train as it made its way from washington dc to its final resting place in springfield illinois. we live from oak ridge cemetery in springfield to commemorate the anniversary of president lincoln's funeral. with over 1000 reenactors, and every creation of the eulogy, speeches, and performances. and a tour of the newly re-created lincoln funeral car. also on c-span this weekend, the festivities of the state visit of the japanese prime minister, including his arrival at the white house and the post at the dinner -- and the toast at the dinner in his honor. and the oral arguments on same-sex marriage, whether the 14th amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex. and tonight at 10:00, author peter slevin looks at the life

of our first lady, michelle obama, from childhood through the white house. and our live, three-hour conversation with jon ronson, who has written many books including, "so, you have been publicly shamed." join the conversation with jon ronson, who will also be taking your phone calls e-mail, facebook comments, and tweets. >> all weekend long american history tv is featuring topeka kansas. charles curtis was the first person with significant acknowledged native american ancestry to become vice president. he served in the hoover administration from 1929-1933. our cable partners worked with c-span's city tour staff where

they recently traveled to topeka to explore the city's rich history. learn more all weekend on american history tv. >> in 1854, all eyes were on kansas. congress had passed a law creating a territory, opening up areas of the united states that had been set aside as dish it was possible for slavery to be -- to grow and develop in kansas. as a consequence, that set in motion a tremendous competition between those folks who wanted to expand slavery and those folks who wanted to put it on a course of ultimate distinction. as a result come everybody was concerned about kansas. if you were for slavery, you want to make sure that kansas would become like missouri, a slave state. if you were opposed to slavery

you want to make sure that no new opportunities were opened up. this movement into the territory that was created by congress in 1854 becomes the headline for the next decade. it becomes all out war. first, missouri moves into kansas to set up institutions through the process of voting and creating a kansas territory legislature that would have created laws that would favor and support slavery. once that happened, it becomes a competition and people who want to make sure that kansas does not become a slave state start pouring in as well. we are sitting in a house here in topeka that was built by one

of those people who came to kansas in 1855, the first part of 1855 with the intent that he was going to stop the spread of slavery. he brought his family from indiana in march of 1855, three months after the town of topeka was established. he becomes a very active -- an activist in the free state cause. beginning by the fall of 1855, these rival forces are each creating their own towns. to come see is a community established by folks for slavery. it's five miles east of to become.

-- topeka. once i was holiday and the people -- they found topeka they come with the notion that they will have a free state town. that is just five miles a part. you have these communities, one is a free state community and lecompton -- the hope to run the other one out. to run the other side out. one of the things that missouri does, they bring malicious into kansas -- malictias into kansas and identify lawrence as a community settled by anti-slavery people. they are going to drive the

people out of lawrence. an army literally comes into existence from all these units coming in from missouri. the so-called war in 1855 is the result. what is interesting about that effort to eradicate lawrence and to drive all of the anti-slavery people out of the territory this conflict right outside of lawrence in december of 1855, is that the antislavery people likewise mobilized. a militia here in topeka goes to lawrence to defend lawrence. john brown and his family come to lawrence to help defend

lawrence. you have all of these people in the kansas territories coming together at lawrence. the post slavery people -- for slavery people reinforce one another and the anti-slavery people reinforce one another. that network is created as a result of various antislavery people coming together in lawrence. john ritchie meets john brown. they become associates in this whole resistance to the efforts of the misery institute -- missouri institute. this house was built in that summer and fall. summer and fall of 1856. this wall right behind me is an example of the intense conflict that was going on. structurally, the wall does not

hold the floor up or knitting like that. someone went to a lot of trouble to haul that rock in here. i think that it was because of the need to reinforce the exterior walls. you've got these proslavery people that have cannons running around and shooting at anti-slavery communities. in 1856 when this house was built, ritchie's idea was to make this house as solid as he possibly could. it's kind of like a fort in that sense. the house has become known as somebody's port, whether you are on one side or another.

that will result in ritchie's arrest for his involvement in rating stores and he will be arrested and incarcerated in the proslavery jail. and managed to escape in the fall of 1856 and find his way back to franklin, indiana where he spent time with his family, his father and his family in indiana, leaving a wife and children here into bego topeka. when he comes back to topeka in the spring of 1857, the free soil people have gained control of the territorial legislature. they begin to institute, rather than proslavery legislation they enact a free soil

anti-slavery legislation. that pretty well seals the deal that kansas is ultimately going to be a free state rather than a proslavery state. the result is pretty clear. the free soil people have become a dominant -- when that happens bleeding kansas turns into a different scenario. that scenario is the people involved in trying to block the spread of slavery now began to operate the underground railroad . beginning in 1957, what happens is this house becomes one of the centers where escaping slaves can find refuge and gain assistance to be transported into iowa and turnover to where

they will be helped to go to canada where they will ultimately find themselves free. the underground railroad becomes a less violent manifestation of bleeding kansas. the same people involved, the ritchie's are involved in turn to weaken the fabric of slavery in missouri by helping runaways succeed. we have an active underground railroad operation from 1957 -- 1857-1859 and so on in this house plays a role in that. you have people like the ritchie's who come to kansas because they see kansas as an opportunity to create a new society from the ground up. in that sense, it will be opportunity for themselves and opportunity for them to shape the institutions in a way that

will conform to what they believe to be their value system. one of the things which he will do, he will be committed to not only temperance and women's rights and african-american rights, he will also be interested in education and he will be instrumental in the founding of washington university to be an sedition that is part of this community. -- washburn university to be an institution that is part of this community. we have an inclusive citizenry. it's an improvement over what we had east of the mississippi at the time. kansas is a fertile ground for a new america. we tell the story to visitors, principally our heritage education program where we go

with middle schoolers and elementary education schools, we talk about the underground railroad and we connect the activities that the house represents because it was a station on the underground railroad. we tell the richie's story and identify with it. the go five blocks to the south and they go to the monroe school where they talk about the issues that lead to the civil rights movement of the 1950's. you have freedom issues of the 1850's here and then we talk about freedom issues of the 1950's at the monroe school. kids can begin to understand that something really important about america happens right here into begun. -- in topeka. >> our tour staff recently traveled to topeka to learn about its rich history. learn more about the begun

another stop america were at c-span.org/citiestour. you are watching american history tv on c-span3. she embraced the role as first lady and wore the finest fashions and looked like a queen , hosting african parties -- afternoon parties for her husband. when british troops invaded the capital, she is credited for saving a portrait of george washington and other valuables from the white house. dolly madison, sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's original series, first ladies come influence and image. from martha washington to michelle obama. sundays at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3. c-span's new book is now available "first ladies." providing lively stories of

these fascinating women coming creating an illuminating entertaining and inspiring read. it's available as a hardcover or e-book through your favorite bookstore or online bookseller. up next, a panel of scholars discusses how the late 20th century temperance and suffrage movement s complement each other. this event is about 1.5 hours. [applause] >> thank you, tom could it's wonderful to be here again this evening. i would say, happy women's history month. i will say instead, happy very last hours of women's history month. we are delighted to be here tonight. i hope some of you have taken the opportunity