that he had had with it before was a little rough. but, anyway, after that, the battle started and i photographed it agn. but the intended things never happened. and that's why you've got to be ready in leadership quality and have leadership know what to do when something like that goes wrong. >> i would say we have two leader ins front of us here. [ applause ] hi there, i'm mark farcus. lcv stands for local content vehicle. we've got three of them. the purpose of these vehicles is to collect programming from outside of washington, d.c. and how do we do it? we staff each one of these with

one person, with a small video camera and a laptop editor so they're able to roll, record, produce and edit things. so that's what we're doing with the lcvs. why i want to do tv this is to get outside of washington, d.c. we're doing what we call an lcv cities tour. we'll descend on each city with all three vehicles. one will do history programming and historic sites. the other one will do book tv programming and bookstores catching up with authors. ss. >> you'll see four square that's really location-based. you'll see us on twitter, as well. so it's a chance to get out our message, not only on hair, but

also on line and through social media, as well. that's why it's important to get outside of washington, d.c., get into places that we don't normally do programming and make a commitment to produce programming for all the c-span networks. each week, american history tv sits in on a lecture with one of the nation's college professors. you can watch the classes here every saturday at 8:00 p.m. and eastern time. susan urel. in this lecture, professor urel focuses on the presidential election of 1860 and subsequent succession by the united states. this is 50 minutes. >> all right, gang, when we left off last time, we were talking about the crisis of the 1850s and we had wrapped up with talking about the dread scott

decision and the lincoln douglas debates and, finally, with john brown's raid. okay? and i promise you that next we would get to that crazy election of 1860, as we've been talking about all semester, election years are always fun to watch. kind of take the pulse of the united states. but as you can see from what's up there on the outline and we're going to wind up with four presidential candidates, two from the same party, obviously things are about to get really crazy. okay? now, set the stage for me. remind me. what happened with the dread scott decision that was so important. what are you all going to need to remember to put in your essays? the significance? oh, wait, i'm not supposed to ask questions. i'll tell you. dread scott decision, number 1. biggest thing you need to remember beyond the date. and, remember, you all are fine if you just tell me late 1850s. i'm happy. you don't have to remember march of 1857. the significance that i want you to remember is that it changes how americans are going to be able to approach the idea of

compromise, all right? remember, from that point forward, the supreme court has ruled under justice tawney, any line saying from here on up is free and from here on down is slave, anything like that is fifth amendment property rights violation. okay? lincoln douglas, remember, had the famous senate debates. that senate campaign in 1858. and that's when they're hashing out a lot of those ideas. okay? so by the time we get to 1860, what you're seeing is a country that is falling apart and

running out of ways to come up with some sort of compromise. some sort of a solution. now, in that year, they're going to have to pick who they want for their presidential candidates. the different parties. all right? we talked about last time that in 1856, you've seen the birth of the republican party. you have the democratic party, which is fragmenting in terms of regions. you're getting a northern wing and a southern wing of the democratic party. and what those two groups are going to have to do is come together and figure out who they want the presidential candidate to be. now, the democrats decide to meet for no apparent reason, certainly not a smart one, not since south carolina. again, not smart.

the idea that slavery is going to continue to expand into the territories, okay. they want that option, that, you know, that we don't want to put it up to a vote. we don't want to make a popular sovereignty. we want some sort of protection that slavery is going to be able to continue to expand into the territories. the northern wing of the democratic party is saying we're going to have to come up with some sort of compromise. we're not going to be able to hold a hard line on this issue, anymore. the northern wing wants steven douglas to be their candidate. so what's going to happen is the southern wing of the democratic party is going to storm out of that convention. the democrats are going to have to reconvene later. in the end, what they come up with are two separate candidates.

southern democrats are going to nominate john breckenridge. slave holders from the slave state of kentucky. okay? northern democrats are going to go with steven douglas. very experienced politician. moderate on a lot of the key issues that the democratic party holds dear. looks like the guy who has the experience and the broad support to win an election. the problem is, you've already split your vote. okay? if you remember -- do you remember in the '90s, when you would have ross perot would be running and the republicans would absolutely freak out. ross perot is going to freak out. the democrats were like, hey, the more the merrier. this is good. now, what you're seeing is the

split in the democratic party which is absolutely going to wrench any sort of a block vote that's going to give them the majority. so when you see a party splintering like this, it's a clear sign that something is seriously wrong. they know what they're doing. these are not idiots. they know what's going on. but they cannot come up with a compromise that they can sleep with at night. and they know in many ways, they're probably committing political suicide here. but they don't know what else to do. 1856, we saw them give us john fremont. and the country kind of looked at john fremont and looked at the republicans and they're awfully new and they're not all abolitionists but that's just where they hang out and we're going with the union. now, the republicans look at one of their main contenders.

william seward. he's from new york. put him forward. very talented politician. eloquent speaker. i'll give you an excerpt of lincoln's ingnawing inaugural address. there are lines that seward gave him. so he's a very talented politician in his own right. the problem for the republicans with seward is number one, he's from the northeast. he's from new york and they need to get some western votes. they're going to need to siphon off of those western votes. number two, he is a very out spoken opponent of slavery. there is no way to tell southern democrats that william seward is a moderate on the issue. that they're going to be able to work together.

william seward is flat out working on slavery. he's not going to be moderate enough. what they end up doing is going with this fairly new unknown guy by the name of abraham lincoln. he's not well known. if you remember from your reading, some of you all read that primary source essay where you're reading about lincoln's position on the mexican war. he's at one term in congress. that's pretty much it. he lost the senate race in 1858 in illinois. but he's this kind of rising star who's clearly a very talented speaker. clever debater. he's that kind of guy who, um, he's kind of got that classic southern thing about him is what he has. you ever talk to somebody where they kind of talk a little slow and they look a little dishevelled and you're like he's this old guy without that much education. you all probably don't. i do. i'm from the north. i fall for that trick. you're listening to him and, all right, the next thing you know,

he's just lapped you three times. that was lincoln. tells these barnyard jokes and has this awe shucks-kind of style. and then wham, back hands you. and what he's able to do is convince enough people that you know what, he's got the brains for it. he's moderate enough to get enough votes and he might be able to pull this thing off. okay? now, the slavery issue, it's going ah to be something that t republicans deal with. remember what we talked about this week. the republican party officially on the position of slavery is for containing it. not abolishing it. and what happened during those lincoln douglas debates in 1858, you all ever heard excerpts from his house divided speech? a house divided against himself cannot stand? in that speech, a country

divided as we are, half free, half slave cannot stand. we're going to have to choose all free or all slave. we cannot keep going like this. well, southern democrats look at him and they're like well, you can say compromise all you want. all right. but you said in 1858 we're going to have to choose one or the other. we just don't trust you. and what lincoln does is he just kind of stays quiet. once he gets the nomination, we just look at our record and look at what i've said earlier. he has a very famous story where he sees a family sold apart in an auction. and how that absolutely shapes. if you ever going to the presidential library museum in illinois in springfield, there's a big day play on that. and he would talk about that. morally, he was opposed to it. but as a lawyer, and as a constitutionalist, he fundamentally believed it was protected under the u.s. constitution. so he says, look, i'll protect it where it exists.

i'm not going to support it any further. and that was his official position. so that leaves us with abraham lincoln representing the republicans. we've got steven douglas, john breckenridge. and then you have a portion of the country that is still not happy. and they organize themselves into a political party for this election. and they are the constitutional unionists. their slogan is the constitution as it is, the union as it is. first time i ever read about constitutional unionists, i was sitting where you are. i always thought it was a head in a sand party. yeah, we got that. it's not working. but what's interesting about the constitutional unionists is actually the more you read about them, the more you'll notice what they're hoping to do in some ways is fragment the point to where it gets thrown in the house.

and what they also are are a bunch of wealthy guys who have a heck of a lot to lose if war come pheres this. if everything falls apart, these are a lot of your wealthy planter who is have investments with northern banks, they're invested with railroads. these are the guys who are going to lose a lot if it comes to war. all right? these are not your radicals. so what they're going to have to come up with is some sort of a compromise. but they say at heart, we always have to go back to the constitution. we always have to go back to the union. that is who we are. that is how you end up in the fall of 1860 with four presidential candidates. and these are viable candidates. these aren't, you know, the crazy guy who managed to get on the evening local news. four strong potential candidates. constitutional unionists put forward john bell. they looked at a few options. sam houston, if you've heard

him, from texas, he had been the president of the republic of texas. he knew what it was like to read a country. sam houston would have been a good choice. the problem with sam houston is he was divorced from his first wife and his second wife was cherokee woman which, for 19th century americans, they weren't going to wrap their head around either one of those things. so sam houston went out, john bell came in as the much more palatable option. 1860, in november, americans go to the polls. this is how it winds up. everything in green there goes for lincoln. douglas got missouri and part of new jersey. breckenridge, overwhelmingly, gets the slave-owning south except for some of those border states where you see in the dark brown there. go to john bell.

he gets a clear majority, which is all you need to become president. but in terms of the popular vote, okay, lincoln gets about 39%. but because it was so split, and the way the electoral college works, he's going to win the presidency. the problem is a huge portion of the country, particularly the south, is going to feel like the guy that they didn't vote for who didn't even appear on a lot of deep south battles. the state of texas, lincoln wasn't even on the southern ballots in the state of texas. it's not like he was getting a whole lot of right end votes. there was no way they were going to vote for the republican. no. he's not. he's from the north. you know. illinois, to boot. there's no way they were going to do it. okay? so a huge portion of the country

feels like forget it. we didn't even vote for this guy. there are other factors going on, too. when you look at, you know, again, looking at here the union is dissolved and the reactions to lincoln's victories, where i'm at, i mean, if you look at the situation, if you all have ever voted for a candidate who has lost, okay, and we've talk about this before when we talked about the presidential elections, you always console yourself, right. that, all right, for four more years, we'll come back and we'll win this. the problem for huge portions of the south is that they're convinced with a republican in the white house, laws are going to change to the point where they'll never be able to reclaim the white house again. or they will always be out voted. territories are going to come into the union states. they're worried they're going to come in as free states. democrats are going to lose more and more power. 50 -- where is that stat i wrote down. there we go. southern states, slave holders, to boot. slave holders. they controlled the presidency for 50 of the last 72 years.

american presidents have been controlling the presidency for 50 of the last 72 years. no party -- that's cool. no party -- stop. and what's going to happen is portions of the deep south are going to decide forget it. we cannot continue to exist as one nation. now, the way it's going to happen, south carolina is going to be the first one out.

south carolina sue seed from the union in december. next state out is going to be mississippi. following mississippi in january of 1861, florida, alabama, georgia and louisiana. and, you all, if you ever get confused and you're trying to remember all of this, just go to the mapping section on your test, find south carolina, work your way down the coastline until you get to texas. those are your first seven states. i will never ask you, all right, did texas go in january or february? all right? i'm far more interested in why texas goes than the exact month that texas goes. you know this. so south carolina is the first out in december of 1860.

then you're going to get mississippi who is going to be next. and kind of that hard moving down from south carolina, the deep south where you get georgia, florida, alabama, louisiana. and then in february, you're going to get texas. so what you'll have -- let me jump to this map, maybe. maybe not. what you'll end up seeing with the deep south now it's going. just picture the map. now, remember, because those states, when they go, they go in direct response to lincoln's election. okay. the only way to observe the principles of the founders is to cut away the basically decaying part of the country. all right. cut away that gang gangrenous

limb. they're going to organize into the confederate states of america and the first capital is going to be montgomery, alabama. >> there we go. here, look at it there. look at this one. this will help you remember it. dark blue. those are your seven deep south states that are the first to succeed. you need to remember this because it's going to be different motivations for the upper south, okay. you know, some days the magic works. and some days it just doesn't. now, what's going to end up happening -- that's me, talking, today. i'm glad we got that title in. what's going to end up happen sing they're going to organize and meet montgomery, alabama. they're going to come up with their own state constitutions.

they're going to revise all of them. and they're going to come up with a new confederate constitution. they're going to pick, for their president, that guy, the top right-hand corner. jefferson davis. okay. you all hopefully know him being from mississippi. okay. he's familiar to most of you all. davis is an interesting character. i mean, yes, he's a west point graduate. yes he commanded the mississippi rifles in the mexican war. he's been secretary of war in the 1850s. he has a lot of that background that's going to make him a very good choice in many ways, at least on paper. okay. there's a famous quote that i put up there that talks about how davis himself was never entirely sold on being president. that, in many ways, he had hoped to command troops in the field. but it's going to be that classic virtuous citizen argument. that he is called upon to serve as president of the confederacy. and, as called, he will do.

now, in some ways, he was hesitant to do it. okay. he wasn't entirely sure this is what he wanted to do. when davis -- davis is sitting as a senator representing the state of mississippi in the u.s. senate, in washington city when all of this is happening. when succession is taking place. that winter of '61. when those deep south states start to sue seed, he, as one of the leading senator, stands up to deliver the departure speech. kind of this good-bye, farewell address of the south. and one of his classic lines from this is that the south has a high and solemn motive to defend and protect the rights which we inherited which it is our sacred duty to transmit to our children. if you look at davis' inaugural address, not even once does he mention slavery. his vice president, a guy by the

name of alexander stevens, flat out says we need to protect slavery. and in some of davis' other writing, he says you cannot have the federal government infringing on these rights. now, you need to get this in your notes. i want you to be able to debate this issue on kind of how people are reacting and pointing to the constitution, these inaugural addresses to look at this issue of slavery and its influence -- how should we phrase it? how it ties into the causes of the civil war. okay. you all know -- or if you haven't heard, there's sometimes a big fight over was slavery the central issue of the civil war, was it not the central issue. this is classic material for an essay question for the last exam. okay? hint, hint. hitting you over the head with a hammer here. all right. you've got it. what i want you to be able to do, remember, i don't want to know about your feelings. i don't care if you had an ancestor who served in wisconsin and the union is right and it's

all about that. i mean, i care, but i want to know what you think. i want you to be able to point to historical evidence and give me proof. if you look at the confederate constitution, look at mississippi's constitution. okay. before the succession crisis. clearly, slave owners were worried about their rights. this was a clear motivation. if you want to make an argument, though, that slavery was not the only issue, okay, you can look at davis' speech. but your stronger evidence is going to come from union soldiers and it's going to come from lincoln's actions in the first year of this war. we're going to get more into that when you get back on monday and when you get back from thanksgiving break. lincoln will flat out say he will put the union together with slavery, he will put the union together without slavery. it's all about the union until late 1862. so if you want to look at the beginning of the war and argue

about multiple motivations, there's your evidence. that's what i want you looking at. okay. but, remember, i don't care, you know, it's up to you to come to your own conclusions. i just want to be sure you're going to be able to defend it. and if you want to argue that it was fundamentally slavery, look at those constitutions. but you're also going to have to tie in the fact that lincoln was willing to compromise. that union soldiers will go off to war flat out saying there is no way. they are abolitionists. they're fighting to preserve the union. so you've got to get clear in your head the complexity of it all. all right? when i was a kid, some of the first historians i ever read, a guy by the name of bruce catten. and he once argued that in 1860, slavery wasn't the only issue that caused the war. but was the one issue that americans not only couldn't compromise on, it was that they didn't want to anymore. that they were so angry with each other, they just wouldn't compromise on that one anymore.

they just didn't care to compromise anymore. and, to me, that's the best way to characterize it. no war is ever about one thing. but that slavery became that one issue on which people got so mad, they didn't even want to try to get along anymore. that was it. they were done. okay. and it's one of the best characterizations of that that i've ever heard. now, davis is going to rise to the presidency of the confederacy. okay. lincoln is going to have to try and keep what he can as a country together. can you imagine being he got elected to the presidency of the united states. it doesn't get much bigger than that. this is huge. and seven states leave the union specifically because of you. okay. i mean, seriously. ouch. all right. and so lincoln's got to find a way to keep the country together. now, as far as lincoln is concerned, all right, the confederacy does not exist. he never -- there's one mishap where, actually, kind of de

facto, he recognizes the existence of the confederacy. but in principle, and in his speeches, he never recognizes the existence of the confederacy. it's always the rebellious states, southerners, the rebellious peoples, the rebel army, anything like that. he never recognizes the existence of those southern states forming into an independent country. and what he tries to do in the spring of 1861, desperately, is keep everything together. so what he's going do do in his inaugural address, remember, they're in march in those days, is basically convince the south to come back into the fold. and he says in your hands, my dissisfied country men and not in my is the momentum of civil war. don't try to get this down. you'll miss it if you try to get it done. the coevaligovernment will not you. you can have no conflict being yourselves with the aggressors. while i have the most solid oath preserve, protect and defend it.

what he's saying is look, i'm not going to start this thing. but i have just taken an oath to preserve, protect the union. so the ball is in your court. what the confederacy is arguing is that this is not a civil war. they don't want to overthrow the government in washington. they want to go home. they just want to break away and form themselves into an independent country. that's what they're arguing they have done. so what happens by march of 1861, is you kind of have yourself in this kind of no man's land. this kind of deadlock. we're not necessarily sure what we're going to be able to do. okay? and everybody is just kind of staring at each other, wondering who's going to make the next move. and the next big, critical move is going to come, shockingly, in charleston, south carolina. okay? now, in charleston back, there are a couple of forts. and the u.s. army commander in charge of those forts was a guy by the name of robert anderson, major robert anderson.