constitutional rights were denied and they deserved an apology. here, we have a photo of hr 442nt reagan signing where he is legalizing the apology and redress to the japanese-americans survivors. policye see the actual a -- actual policy letter. he says they monetary sum and words alone cannot restore lost years or erase painful memories. in the second painful -- second paragraph, in a law offering a sincere apology, your fellow americans have renewed their commitment to the ideals of freedom. at the same time, survivors received a check for $20,000. here, we have a letter from president clinton in 1996 and he

sent a letter to surviving internees. letter whereirst he said we are sorry. here, we say today, on behalf of offerellow americans, i sincere apologies for the actions that unfairly targeted japanese-americans during world war ii. it was determined by the commission that the between-americans lost 810 million and $2 billion in 1983 numbers and they were never compensated for that. father both asd american citizens always believed in this country. it was, i think, a vindication

that we were innocent. and some apology monetary renumeration. it makes it less likely it will happen again, but does not guarantee it. why is why this collection, books and materials like what my mother wrote are important, so that the next generation understands that unless you protect the constitution for everyone, everybody is still in jeopardy. >> throughout the weekend, american history tv is featuring sacramento, california. our cities tour staff recently toured there to learn about its brief history. about sacramento and other stops on our tour at c-span.org. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3.

>> on road to the white house rewind, we look back to ronald reagan's announcement, the former governor talked about the economy, taxes, energy and foreign policy. ronald reagan won the 1980 presidential campaign with george h w bush finishing a distant second. he then went on to beat jimmy carter. this is about 25 minutes. announcer: ladies and gentlemen, ronald reagan. mr. reagan: good evening. i'm here tonight to announce my attention to seek the republican nomination for president of the united states. i am sure that each of us has seen our country from a number of viewpoints depending on where

we lived and what we have done. for me, as a boy growing up as a small man in iowa trying to get a start in the years of the great depression and later in california, for most of my adult life. i have seen america from the stadium press box as sportscaster, actor, officer, soldier, officeholder and as both democrat and republican. i have lived in an america where those who have had too little to eat outnumbered those who had enough. i have seen our country face financial ruin and depression. i have also seen the great strength of this nation as it pulled itself up from that ruin to become the dominant force in the world. to me, our country is a living, raising presence, unimpressed by what others say is impossible, proud of its own success, generous and naive. sometimes wrong, never mean. and always impatient to provide

a better life for its people in a framework of basic freedom and fairness. someone once said the difference between an american and any other kind of person is an american lives in anticipation of the future because he knows it will be a great place. other people fear the future. i was just able to petition of past failures. well, there is a lot of truth to that. if there is one thing that we are sure of, it is that nothing is impossible and that man is capable of improving his circumstances beyond what we are told. there are those in our land who would have us believe that the u.s. like other great breached the zenith of its power. that we are reduced to bickering with each other and no longer possessed of the will to cope with their problems. much of this talk has come from

leaders who claim that our problems are too difficult to handle. we are supposed to meekly accept failures as the most that can humanly be done. they tell us we must learn to live with less and teach our children that their lives will be less prosperous than ours have been. that the america of the coming years will be a place where because of our past excesses it will be impossible to dream and make those dreams come true. i do not believe that. i do not believe that you do either. that is why i am seeking the presidency. i cannot and will not stand by and see this great country destroy itself. our leaders attempt to blame their failures on circumstances beyond their control. on the estimates by unknown experts who rewrite modern history in an attempt to convince us that our standard of living is somehow a selfish extravagance.

we must renounce that as we join in sharing scarcity. i do not agree that our nation must resign itself to inevitable decline. yielding its proposition to other hands. i am unwilling to see this country fail and the other free peoples of the world. the crisis we face is not the result of any failure of the american spirit. it is a failure of our leaders to give our people something to live their lives by. if i am elected i shall regard my election as proof that the people of the united states have decided to set a new agenda and have recognized the human spirit thrives best when goals are set and progress can be measured in their achievement. during the next year, i shall discuss in detail a wide variety of goblins which the administration must address.

tonight i shall mention only a few. no problem that we face today can compare with the need to restore the health of the american economy and the strength of the american dollar. whether inflation has robbed you and your family of the ability to plan, destroyed the confidence to buy and affects the structure of life itself as more wives are forced to work to meet the ever-increasing cost of living. at the same time, a lack of real growth in the economy has introduced a fear in the minds of working men and the women who are already overextended that soon, there will be fewer jobs and no way to pay for the necessities of life. tragically, at the cost of living keeps going up, the standard of living which has been our great pride keeps going down. people have not created this disaster. the federal government has. it has overspent, overestimated and overregulated. it has failed to deliver

services within the revenue it should be allowed to raise from taxes. in the 34 year since the end of world war ii has spent $448 billion more than it has collected in taxes. $448 billion of printing press money that has made every dollar you earn worth less and less. at the same time the federal government has cynically told us that high taxes will somehow solve the problem and the average taxpayer will pay less. business is not a taxpayer. it is a tax collector. business has to pass its tax burden onto the customer as part of the cost of doing business. you and i pay the taxes imposed on businesses will be go to the store. only people pay taxes and it is political demagoguery or economic illiteracy to try and

tell us otherwise. the key to restoring health lies in cutting taxes. we need to get the waste out of federal spending. this does not mean sacrificing essential services. nor do we need to destroy the system of essential services which flow to the hands of the elderly and the handicapped area -- the handicapped. we have committed ourselves to help those among us who cannot take care of themselves. the federal government has proven to be the inefficient provider. we must put an end to the arrogance of the federal establishment which accepts more -- accepts no blame for our condition and cannot be relied on to give a fair estimate our situation and refuses to live within its means. i will not accept the supposed wisdom that has it that the federal bureaucracy has become so powerful that it can no longer be changed or controlled by any administration.

as president i would use every power at my command to make the federal establishment respond to the collective wishes of people. we must force the bureaucracy to live in the real world of reduced spending, streamline function and accountability to the people it serves. at the same time in reviewing the functions of the federal government we must determine which of those functions could better be performed by levels of government closer to the people. the 10th article of the bill of rights is explicit in pointing out that the federal government should do only those things specifically called for in the constitution. all others shall remain for the states. we have not been observing that 10th article as late. the federal government is taking on functions it has never intended to perform at which it does not perform well.

there should be a planned, orderly transfer of such functions to states and communities and a transfer of the sources of taxation to pay for them. the savings in administrative overhead would be considerable and certainly there would be increased efficiency and less bureaucracy. by reducing federal tax rates where they discourage initiative, especially personal income tax rates, we could invite greater economic growth and at the same time, get a better government incentive -- government instead of bigger government. in short, a punitive tax system must be replaced by one that restores incentive for the workers and industry. a system that rewards initiative and effort and encourages thrift.

all of these things are possible. none of them will be easy. but the choice is clear. we can go on letting the country slip over the brink to financial ruin with the disaster that it means for the individual or we can find the will to work together to restore confidence in ourselves and to regain the confidence of the world. i have lived through one depression. i carry with me the memory of a christmas eve when my brother and i and our parents exchanged our modest gifts -- there was no lighted tree as there had been on christmases past. i remember watching my father open what he thought was a greeting from his employer. we all watched and yes, we were hoping it was a bonus check. it was notice that he no longer had a job. and in those days the government ran the radio announcements telling workers not to leave home looking for jobs -- there

were no jobs. i'll carry with me always the memory of my father sitting there holding that envelope, unable to look at us. i cannot and will not stand by while inflation and joblessness destroy the dignity of our people. another serious problem which must be discussed tonight is our energy situation. our country was built on cheap energy. today, energy is not cheap and we face the prospect that some forms of energy may soon not be available at all. last summer you probably spent hours sitting in gasoline lines. this winter, some will be without heat and everyone will be paying much more simply to keep home and family warm. if you ever had any doubt of the government's inability to provide for the needs of the people, just look at the utter the asko we now call "the energy crisis." not one straight answer nor any

realistic hope of relief has come from the present administration in almost three years of federal treatment of the problem. as gas lines grew, the administration again panicked and now has proposed to put the country on a wartime footing. but for this war there is no victory in sight. and, as always, when the federal bureaucracy fails, all it can suggest is more of the same. this time it's another bureau to untangle the mess by the ones we already have. but, this just won't work. solving the energy crisis will not be easy, but it can be done. first we must decide that "less" is not enough. next, we must remove government obstacles to energy production. and we must make use of those technological advantages we still possess. it is no program simply to say, "use less energy." of course waste must be eliminated and efficiently promoted, but for the government

simply to tell people to conserve is not an energy policy. at best it means we will run out of energy a little more slowly. but a day will come when the lights will dim and the wheels of industry will turn more slowly and finally stop. as president i will not endorse any course which has this as its principal objective. we need more energy and that means diversifying our sources of supply away from the opec countries. yes, it means more efficient automobiles. but it also means more exploration and development of oil and natural gas here in our own country. the only way to free ourselves from the monopoly pricing power of opec is to be less dependent on outside sources of fuel. the answer, obvious to anyone except those in the administration it seems, is more domestic production of oil and gas. we must also have wider use of nuclear power within strict

safety rules, of course. there must be more spending by the energy industries on research and development of substitutes for fossil fuels. in years to come solar energy may provide much of the answer but for the next two or three decades we must do such things as master the chemistry of coal. putting the market system to work for these objectives is an essential first step for their achievement. additional multi-billion-dollar federal bureaus and programs are not the answer. in recent weeks there has been much talk about "excess" oil company profits. i don't believe we've been given all the information we need to make a judgment about this. we should have that information. government exists to protect us from each other. it is not government's function to allocate fuel or impose unnecessary restrictions on the marketplace. it is government's function to determine whether we are being unfairly exploited and if so to take immediate and appropriate

action. as president i would do exactly that. on the foreign front, the decade of the 1980s will place severe pressures upon the united states and its allies. we can expect to be tested in ways calculated to try our patience, to confound our resolve and to erode our belief in ourselves. during a time when the soviet union may enjoy nuclear superiority over this country, we must never waiver in our commitment to our allies nor accept any negotiation which is not clearly in the national interest. we must judge carefully. though we should leave no initiative untried in our pursuit of peace, we must be clear voiced in our resolve to resist any unpeaceful act wherever it may occur. negotiation with the soviet union must never become appeasement. for the most of the last 40 years, we have been preoccupied with the global struggle -- the competition with the soviet

union and the responsibility to our allies. but too often in recent times we have just drifted along with events, responding as if we thought of ourselves as a nation in decline. to our allies we seem to appear to be a nation unable to make decisions in its own interests, let alone in the common interest. since the second world war we have spent large amounts of money and much of our time protecting and defending freedom all over the world. we must continue this, for if we do not accept the responsibilities of leadership, who will? and if no one will, how will we survive? the 1970's have taught us the foolhardiness of not having a long-range diplomatic strategy of our own the world has become a place where, in order to survive, our country needs more than just allies -- it needs real friends. yet, in recent times we often

seem not to have recognized who our friends are. this must change. it is now time to take stock of our own house and to re-supply its strength. part of that process involves taking stock of our relationship with puerto rico. if the people of puerto rico vote for statehood in there common referendum, i favor statehood for puerto rico and if -- and i would, as president, initiate the enabling legislation to make this a reality. we live on a continent whose three countries possess the assets to make it the strongest, most prosperous and self-sufficient area on earth. within the borders of this north american continent are the food, resources, technology and undeveloped territory which, properly managed, could dramatically improve the quality of life of all its inhabitants. it is no accident that this unmatched potential for progress and prosperity exists in three countries with such long-standing heritages of free

government. a developing closeness among canada, mexico and the united states -- a north american accord -- would permit achievement of that potential in each country beyond that which i believe any of them -- strong as they are -- could accomplish in the absence of such cooperation. in fact, the key to our own future security may lie in both mexico and canada becoming much stronger countries than they are today. no one can say at this point precisely what form future cooperation among our three countries will take. but if i am elected president, i would be willing to invite each of our neighbors to send a special representative to our government to sit in on high level planning sessions with us, as partners, mutually concerned about the future of our continent. first, i would immediately seek the views and ideas of canadian

and mexican leaders on this issue, and work tirelessly with them to develop closer ties among our peoples. it is time we stopped thinking of our nearest neighbors as foreigners. by developing methods of working closely together, we will lay the foundations for future cooperation on a broader and more significant scale. we will put to rest any doubts of those cynical enough to believe that the united states would seek to dominate any relationship among our three countries, or foolish enough to think that the governments and peoples of canada and mexico would ever permit such domination to occur. i, for one, am confident that we can show the world by example that the nations of north america are ready, within the context of an unswerving commitment to freedom, to see new forms of accommodation to meet a changing world. a developing closeness between the united states, canada and mexico would serve notice on friends and foe alike that we

were prepared for a long haul, looking outward again and confident of our future. that together, we will create the jobs to generate new fortunes of wealth for many at providing a legacy for the children of each of our countries. 200 years ago, we taught the world that a new form of government, created out of the genius of man to cope with his circumstances, could succeed in bringing a measure of quality to human life previously thought impossible. now let us work toward the goal of using the assets of this continent, its resources, technology, and foodstuffs in the most efficient ways possible for the common good of all its people. it may take the next 100 years, but we can dare to dream that at some future date a map of the world might show the north american continent as one in which the people's commerce of its three strong countries flow more freely across their present

borders than they do today. in recent months leaders in our government have told us that, we, the people, have lost confidence in ourselves; that we must regain our spirit and our will to achieve our national goals. well, it is true there is a lack of confidence, an unease with things the way they are. but the confidence we have lost is confidence in our government's policies. our unease can almost be called bewilderment at how our defense strength has deteriorated. the great productivity of our industry is now surpassed by virtually all the major nations who compete with us for world markets. and, our currency is no longer the stable measure of value it once was. but there remains the greatness of our people, our capacity for dreaming up fantastic deeds and bringing them off to the surprise of an unbelieving world. when washington's men were freezing at valley forge, tom

paine told his fellow americans: "we have it in our power to begin the world over again." we still have that power. we -- today's living americans -- have in our lifetime fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom and done more to advance the dignity of man than any people who have ever lived on this earth. the citizens of this great nation want leadership, yes, but not a "man on a white horse" demanding obedience to his commands. they want someone who believes they can "begin the world over again." a leader who will unleash their great strength and remove the roadblocks government has put in their way. i want to do that more than anything i've ever wanted. and it's something that i believe with god's help i can do. i believe this nation hungers for a spiritual revival. hungers to see honor placed above political expediency, to see government once again the protector of our liberties, not

a distributor of gift sent privilege. government should uphold and not undermine those institutions which are custodians of the very values upon which civilization is founded -- religion, education and, above all, family. government cannot be clergyman, teacher and patriot. it is our servant, beholden to us. we who are privileged to be americans have had a rendezvous with destiny since the moment in 1630 when john winthrop, standing on the deck of the tiny arbella off the coast of massachusetts, told the little band of pilgrims, "we shall be a city upon a hill. the eyes of all people are upon us so that if we shall deal falsely with our god in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world." a troubled and afflicted mankind

looks to us, pleading for us to keep our rendezvous with destiny. that we will uphold the principles of self-reliance, self-discipline, morality, and -- above all -- responsible liberty for every individual that we will become that shining city on a hill. for our country's future, i pledge you my every effort. i ask for your prayers and support. i believe that you and i together can keep this rendezvous with destiny. thank you and good night. >> i've learned that you can do >> you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every three., on c-span to join the conversation, like us on facebook at c-span history. american history tv is featuring sacramento, the state capital of california. c-span's city tours staff visited many sites showcasing

the city's history. learn about all weekend here on american history tv. >> the concept of where sacramento is quite ludicrous in some ways. it is a low-lying marshland. it was probably the worst place to put a city. but the concept that it was more important for monetary gain than for the long-term life of the city, so what that caused in the end and what a lot of these things helped us document is how the city had to change and transform itself. in the west is the story of disasters and starvation. in 1860ine coming here and you can imagine asking that question -- what i have stayed? was it worth it? fory, we are in the center

sacramento history and we hold the original records and go from the beginnings of the city in 1850 all the way up to present time. i'm going to show you a sample to the gold related rush time here in the sacramento region. how we wereout connected to the gold fields and why sacramento was a destination. we all -- we often say sacramento was the gateway to the gold fields. up the to come here river and then beyond. if you were coming across country, you would have come here to get your goods and supplies even though you came over the mountains. often times, you had to get settled first and recuperate from your journey and then go back and start your mining. gold is discovered in january of 1848 at sutter's mill.

sutter, who had a land grant from the mexican government was the first person to settle inland california and had an extensive land grant which would be thousands of acres. the first item is a painting done by a sailor who came here in 1848. you can see that this is very low land. it was marshy all around. the sacramento river, which they didn't know at the time, had the tendency to flood. you had all of this greenery here and it was basically a flood lane. this is before gold was discovered and you can see there was literally nothing here in 1848. in january, word has not spread that gold has been discovered but, just a few months later, the town is going to set up here.

you talk about the experience of coming to california to search for gold, you are going to need your supplies. you would have gone to have your but one of the important things you would have acquired when you got here was a map to figure out where you needed to go. this is a great map of the gold fields. it says right above here that this is for gold and if you look will say gold it has been found here, gold has been found in these streams. something have been important for someone arriving in 49 or 48. the majority came in 49 and that's why they are called the 49ers. this map would have folded up like this so they could fit it into their pocket. everything was lightweight, compact, and easy to travel with. 1849 to show the

minors where to go. you can see how quickly the business and people were quickly making money off people looking for gold. we have several thousand samples of gold. some of them are embedded in courts. this is a gold nugget. this is fools gold, so if you look at the difference, a lot of people would find this and ink it was gold. it is pretty, shiny, and nice but it is not the same thing. a lot of people were fooled by this. eventually, he would have hard rock mining where they drill into the ground in caverns and go drill the gold out of the walls of the health. then hydraulic mining, where large water cans to fire at the mountains, break it

down and release the gold they believed was in there. all of these things would have major environmental impact. another thing that was discovered was mercury, or quicksilver attracted gold. toy decided it would be good put the mercury into the water to attract gold. mercury was realize poisonous and a number of miners got mercury poisoning. mercury was something that was also used to shape hats and there's an old term, mad as the hatter. the hatter was mad because he was smelling the fumes of mercury. by minors also became crazed having mercury around as well. in 1848, john sutter and his son, who was put in charge of hiredther's fortune, another gentleman to get his father at that.

a way to do that was sell the land he had. there were u.s. military personnel here at the time and and twoed three of them of them would go on to become famous. one was general, and the other was william tecumseh sherman. they were hired to plot out the city and create this grid. out849, this was plotted and the lots were sold and sutter said we would sell them for $200 each. the city was strategically located -- this is the sacramento river and this is the american river and right here is the beginnings of this any. if you were coming in from san francisco and if someone had come from europe and brought a steamship over, came from san

francisco and would come up the sacramento river, this was as far as you could go. ships.as a river full of at was the beginning of the city's and a lot away because the first post office and hotels were in these abandoned ship which had been left behind as the miners went off to the gold fields. one of the things that is fun to look at is we have a map that was created. here is the original city in these pins represent saloons. thanan see there are more three or four per block. heretwain, when he was described sacramento as the city of saloons. you said you could go into any door, ask for a beer, and someone would hand it to you.

the breweries were established as early as 1848. they had to dig deep into the ground to find it cool enough in order for the beer to ferment. this is an all male population and this is how they occupy their time -- drinking, gambling and other sorts of things. one of the things that is kind of interesting is there has been a myth that the people who came to the gold rush were illiterate they were basically not very bright. the reality is a large well educatede professional people. if you think about it, it was a very expensive thing to go do. ship couldere by take anywhere from three to four months. .t was expensive to buy passage

if you came overland, the investment of the wagons and supplies, it would be a minimum of six months journey to get here. so you had a lot of professionals who came early on. he had doctors, lawyers and all of these different professions. you had a very diverse group of people. thinking about the journey and how long it takes to get here, how separate it is and how unknown california is, we were a giant mystery to the rest of the country. the only way they had to communicate back and forth was through letters. that was so important because that was the closest way they could have some communication back to their families. here are samples of some of these letters -- you can see this is the city of sacramento. some of the stationary they could purchase here would have images -- this is the sacramento post office and this was a way

for them to show their family what it looked like. there's no television, no telegraph, no way to communicate back and forth. so the post office was a central place they would have come and when they found out the mail would arrive, they would throng to get there and often times waited for days to hear some news. say i'mthese letters writing every day because i'm not sure what letter will get air because the mail is not consistent. it is not until them railroad comes through in my -- in 1868 that mail is coming through on a regular basis. they are talking about how much they miss it and describing what california was like and how hard it is to be a minor and how dangerous it is. they are saying things like don't let my brother come here.

i know he wants to come. it's a hard way to live. other times they are saying it is a great place, bring the rest of the family because i have always opportunities. for african americans, this was the place because california came in as a free state. some letters of african-americans writing that this is the best place you can come to have a chance to make a living. people came here for different reasons. a lot of them came as miners and decided it was really hard. changef them would say i my mind and i'm going back to being a storekeeper. being a store keeper, you could make good money mining the minors and then they would write and have their families come without here. the ease and documents tell us what life was like. they talk about the loneliness and hope and talk about the basic gamble these individuals

were taking when they came out here. you have all of these people swarming into an area and they are going to need some type of entertainment. gambling was popular but sacramento established its first theater in 1849. it's the eagle theater and a reproduction exists. it only state a few months because the flood of 49 came. the tradition of theater was so dominant and the need for entertainment drew a lot of actors and performers to come here. a lot of those performers who would get their start here would go on to become some of the most famous entertainers in the country throughout the 19th century. one example of that is edwin booth. if you think about his brother, more famous -- john wilkes booth. at the time, edwin booth would become the most famous of the

biz family. he has been traveling with his brother for four or five years when the gold rush happens and they wanted to come to california because it was a place for entertainers to make money. his father books the two of them on the ship, they did their performances, and when it was time to go back, he said i'm done, i'm staying here. california has always been known as a chance to reinvent yourself. and none of the rules apply here. he said i'm going to stay in sacramento in one of the first places he performed as an actor. he's listed on the playbill here as young marlowe. the force theater here in town. booth went on to become

the most famous male actor in the united states through the 19th century. friends and had performed many times in front of lincoln andhis secretary of state he transitioned. up until that point, actors had been considered low lives. they were the traveling gypsies, but he was a gentleman and was well respected. himdaughter writes about coming to the house and how infatuated with him she was because of the dark wavy hair that fell elegantly down the back of his neck. he went on to have this national reputation. the things that is great about repositories like ours is that they are used by scholars and private, but there are , essays, of books

documentaries and things that have come out of here. what lifeers tell us was like and give us personal experiences. where people were coming from. we have city directories that date from 1849 and 1850. in them it says were people were from. some of them even list at ethnicity as well. all of these things help us to get to know the people that came here. sacramento was the center of all of that. were an incredibly diverse city then and we are still an incredibly diverse city. facts andse other stories are part of this collection and they help us to understand ourselves better today because of where we came from. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captico