the antietam battlefield. eshepherd as always been special to me. it's great to return here this evening to be here in the bird center. i knew senator bird well. i did quite a number of tours and programs for him at harper's ferry national park when he would come and visit. and he became a big ally in helping preserve civil war battlefields. a really great honor to be here at shepherd, my home school. i'm so thankful that 40 years ago i was taking finals and i haven't had to take finals in 36

years. and it's really good to be back in this prestigious bird center sharing with you this evening one story that happened right here. did john brown elect abraham linco lincoln? i want you to think about that for a moment. did john brown elect abraham lincoln? the first thing that came to mind is how can that be? brown is dead. he can't vote, so how could he possibly have anything to do with the election of 1860. >> before we're finished this evening, i think we'll see that john brown, the ghost of john brown, the memory of brown was

very influential in what happened in that election, that watershed election in american history that ultimately gave us america's greatest president. a few days ago, december 2, three days ago, 15 years ago, here in jefferson county, something very important happened. a hanging, an execution. you here in shepherd's town would have known about the execution. everybody knew about it. because john brown was climbing the scaffold. to be executed in charlestown,less than ten miles

down the road in your country seat. it was not a if you believe execution. you would not be invited. in fact, you would not be invited because you're under martima marshamar martial law. yes, you live here, yes, it's your home, but right now, jefferson county is occupied by more than 2000 soldiers. which is more than the population of your town. what was it, jim, in 1860 roughly? 1,200. you've got 2,000 people here in uniform in the county who literally are here to protect you, to defend you. because from your perspective, you have just experienced abattack, an assault on the people of jefferson county, the

people of shepherdstown, the people of charlestown. the event happened in harp es ear ferry. but it goes beyond the boundaries of jefferson county. this assault, this attack, or the word you're using over and again is greater an attack or assault. the word the people in jefferson county is using and the word being used throughout skra va and the rest of the south, you have been invaded. this was an invasion. it was not a simple assault or attack. it was an invasion. over the last several months, you have been here in this community in a constant state of fe fear, fearful to go out at night. fearful to walk down the street. fearful to leave the community

you're familiar with. you're totally afraid of any stranger, anybody that you don't know is here for dubious reasons and is here to harm you. this community has been gripped by paranoia. and you have every reason to fear this fear. because your neighbors, the militia here from shepherdstown, most of them have been gone now for almost six weeks. you haven't seen them. those who would be your neighbors, those young men serving as a militia unit to protect you and defend you have been here in jefferson county along the border between maryland and virginia, have been in harper's ferry, have been in charlestown, they have been

witness to the actual execution, which occurred a few days ago. but you know what's interest interesting is that even with that execution and now brown dead, you do not feel any safety. you do not feel any more secure. you discovered you are on the border of what appears to be a war. what appears to be a war that's been launched against you with you as the target. and what's interesting about this war is that the outsiders are americans. they are us. they are who we are. yes, you have been attacked by fellow americans.

150 years ago. now, what i want to do this evening is something i almost never do. i almost never use notes. we have friends here from c-span this evening, and as we were getting set up, i asked them if it would be okay if i move around a little bit because i don't like lecturns, i don't like to stand behind a lecturn. that's not my style. most of you who know me know that's not how i leak to give a presentati presentation. but what's important about tonight is i want you to hear not my words and not my voice, but their records. what were they saying? what they are saying is much more powerful, more meaningful, more dramatic and traumatic than anything i could say.

so to understand what their words would be, think about your own words, silently consider your own words, what would describe how you feel about our current situation in 2015 and the events which happen to us here in our country by other americans only a few days ago. i think it was december 2. now what's coming to mind are words. but you know what's really coming to mind are not words but emotions. what's coming to mind is what you're feeling. what are we feeling. and that's what i want to share with you this evening is what were they feeling?

i can't tell you what they're feeling because i wasn't there. none of us can go to 1859 and say, this is what they felt. feeling must be experienced. you must be part of it. it cannot be informed, it cannot be told. you must be a participant to feel. i would to share with you what they left behind for us that is their feeling. i think it's appropriate to begin with the president of the united states. a former president one who you probably would have voted for if you could as a male citizen owning property here in virginia and white.

in the 1840s, john tyler of tide water, virginia. tyler had been keeping close watch on what was happening here in harper's ferry. and had been imprisoned in charlestown, was about to go on trial. it's possible that within of your neighbors would have been in the courtroom on the jury that's going to be trying john brown. tyler had this to say about the situation. these words are feeling. they also have relevance to what you may be feeling in 2015. former president tyler. virginia -- he's referring to you as virginians and the state. virginia is arming to the eth

more than 50,000 stands, alarms already distributed and the demand for more weapons daily increasing. secessionist voices, as you might expect, delighted in john brown's attack at harper's ferry. the leading voice of secession, charlestown, south carolina, the newspaper had this to say with respect to brown and the cause of this union. there is no more peace for the south in this union. and the richmond inquirer, which would be a newspaper that would have circulated in these parts noted less joyfully that brown's raid at harpers ferry swelled

the ranks of secessionists by tenfold. and as might be expected, a fellow virginian of yours, who you would be very familiar with edmund ruffin rejoiced in brown's, what he referred to as outrageous since they might, i and i quote, stir the sluggish blood of the south. now this next quote comes from an elected official, not from jefferson county. but jefferson county elected officials would have known this man well. when the virginia delegation would come together in richmond and meet in the building there in richmond, the capital building that thomas jefferson had designed, they would all hear this speech. you would read, you wouldn't hear it. but you would read it. these are some of the most famous words that describe the attitude of virginians in the immediate aftermath of the

assault on you and jefferson county and harper's ferry. i'm dwoeng to share these words with some passion, because i think if you share them -- you can't say them without. these are words of anger. these are words that represent violation. these are words that are defensive and these are words of auction. you're not going to stand for this. you're not. these words describe how most of you would feel coming from an elected official. you're going to recognize the game because a few years later he would become a very famous confederate general. these words would echo off the walls of the rotunda in the virginia capitol. virginia will stand forth as one

man and say with fanaticism that whenever you advance a hostile foot upon our soil, we will welcome you with bloody hands and hospitable graves. james l. kipper, confederate brigadier in charge july 1863. those are words not to be heard but to be felt. and none of you should be surprised by this southern outpouring of outrage. the petersburg, virginia, newspaper called the express would refer to brown and his men as, quote, the fruit of satanic

doctrine, inculcated by the rabid and unprincipled teachers of the garrison, greeley and seward schools. all of whom who were top ranked republicans at the time. john tyler, former president, fellow virginian summed up well the response to john brown when he would state but one sentiment pervades the country -- security. to the whole union, or separation. let's move from south of the potomac to the north. you might expect a certain reaction in the north because we've been taught this is where brown hails from. this is where his support was from and certainly that's where his fellow abolitionists reside. however, the initial reaction to john brown was not pleasant and was not supportive. we view the actions of brown and

his associates as none other than as bloody murderers writes the new york herald, the "chicago tribune," out in the midwest, lincoln country, would write that brown and his men were a band of fanatics, guilty of the most incomprehensible stupidity. fol folly. unpardonable criminality. and then the "tribune" to con cluld would write this stark mad enterprise was the spark of idle drowns. and another chicago newspaper concerned about brown on the fledgling republican party and the reputation of the republicans had this to say, the old idiot. the quicker they hang him and get him out of the way the better. now that might surprise you,

this is not what we would expect from the north. this is what you may expect the northern reaction to be. let's start with ralph waldo emerson. from his home in concord, massachusetts, just west of boston. emerson now brown personally. emerson had deaned with brown, hosted brown, had brown stay with him. emerson did not see brown in the same way that the new york lerld and chicago tib yuan did. emerson would write that john brown is, and i quote, a pure idealist of artless goodness. louisa may also cot, his neighbor also knew john brown. shen and her father had dined with him, stayed with him, communed with him. louisa may would write john brown is, quote, st. john the

just. william lloyd garrison, the quintessential abolitionist, william lloyd garrison compared brown's effort at revolution at harper's ferry with that of the fight for independence, american independence from the british. garrison would proclaim was john brown justified in his attempt? yes, by god, if washington wasn't his. and wendell phillips, an outspoken menster in boston also alluded to the revolution of '76 when he preached that, and i quote, harper's ferry is the lexington of today. perhaps henry david thoreau

summarized yet new england intellectual thought on john brown when he would state john brown was the best news america has ever heard. what's going on here? all these people are americans. but they don't see john brown in the same way. they don't react to brown in the same manner. they have attitudes, thoughts, that are extreme, where there seems to be no compromise. what's happening to us? as a nation? as a people? what's going on here? in 1859?

i'm not going to dwell on brown and biography. i think it's only important to know that he's a life long abolitionist, he's 59 years old, he's moved from place to place. he'd been involved in many different businesses. he has not really succeeded as a businessman, but he has succeeded as a fighter. he has succeeded as a warrior. and he has as his foundation a belief that godsn:0x has chosen john brown, that his purpose, that his destiny has been determined by god, and that he is an eninstrument of god placed here in our country, our nation for the purpose of ridding this land of what he considers its

greatest evil -- slavery. and brown is tired of talk. he is tired of no action by politicians. he is tired of policy. he is tired of a supreme court that in 1857 in the dread scott decision determines that a slave is a slave is a slave and is property forever anywhere. regardless of law passed otherwise. brown believes that hi nation has failed him, that the nation has not been true to the principles of the declaration of endependence, and that it has violated the constitution of the united states of the people. brown feels frustration, desperation, hopelessness. but what makes him most different from any other

abolitionist is that john brown is willing to use violence. to bring about an industry. not persuasion, that hasn't seemed to work. not patience, that hasn't worked. and his violence is justified in his heart and in his soul because he has a special connection and special direction from god. i think we can best summarize john brown with just a few words. and these are words again of passion. these are words that are included in his provisional

constitution, a provisional constitution of the united states created by brown and others. in the preamble, it's very simply stated what john brown is and what his mission is. in this provisional constitution, it skas, whereas slavery throughout its entire existence in the united states is none other than the most barbarous unprovoked, unjustifiable war of one portion of its citizens upon another portion. the only conditions of which, are perpetual imprisonment. hopeless servitude and absolute extermination. in utter disregard of the external -- pardon me, the eternal and evident self-truths set forth in the declaration of independence.

therefore, we citizens of the the united states and the opressed people who, by a decision of the supreme court, are declared to have no rights which the white man is bound to respect, and then he continues to say, we create this constitution and ordinances to better protect our persons, property, lives and liberties and to govern our actions. that is the john brown who was inspired to come here. ewe know why he came. you know why he chose jefferson county. it happens to be the home of a national defense installation. there's a united states armory here. a united states arsenal here. only two hours from here, via travel time in 1859.

you would think as a national defense installation, it would be well guarded. there were no guards. brown seizes the armory and arsenal with no casualties, seizes the weapons, holds the installation. unfortunately for him, brown word will get out quickly that harper's ferry has been taken. militia will be called into action, including the guard from shepherd'stown, and the militia will begin to swarm towards harper's ferry. jefferson county militia, principally from charlestown, being the first to arrive on the scene. less than 12 hours after brown's raid, brown's war to end slavery commences. john brown is completely surrounded at harper's ferry by your neighbors.

he discovers united states marines in the washington navy yard who were immediately sent to baltimore. they marched to harper's ferry where they meet lieutenant colonel robert e. lee. you know the story, placed on trial. less than two weeks after his capture in the middle of the 2nd of november, john brown is found guilty. two weeks, by a jury of peers, your peers, not his. found guilty of murder.

all of which are potential death penalty crimes. brown has failed, he failed. he came to harper's ferry to commence a war. people in the town were killed, others were killed, people were wounded. brown's army was decimated. it is an abject failure. brown himself believes it is. but i think the interesting thing is that brown did not die at harper's ferry. the sword blade that the marine thrust at hmm did not penetrate the body but bounced off.

lieutenant green said it wasn't designed to wound him or put him out of commission for a bit. it was designed to kill him. but when the blade came forward, it apparently struck a breast plate or a belt buckle he was wearing and bounced off his boz di. -- body. john brown would tell you, that was the hand of god. in the courtroom, virginia treated brown well h well. virginia wanted the world to know that virginians were not barbarians, but brown was. brn used this to his advantage. he saw now, stripped of the sword, the magic and power of the word. and brown used those weeks between his sentencing and his

execution, four weeks exactly, november 2 to december 2, to preach to the people of the united states and to the world against the evils of slavery. he became a very confident man. as a prisoner. in fact, he would write a letter to his wife, and i quote, i have been whipped as the saying is, but i am sure i can recover all the lost capital occasioned by my disaster. of hanging for a few minutes by my neck. virginians were warned by some not to execute brown. you might say well, why not? certainly here in jefferson county, it didn't take you, the

peers, long to determine that he was guilty. but why would you not execute him for three capital offenses? murder, treason, and inciting rebellion. well, the new york journal of commerce, the predecessor of today's wall street journal had this to say and was asking virginians to consider this. i quote, to hang a fanatic is to make a martyr of him. better to put these creatures into the penitentiary and so make of them miserable fellows. and in a very graphic warning to the south, the editor of the new york journal of commerce had this simple sentence. monsters are hydroheaded and decapitulation of the monster

only quickens its vitality and its powers of reproduction. >> they determine the best thing for john brown is the noose. brown will be given a decision and will be asked if he has anything to say to the court. he was not prepared to do so. he was still suffering from his wounds. he has sent his entire trial reclining on a cot in pain with bandages. but he did get enough strength to stand with some assistance and address the court.

it was one of the most famous extemporaneous presentations in american history. i'm not going to give you five minutes of it. i'm going to give you a couple of minutes that will give you the tenor and the tone of what john brown had to say. keep in mind that at this time in that courtroom, which is packed, not by people like you, you're not allowed to be there, but there are reporters, journal isstists from newspapers all across the nation, north, south, west, midwest, who are recording live the words of brown. to their hometown papers. so these words go national. for all americans to read. in his address to the court, brown would say, i never did

intend murder or treason or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slave rebellion or to make insurrection. had i so interfered on behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or on behalf of any of their friends, it would have been all right. i have always freely admitted i have done on behalf of his despised pore is no wrong but right. as one northerner wrote, john brown had become the conquering

prisoner of charlestown's jail. december 2, 1869 was a day like today. cool, comfortable, no breeze, sunshine, heavy frost in the morning. almost identical to today. at 11:30 a.m. on december 2 is when the execution is scheduled to occur. just before that, the jailor will place the hood of over brown's head. he will be brought to the scaffo scaffold. the rope will be adjusted and the ax will sever the rope and brown will fall through the trap

door. it's quiet. you hear nothing. there are 2,000 virginians soldiers in a square formation surrounding that scaffold with their rifles loaded and artillery holding every road, every avenue entering charlestown. but soon as brown falls through the trap door there would be one voice that would rise that morning over the shenandoah valley of jtl preston, who is the president of the virginia military institute. and this is what you would hear if you were a guard there that morning, the only voice upon john brown's execution. these words, you would hear.

enemies of the union all such foes of the human race. john brown was dead, but he did not die. just a few responses in the aftermath of the execution. our friend thoreau, who was a friend of brown's, would write this. these men in teaching us how to die at the same time have taught us how to live. emerson would declare brown the saint whose death is made, and i quote, the gallows glorious like the cross.

thoreau boldly claimed that john brown was no longer old brown anymore but now an angel of light. intellectuals were in agreement with this statement, and i quote, as christ had died to make men holy, john brown had died to make men free. in the south, the response could be summarized with an editorial that appeared in the newspaper in savannah, georgia. the "savannah daily morning news." this is how it defined brown's execution. the notorious horse thief, murderer, insurrectionist, traitor has expiated his guilty.

there are mf deserving of john brown's hip pin tie as john brown himself. others viewed the northern sympathy for brown as justification for secession. let's go to one of those great voices, jefferson davis. the governor of mississippi who upon brown's execution would go on the floor of the senate and give a speech. it's not long, it's not rambling. it's direct. these are not words to be heard. these are words that you feel. have we know right to allege

that to secure our rights and to protect our honor that we will sever the ties that bind us together, even if it rushes us into a sea of blood. charleston mercury would announce, and i quote, the day of compromise has passed. the south must control her own destiny or perish. and returning to the richmond inquir inquirer, it would note, and i quote, the harper's ferry invasion has advanced the cause of this union more than any oh event.

so in conclusion, what is the legacy. i haven't mentioned abraham lincoln at all. what is the legacy of john brown? do you feel what these people feel? america in 1859 in the winter of 1859, 1860 is not a nation of thoughtful people. we are a nation of people who are reacting to our feelings. we are responding to john brown. we are responding to an attack on us but for a reason, some would think, and a reason that's justified, some would think. and here's where i ask the question, what is brown?

not who is he? what is he? what words come to mind. that's one opinion, anyone have other opinions? >> freedom fighter. >> we have two people from the same community who have two very different opinions that are on far reaches of the planet with those words. terrorist, freedom fighter. the word there is agitator. america certainly was agitated. the legacy of brown went from the battlefield and harper's ferry and went from the courtroom of charlestown into

the newspapers of the united states. and the newspapers of the united states were c-span. they were cnn. they were fox news. they were msnbc. that was the only form of mass communication in this country in 1859 and 1860 were the newspapers. and unlike today's newspapers who like to claim neutrality with respect to politics, many of them, or even our various cable stations that sometimes to say we're really neutral about this, newspapers didn't make any pretense about neutrality were the voices of political parties and everybody knew it. you knew when you read a certain newspaper that political bent, what that political party was that it was representing. and so the newspapers go to war with each other because of the war that john brown had launched.

they were just as loud and fierce and ferocious as voices we sometimes hear today. there was no agreement. americans were polarized by john brown. there was no single opinion shared unless you want to think of opinion as sectional. there were not people in the south who supported brown. for people in the north, there were a lot who would support brown. on the day of his execution, church bells would ring in his honor. sermons were given in his memory. newspaper editorials praised him.

we're all american. brown had so much influence on the body flick that when it came time for the party to nominate their candidates something important happens. the party in 1860 is a new party. it's only been on a national ballot once. this is the second time in a presidential election that the republican party is on the ballot. you know the nominee, he was not the first choice, but on the third ballot through the convention lincoln becomes the nominee. the republicans dominated a

conservative abraham lincoln, a conservative. he was not seward. he was not sumner. he was not ever bates. these people were much, much more progressive than lincoln who was a conservative republican. but it didn't make any difference. the very idea that the republicans are a national party is a threat to the south. it was all unified as democrat ic, but the democrats became disunited principally over the issue of union, secession, protection, property and how do we ensure no more abolitionist invasions.

the first convention, they could not decide on a single candidate. the one whose turn it was to become their presidential candidate, steven douglas got no support from the south, being from illinois, being totally distrusted, disliked, the father of kansas, nebraska which was complete failure. a horrible disaster. douglas got no support from the southern democrats. so there will be another convention in baltimore in june of 1860 where southerners would nominate their own democrat. the current vice president of the united states john c. breakenridge would become the democratic candidate.

in the 1860 election, we were so divided that there would be four candidates and four parties running for president. lincoln and the republicans, douglas and the northern democrats, breakenridge and the southern democrats. and then an independent party, middle of the road party that would today appeal to what we refer to as independents, which would be a constitutional union party, led by a man from tennessee named john bell. for candidates. and there was no independent candidate would lincoln have been elected. abraham received in that election 39% of the popular vote. the other candidate received almost 60% of the popular vote.

did john brown elect abraham lincoln. i want to finish with a few wor words. first the words of brown, his final words and these become a legacy. before his execution he will write a note and tuck it away. and at some point this note to the jail.

it's not open, they're busy. they have a hanging to conduct. after the execution, the jailor remembers, he gave me this. and he pulls it out of his frock coat and reads brown's final words. and this is what it said. i john brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be perched away but will blood. prophesy. you people here in shepherdstown know that prophesy better than anyone. your graveyard was small in 1859. it won't be soon very small.

five miles from brown's headquarters antietam happened. 16 miles from where brown was executed, antietam happened. i john brown am certainly the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.

another legacy was many of these men who put on that militia uniform in october, november of 1869 and on through january, february and march of 1860, when all the finals were completed of other brown men, these men would put the uniform on again, wouldn't they? they would soon become part of company b second infranty, which would soon become part of the first virginia brigade, which would soon become famous as the stonewall brigade. the war supposedly lasted 90 days, according to the political leaders. many of those boys, your sons, your brothers, your fathers,

your cousins your nephews, they didn't come home. ever. that's what john brown did to us. or did we do something else to us and john brown was simply do. when brown was executed, a poem was written, very short, very powerful by one of america's great writers of the 19th century. herman melville, and he put a simple title on this poem, but it's a title that is very foreboding, very dark called the

portent, the portent. and as i share these very short versus with you, i would like for you to visualize the poetry, the words of the poem. not me. maybe even close your eyes as you listen to these words, because then you can see it with your eyes closed. the portent by herman melville. hanging from the bean slowly swaying slowly swaying such the wall gaunt the shadow on your green shenandoah. the cut is on the ground, lo john brown, and the stabs shall heal no more. hidden in the cap is the angu h

anguished anguish none can drawl. so your future veils its face, shenandoah. but the streaming beard is shown weir john brown. the meteor of the war. the meteor of the war. and in conclusion, what legacy has brown left us with today? well, it's obvious we still have feelings about john brown. it's pretty apparent we still get emotional when his name is mention mentioned. in fact, brown has continued to live in the american consciousness, the american psyc

psyche, the american soul, the american mind. for a century and a half. and i'm not sure the passion has diminish diminished. the cause certainly ended in a war that did end slavery. so brown ultimately was the victor. but i don't know that john brown has left any of us. perhaps john brown is still part of every american. all 310 million of us. i do know this, that 100 years after, one century later on the front page of one of the most distributed weekly magazines in

the world is john brown. in 1959. and isn't it interesting that some of the highest-paid people that used to work in this field, these journalists, were not the people who wrote the articles but the people who wrote the headlines. because the headlines sold the magazi magazine. somebody, some editor selected john brown, superimposed over a gallows. and isn't it interest iing thatn bright yellow it says "space missiles: must we always be second best?" referring of course to our contest with the russians and the cold war and possible nuclear annihilation. but at the bottom in 1959, 100 years later, it says, "john

brown's raid: the spark still smolders." that is legacy. you come to harper's ferry and you walk into the john brown museum, which i as a historian there had a great pleasure of researching and conceiving many of the exhibits that are there and wrote, helped to write many of those exhibits. when you walk into the john brown museum at harper's ferry, first thing that you see is an image of brown. and then you see these words. and this is a fitting introduction to john brown and also an apt conclusion to brown. these are words written by

steven vincent benet in his famous epic poem "john brown's body." i read these words when i was 18 years old as a freshman here at sheppard. i read them when i was in a civil war class as a freshman here at sheppard. dr. miller bashong's civil war class. i read this couplet, never forgot it. it's been a significant influence on my life. when you walk into the john brown museum, these are the first words that you see. as a challenge to you. to any visitor. it was a challenge to me. benet would write, playing off the song john brown's body lies a moldering in the grave. he would write, you, talking to us, "you can weigh john brown's

body well enough. but how and in what balance weigh john brown yes. you can weigh john brown's body well enough. but how? what balance do you weigh john brown? it's been a great pleasure. thank you all very much. i was asked by c-span if anybody has any questions, which we're willing to entertain. all they ask is that you actually come here and speak into the microphone because they want to record your question. and if you do wish to ask a question, please make it a question, not a lecture. so -- because i'd like to be

able to respond to your question. does anybody have a question? don't be bashful. don't pay any attention to the camera. now, i've never done one of these programs on john brown without a question. we're not leaving till somebody comes and asks a question. you are all my hostages. so i need a question. you do, jim. come on. come on up here. >> i don't know if anyone's supposed to know the vote tallies of the election. but i was thinking of the significance of just above the mason-dixon line how much of that vote did lincoln get vis-a-vis maybe steven douglas and the others? >> i anticipated your question, mr. sircamp. did a little research in preparation for that question. it's a very good question. dealing with what in the world were the counts, what did they

come up with. well, let's start you here. actually in jefferson county. you all voted for -- let me just make sure i have this right here. here in jefferson county we voted for john bell, constitutional union party. so you went right down the middle. you would represent the independent voter who doesn't want to be on one extreme or the other extreme. right down the middle. what a great title for a party. constitutional union party. so that's john bell. here in jefferson county. your neighboring county, berkeley county, also voted for john bell. loudoun county voted for john bell. we do have one outlier out there. that's clark county. they voted for breckenridge as their principal candidate. but overall the state of virginia voted for john bell. voted for the fourth party

candida candidate. virginia went for bell. kentucky went for bell. didn't even go for its own man, breckenridge, who was from kentucky. went for bell. tennessee, of course, which was where bell was from. went for bell. john bell had a good showing. the moderate in the middle, let's have moderation here, let's tamper down, tamper down all this extremism from both sides. but bell didn't win the election. here in washington county right across the river, john bell. but maryland did not vote bell. as all you have know, maryland's a slave state. breckenridge, the southern democrat, was the candidate from maryland. now, as you might expect, where did lincoln get his votes? he didn't get any votes around

here. in fact, in jefferson county the vote tally for abraham lincoln is zero. zero. so where did lincoln get his votes? well, obviously, new england. the mid-atlantic states, pennsylvania, new york, new jersey actually voted for dougl douglas. douglas won in new jersey. then we moved to the west. ohio went lincoln. illinois went lincoln. indiana went lincoln. the upper midwest went lincoln. he ran the gamut. so you know how today on the television screen we like to share red and blue, and we see these blocks. we see a solid block in the south and a solid block in the northeast. that's about right. they were very solid blocks. for lincoln, against lincoln. and the south went principally breckenridge. but virginia, which was the

leading electoral state -- of course, what you actually do to get elected, you have to have an electoral college. virginia went bell, not breckenridge. it hurt breckenridge dramatically that he did not win in virginia. however, the popular vote, as i mentioned, was about 60-40. lincoln got 39% and the other candidates got a total of 61% the popular vote. the electoral vote, which as we know is really what determines an election by our constitution, abraham lincoln had 180 electoral votes. there were a total of 303 available. so you needed 152 to win. lincoln had 180. 180 electoral votes. it wasn't a landslide, but it was a pretty massive victory. for lincoln with that many electoral college votes.

one reason for that is the most populous states of course would provide the highest number of electoral votes are in the north. new york had this massive number of electoral votes. the electoral college coming out of new york, 35 electoral votes, pennsylvania second, which was the second most populous state in the country, 27 electoral votes. ohio 23. ohio was number 3 in the census in 1860. 23 electoral votes. massachusetts 13 electoral. illinois 13. pardon me, indiana 13. illinois 11. the highest number of votes in the electoral college in the south, the biggest state, the most populous state in the south electoral college, get this, new york was 35. virginia, 15 electoral votes. 15 electoral votes. the southern population smaller. of course there's a large slave population. it doesn't count in the same way as the free white population in the north.

it was over. there was no dramatic shift that had occurred in the political formula. and as a result of regionalism, sectionalism now, as far as the south could see into the future, the republican party was going to be the dominant party. the democratic party was not going to win another election. hence one reason for such fierce, fierce interest in secession. because the south knew they had lost the white house probably for a generation. so good question that i was ready for. yes, sir. come on up. thank you. >> i was wondering if you'd comment again on how unique john brown was. and i ask that because in our nation the number of firsts, first trabz atlantic flight, things like, that was followed

very quickly by the second. like that was two weeks later. darwin, his book was published because he was under pressure because somebody else was going to publish that. if it wasn't john brown would it have been bill smith a month later? >> no. absolutely not. and i'll tell you why. brown was very unique in that brown was not unique as an abolitionist. there were thousands of abolitionists. but where brown stood apart, and everybody knew it, john brown was willing to go to war. start a war. kill people if necessary to bring an end to slavery. brown believed that the real killers, murderers were those people that not literally were taking people's lives but taking people's freedom. so those were people that were killing the soul, killing the

mind, killing freedom of choice, freedom of expression, freedom of movement. that was -- slavery for brown was like death, living death. true shackle. where you could not move. you had no freedom whatsoever. so for brown violence -- he in his mind justified violence because he felt that every slave, every day endured violence through the very institution of slavery. but others were not willing to go there. not go there at all. frederick douglass, the leading african-american voice, a former slave himself. certainly the best-known african-american in the united states. north and south. brown met with him in august of 1859. he was already gathering

weapons. he'd already come to the kennedy farm in washington county, had established that as his front. his forward position for his invasion into virginia. and so brown met with douglas i! chambersburg in franklin county, pennsylvania at a quarry and asked douglas to join him. douglass said no. douglass would later write that he didn't join brown because he thought that brown was walking into what douglass referred to as a perfect steel trap. but that was written with years of reflection. we don't know what douglass thought in 1859. we haven't discovered that yet. it may be out there. it was a secret meeting and douglass said i will not join you. so brown was committed. he was fervent. and he believed god -- this was

a moment. he truly believed this was the moment that brought the opportunity for best success and john brown was absolutely committed to his firm belief that god was calling him, directing him, supporting him and would lead him wherever. so he was very unique in comparison to other abolitionists because he was willing to use violence and he already had to use violence. violence had been utilized in kansas. kansas is a very violent place. many of us like to think of kansas as where the civil war really starts. and brown went out there to ensure that slaves and slaveholders were not brought into that territory. and he engaged in battle, was

willing to use violence to get his -- to stress his point. and he was an experienced veteran fighter. and most of the men who came with him to harper's ferry were experienced veteran fighters. anybody else with a question? yes, sir. jim. thank you. >> you started to hinlt at this but if you could further elaborate on what exactly -- how brown started to craft his own legacy between the time his capture at harper's ferry and his death in early december. he writes a great deal to people and ginsz to think, start shaping portrayals and portraits of events. again, if you could just elaborate on what exactly his campaign was, how he's trying to actively craft a model and mode of memory and i guess invest more meaning in the event. what did he himself do? >> he did several things.

he granted interviews to newspapers. newspaper writers. and virginia allowed this. they permitted this. again, the virginians wanted to show that they were the people who maintained the law and brown was the violator of the law. they didn't want to shoeld him. they didn't want to keep him separate and apart. they didn't want him to not be heard. they thought that every word brown said strengthened their positi position. and so he used newspaper editors and journalists, letters that he would write. he was able to write letters without censorship. the courtroom oration, which was widely spread throughout newspapers north and south. in the immediate interview that was done after a capture he

specifically said the real criminals were not him but people like the governor of virginia, senator mason of virginia, congressman faulkner of virginia and virginians who permitted slavery to exist. you were the criminals. not himself. that gets reported. that's within 24 hours after his capture. that's being reported. and so each one of these becomes a step in the direction of making brown something other than a violent, crazed person. for those who did not want to accept him as a violent, crazed person. so again, for those in the south every word that brown said reinforced what they thought of him in a very negative way. in the north brown gained allies. he gained friends. and much of this was a result of

the southern reaction to john brown, which northerners found outrageous. and so brown did a good job of really carving a canyon of opinion a grand canyon of opinion between north and south. and there was no bridge that was ever going to span that canyon that he had just carved. did john brown want civil war? i will simply say that there were two sentences in his last note he wrote. the first one you already heard. the second sentence was this. "and now i vainly flatter myself that without very much bloodshed it might have been done."

it's been a real pleasure. thank you very much. thank you. [ applause ] book tv has 48 hours of non-fiction books and authors every weekend. here are some programs to watch for. this weekend join us for the 22nd annual virginia festival of the book in charlottesville. starting saturday at noon eastern. programs include author bruce hillman, who discusses his book "the man who stalked einstein: how nazi scientist phillipo leonard changed the course of history." then saturday morning at 7:00, patricia bell-scott, professor emerita of women's studies at university of gra ga ga on port raitt of a friendship, eleanor roosevelt and the struggle for social justice. the book explores the relationship between civil rights activist paulie murray co-founder of the national organization for women and first ladies eleanor roosevelt. patricia bell scott speaks with author and historian knell irwin

painter at roosevelt house in new york city. on sunday beginning at 1:00 p.m. eastern more from the virginia festival of the book. including kelly carlin, george carlin's daughter, who talks about her life growing up with the comedian in her book "a carlin home companion." then sunday night at 9:00 afterwards with historian nancy cohen, author of "breakthrough: the making of america's first woman president." miss cohen looks at woman political leaders and the advances they are making in the political arena. she's interviewed by kim azarelli, chairman and co-founder of cornel law school's avon center for women and justice. >> for a woman to be at the head of the most powerful country in the world when one of our key allies doesn't allow women to drive and our most significant enemy at this time, isis, is literally executie ining women girls simply for being women and girls, i think that sends a powerful message from the bully

pulpit about what america stands for. >> go to booktv.org for the complete weekend schedule. the need for horses on the farm began to decline radically in the 1930s. it was not until the 1930s that they figured out how to make a rubber tire big enough to fit on a tractor. and starting in the 1930s, 1940s, you had almost a complete replacement of horses as the work animal on farms. i do believe in one of my books on horses i read that in the decade after world war ii we had something like a horse holocaust, that the horses were no longer needed. and we didn't get rid of them in a very pretty way. >> sunday night on "q & a," robert gordon, professor of economics at northwestern university, discusses his book "the rise and fall of american growth," which looks at the growths of the american standard

of living between 1870 and 1970 and questions its future. >> one thing that often interests people is the impact of superstorm sandy on the east coast back in 2012. that wiped out the 20th century for many people. the elevators no longer worked in new york. the electricity stopped. you couldn't charge your cell phones. you couldn't pump gas into your car. because it required electricity to pump the gas. the power of electricity in the internal combustion engine to m something people take for granted. >> sunday night 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q & a." >> boston university professor nina sill behr and her class explore the roles and lives of women during the civil war.

they talk about the unique challenges female slaves faced and discussed harriet jacob's book incidents in the life of a slave girl. professor sill behr also talks about reasons southern white women would or would not have supported the confederacy. her class is an hour and 15 minutes. >> so last week we started talking about the beginning of the movement for women's rights. as you know we had our little debate. we talked about the seneca falls convention. black women as i was saying at the very end of the class were usually on the margins i would say of the women's rights movement. there were some exceptions. we talked about sojourner truth who played a pretty early role in some of the early women's rights meetings. and harriet jacobs also had a close relationship with a number of women's rights activists. she worked with organizations that were involved in the struggle for women's rights during the civil war, after the civil war. but she was also very