allowed to leave until every copy of the book over then is sold. thank you for letting me present my book, "congressman lincoln: the making of america's greatest president." what do i mean by the greatest president? i mean most significant. he made the decision to engage them in a civil war to preserve the union. this story, while there are 16,000 books written about abraham lincoln, if you go to ford's theatre in washington dc, which is the final scene of the extraordinary story, you will see half that number i to the

ceiling. when i see books about him, i do not mean books about mary todd or the civil war general come i mean about lincoln. yet books about his time in congress, when you talk about books of lincoln in congress, there have only been three that have been written. the last one was written before i was even born. so this is the missing piece of the puzzle in the lincoln story. i think we are all very familiar with his hardscrabble upbringing. we know about his career in the courthouses of illinois, and his handling of a variety of cases is a frontier lawyer. we are very familiar with the lincoln story as president. he is the author of the emancipation proclamation. he's the guy who wrote the gettysburg address. sixteenth president of the united states.

the president who led the union during america's greatest moral and political crisis. and also during america's most tragic war. so this is the missing piece of the lincoln puzzle. the first thing that i want to talk about is the ambition of abraham lincoln. you know, we like to associate ambition with a negative thing. someone who wants to go into politics we think about it as a negative thing. so as a result, we try to think of him as being above the muck and the politics and the dirty campaigning and the negative campaigning. the first chapter in my book is called the most ambitious man in the world. it is a quote about abraham lincoln from his law partner,

william herndon. abraham lincoln, from the earliest time in his life, his family members would've told you that he was also hungry to be somebody. once he got in trouble, she said behaving like that, the president of the united states, as president, there was never a time in his life where i can believe that someday be someday be president of the united states. in 1843, he makes his first bid for congress. he writes a friend of his, he said he is a good friend of mine, and i would like to tell him he is very much mistaken. but the truth is that i would

like to go very much. lincoln has two major obstacles in his way. one of them is a gentleman named edward baker, a friend of him. the other one is a gentleman named john hardin. they had similar qualifications to lincoln. they are all about the same age. they are all three lawyers and members of the illinois legislature. they all have similar qualifications. so the first hurdle he has to get over is the county convention. his home county, they are going to nominate delegates to districtwide congressional meeting where the nominees are going to be chosen. now, illinois is a very heavily democratic state at this time. if you are an ambitious person in illinois compass was your only congressional district is hoped hope to move on. you're not going to get elected governor, chosen for the legislature, if you are an upwardly mobile raid in 1843, this was your shot. and so lincoln was at this

convention and unfortunately it doesn't go as he planned. he throws in the towel around noon. at least one of the newspapers reported that if he had hung in there until nightfall, his reporters would have showed up earlier in the day. as it stands, lincoln ends up as a pledged delegate to the districtwide convention, pledged to edward baker, his opponent. he said it was similar to being the guy who just cut out of a relationship, and get his girlfriend stolen from him, and then has to stand up for the wedding with the other man. baker is defeated by hardin. now he has hardin that is younger than him, and he's going to be there as long as he wants. lincoln can see the dream of going to congress disappearing very quickly.

lincoln offers a revolution. we recommend edward baker as the nominee in two years. he has this resolution hanging over his head. before he even gets sworn in, he says he's not going to get sworn in second term. baker gets a term and who gets a turn after that? abraham lincoln. so now he has to divide his time since 1846. lincoln slogan is turnabout is fair play. he is not going to try to agree on the issue. the toughest fights, the most aggressive fights are between people of their own party.

he said turnabout is fair play. hardin decides not to run again. lincoln in 1846 is the unanimous choice in illinois. he has to go up against a democrat by the name of peter cartwright. he is not like any other creature that you have seen before. he is a guy who has his tent revivals interrupted by people who he later assaulted. it was a story about him getting put up in a swank new york hotel and he got lost. i've used a hatchet to blaze a trail so he would know how to get back. this is who lincoln has to go up against. [laughter] he is actually very successful. he has the biggest majority in the district, bigger than baker's majority and hardin's majority, now he has a gear and half until he is sworn in. so he continues to go to court, he continues to try these cases

and handle cases. the last case that he handles before he heads to washington is a slave case. this is going to be very important when we see where the wilderness act. so there was a slave in the illinois courts, she was trying to bring him back to kentucky. his entire life he is exposed to slavery. he was born in kentucky, which was basically america's first highly if this is something that is very familiar to him.

he sees the biggest slave market in north america and he sees the brutality of of slavery and he wishes it would end, but he also recognizes that there are laws in place. and so he represented mr. madsen. you would never see something like this from lincoln after he leaves congress. we will talk about what happens soon. december of 1847, abraham lincoln is a member of the 30th congress. what is so fascinating, one of the most interesting things is who is there with him. the most famous member of the 30th congress is john quincy adams, the former president. the only former president that served in this capacity. this is fascinating because of the link between lincoln and the founding fathers. a short time they had to spend with one another lincoln was so

fascinated with washington. he was so excited by the people who put together the declaration of independence, constitution, who started the government rates you can only imagine the questions that lincoln had for john quincy adams. john quincy adams shortly into his tenure dies on the house floor, probably right in front of abraham lincoln. the prologue of the book talks about that. i think it's a good analogy. you have this generation, lincoln's generation. the one that's going to fight a civil war. they are the first generation that doesn't have to benefit the founding generation. all of these people have all of this experience running the government. keeping the unit together, they were left to settle the

questions on their own. so lincoln served not only with john quincy adams, but a man named alexander stevens. stevens will go on to serve as the vice president of the confederacy. how many people have seen the lincoln movie? yes, it's an excellent movie. he is on negotiations and he's talking to the commissioner from commissioner from the confederacy. one of those is alexander stevens it was in the days when political parties were in america. they were both part of the presidential campaign together. lincoln also served with jefferson davis. he is over in the u.s. senate, president of the confederacy in america. lincoln's second vice president, the man who replaced him, andrew johnson.

for so many of these people who would later become critical in the civil war and become important to lincoln's rise to the presidency, they were all there in 30th congress. it is fascinating to watch them interact with these people. before any of them could imagine what role they would play later in history. well, there was nothing bigger than the mexican-american war. they were trying to figure out what is going on with mexico. this is something we could never imagine being in a prolonged war without ideas of how we are going to wrap it up. [laughter] but that was something that lincoln and his colleagues had to figure out. he was very content to let the matter said until this result. president james polk said he would treat silence as acquiescence and support for the

war. and lincoln could not be silent anymore. so his first major address as a member of congress, it is noticed to be a spot resolution speech. after his speech, people thought that that was for abraham lincoln. in fact, it was part of the people who served and people are already talking about abraham lincoln running for reelection. after the spot resolution speech, no one is talking about abraham lincoln being in congress anymore. pretty clear that he is not going to run. but why the spot resolution speech? every part of his resolution, if you talk about the mexican-american war, president polk said that american blood has been shed upon american soil. so you seeking picture this country lawyer, now he has a courtroom that is the marbled house of representatives.

which is a statuary hall for those of you who have ever been to the capital. this is the house of representatives, and a meeting place for the house and members of congress. and you can see this. lincoln gave his speech and talked about where the mexican war began. now come illinois has been one of the most gung ho states in the unit for the war. in fact, there was a preacher at a political meeting in illinois who basically was bracing for this and he merely got lynched. he had to stop showing up in front of this group. they were so mad that they took out a preacher to address so-called negative comments on the war. as you can imagine how this works. a lot of things come out of the mexican-american war ended also said america on a collision course that followed. one of the things that came out of this was zachary taylor.

zachary taylor is a very unlikely hero in america. he is someone who never voted. he was a rare career military man in the american military and he made his career there. but he wins battle after battle. at the time the top of the battles are include the battle of buena vista. they wanted to make an amphibious landing, the largest one in american history up to that point. and in the heart of mexico, he was significantly reduced for her. the one who had tousled with

lincoln in 1846, hardin dies. i'm so fascinated by these seemingly small things that conspire to make great things happen on world stage. in this case, if john hardin had lived, if you come back to mexico and illinois is the hero of the mexican-american war, i think there's very little chance that lincoln would have emerged as the head of the new republican party. there is very little chance that he could've been the nominee for senate as well apart from the illinois republican party. but you never know because he dies in the final minutes of the battle of buena vista. zachary taylor hicks talked about as a potential presidential candidate. lincoln, along with alexander stevens, the future vice president of the confederacy, they are among the first seven supporters of zachary taylor and

the house of representatives. why the reluctance to embrace this war hero? well, it's simple. we don't know anything about where he stands. zachary taylor on slaves, he's one of the biggest slave owners in the country. he is opposed to the mexican-american war, zachary taylor loved it. you can imagine there is reluctance to embrace this guy. well, remember this guy we placed on a pedestal, he said we have tried running on principle long enough, let us try winning. [laughter] >> and so they call themselves the young indians. duncan and the young indians, trying to rally support for zachary taylor. of course, there is another alternative. henry clay is making his final bid for the presidency. speaker speaker of the house,

secretary of state, the founder of the whig party. the guy who embodied their ideals. in fact, he said that this is the man for whom i have fought my entire adult life. well, lincoln knows that clay cannot win. i'll lincoln doesn't claim to have any special knowledge about what zachary taylor believes, he knows that that retailer can win. we believe the choice is not between having a perfect whig party and zachary taylor, but the choice between having a democrat they know disagrees with them and a whig party member who they know agrees with them. so they wanted to help build up the whig party. the whigs in the 1840s won their first presidential race. and of course, william henry henderson dies after 40 days. the vice president is basically a democrat. john tyler who get kicked out of the whig party and they are not able to win a personal

presidential race since. so they are really only to have this for about 30 days. while this is closer to our beliefs, that this person can win, this is something that political parties are struggling with even with the second party system and 1840s. were the other issues? well, shortly before the commencement of the mexican-american war, james cable runs for the presidency and he runs on an expansion of part one. in one of the things that he declares he's going to do talk about the borders of oregon. james pope backs out of the treaty. remember the famous slogan? that was a line of latitude that

they were going down. that land of oregon was well drawn into the north. and anytime they have territory they are grappling over, they have problems. the missouri compromise is to solve this. missouri came in as a slave state, and this is between lee states and free states. so they come up with a plan. out of this whole louisiana territory, they say we are going to draw a line in slavery will be permitted below this line, but not above this line. missouri can come in as a slave state. the state of maine can come in as a free state. and this fragile peace keeps the unit together. now america has all this new territory. and lincolnlincoln and his

colleagues stick to their guns. they're fighting about how it will be constituted. one of the principles that issued this, they sound kind of obscure. part of the biggest issues in the united states. he said that any territory applied by the united states will not have slavery. lincoln and his colleagues are actually able to win in the organization of the territory argument. so he's really getting his feet under him. he is giving this major address on the mexican-american war. bc lincoln standing up to the taxpayers against the really interesting attempts by special interests to try to force congress to give him a contract, something that i thought was pretty fascinating. while lincoln is a member of congress, he lives in a place that is nicknamed abolition house. the sporting house gets his nickname based on the people who live there.

joshua giddings is the chief among them. he is not a name that americans are very familiar with. it's unfortunate, because at this time, he is the premier abolitionist in the united states. he ended up porting in the same boarding house and giving his profound affect on the thinking. remember, this has just handled the sleeve case. lincoln believed that slavery was wrong and there was nothing that could be done to fix that. well, joshua is going to begin working on this and the police on slavery. so what did he do with the recess of the first congress, well, he decides that he is going to go all in for zachary taylor. so he goes on a campaign swing through the state of massachusetts on behalf of zachary taylor. and he said that he would like to speak to the most elite groups of the country and shake the hayseed out of his hands. so they don't really associate.

for the first time in american history, leak and 10 lincoln is speaking to the most intelligent groups in the country. so he is going to speaking on half of zachary taylor. if he is not there to speak for zachary taylor against the democrat, he is not going to win massachusetts unless a third party candidate by the name of martin van buren is running on the new ticket, which was created to oppose zachary taylor by anti-slavery, and he's trying to convince them that yes, this is a great thing, but martin van buren can't win and zachary taylor can win. so we need to make sure that we vote for zachary taylor to keep lewis tapped out of the white house. well, what's interesting is lincoln goes to the philadelphia convention that nominates zachary taylor.

he is in pennsylvania, it is lincoln's first trip, he had the chance to go to independence hall, just like many of you have been able to do. he does a lot of thinking and in the recess that happened after the death of john quincy adams, he actually goes to mount vernon. at many of us have done, he goes and pieces respect to george washington. it is not a national park or a tourist site at the time, but he goes to pay his respects to the members of congress, just like many of us have done. so lincoln meets a lot of people. most people that he has not served with the congress. thaddeus stevens, everyone can remember him. per trade by tommy lee jones in the movie. this is the first meeting, they exchanged their first letters with congressman lincoln.

so after the convention, he is touring massachusetts with his family. happy to be reunited with his family. every member of congress said they have all this contrary advice. take your family with you, it is good for your family to be in washington dc. leave your family at home, you don't want them getting infected by the swamp and dealing with anything associated with congress. well, lincoln actually did vote. first, mary taught in the children go with him. he believes that they are sort of getting in his way, mary also had her expectations as well. she was the most ambitious woman in the world. mary todd lincoln, because of an accident of biology and chronology was born during a time when women couldn't vote, much less participate in the political process.

she said she would marry the man who had the best chance of being president. now, who on earth could decide she would've guessed right, including stephen douglas, who bested lincoln every time they were up against each other to the one time that matters from 1860 presidential race. yes, so his family leaves and they go back to kentucky for the second half of the first session. then afterwards, they join him in the congress on behalf of zachary taylor. one more interesting anecdote for this trip, there's a place called fremont temple in boston. the speaker in front of him as a gentleman by the name of william stewart, who goes on to be the chief rival for the 1860

nomination for president and goes on to serve as a secretary of state. so he would give a speech about slavery. they all went back to the hotel room afterwards. and he said, you know, i have been thinking about your speech. and i must say that we probably need to talk more about this slavery issue. we might actually need to take some action, and i will be the name of the game in the second session. so lincoln is the first and only president patented device. when lincoln and his family are heading back from massachusetts, he he stops and pays a visit to the vice presidential nominee of the whig party. who of course would be president one general taylor dies, and they are taking a steamer to get back to chicago, and lincoln

sees the captain throwing everything from the vote overboard, everything on the vote, underneath the vote, and lincoln said, wouldn't it be great if there was a divide where we could have these filled up and boosted above these barriers. he spent a lot of his time with his tools so he can does to the patent office. of course, he will do this successfully just as the time and congress is wrapping up. he will actually be the first and only president to be awarded the patent for this device. so back to congress and the winter of 1849. last session, zachary taylor has been elected president. still major issues to deal with. you could not understand what can thinking about slavery, you can not see the movie and wonder why he was so dedicated.

even at the expense of a prolonged civil war. unless you are familiar with his time and career and 30 of congress, lincoln actually comes up with with a bill to abolish slavery in the district of columbia. ..

and. >> he is landau to the u.s. government and at the end of the seminole war he can the fan basically escape and he is looking for money from them federal government to compensate him. abraham lincoln said the law is the law and we have to compensate this man. but now this new thinking of

compensating the family of the man of into the pachuco. but at abolition house serve meals every day one of the waiters was of black slave working there to work off his freedom. we don't know his name. his price was $300 in a $60 a way. he was kidnapped at gunpoint and said the way as a slave. we don't know if he was freed by the union army or died, we don't know but imagine this guy who was serving your food he tells about his wife and he is free than one day she tries to get you to help find him because he has been kidnapped at gunpoint how

could do not appreciate this evil for what it is the house needs to be stopped. but every american was the first to deal with fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling, standoff, a government shutdown, lincoln in the 30th congress were the first with the major appropriations bill and it is a clean bill that whigs saw tries to increase the payment for those offices they think a will hold. [laughter] nothing to controversial. but walker from wisconsin and attaches a rider prohibiting, excuse me allowing president polk to establish the new territory

that we have gotten from the mexican-american war to organize a in a way he sees fit. president pulled thinks we should extend the line to the pacific ocean. so right now in arizona would be slave territory. with the intermountain west and california and if we will allow slavery. lincoln every single time votes against the bill and is willing to shut down the government. the house goes back and forth the house tries to change it up to leave it ambiguous but either way willis led government will shut down. when lincoln polls of special session was no sooner than july 4th but

in march space be sworn in for a year-and-a-half nobody would get there before summer see you have diplomats leaving every consulate overseas and shutting down and the laughingstock of the world but is willing to accept this rather than open new acres to slavery. said to be accused of using it for political reasons especially in a state like ellen no way was the slave states would not have proceeded unless from the convictions of his car. he deals with the first fiscal cliff and a fight if congress is even still congress. some are saying are we still congress? today is march 1st -- march 4th. the government will shut down.

the majority did not agree with the interpretation the bill goes to president polk he signed as his last duty in office. sworn in on monday there was a great inaugural ball and lincoln is the great party planner as a little-known fact. he raised money for the washington monument and he had money to help get it started but was there for the cornerstone july 4th july 4th, 1848. on the planning committee for a sack retailer at the metro stop washington d.c. one of the biggest parties in washington and lincoln goes home at 3:00 in the morning he can find his

cloak but not his hat. said he has to walk along the in the cold when french never forgot the story we've never forget the sight of that man walking out in judiciary square just in all these 12 years later the festivities would be for him. nobody saw the path he would take. the book concludes with him trying to get a job in the illustration. this time there is a talk of a meteor, it does during the years. and 12 years later when they meet again with said general land office is a good thing

he fails as a bureaucrat is not off moving to the forefront of the republican party, and not the senate but at the time he was depressed and was passed over. he went back to the hotel and made on his bet for an hour and thought it was the end of his career. history had something better in storer for mr. lincoln. one-term congressman and headed back to illinois like nothing happened. then he also becomes the first president to argue a supreme court case. i think this is great as a lawyer with statutes of limitation most recently the 1990's and i bet they did not even realize who's the

famous lawyer was targeted for the first time. this is the story of abraham lincoln where he came with the politicians and at the presidency 12 years later only this experience watching president polk up close is what he has going for him and watching zachary taylor put together administration improbably as an example of what not to do. i will take questions. thank you for your attention [applause] >> you talking your book abraham lincoln was a great storyteller. what was the favorite stories you learned in your research? >> he is a great storyteller. he was so funny and could

entertain just about any crowd. he had a story for every occasion. one of the places he likes to hang out in congress during the long boring speeches was the house post office just adjacent to the floor of the house where people could kick back and gossip and talk about people and lincoln goes in there around christmas 1840's seven. he works up courage to tell stories and self. people remember that he was a captain during the black hawk war achieved came back across the mississippi river, the sellers are terrified what happened to them so they quickly put together a militia. lincoln is elected the cap

sandy considered an honor anything greater than he had done, a greater than anything i have never done before. he talks about guiding these troops across the prairie. they come to a fence and he tries to figure out a command and he thinks about it and cannot come up with the. he cannot come up with the command but these people trust him to go into battle. he says this company is dismissed for two minutes and then we will reassemble on the other side of the fence. [laughter] somebody remembered that decades later when abraham lincoln after he became famous people would write stories about him trying to remember what they could about this man. many believed he was an extraordinary person

destined for big things. >> said tread scott decision were is that and the timeline? >>. >> that is something he was totally opposed to. there is a number of positions you can take with the american in territories saw one position was the extreme and the you to take slavery the missouri compromise is unconstitutional but lincoln has done the exact opposite no matter what we are not expanding slavery and he always does so but then you have president polk plan with the missouri compromise line and james mckinnon who was secretary of state is of

the same mind. teams began in comes out a couple-- after he is sworn in. he thinks it will be a good thing for his presidency and then seven states will secede from the union. they said it is good the supreme court decided. we will have slavery no one will question it. the opposite is true. lincoln is opposed, ed dred-scott pules the rise of the republican party to the north and paves the way for abraham lincoln to become president of united states. said lincoln was very much opposed. >> did lincoln ever have any

accomplishments in his one term after he left congress? >> he had a number of them. the conventional wisdom the was mediocre, and they cannot pass up a chance to say he is undistinguished, i absolutist reacting he was very distinguished and this is not very academic but he was a driving force between the omnibus post office bill. we can mail anywhere five days a week even in the grand canyon but the limited mail route dictated where you live or did business. lincoln was on the roads committee the was a member of and he could help kraft this bill with procedural setbacks but get it passed

signed by the president's opening rounds for people to live in the business for i have held that bill in my hands and his handwriting is all over it. it is interesting to see what will this take to get your vote? he could wheel and deal with the best of them in the 30th congress. also to compensate people in the district if they owe you money but lincoln would apply for patents for people , he would go get your passport, he would go as a secretary of state for your passport. we were a smaller government back then members of congress good at home or

washington the very few are both. he was deaf on and washington. his evolution speech at the time was very influential as part of the whigs -- president polk decides they take too long now he wants the whole country in mexico pico people were open-minded we know he was the western united states but betty

looks annexing all of mexico so they try to tap the brakes to keep it going forever. nicholas since they're waiting for the replacement never comes. winfield scott was to escort back to catch and shipped to mexico. he is stuck city decides i will negotiate the end of the war in the treaty is sent back to president polk he is outraged and ejected tailored misstate -- administration to compensate for expensive but president polk cannot send the treaty to the senate after he publicly said the terms and it is everything he asked for initially before he changed his mind to get the

whole thing. lincoln and his colleagues very, very successful. with the hands on the omnibus postal will and benefits those in his district, he is a player with the issues of "war and peace." >> you have shared a desk with some cool characters. had to interact with these guys? what is a process for finding the next turn in finding the next turn in your narrative? >> it was great fun to research. had to add value to lincoln's story it is only the third book of him in congress in history there are so many books so i will

look at letters of his colleagues from the 30th congress most people have not even looked sue their letters. one example of a house mate from abolition house his papers are in harrisburg pennsylvania. the curator it asking questions and i said is there anybody there who it is more familiar if it is worth the trip? he said in the 30 years i have been here now lenin is looking at these so i am looking at these papers nobody has ever look back. it took me to 13 states. somebody asked me if i had to go to all 50 states to elect all members of the congress. [laughter] the answer was no. [laughter] i figured i would leave out

the hawaii delegation hoping they didn't write anything to bad. so i would read the letters in people did not even microfilm them. that is the worst part of my job. when they see something interesting i type it down and have a note where i got it then they put them into a word file that i presented them off and i cross of the footnote as they use it in the manuscript. you start with a foundation once i had all the correspondence reaching 46 for use that as a foundation in chronological order that is the easiest way to

understand. then the correspondence of other people, of the diary of joshua, the newspaper that iran transcriptions of congress, the house journal echoes in rid is supposed to then they try to turn it into a book with historical data points. call folia have done that. that is a good question. the first time i did not know what the heck i was doing or getting into the second book i had a good process i look forward to it was the third book. >> i am under the understanding lincoln was a pallbearer for john quincy adams. what relationship did they have? >> i have seen that in so many places but he is not a pallbearer, he is on the

committee created to oversee the funeral arrangements, so they have a member from every state on the committee i think he is the only whigs from illinois they call him the lone star i think that is why he gets the honor there were fifth 50 states but -- for not city-state's but a lot of congressmen so they hammered out the details and he was on the subcommittee. i could put the two of them at a party where quincy adams was sitting by the door greeting everyone who came in. remember the hamptons roads conference at the end of the movie negotiating the civil war? there is a story stevens reminded lincoln of remember the time the illinois

delegation had a fight over how to pronounce the name illinois? back then people disagree so they bring in john quincy adams to mitigate you can get a former secretary of state to mitigate petty disputes before we had and i fell. [laughter] they said how to pronounce it? judging buy you guys i think it is pronounced all the noise. [laughter] >> he was good of finding mentors and people in politics remember lincoln former -- father was a former who was an orphan his entire life.

he needed to find mentors mentors, he needed to find people i cannot imagine a better person than john quincy adams. he is describing of being in all of them. this former president of high stature, worked for president washington, madison, monroe, no question lincoln would have sought him out but i try to make the best guess but neither of them ever recorded it. >> but the abolitionist? >> he was. john quincy adams was a huge abolitionist fighting the gag rule. >> briefly mentioning his father a thing about his relationship with his dad as

adults? >> it is not a great one but we don't know exactly what happens. when he is racing back to washington d.c. he gets the employment from zachary taylor he hears his father is deathly ill and stops by the father's home so he does that may be jeopardized as getting the appointment but in the final hours of his father's life lincoln said i don't think any good can come of me being there. said use your imagination he has always dealt fairly fairly, renowned for integrity, have a forgiving nature and never held grudges. you can only imagine what would have been the case to set him off when he actually passes away.

not a great relationship but one person said i liked the way he treated his father and was too indulgent of his children i am sure that was because he did not have that as a child and wanted his children to be happy no matter what. they drove people and abolition house crazy. i will not quote them verbatim as we're on a family friend of one negative family friendly channel on c-span and he's said is lincoln kids went to

the bathroom in his hat to. [laughter] -- but congress tried to keep him in the loop and make them feel they've been in the decisionmaking process even though he already made the decision. it hurt many and volunteers for the civil war in congress increases appropriations that what we ask for. if he was very mindful of and president polk decided to run for president is the cannot make a public pronouncement of any generals of his war and tries to replace both of them as a democratic general

and tries to politicize the war but the first three appointments for general sir democrats representing a day important constituent, ethnic group, many were elected officials, lincoln knows when you lose public support for a war and you lose congress, the war is over he knew he could defeat the south and restore the union but not with his hands tied behind his back. so they're very mindful as a member of congress and is very successful to avoid problems. >> you wrote lincoln was very depressed and unhappy with his marriage to mary todd. did it get better? >> it was always a difficult

relationship. he did try to break off once today it is not like breaking an engagement if you go all the way to being gauged then a woman was damaged goods. it damage prospects for marriage and he made her unhappy one of the nicest people could not live with himself knowing he made someone so unhappy so when he thought he would marry her he would get ready at his best friend's house and the sun said where you going? he said to hell, i suppose. [laughter] so we know he spent time in the eighth circuit more thn