tonight on "the communicators communicators" we begin a series looking at the new e development in technology for 2015. we met up with our guests at the technology show in las vegas. gary shapiro ceo and president. and michael o'reilly. >> even farther going into a sense solving problems of the world. not to sound too grandiose. if you look at this program we're talking about transportation problems being solved. driverless cars, safer cars food production, hunger, a way of having crops without being connected. you don't even have to be there. health care, it's exploded here.

sensors which tell you about yourself. getting information to your doctor. using the cloud. safety at home, safety of everything. in an easy way exploring things remotely. so you're taking a lot of problems which perplexed us the last several years and we're going to be reducing them in the future. >> it's a great opportunity for to us highlight our innovations. we're talking about the next generation connectivity system. we're talking about the semi economical vehicles on the road today. we're talking about autonomous vehicles that we can develop for the future. also as a company innovation is important for us. this is a show that enpasses that. >> it's a challenging daunting task. it's quite a lot of information coming together. i enjoy coming to ces, it's an opportunity to learn and communication in the

marketplace. with my job in the fcc, what's it going to do for television headphones and satellite products and video products what's the impact on so many different items that we have before us. items made before us. and i get to learn about a number of items that may come to market that hey not involve us today but in the future. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern on "the communicators" on c-span 2. all weekend american history tv is showcaseing wheeling, west virginia. to learn more, visits c-span.org/local content. this is american history tv on c-span3. we are in the federal

district courtroom of the united states custom house of wheeling, virginia finished in 1859 that is now known as west virginia independence hall. this is the birth place of the great state of west virginia during the american civil war. it will be the place in which conventions will be held that would form a new government for virginia. a government for virginia loyal to the united states and the union. and this new government for virginia will then create the new state of west virginia. our nation was in the midst of a terrible civil war. those in eastern virginia predominantly were supportive of the confederacy. so virginia takes her vote for succession, the last vote, the majority of virginia delegates will vote to secede from the

united states and join the southern confederacy. those delegates from northwestern virginia who were overwhelmingly against it, would come back to the mountains in west virginia, they would have mass meetings, public meetings to decide what west virginia would do. and they decided they needed a place for more formal convention and that wheeling would be the place to have that convention. it would be safe, given that it's stuck in this wedge of land between the great and powerful union states of ohio and pennsylvania. so there was safety there. and so it provides a place for them to meet to formulate a plan and to embark upon one of the most incredible experiments in our american history. and the only successful secession needed in american history as well. there were a lot of issues that brought this thing to a head. as i said it came about over decades. and they had had issues to do

with taxation representation. four western virginians who were not large slave large shave holders. there was 471,000 before dismemberment, and of those 470,000 only 18000 were in west virginia. and the laws of virginia was the three fits roul. the more shaved you have, the more representatives you get to send. if you consider the numbers that i told you, 14,000 and 18,000 it is clear who dominated the legislature.

the other had to do with taxation. the laws gave an 80% fax break on the property of slaves. they are not dependent on that system. the number one property of west virginians are other human beings. and they bought anything they paid full tax on it. they cried afoul about that. western virginians wanted roads, bridges, canals. eastern were more about the save interest. our social relations were all to the north and to the west. all of our commercial relations were to the north and the west. our river ways, creeks and streams throwed to the north and

west and we were separated by the grand allegheny mountains. the american civil war reignites some of the tensions. . that is one thing that our story has to teach everyone. if you're presented with an opportunity you must take it. if they had not it simply would not have worked out. so among other things that would occur here was the formation of the restored government of virginia. the signing of the declaration of the rights of the people of virginia which we consider our west virginia declaration of independence. the name of our state was debated here and the shape was decided in this room. the constitution for our new state was written in this space

and we consider it to be the very birthplace of west virginia. the gentleman here had no idea it would work out. these gentleman knew that if the southern con fred ra si was to win the war, they would be seen as traitors to virginia. if you were found guilty of trae treason, you would be hung until you were dead. all of these gentleman signed their names on to that document just as our founding fathers signed their name on to the declaration of independence. every

every every everyone knew who they were. that is what they had to face. well francis was a lawyer from marion county. he never would have thought of himself as a politician. he would never have thought he would become the governor of a new government for virginia. he was a person place and a set of circumstances to which he reacted. the reason that he was unanimously voted by the body was because he was the principal architect of this restored government. it was his idea. he was the one sitting at home reading the substitution when he read the article that gave him the idea to form this new state. it said this if you're going to

make a new state from the parent state, the legislature of the parent state has to give it's permission. so what do western virginians do? they gave themselves their own legislature to form a new state. is that legal? yes, we followed the law of the constitution and thankfully for our story, the united states won the civil war. if they do not, our story here is completely different. this is the government for virginia and it is recognized by congress, president lincoln and by the supreme court. we are a state because of abraham lincoln. he was not happy i can tell you, to have the bill on his disk. he had a pretty full plate at the time. it becomes a political decision

for lincoln to create the new state of west virginia. he had a cabinet of six people. he asked them to vote on the issue of west virginia statehood, and they did. three for three against. his cabinet was evenly split. to abraham would be the deciding vote for the state of west virginia. he got the bill in the middle of 1862. he signed it on december 31st the last day that e had could have signed it he did tine it and it is important to note that just a few days later he would issue the emancipation proclamation. so the issuing of west virginia staid hood is a one-two political punch. wheeling is the first capital of the new state of west virginia from 1863 until 1870.

then it will go to cherylston, wednesday. and there it will be for five years. they will bring it back to wheeling for the second time in 1875 and it will remain there for the next ten years and then it goes back to charleston. the records go up and down the river, it was known as the floating capital. the united states customs house was the capitol building of the commonwealth of west virginia. if you were loyal to the union this was your government. wheeling was your capital, and this was your government. if you were not, you recognize the government in richmond.

the important thing is that the united states of america recognized the restored government of virginia in wheeling as the legitimate government of virginia. by the way that brings up an important point. this is the only city in our nation that can say it was the capital of two different states. wheeling gave birth to a brand new state one of the greatest experiments in american history american politics and so it is an incredibly important story not just for wheeling, and not just for west virginia it is important for our nature's history. because it is unprecedented. it has to do with the terrible tragedy of the american civil war. when you're presented with those opportunities, you have to take them.

throughout the weekend, american history tv is featuring wheeling, west virginia. we recently travelled there to learn about it's rich history. learn more on the cspan.org/local content. you're watching american history tv. all weekend every weekend, on cspan-37 cspan-37. the theme, the three branchs on you for your chance to win the grand prize of $5000. for the list of rules, go to student cam.org. >> each week, american history's taef reel america brings you films. and it examines political and

cultural issues. >> the most explosive issue of all is the existence of the state of israel. it was born amid turbulence and bloodshed. it became a separate nation after the british who exercised the mandates into the end of world war one withdrew in 1948. it was immediately attacked by it's neighboring arab states that resembled the new nation. israel beat off the attacks and a series of agreements worked out by the united nations brought an end to organized warfare in 1949. since then israel has worked at fever pitch to make a self sufficient nation within it's borders.