positive sign and we hope that is the message, that positive change comes about. then it is absolutely possible as long as one is involved in the values and processes of american democracy. >> c-span's american history tv is at the william trent house, the oldest house in the state at nearly 300 years old. and it is the city's namesake. >> the 1719 william trent house museum is located in downtown trenton and is the oldest historic house in new jersey. william trent was a scottish born merchant based out of philadelphia. his merchant business despite its ups and downs did make him very wealthy. he purchased his first home in

philadelphia and his second summer home right here where we are standing. his merchant business dealt with importing and exporting things like rum, molasses and wine. he was also involved in the slave trade. the products he exported and imported were made by slaves in the west indies and africa. he did choose this location for its nearness to the delaware river and shipping routes as where is being local to inland routes because when they were brought to the shipping area where they could no longer pass on the delaware river, they went inland. he brought goods to philadelphia and anywhere else that needed them. when mr. trent came here, he became not only the major landowner but also the major employer. he had breweries and orchards and things like that. he employed a lot of local people. thus, making him the major

landowner and major employer. at one point, he incorporated the town. the locals started calling it trent town. from there, we get trenton. he was actually the founder of the city. he started construction on this house in 1715. it was his summer home. he moved here with his second wife and their one child. this house is built in the early american georgian architectural style. there are a lot of things that represent that here. as we go through the house, i will show you. he started construction in 1715 and completed in 1719. he lived here from 1719-1721 as his summer residence. and then eventually as his main residence. we are currently standing in the grand entrance way. this room would have been used as a multipurpose room. you be greeted by the butler who would have been a symbol of mr. trent's wealth. he would have had his servants

and slaves in colonial dress appropriate to their stature. this area shows -- is exhibited as a waiting area. mr. trent was a justice of the supreme court. he did see business here. we have some chairs set up that would have been similar to what you would have seen during this timeframe. i will bring you into one of the first rooms we have to show visitors. this is the front parlor. this room would have been used for several purposes as well. based on lighting and heating conditions. the way it is set up currently , it has nothing but antiques. this room is full of william and mary furniture. these chairs have crowns on them. these are unfortunately not mr. trent's personal items, but they are antiques of the time period. if they were imported any later, these crowns would have been hacked off. we would have wanted no affiliation with the british

crown. they really are a fantastic find. if you look up and down the chairs, you find intricate scrollwork. we see the different influences in the chairs. mr. trent was a wealthy merchant and he entertained a lot of important clients for his business throughout the courts as well as general entertainment and dining. he was well-to-do in the community and would have wanted to show that off. any and everybody who would have been of his same status and class would have really spent some time here and they would have engaged in dining like this. downstairs would have been a public place open to any type of public. we would have wanted to show off so the doorways would have been larger and there would have been brass handles on the doors down here. the last thing is he has an item called the kings board. floorboards,t the everything is of the same size except for this board right here.

and the board underneath it. this was a highly taxed item and pretty much used for the king exclusively. shipping, army projects, anything he would have used. the fact that mr. trent blatantly has it on his front parlor floor is basically saying that he doesn't care it is taxed. it is the equivalent of having a very nice car in your driveway. mr. trent was showing off and this is the way he would have done it. he was a wealthy merchant. what that meant for this time was he brought in a lot of luxury goods for himself and his family members. he also owned 11 slaves at the time of his death. which accounted for a third of his wealth. we have come downstairs into the in-house kitchen. an in-house kitchen would not have been the most common thing during this timeframe.

the reason was this was quite a fire hazard. but mr. trent was a wealthy man, and he got what he wanted. hence, the in-house kitchen. this is the kitchen hearth. there are a few things in here that are very interesting. we have something called a clockwork spitjack. this would have powered a rotisserie. prior to this invention this , would have been something that would have been done by either slave labor or canine labor. they would have to constantly turn this spit. the way this invention works is there are two weights that will tol it down and continue crank everything. when they come to the bottom, they would rewind and it would turn on its own. also over here, we have something called a beehive oven. this would have been used for baking purposes. and would have had a steel or iron door that would have kept it shut. this was a very multipurpose area.

if you compare it to a modern kitchen, this is your stovetop and oven and everything all in one. this is mr. trent's bedroom, the upstairs portion of the house. you see something called a campaign bad. this would have been used by the military and would have been used as a portable way to find rest and/or shelter. this version is quite overly large and is decorated with printed floral cotton sheets. these would have been quite the luxury item at the time. anything printed in cotton would have had to have been imported at a highly taxable rate. this room is also separate from mrs. trent' bedroom. both are adjacent to a hallway closet. he didn't spend a lot of time here, unfortunately.

in fact he's one of the , residents who spent the least amount of time here. even though everything is named for him. 1719-1724 was his tenure here. that did not include some of it being part-time. he actually passed away on christmas day in 1724 in the house. his death was unexpected. he died of what they are deeming an apoplectic fit, either a stroke or heart attack. he did not have a will. they did a probate inventory two years after he died. we don't find any personal items because family members would have come in and taken things they deemed important. after mr. trent died, there were about 20 different residents of the house. we've had highly prominent -- roles in history. we've been a governor's mansion and mayor's residence.

we were on both sides of the revolutionary war. we had both a loyalist and a patriot living here at separate times. we've also had several private residents. the last was edward stokes. he gifted to the city in 1929. the house closed for a short time because 1929 was not the best year for this country. it opened again in the 1930's with help from the w.p.a. and have been open as a public museum since the 1930's. i like to impart to visitors how important this house is to the development and continuous history that comes along with the area of trenton. this house has seen a lot of history. both when it was built by mr. william trent and all the other people who have lived here in taking care of the property. we've started from colonial times, revolutionary war times, to the present time. and this history is very important. things we cannot forget, such as slavery and the expansion of

colonialism really brought about changes to this area and what we see today. traveledaff recently to trenton, new jersey, to learn about its rich history. learn more about trenton and other stops at c-span.org. americanatching history tv, all weekend, every weekend, on cspan3. >> in the spring of 1790, the first u.s. congress meeting in their second session engaged in a debate about slavery and race while considering a number of anti-slavery petitions they had received. up next, the history professor talks about the first congressional debate on slavery and race and argues this discussion which focused on congress's ability to interfere