>> i have been watching the campaign this year it's more interesting to look at the republicans than the democratic side. that may have something to do with why there is more interest in these candidates and their books. , a nonfictiont book that discusses books written by the 2016 presidential candidate. >> everyone has interesting stories. politicians for soap single minded in his pursuit of power and ideology could have interesting ones. but when they put out these memoirs, they are sanitized. they are vetted. they are therefore minimum controversy. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern.

>> for this year's student cam visita look at a recent to hartford, connecticut. you are watching american history tv, all weekend every weekend on c-span three. >> care we are in 19 century author harriet beecher stowe's home in hartford, connecticut on forest street in hartford, connecticut. we invite you to visit and we are standing today in her front parlor, the more formal space. when you visit here, you sit down and this parlor and share conversation about issues and experiences. beecher inn harriet 1811 and western connecticut and for life, she lived in boston, cincinnati, brunswick, maine couple of years, and over, massachusetts and he -- and she

and her husband retired to be near two sisters in hartford. in hartford, they had two houses. person the middle of the civil , herger aim house. her glamorous mansion. they built that house and moved in 1863 and lived there for about eight years and discovered that it was too expensive to maintain. they downsized into this more modest though still spacious hartford home where they lived out the rest of their lives. she moved into this forest street house in hartford in 1873 in the house had been built and lived on in a couple of years. she did not especially build it. she moved into it as she had with most of the home she lived in in her life. she moved in with her husband, calvin stowe who she married in 1836 and he was tenures over the her and a professor of theology and retired3+

. she moved in with her oldest children, to girls -- and girls in their 30's. she was in her 60's and he was in her set -- his 70's and she was still writing. she was world-famous. she had reached that michael of fame in her 40's. now she is in her 60's and she is still writing to support the family. she did some folks in this house and many articles and opinion pieces. her house is a domestic environment. she wrote about how to manage your household. she thought and wrote a lot women -- she helped advance the idea that managing your house and thinking about the kind of domestic environment you felt made a better family and a better america. this house reflect that.

it is not just one design. it certainly reflects the aesthetic movement of the 19th century as it's called. it is also a house that reflects that these people had had long lives and had deep family connections. friendly, it's comfortable, it's used. we work hard as a museum not to have it be to tidy. there might be some crumpled papers on the floor and things like that. we want to evoke a home that's lived in. it's not pristine. it is a home that was lived in the sitting down with harriet beecher stowe from her writings and other people's reports, i think she was a quiet person. i think she was an introvert. there is a lot going on in her head and said things like, you think she is not the intention to the conversation but then she

would start to fully disappointed. she had been thinking about characters or stories that would come out later in her books. forheld things in her head 20 or 30 years before they came out in her writing. talking with her might have been an interesting experience ago she was thinking about two things at once, the conversation and her characters and what she was going to be writing. another white described her is that she was not a particularly attractive person until she became animated in the conversation. then there was a light and charisma about her. that you didlity not see when she was not animated. you can see that in the and in the physical evidence we have like sculptures and cameos and things that train her. -- that traitor. she might not have met the

beauty standards of the day but few of us do. personalityr and brought that to the floor and made for great company. of course, she was really smart. and articulate and she was at her father's dining table to make the case for her argument. home in hartford is a classic victorian environment with 2 parlors and a dining room downstairs and a kitchen which not have a public space and bedrooms upstairs. when you visit, you see those spaces. in the parlors, you see the environment as much as it was when she lived here at we can tell from our research and from a few photographs we have. enough to have a lot of possessions that harriet beecher stowe owned and were owned by her extended family. people to journey through the house with us and talk about the past as well as the present. explain herg to

long life and her impact. when you reach the front parlor, use it down in chairs in the front parlor with the other of you are and you have a conversation about artifacts on the table that represent issues of the 19th century, the past and copies of artifacts around that you discuss them. when you go on to the second floor, one of the rooms you go to is bedroom. it is also in the places she wrote. setup with writing space and evidence of of the struggle she had to write her books particularly quote uncle tom's cabin go that's a glimpse into her experiences. >> we are in harriet's front parlor which would have been the face of this house. when she was formerly -- formally receiving guests, she would usher them into this room and begin talking to them about

a host of issues she was passionate about. there we have a photograph of harriet beecher stowe sitting in her front parlor. she is sitting right about where i am standing. you can get a feel for what the room looked like at the time. you can get a feel for what she looked like. what we will try to do is talk about some of the documents she may have been seeing in the 1850's when she comes up with the ideas for uncle tom's cabin. in many ways, these documents represent the debate that people are having over slavery at the time. on this table, we have some historical documents we have reproduced for visitors. we want to give our visitors a feel for the debates over slavery that were occurring during her time. for example, we have some coasters for fugitive slaves that may have been found in the north at the time. we have songs written by abolitionists that would have been sung at different meetings of abolitionists.

we even have teaching for abolitionists children. you a feel for the alphabet but also gives you a form attached to each letter that talks about some negative aspect of slavery. these things were very effective teaching tools at the time. that, we have things that would have been circulated in northern newspapers. otherhotograph was emancipated slaves that would have been found in northern newspapers quite a bit after the .ugitive slave law is passed the back parlor would have been more of a private family space where harriet would have spent time with her husband and can doctors living here. -- and hurt and daughters living here. he may be reading to each other and writing or playing the piano. it was more of a relaxation space than a public, formal entertaining space. when visitors come into this

room, we don't allow them to touch anything or set on any of the chairs. we have reproduced the circular letter which sometimes will be passed around. now that we have seen her back clerk, we will go into a more private space, or bedroom. bedroom.re in the we have a lot of items in this room that give you a feel for what the writing process was like and what the aftermath of the publication of on call cabin was like for her as well. process,of her writing over here you can see that she did not have a dedicated writing space in this house. we know that she would have been writing that in this room and she was not always the neatest writer. some paper littered to give you a feel for what the room would have looked like as she was writing. over on this bed, we have an enlarged reproduction of a newspaper called the national

era. out,uncle tom's cabin came it did not come out in book form. it was originally serialized in an abolitionist newspaper in washington, d.c. every wednesday, new chapter would come out. people would gather in each other's colors and hear it being read aloud. over here, we hope of harriet's husband calvin stowe. he was in a credibly force in her life throughout writing. he was going to do many things that would not have been considered unusual for men to do with the time. for example, he would take care of the kids in the house so that harriet would have enough time to be able to write her book. this would have been considered unusual for the time. it's one of the many ways that harriet chose right. of works a selection she wrote while she was living at his house and like to show our visitors other works besides

uncle tom's cabin that she is known for. ourre trying to let visitors know that harriet has made a lasting impact. we really want to make sure her story is not forgotten. >> she died in 1896 and 85 years old. she died in this house as her husband did before her. was she died, this parlor in the front. her coffin was laid out here and this is where the weight was. the new york times wrote this up. it was widely reported and she was so famous that many came to visit and give their respect. she was buried next to one of her children, two of her children deceased or and her husband in andover, massachusetts where they had been living when their son henry died at 19. they bought a family plot there. you can visit the grave in andover, massachusetts near

was.n stowe it reflects her writing in the 19 century enter impacted than with uncle tom's cabin and many other books she wrote. ad the stance she took as woman in the 19 century, women could not vote and they had limited roles, whatever their class or race. they were restricted. sheet the most advantage she could of the opportunity she had as a woman in the 19 century. she made her name, she made her fully ford she argued them and leveraged that to make things happen. in the 21st century, all of that is important because much of her writing whether it's about domestic life or slavery itself, gives us framework for today. the present and

here we are today in the 21st century still struggling deeply in the headlines and in our homes and in our friendships and workplaces with the many things that she was writing about that they were struggling with then. when you come to visit harriet beecher stowe's house, you will have an experience unlike many other historic house museum's. >> our cities to her step recently traveled to hartford, connecticut to learn about its rich history. learn more about hartford and the other stops and out at www.c-span.org/cities to her. americanatching history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span. -- on c-span three. campaign 2000 16, c-span takes run the road to the white house as we follow the candidates on c-span, c-span .adio, and www.c-span.org

from 1914-1917 under the leadership of president woodrow wilson, the united states remained neutral as the first world war escalated in europe. up next, we discuss the events and politics behind america's entry into world war i and it's mixed support from the american people. she is the author of the forthcoming book. she spoke at the library of congress where in the 15, she served as the chair of american law and governance. as is about one hour, 10 minutes. >> today's lecture is titled "bullet in the chamber: the politics of catastrophe and the declaration of world war i." our speaker is professor mary dudziak. now complaining her tenure in american law and governance. the professor's research has