new. the only explicitly proslavery nation ever attempted in a modern world. this is not what former confederates said after the war when they were trying to justify their actions and promote reconciliation. by the end of the 19th century was not expedient or correct for ex-confederates to say it was to defend a slave owner republic. in one of the greatest revisionism's in american history, former confederates miraculously transformed the war into the lost cause, a valiant fight for state rights and constitutional liberty against an overreaching federal government. but their words spoken in the 1890's do not square with what they very clearly and unmistakably said in the 1860's 30 years earlier. when they spoke of abolition as threatening to create an american congo and declared

slavery was an economic and social institution so essential to the security of the south they were willing to destroy the nation to preserve it. those who continue to deny this in the face of this overwhelming documentation that slavery was central to the conflict point to the fact that it was not a crusade to free the slaves. this is true. the war did not begin as a crusade to free the slaves. but the war did begin as a southern independence movement aimed at preserving slavery. that is why freedom for slaves eventually became a warning of the united states government. in 1862, lincoln made his famous reply to the publisher of the new york tribune, and everyone knows this. his primary mission as president was to save the country. he would do so, if it meant not freeing any slaves at all. he also pointed out that if saving united states meant

freeing some, or even all of the slaves, he would do that. what i do about slavery and the colored race, i do because i believe it helps to save the union. what i do about slavery, i do to save the united states. by the third year of the war, lincoln and the majority of the people in the united states had come to the conclusion that restoring the union was not enough. they would never be a permanent united states so long as slavery was allowed to exist. as horace greeley observed, slavery is the cause of treason and everywhere sustains it. slavery had to be destroyed and the nation was to be reunited. otherwise, slavery would continue to threaten the long-term stability and security of the united states. if the united states and not eliminated what had caused the war it would only be a matter of time it would have to send troops to suppress another rebellion.

by ensuring lincoln's reelection and the united states' victory in the war, the fall of atlanta sounded the death knell of slavery and rescue democracy from the threat of secession. each time we recite the pledge of allegiance we reaffirm the civil war established united states as one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. our country had to be indivisible, president lincoln argued, if it and the concepts of liberty and democracy upon which it was founded were to survive. the events that happened in atlanta 150 years ago, even more than a gettysburg, produced what lincoln described as a new birth of freedom. they redefined america as a nation committed not only to liberty, but to equality no matter how poorly we have lived up to that commitment at times. on november 4, 2008, the people of the united states went to the polls and by a majority

elected the nation's first african-american president. politics aside, the election of barack obama would not have been possible or at least would have been delayed by at least a century if the united states had not destroyed slavery by force of arms. just as important as what happened in that day in 2008, is what did not happen. after the winner was declared, i decided that, having just seen the legacy of the civil war on television, i wanted to hear it. as i stepped out of my front door, i listened and i was struck by just how quiet it was. there was no gunfire. no tanks rolled through the streets. no fighter planes went overhead. the governor didn't call out the national guard. no militia group tried to seize fort benning or robins air force days. -- base. the only thing i heard was the

sound of democracy. thank you very much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [applause] >> you are watching american history tv. in about 10 minutes, we will return to our live coverage of the civil war institute summer, conference at gettysburg college in gettysburg, pennsylvania with .egan cate nelson tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. eastern time, we will error a panel marking the 50th anniversary of the mississippi freedom summer project. in 1964, more than 1000 white and black volunteers from around the country, many of them college students, went to mississippi to participate in a voter registration drive. for the next 10 minutes, we will hear more about this from lonnie bunch, the director of the

national exam for african-american history and culture. >> this summer marks 50 years since freedom summer. what is freedom summarsummer? it is amazing almost 50 years ago that people throughout the south and throughout the north came together to basically challenge the , mainly college-age students, could come from throughout the united states, like in white, they would get training in ohio go college, and they would down the mississippi and they would reach out to the community. they would help register voters, but they were also do things like create freedom schools that would allow people to get educated in a way that the

segregation laws do not allow, so freedom summer was really almost on invasion of people of goodwill going into places like mississippi to basically say if we thenegister people, have the clout. >> how did this get started? >> the student nonviolent cord knitting committee and several other organizations began to think about what is the best strategy to effect change? was so muchit happened in the south in quiet corners and nobody knew, and you really did not have enough resources to make the change that you wanted, so the belief was that these college students, many of them responded to john kennedy's initial notion of your responsibility to help make america better, and these kids came from all over the country,

and many were not really sure what they were getting into. they were trained, they were told how to practice nonviolence, how to be safe, but the reality is you suddenly have all of these people coming to mississippi and really forcing the state to react to them, and they did. they reacted with violence, they , buted with intimidation it was also an example of where the violence and intimidation did not stop the plan to register all of these people. >> who are the people that are coming from the north, that are coming from all over the country , and why mississippi? >> most of the people who come are college aged students. these are the people who have both the passion, quite honestly, they're not having tos that are threatened lose, and they're part of that generation that wants to change america. >> mostly african american ts? >> i was a mostly white students.

it is a commission of black-and-white students, a large number of white students coming to the south, and mississippi is really the hatred, off racism, pain, and the belief was that if you can change mississippi, you can then change arkansas and texas and georgia. mississippi without a doubt was the place where they were at the greatest risk, and as you know in the summer, freedom summer almost immediately after began to mother was this horrible murder where two of the volunteers from the north and one mississippi native, james chaney, andrew goodman and sworn warner basically were killed. they were taken by a sheriff, and they were held until the klan could gather together.

they were released, and the klan killed them. they knew that this could happen, and so it was a really painful moments, and what it does is it inspires those who were in mississippi to keep registering, but also again puts national attention on the sofa and mississippi. the fbi, which often was not very supportive of the civil had to findent out what happens to these civil rights workers, and ultimately when was not, that sense of anger again stimulated more people to come from the north, white and black, and be part of this, so in some ways, what freedom summer does, what the murder of these civil rights workers does is that it gives this country another visible moment where they have got to

affect change because this is seen as something that should not happen in a free and fair america. >> you say that mississippi had the greatest risk. a rewardalso possibly there because african-american voter registration is extremely low in mississippi. >> in mississippi, you would counties that were overwhelmingly african-american that would have only 5% of the voters registered, so there was a real sense, a real fear and why mississippi to control the black vote, and the reality that that if youd is cannot even register that vote an increase of by 55%, you suddenly have political clout, you can begin to elect local officials, and in some ways, the strategy worked in a long term. as we look back now, we see mississippi is one of those

places with the largest number of county sheriffs and local workers, so the strategy of freedom summer was a good strategy, but it was a strategy now without risk. >> what did they accomplish that summary echer? things.coppola several you can inspire young americans to purchase paid in a movement, rush of support really plays out throughout the rest of the 1960's. i think also what they conflict ummer was thes sense that you can empower local people. even though there were a lot of people like him and mississippi, the goal was to follow the leadership of local people, to empower local people like fannie lou hammer, so i think that was very successful. the other thing that the mississippi freedom summer does is that it obviously opens the

door to thoughts about how do you protect the rights of people , and it also means a year later the voting rights act is passed, which is the most important act to ensure that people the ability -- that the discrimination of people's ability to vote would be done away with. so the freedom summer shone the light on the challenges but again people direction, how to it is important to the civil rights movement. >> and in a perspective of 50 years, where do you think it fits in? >> i would say in many ways for me what is so power -- powerful lot freedom summer is that this shows that young americans could take leadership in effect profound change, and i think it

will always be an important moment, partly because of the death of those three civil rights workers. that change does not come without cost, but on the other hand, what this tells it really suggested that here was the first moment where you said let us confront the place that is at this time one of the worst places ever to work and to live and let us try to make that better, and i think they did with freedom summer. nch, thank you for your time. wi-fi thing my colleagues would give a similar grade whether they are liberal or conservative. he freedom process is a joke. it was already well on its way privately at -- the obama administration, but this admits ration has perfected the reductions, the excuses, and really this shocking because i feel very strongly that the

information that they withhold and protect many times belongs to the public. we own it, but there is no sense of that when you ask for it. they covet it like it is a private corporation, defending their trade secrets, rather than realize that the information is gathered on our behalf. >> investigative reporter cheryl atkinson's son in a c-span's "q&a." >> we return now to our live coverage of the civil war institute summer conference from gettysburg college. we are waiting for our final nelson ofegan kate brown university, who will focus on the confederate burning of chambersburg pennsylvania. >> good afternoon. i am peter karmanos, jr. di