help us to make the world safe for democracy, and our fight to make democracy safe for the world. ♪ this weekend, american history tv is joining comcast to showcase the history of springfield, illinois. to learn more about our cities tour, is it c-span.org/cities

tour. we continue with our look at the history of springfield. >> we are in the old state capitol because in springfield there are two capitals. was theificance is it capital of illinois from 1840-1876. werewell-known events abraham lincoln's house divided speech that he gave in 1858 and after his assassination in 1865, his body laid in state for 75,000 people who came through the building in a 22 hour time. to pay their respects to the following president. cap 6 --ame the state capital in 1930 nine, the population of illinois is moving northward. when springfield was established, the town is a larger and a small outpost on lake michigan called chicago.

springfield became the capital city as it is a central location in illinois. as the population expanded northward, the idea of slavery began to change. lincoln comes to the building in 1840 as a representative. lincoln served four terms as a state representative and served his last between the years of 1840-41. on the main historic level of the old state capitol we have a state library. where lincoln started to hone his political career. it was in the state library and he was always surrounded by information and knowledge and people. his friends say lincoln is a competitive chess player. in the state library in this room, abraham lakin debated the house divided speech before he gave it in 1865. a biography about lincoln says that they sat along a long

cylindrical table and debated. was the only one who supported lincoln's ideas and his friends said if you say these radical things, you will not win the election. his friends were right. he lost the election. the ideas about what does freedom mean and how do we interpret that today started for abraham lincoln in this building , possibly even around this table. behind me is a representative hall. in 1840, they were not assigned seats. back then, democrats sat on the left-hand side and the wakes, later the republican party, sat on the right. abraham lincoln, a creature of habit, sat in the second row back in the third seat. mostly tothis place

be around people who were like-minded. as people sat closer to the middle of the aisle, this became the moderates. people who were radical sat on the far left or right because they cannot get along with the other party. the people closer to the middle had like-minded ideas. abraham lincoln gave a house divided speech in 1858. the newspapers said he took the stage by the blow -- by the glow of the gas lamps to a packed house in the middle of june. washouse divided speech what lincoln was giving in response to being nominated as the next u.s. senator from illinois. stephen douglas, his rival, was also nominated. gentlemen gave speeches in a representative hall to kickstart their campaign for the u.s. senate.

the u.s. senate seat was elected by the legislators. these gentlemen had nine debates . those would spark interest in man contacting the legislators so they would vote for lincoln or douglas. stephen douglas believed in popular sovereignty and that the state should have the right to choose whether they had slaves. ideaam lincoln outlying an -- outlined an idea that the u.s. should mandate every single person is free, not states having freedom to choose whether they should have slaves or not. references the passage that says a house divided against itself cannot stand. not nation, he said, could indoor being half enslaved and half free. it will all become one thing.

abraham lincoln outlined the ideas that this nation should be completely free and the u.s. government should deem everyone is free, not to be subject to tyranny of slavery. 1858, the house of updated with applause because abraham lincoln was surrounded by people of the same political party. his ideas were radical but he felt confident that he could go stephen douglas, debate douglas nine times, and when -- win. douglas was a good orator and won the election. after abraham lincoln loses the senate seat he does not hold political office until the presidency. inruns for the president 1860, utilizing this building for his campaign headquarters.

gentlemen came to abraham ,incoln's house and asked him would you consider running for president? abraham lincoln said i will have to think about it. later, he gave a response that he will run for president. this room was at the governor's reception room. the governor's office is next door. this is where the governor -- the governor greeted guests. during the 1860 campaign for president, abraham lincoln utilizes this as his campaign headquarters or his office. we have an original newspaper for an artist who illustrated this room when it lincoln had his reception here. up as it would have been in 1860. one of the most unusual things in this room is the large wooden

chain that hangs in the corner. we do not know a lot about the wooden chain. in the original newspaper illustration. we have reproduced the chain. it was given to abraham lincoln by a well wish or 62 came from wisconsin. that gentleman said he carved it out of a single piece of. some scholars have put on their thinking caps and thought about the significance the hind the chain. abraham lincoln will go on to become president in 1861, breaking the chains of slavery. maybe there is significance about a chain. it was not until the civil war that we started referring to the u.s. as a singular noun. the civil war we talked about these united states with an emphasis being put on

the individuality of the state. after the civil war, the nation got the emphasis. this is one piece of wood carved in many different links could have more significance than the man from wisconsin wanted to lead on about. abraham lincoln is elected in 1860 and in 1861, he is making the journey to washington, giving a farewell address to springfield from the train depot , always planning on returning to springfield, but he never does. only his body comes back after his assassination in 1865. in the in state building. all of the furniture was completely cleared from the room, including both podiums. a black and beat was set up, underneath, lincoln's cop and was placed. came through the

room to pay their respects to the following president. springfield is about 15,000. by 1876, this building is it no longer the capital. it was shortly after the civil war, by 1868, when the legislator outgrew the building and they start to look for other locations. on thearted construction new enda curran state capital. aboutst important thing preserving an old building may not necessarily be for the architectural value. architectural value that is important to spend field history. it is because of the people who work here that the building is important. when people come to springfield they can get a sense of what it was like for the people who work here and the people themselves who worked to make a difference in our history. or cities tour staff recently

traveled to springfield, illinois. learn more about springfield and other stops on our tour at c-span.org/cities tour. you are watching american history tv all weekend every weekend on c-span3. >> in 1935, the philippines became an american commonwealth. as military adviser, general douglas macarthur made it his home. he was forced to evacuate after japanese troops invaded the country at the outset of world war ii and famously vowed, i shall return. next on american history tv, author james scott describes general macarthur's return, the japanese resistance, and the atrocities committed against the filipino civilians. mr. scott is the author of "rampage: macarthur, yamashita, and the battle of manila." this one hour talk was that of a three-day conference hosted by