in pop culture. >> the c-span. watch them online at the c-span video library. >> you're watching american history tv. all weekend every weekend on c-span 3. for more information follow us on twitter at c-span history. each week american history tv sits in on a lecture with one of the nation's college professors. watch classes here every saturday at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern and sundays at 1:00 p.m. this week harvard university professor john stauffer looks at african-americans and the civil war. he examined abraham lincoln's first inaugural address focusing on the claim that secession was unconstitutional. also discussed are the president's efforts to keep the

border states in the union, emancipation proclamation and black soldiers in the union and confederate armies. harvard is in cambridge, massachusetts. this is an hour and 40 minutes. >> today i want to begin the discussion with the most significant inaugural address in american history which is lincoln's inaugural march 4 of 1861. i will give you background and i want your thoughts on it. lincoln, in my view is the nation's greatest literary president and this inaugural address he labored over more than any other single document or piece of writing. when he gave it, seven states had already seceded. confederacy had been formed. it was the most difficult speech

he actually gave. here is a photograph of the capital. he gives it under the portico right here. his long-time nemesis steven douglas was at his sides. held his hat which had fallen off because it was so windy. this is how most americans saw the most popular magazine in the country. think of harper's weekly as the forerunner of "time" or "life" magazine. most americans interpreted and understood it as awe then tick representation of reality. here is the portico here. the capital was unfinished. wonderfully symbolizing the unfinished nature of the united states.

herman melville and his collection of civil war poetry. battle pieces upon conflict of convictions in which he describes the iron dome. he says and the iron dome stronger for stress or strain thwart the main. the founder's dream shall flee. for melville and many northerners and after the war certainly southerners the power of the federal government threatened to fling a shadow across the main streets of america and impose unprecedented dominion on communities and towns destroying the dream of a loose confederation of states and a decentralized government. so lincoln, when he gives his address was under such threat he has to come into washington, d.c. on the sly. as detective alan pinkerton thought there was an attempt to

assassinate lincoln many southerners would make jokes about the desire to assassinate lincoln. the day after his election, south carolina announces its secession convention. southerners threatened, as you know in previous weeks for years to secede if their rights as slave owners were not respected lincoln's election begins this. the first seven states to secede. over a month before lincoln even takes the oath of office. the seven states had seceded. so his goal for giving the inaugural address is based on the oath of office he takes to preserve the union.

yeah? >> i know there are articles of secession. [ inaudible ] >> these are the dates they were ratified. south carolina announces its secession convention the day after the election starts in november. after they announce it they draft the ordinance of secession. actually the ordinance of secession is generally distinct from the declaration of secession i will get to because lincoln refers to it in the inaugural address. these are the dates that the delegates of the state approve of secession. so according to southerners, it's legal. in every southern state but texas secession was ultimately voted for by delegates rather than the popular election. citizens voted for the delegates.

delegates went to the state. then voted for the state. how do you interpret the inaugural address? yeah? >> it seems like there was a feeling of desperation to it. like he was trying to put on this whole like cool act like, you know, we're not enemies. we're friends, buddies. at the same time he's trying to make an argument which is a difficult argument to make. the preservation of the union is

worth more than the liberty that the southerners so like jefferson davis. when he's speaking in mississippi, he's saying we are doing the same thing that the founders did. we're splitting off. under the lockeian social contract we are splitting up. that's our duty. we can do that. he has to say, no, you can't. at the same time he makes the argument based on the need for perpetual government. the government needs to keep going for some reason. of after reading i wasn't sure exactly where that need for having a perpetual government comes from. it seems that's his answer to a difficult question of saying, like you wanted to be in this. now you don't. but you can't leave. that's a pretty challenging argument to make in this liberal

framework. >> that's a great point. at the time the notion that secession was unconstitutional, that the union was perpetual was up for wide debate, not just among the secessionist southerners. one of lincoln's primary goals is to make the case that secession is unconstitutional, is illegal. he elaborates on why he sees that. >> i don't think lincoln came off as panicked in the address. obviously we don't get to see video of it. but based on the text i thought he was very much concerned with not so much the states that had already left the union but the border states that might be considering leaving the union. in that i think he does a very

good job building an argument based on logic. >> right. >> i think more than anything it's about -- it was about sending the message so he could set a precedent as a way of almost preparing himself for whatever was going to come next given the states that would secede. >> that's right. a very good point. one of his central concerns was that the border states do not follow the seven states who have already seceded. if the border slave states secede, washington, d.c. is surrounded. if maryland and virginia surrender essentially the war is over and confederates have won. so a central goal for lincoln throughout is to prevent the slave states bordering the free states from seceding. what else? these are great points.

let me summarize his main aims. as you pointed out the primary goal is to placate the south. not only maryland and virginia but north carolina, kentucky, arkansas, virginia. try to prevent them from seceding. he tries to prevent it in the south. southerners, confederates already had taken over many federal forts. there were two chief ones left. this notion of using the inaugural address or his to buy time reflects a number of assumptions. one, is lincoln and many northerners believe that the

secessionists were bluffing. from the mexican war. they threatened to secede if the kansas and -- were not passed. that was the main source of getting what they wanted. a long tradition of accommodating these southern views. the second is the majority of southerners, lincoln himself opposed secession. there was only one state, texas,

in which secession was by referendum. one of, if not the most noted authority on the south and secession, almost freeling in the road to secession -- or disunion volume 2 argues if southerners voted two thirds were nonslave owning southerners. earn understood the dire risks that one took by seceding. lincoln in his inaugust rat made it clear according to his view there should be no compromise on

the question of extending slavery. the central republican platform in which lincoln was voted -- elected was that slavery was evil. prohibit the spread into federal territories. in the wake of the state seceding and the confederacy formed, jefferson davis took it on washington's birthday. many if not republicans were basically -- if we give away the nonextension platform we give away everything. so those were his chief aims.

it was both progressive and conservative. because it explicitly tries to argue that secession was unconstitutional. lincoln is very clear. the union is perpetual. you quoted it. falls in no state upon its own mere motion can get out of the union. referring to the ordinances of secession. the resolutions to secede are legally voit void. acts of violence with a state or states against the authority of the united states are revolutionary. secession is insurrection, revolutionary. plainly the idea of secession is anarchy. unconstitutional. yet for many americans secession was, indeed, considered

constitutional. in fact, the preeminent legal authority at the time, chief justice roger taney felt strong that secession was, indeed, legal and constitutional. in fact, his friend franklin pierce, the former president, he hopes secession can result in a peaceful disunion. a peaceful separation. free institutions in each section. this is the preeminent legal authority in the country. this was a private letter. it doesn't carry the weight of the chief justice's public legal opinion. he made it very clear he believed secession was legal. those arguing it was constitutional and not only chief taney but former president franklin pierce. former president james buchanan. three of the four men who created the timbers of the house

that lincoln describes in the house divided. stephen douglas believed secession was unconstitutional. many northern democrats. nathaniel hawthorne said, amputate the south. let them go. many if not most said it was constitutional. there is a long tradition until the nullification crisis when south carolina threatens to nullify the federal law, essentially the tariff law that penalized cotton producers making the prices more expensive. it helps northern industrialists so they can compete better with

foreign countries and jackson, president jackson intervened and threatened to send in federal troops to south carolina. essentially the tariff was reduced and there was no violence. until this nullification crisis, most statesmen maintained that the states were sovereign and that the union was compact. the revocable compact. a treaty. >> i was just wondering in lincoln's address he makes homages to the union, not explicitly. would that have been familiar to his audience? >> yes. it would have been familiar. what jackson does during the nullification crisis, jackson is a slave-owning southerner. he's outraged that south carolina and john c. calhoun are going against him. jackson loved nothing more than a fight.

after they threaten to nullify federal law jackson publically vows to send in federal troops unless they resouns it. unless they repudiate it. he privately accepteds a notice to south carolina leaders and said if you don't renounce this nullification i will personally enjoy watching you hang. he was a strong president. do we have more microphones, by the way? >> south carolina had nullified after. >> that's true. >> the nullification crisis verbiage based off kentucky/virginia resolution. it's not just coming out of

nowhere. >> that's a very good point. thank you. the notion that the union is a revocable contract, a treaty or league is acknowledged by two of the nation's great federalists. justice joseph story heart, one of the founders of harvard law school. he notes or says if the constitution is a compact between the states it operates as a treaty or convention and no longer suits its pleasure. if it's a compact then this union is acceptable. story didn't believe that it was acceptable because he's saying this in the wake of nullification. in essence the federalists after the nullification crisis, people like daniel webster story say,

no, the constitution is not a compact between the states. daniel webster. if a league between sovereign powers containing -- if it's a league between the sovereign powers containing nothing, making it perpetual, it subsists only during the good pleasure of both parties. if it is a compact secession is constitutional. lincoln was clearly arguing that it's not a compact. he also wants to argue against a common southern perspective as reflected by jefferson davis. he makes a logical point that one of you pointed out. if we as a nation had the right to leave britain why isn't it the right of a sovereign state

to secede from the government. it's very logical assumption. it's no coincidence that davis gives his inaugural address on washington's birthday referring to the birthday of the man most identified with the establishment of independence and establishment that results out of an act of disunion. it self-reflects the constitutional crisis. dred scott creates the constitutional crisis. secession itself reflects the constitutional crisis. lincoln said at the end of the cooper union address in which remember last week it's the best way to understand that it's a

legal brief against the supreme court's decision in dred scott. he said that chief justice taney's opinion is wrong. he said right makes light. in essence, secession became unconstitutional because might made right. after the civil war it became clear that secession or disunion was wrong. that becomes a supreme court ruling in texas v. wyatt in 1868 which explicitly declares secession to be unconstitutional. so lincoln's inaugural address is profoundly progressive in which he establishes far more than any document had the notion that secession is wrong. that at the time was widely

debated. now when texas governor suggested secession he was mostly just laughed at. that goes back to the influence of this first inaugural. it's also conservative. why is it? forces fugitive slave act. suppresses slave insurrections and protects slavery in states. he's explicitly hears from lincoln's inaugural. i have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with slavery in the states where it exists. abolitionists responded by saying, what about your platform of gradual abolition with the goal of ultimate extinction? i believe i have no lawful right to do so. that was true. republicans didn't believe they could constitutionally intervene

in the slave states where slavery existed. he makes it very clear that he will support the fugitive slave clause of the constitution to send back a suspected fugitive. he also says something that especially outrages frederick douglas and other abolitionists. this is from his inaugural address. i understand and propose amendment to the constitutional which amendment however i have not seen to the effect that the federal government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the states including that of persons held to service. anyone know what he's referring to? yeah? [ inaudible ] >> i'm sorry. when he's saying he wouldn't

interfere with the states' rights to say whether or not they would -- like slavery would be legal? >> yes. >> but he said he would preserve the union whether that meant freeing all the slaves, none of them or some of them. >> yeah. that comes in august of '62, later. >> did he have his opinion now or was he saying this to appease the border states? >> he's clearly wanting to appease the upper south. and appease the south more generally. he's clearly -- you know, that's why he vows not to interfere with slavery in the slave states. but he goes further than to say, i believe i don't have a constitutional right to interfere with slavery in the slave states. he goes further then to say that i will make sure fugitives are returned to their property owners. what he's referring to is the

two days before he gives the inaugural address congress, in its effort to conciliate with the south passes a new constitutional amendment. it's the first 13th amendment. you all know the # 13th amendment is the one that abolishes slavery. the first 13th amendment is the language is really weird because it essentially is an unamendable amendment. no amendment shall be made to the constitution which will authorize or give to congress the power to apolish or interfere within any state with domestic institutions thereafter helped or serviced by the laws of the state. it guarantees slavery in the slave states forever. and lincoln supports it. yeah?

>> was this something the general public would have known about? >> yeah. it had just been passed so in the age of telegraph, two days later people living in cities would have known about it. it was just beginning to spread. it was obviously never ratified. but it wasn't everywhere known which is why lincoln elaborates. he hasn't even read -- >> i just feel he was cryptic about it. i think lincoln has the capacity to be explicit and eloquent. i don't understand why he wasn't more explicit when talking about the first 13th amendment. >> because he says i haven't seen it. he hasn't read it. it's just been passed. he knows it's been debated. he hasn't read the thing. he says, i have no objection. i support it. i have supported it in principle.

[ inaudible ] >> hasn't been ratified and it never would be. >> i was wondering about the political pressure. he's playing to the middle of america. >> yes. >> especially in supporting this. you know, right after he makes the inaugural address frederick douglas comes out and writes that. calls him slave catcher basically. >> yes. >> if lincoln ends up, you know, by the end of the war riding the emancipation proclamation and what is it that makes him -- what causes -- >> we'll get to a little bit of that today.

to what degree do abolitionists influence lincoln. i think a lot. we know that lincoln knew of douglas when they met. douglas was the first black man to meet with a u.s. president in terms of equality or first black man to advise the president. he met lincoln three times. lincoln recognized him immediately. we now know frederick douglas was the most photographed american in the united states. more photographs of separate poses of douglas than lincoln than anyone else. for most of his career as i mentioned last week until 1860 douglas was better known. lincoln is very familiar with douglas's criticism. so he was sensitive to abolitionist --