>> good morning and welcome to ford's theatre and thank you to the abraham lincoln institute. the illinois state society and our presenters and speakers for making today possible. i am director of education and interpretation at ford's theater . we are absolutely delighted to make this program possible here again for but i think is the fourth year. the set of our current production is into the woods, that will be the backdrop for us and the show tonight is sold out. we originally were going to encourage you to see the show tonight but we cannot do that because it is selling so well and will run until mid-may so we encourage you to come back. some reminders, first of all, there is no food or drink in the

theater. feel free to eat and drink in the lobby. please do not bring anything into the theater. your wristband will serve as your ticket for the full day admission and will also grant you admission to the ports theater museum in the basement which contains artifacts and information about lincoln's presidency and the assassination. please keep your wristband on throughout the day so we know that you are already admitted feared there will be time for questions after each presentation and c-span is filming the entire time so to ask your question, please step up to the microphone at the front of the child. -- at each aisle. please ask a question versus simply sharing an idea. [laughter] [applause] presentation, there will be a 20 minute break and

during that time the presenter will sign books in the lobby and books can be purchased throughout the day at the gift shop. most of us -- our presenters will sign in the lobby after the presentation. rule is thatto the nina silber and michael burlingame will sign books before their presentations. please make note of that if you would like to have them sign your books. there will be a lunch break from ,2:25, precisely, to 1:45 please take all of your belongings with you as the theater will be open at that time. finally, i want to thank our major donors to the abraham lincoln institute. for their outstanding support, michelle and the university of illinois-springfield. and michael burlingame, david

leg, and he lincoln group of the district of columbia. the ever him lincoln institute is a non-for-profit institute that relies on its donations and additionally it is those donations that keep this day free to all of you. anyone wishing to make a donation can go to the ali website www.l incoln-institute.org or hand a check to our board members here today. i would like to introduce the president of the lincoln institute. he is an associate professor of american studies and the author about -- attor eight books about abraham lincoln. welcome, john. [applause] >> thank you, so much.

good morning and thank you for joining us. i am president of the abraham lincoln institute. i wanted to say we are here to celebrate the latest in lincoln scholarship but today is a very encouraging day for me in thinking about the future of lincoln scholarship. a few minutes ago i was on the balcony and i met a young girl who is seven years old and she insisted that her mother bring her here for this symposium. it says that the future is bright and i think we should give her a round of applause. [applause] i have recently been thinking a lot about abraham lincoln and the declaration of independence. on its way to washington, d.c., for his inauguration in 1861, lincoln stop at independence hall in philadelphia to raise the flag. i have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the declaration of independence, he told the crowd feared the president-elect went on to say

that he often pondered what motivated the revolutionary generation to sacrifice so much to achieve independence. not writtenion was really to justify the separation of the colonies from great britain, he said, but for something more. to give liberty not alone to the people of this country but hope to the world for all future times. it was that which gave promise that in due time, the weight should be lifted from the shoulders of all men and all should have an equal chance. lincoln continued by saying the nation -- that if the nation could not be saved on the basis of the declaration, it would be truly awful. as he was speaking off the cuff, he said, i was about to say i would rather be assassinated on the spot that to surrender it. saye non-prepared remarks something about why he was willing to fight the civil war. for his entire adult life,

lincoln had believed that the union was worth fighting for, provided americans strove to live up to their nations founding ideals. of 1838, aus address young lincoln noted that americans lived in a peaceful and prosperous land, under a system of political institutions conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty that any of which the history of former times tells us. the founding fathers had given this gift to the american people through the blood and suffering of the revolution. his generation was tasked with transmitting these to the latest generations that they shall permit the world to know. america's political institutions, lincoln said, was a task of gratitude to our as to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general.

lincoln hoped that if americans remember the sacrifices of earlier generations, they would not take the union for granted. a shared memory of the american revolution he believed would be the cement that would bind northerners and southerners together as friends. with this shared memory, they would truly appreciate why they should work together to preserve the political institutions that had been given to them by the founders. lincoln appealed to these twin themes of memory and sacrifice in the closing paragraphs of his first inaugural address. close, we areo not enemies but friends, we must not be enemies, he said, though passion may have strained, it may not take our bonds of affection and the mystic memory stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and heart stone all over this broad land will yet swell the chorus of the union when again touched as surely they will be by the

bettering of our nature. lincoln appealed to a shared experience, a shared sacrifice, and a shared memory. he called on southerners and northerners alike to remember the blood of the resolution and used words like -- revolution and used words like our, we come every comment he hoped remembering that shared sacrifice of the founders would help americans maintain their bonds of affection. appear -- i feel for peace did not work and the nation went to war and in four short years, some 600,000-800,000 americans lost their lives, despite this he used his second inaugural address for an opportunity to call on americans to forgive one another and live in peace. with malice toward none, he said, with charity for all. a few short weeks later he would be killed right here in ft. theater. -- ford's theater.

upon learning of this, city george fisher wrote a vague feeling of coming ill and real sorrow for mr. lincoln deprived me of the power to think and reason on the subject. i felt as though i have lost a personal friend for indeed i have and so has every honest man in the country. after reflecting on his great character, he concluded, his death is a terrible loss to the country, perhaps even a greater loss to the south than to the north for his humanity and kindness of part stood between them and a party of the north who urged measures of vengeance and severity. the southern people have murdered their best friend as they are likely to find for long. i have always been intrigued by his observations, he saw lincoln as a friend, not only a personal friend, but a friend to his enemies. he did not know lincoln, he had

met him just once, briefly at a reception in philadelphia in 1864, and yet he mourned lincoln's death as if he had known lincoln. his emotions were experienced by countless others, including many former slaves. shortly after the assassination, a former slave from marietta, ohio named charlotte scott said the colored people have lost their best friend on earth. mr. lincoln was our best friend and i will give five dollars of my wages toward a monument to his memory. word of her remarks made it into the newspapers and eventually led to the emancipation statue over in lincoln park, a few blocks away from here. how many people throughout our history have been able to a vote such feelings of friendship among ordinary americans? not many, yet lincoln does to this day. just like sidney george fisher and charlotte scott, how many of

us feel we know lincoln and believe he still has something to say to us more than 150 years after his death? that is why it is altogether fitting and proper we join together at ford's theater every year to reflect upon the life and legacy of abraham lincoln. lincoln has an ability to reach across time and to speak to us in ways that are as relevant today as they were when he walked to the earth. we are grateful to ford's theater for hosting this event. these data here are truly remarkable. , is athe director wonderful friend and i think sarah for her hospitality this morning. we could not make this event happen without the hard work of the staff at ford's theater and i particularly want to thank erica scott, lauren, colleen, and others, please join

me in thanking them. [applause] i also want to thank c-span for covering this event live and for those of you who are watching from home, if you have never been to ford's theatre, you must make the trip. on thursday night, i was able to see into the woods and it was spectacular. i highly recommend one destiny, a one act play that brings the night of the lake and assassination to life and i will tell you a funny story about that play. every summer i bring a group of students to washington, d.c. to teach them how to do research at the national archives and library of congress. two years ago i brought my students to ford's theatre and we watched one destiny and afterward we went to the lincoln box to see it, and amazing experience. during the play, one of my students looked at me and said,

dr., are you crying? but -- id so i was not lied and said i was not but it was moving, something uniquely special about being in this place. we have a wonderful day planned at ford's theatre today, we are here to learn about our friend, abraham lincoln. welcoming mee in to david who will introduce our first speaker. thank you. [applause] >> good morning. welcome to ford's theatre. my name is david kent and i'm the vice president for outreach and education for the lincoln group for the district of columbia. we are proud this year to help symposium with the abraham lincoln institute. i have the honor of introducing our first figure for this symposium. i am especially honored because

our topic he will be discussing, lincoln and the natural environment. that is because, in addition to being a lincoln scholar and author of books and articles on a related, i am a lifelong career environmental scientist. i am very eager to hear what he has to say. is a professorc of english at roger williams university in bristol, rhode island. -- not far from where i did my early marine biology research and has served as the president of the lincoln group of boston since 2007. in addition to his many articles about abraham lincoln, he has written two books, the first published in 2002 was called "lincoln's moral vision" about the second inaugural address. the second was published this past year, lincoln and the natural environment, that is

what he will be speaking about today. that book is part of the concise link and library series from southern illinois university press. one reminder, immediately after his presentation, we will take a kac willeak and dr. tac be out in the lobby signing his books. please welcome to the stage at ford's theatre, dr. james tackac . [applause] dr. tackac: thank you to the abraham lincoln institute for inviting me to speak to this wonderful symposium with other distinguished lincoln scholars. i would like to acknowledge support from my editors at southern illinois university press, sylvia, their interest on a book on abraham lincoln and the natural environment and

their steadfast guidance during the research and writing process were invaluable. and the roger williams university foundation for teaching and scholarship. parallelsncoln's life an important segment of american environmental history. when he was born on a kentucky americans09, 90% of lived on farms. the nation was giving birth to an industrial revolution that would pull the country's economy and culture away from agriculture. developing -- the steam engine developed in great britain was adapted to a transportation vehicle called the locomotive during the early 19th-century. at the same time, factories and mills popped over over new england cranking up textiles and other consumer and industrial products. these developments had significant environmental effects. rivers were dammed and redirected to power those mills,

altering fish migration and causing water pollution. trees were slaughtered to create railroad tracks and to power the early locomotives. in the northeast, factory towns -- anded habitants inhabitants were disconnected from the naturalistic. cities like new york and boston experienced a wave of immigration that resulted in the creation of new housing and loss of green space. lincoln's relationship with the environment was complicated and still evolving at the time of his death in 1865. for the first 22 years of his ate, he lived on farms, and his mercy to the natural environment and plowed fields and split rails and planted crops on family farms in kentucky and indiana. by his teenage years, he had become disenchanted with the farming that had occupied his parents and grandparents. he began to dislike the arduous

labor of a farmer. he later said he sympathized with slaves because he well understood their lives of labor. he came to know how vulnerable farmers work to the winds of the luxembourg -- the natural environment. frost couldlate devastate a crop and plunge a farm family forged our nation. when he was nine years old, he learned a painful -- in a painful white house living close to the natural environment could be deadly when his mother died of milk sickness in 1818, contracted by drinking the fresh milk of cows that had grazed on land that contained plants. lincoln informed ambitions behind farming -- beyond farming. he developed an interest in reading and books. he attended courtroom sessions when he judges and lawyers traveling the legal circuit came to his area, sparking an

interest in the law. by the time he was 20 years old, he decided he would prefer to make his living with books and documents, rather than with an accent of plow. -- ax edit file. but -- and a file. but the places he lived -- at a 22, he left the family farm and moved to new salem illinois to have a new life away from forming come he clicked a general store, and became the town postmaster. he tried land surveying which could provide a good living and row illinois during the 1830's and 1840's. he opted out of the profession and began to study the law. new salem offered a debating club and a literary society that attracted lincoln's attention. significantly, his first community project when he moved to new salem involved an attempt to reshape the natural

environment. new salem could prosper as a rivertown only if larger both could traverse the river, a group of new salem residents formed a plan to deepen and straighten the river to allow for more efficient river transportation. that project failed but lincoln had formed his first political platform, the need for internal improvement to facilitate the transportation of goods through the rugged natural environment in markets hundreds of miles away. in march of 1832, less than one year after he moved to new salem , lincoln sent a long statement to the local newspaper announcing his intention to run for a seat in the illinois state assembly. his first written and published political document. as a candidate, he would advocate internal improvements, creating good roads and and have a couple streams, and efficient shipping of products.

he enjoyed the league party which main platform including support for internal improvements and high tariffs on importing manufacturing goods to protect and encourage american manufacturing. by 1840, the mills of new england were employing thousands of workers and the united states had more than 3000 miles of railroad tracks, and that noble -- that number would triple in the next 10 years, and he supported the creation of canals to transport manufactured goods across states. machines were reshaping american lives, quitting the lives of farmers, the cotton gin, a machine for separating cotton fiber from seeds, was invented in 1793 and the reverb which cut wd collected cleat -- heat, pray to the done by hand -- previously done by hand. aboute speeches

transforming the american economic, coulter will, environmental landscapes, in 1843, after his first term in the illinois legislature ended, lincoln joined two other have as whigs to circular for the upcoming campaign that affirmed their parties support for manufacturing, the circular included quotes by thomas jefferson and andrew jackson. strongly advocating the development of american manufacturing to keep the country independent and not relying on products from foreign country -- foreign countries. in 1858 he delivered lectures on illinois of discovery and invention, man is not the only animal whose labor -- who labors but he is the only one who improves his workmanship, this improvement he affects by discoveries and inventions, lincoln asserted in his first

lecture which detailed inventions from the angel world such as clothing, the wheel, and carts, and plows. the second lecture x told the steeple and director -- and the spoke at thelater wisconsin state agricultural society in milwaukee and asserted the need to bring new machine technology into agriculture, a steam plow, for example. during his early political career, neither lincoln nor his political allies considered how this new industrial and technological order may affect the american natural landscape. by the 1830's, some of the critics of industrialization were beginning to surface. henry david thoreau born in massachusetts was going into adulthood as the economic and natural landscape of new england was undergoing changes brought by industrial revolution. in 1849, he published a short

book, a week on the concorde and merrimack rivers, based on a book trip he and his brother john made from concorde, massachusetts to concorde, new hampshire, 10 years earlier. he lamented how the dams erected on the new england rivers had prevented fish like the salmon and shad from swimming upstream to spawn. they had virtually disappearedp. had, this man has perchance let them free to enter. in another essay titled walking, published in 1862, henry david through a limited deforestation that was taking place in new england as industrial nation took old. to say in newmed england that fewer and fewer pigeons visit us every year, he wrote. our forest for is nothing for

them. in walden, a two-year stay in a self built log cabin on the shores of walden pond during the 1840's, henry david thoreau ominously described the great symbol of the industrial age, the locomotive, as a traveling demagogue, making the hills and go with a snort like thunder, shaking the earth with its feet and breathing fire and smoke from his nostrils. although lincoln embraced industrialization, some of his rural past, his time living on farms, closed to the natural environment, remained with him and found expression in his writings. in 1844 also ring as an attorney in springfield, illinois, lincoln made a trip to his childhood homes, a farm in indiana, he traversed the natural landscape on which he had spent part of his boyhood and visited his mother's grave.

composed arip, he point of 24 stanzas about his experience and titled my childhood home i see again. the final stanza reads -- the very spot where we grew the bread that formed my bones i see, how strange on the to tread and feel my part of the. it suggested that lincoln rural past, his life for the natural environment had remained with him. in many stories, speeches, and writings throughout his career, lincoln relied on examples and references and metaphors from the natural world to get his point across. one of his first critiques of slavery came in 1841 in a letter to marriage deed, describing -- to marriage deed describing a boatright he and her brother had taken on a steamboat -- boatright he and her brother had

were an a steamboat dozen slaves were. and six, berlin -- precisely like fish separated forever from scenes of their childhood. their friends, their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters. and many of them from their wives and children and going into perpetual slavery where the lash of the master more ruthless. in september of 1854, a speech he articulated his opposition to the kansas-nebraska act by describing how a herd of cattle fenced off in a meadow without drinking water would cross into the adjacent meadow with the convenient body of water if the fence worked one down. so too would slaveowners move into free territory's at the cap -- if the kansas-nebraska act were passed, opening up new

territory for slaveowners. or many his late -- greatest speech was the ginsburg address, according to prominently can lincoln'sdeath dollars -- lincoln's dollars, he capture the meaning of the moment -- lincoln scholars, he capture the meaning of the moment. one sites that the suggested rebirth, 87rth, and years ago, american founders gave birth to force -- and brought forth a new nation conceived in liberty, but as the civil war raged, the nation was undergoing a torturous near-death experience personified by the many dead of gettysburg. what possible good could result from this horrific slaughter? at the end of the war, lincoln asserted, the nation must have a new birth of freedom, newly dedicated to the proposition

that all men are created equal. lakin was comparing the nations of the natural death lincoln was comparing the nations of the natural, plants grow and flowers and their fruit in the summer my -- in the summer months. could have that experience, then the worst death and destruction -- then the war's death and instruction -- lincoln had remained spiritually connected to the natural environments of his youth. perhaps his presidential lifestyle had enabled him to do so. during his first four years as president, lincoln spent about 25 percent of his time away from the executive mansion at a , formerly a house farmhouse and a home for wounded war of 1812 veterans, located on a tree shaded hill three miles from the white house.

at the time of the civil war, the natural environment surrounding the white house was horrific, a nearby silk factory admitted a horrendous odor and a polluted washington canal flowed nearby. as soldiers home, lincoln took walks and cleared his mind, read, and got fresher. -- fresh air. another way to connect through the natural environment was reading, he loved reading nature byron's pilgrimage was one of his favorites. reads,his longhorns there is a pleasure -- long columns reads, there is a rapture has -- i love not man the less that nature more. william cowanhed

bryant, a coed he came to know when he emerged as an important political voice and editor of the new york evening post. before becoming a newspaper editor, he had written such forms as through a waterfowl. lincoln also enjoyed reading travel narratives that took him spiritually to the wild and unpopulated sections of the 1845ry, john fremont's report of the exploring expedition into the rocky mountains. 1849, therkman's oregon trail, were his favorites. in 1849, lincoln tried nature writing, writing a short descriptive and reflective these are niagara falls which he visited on a trip from washington back home to illinois. he describes the water in a great river, reaching a point

where there is a perpendicular 100 feet of descent and the bottom of the river and speculated on the endurance of nature, symbolized by the great falls during the history of mankind. as lincoln relaxed and a comforting natural environment of soldiers home, and perhaps red nature poetry or travel narratives, a great civil war was occurring. 21st century american environmental history -- historians have labeled the civil war and environmental watershed for the nation and catastrophe of the first magnitude with effects that endured long after the guns were silenced and an ecological disaster. lincoln had certainly hoped for a war less catastrophic in terms of lives lost and damaged to the infrastructure and national landscape. his first inaugural address wanted peaceful settlement that

the secession crisis that had begun shortly after his november election. we are not enemies but friends and we must not be enemies, he optimistically predicted that the nations mystic chords of memory will swell the chorus of union when again touched as surely they will be by the better agent of our nature. war came one month later. he helped for a short war that would result in few casualties and not cause great damage to the infrastructure and landscape. 1851, lincoln sent a message to congress gathered at a special session to deal with the secession crisis and requested from congress 400,000 new troops and $400 million to give him the legal means for making this contest a short and decisive one. his generals and members of his

cabinet believed that would be the case. forward to richmond, the headlines read in northern newspapers, union army would march to richmond and defeat any confederate army in its path and take hold of the confederate capital and declare victory. memoirs,ar mr's, -- general share monroe that our often ateen told so home that all they had to do was make it bold appearance and the rebels would run. in mid july, the union army advanced to richmond was halted by a confederate army in the first battle of bull run, signaling this war would not be short or decisive. if they were could not be short, perhaps it could not become catastrophic and lincoln did not wish to fight a war of mass destruction against american citizens. several civil war generals on both sides of the conflict had studied the art of war at west point during the 1830's and 1840's. titled elements of

military art and science was required reading in many west point courses. the cadets learned that war could be limited to battlefields and not result in the sacking of cities, civilian deaths, and widespread damage to infrastructure and to the environment. general mcclellan, the head general of the union army during the conflict, advocated in a letter to lincoln, a war conducted upon the highest known christian principles, private property should not be confiscated or destroyed, pillage and waste should be treated as high crimes. wrote mcclellan. tactics such as these resulted in a two-year stalemate with high casualties on both sides. lincoln feared the northerners, tired of war, and sickened by the long list of casualties in northern newspapers, would call

for a piece that allow for southern independence. lakin raise the stakes of the war on general are first-come 1863 by issuing his emancipation proclamation. according to his document, the rebellious southern states would not return to the union with slavery in place. by this time, general mcclellan had been sacked by lincoln and other generals had been called -- calling for a more aggressive war, generals grant and sherman were raiding plantations later and confiscating and killing livestock, and confiscating -- after vicksburg fell in early july, sherman boasted that the land is devastated for 30 miles around. his work masterpieces were his capture of atlanta and subsequent march to the sea.

he burned much of atlanta and commenced his march. atlanta is in ruins with black smoke. sherman wrote. i can make this smart -- march and georgia howell. sea.ing things to the sheridan's vision was the shenandoah valley, a place of great natural beauty and his arm moved to the shenandoah countryside plundering plantations and ruining natural landscapes. in the hands of general sherman, sheridan, and grant, the war had become a total war and a great -- and great environmental damage occurred with plantations turned into waistline that's waste lands and -- waste lands and forests were destroyed by soldiers who created hundreds of miles of roads on which the armies traveled. during battles as soldiers,

letters and diaries of a test, trees were destroyed by fires and riddled with bullets. , a mane end of the war working for the department of agriculture, wrote a report titled, american forests near destruction and preservation, which stated that destruction of forests and timber during the war of rebellion had been immense. environmentalry historian who study the civil war estimates 2 million of the south trees were used during the war for construction and another 25,000 died from war wounds. water pollution was also a problem as armies with tens of thousands of troops marched through the countryside and camped along waterways and soils were poisoned with lead from both were large battles were fought. lincoln from washington did not witness firsthand the

infrastructure and extensive environmental damage caused by the work but did travel to gettysburg for months after the battle there, and you're the end of the war, visited it is burke, virginia, the site of a siege, both landscapes suffered as a result of the combat. the environmental dander -- damage could have been worse and longer lasting, during the war, lincoln and the department of war received several proposal to create gas and chemical weapons, fortunately, these weapons proposals were not acted upon. the war certainly dominated lincoln's presidency but even a wartime president must conduct other national business. for the onsetls of his presidency was to enhance the agricultural division, which was housed in the u.s. patent office when lincoln assumed the presidency. in his first message to congress delivered in december of 1861, lincoln called for an upgrade to

the agricultural additions, annual reports extending the condition of our agriculture, commerce, and manufacturers would present a wealth of information for great practical value for the country, he stated, the lemming knows he just and as to the details, i venture the opinion that agricultural as statistical bureau could profitably organize . on may 15, 1862, lincoln signed the bill to establish the department of agriculture, which he stated in his annual message to congress later that year, would be an immediate benefit of a large class of our most viable citizens, and the fruitful source to all our people. conditionport on the of america's forests at the end of the civil war was an immediate positive result of the created department of agriculture. in july of 18 city two, lincoln

cited to both the moral act, named after a vermont congressperson justin moral, the land-grant colleges, new or existing colleges and universities could obtain 30,000 acres of federal land if they established academic programs in the study of agricultural and mechanical arts, american agriculture practice had been anything but environmentally sound. few farmers practic's crop rotation and fertilization had not been formally studied. soils became nutritionally depleted and farmers simply chop down trees or burned forest to create new fields for their crops, causing widespread deforestation but lincoln participated in this kind of deforestation with the ax. at the land-grant colleges, they would study crop rotation and plant and soil diseases, and other subjects that would help develop more environmentally

sound agricultural practices. in march of 1863, lincoln signed a bill passed by the congress to incorporate the national academy of sciences. academy,aw created the comprising a group of 50 this thing with american scientist that could be called upon by any branch of the federal government to investigate any scientist subject and report its findings. the 150th anniversary of the national academy of sciences in , an, neil thomas tyson astrophysicist at new york state planetarium, delivered a speech acknowledging lincoln's role in the academy's creation. almost from her honest -- almost remember ebrahim lakin for the war, the time is remembered to remember him on a course of sightly -- i typically enlightened government if not for we may perish, he said.

perhaps the greatest environmentalist damaged caused by the civil war had opened lincoln and a nation to measures that would protect the american natural landscape. in 1854, at the height of the civil war, lincoln's minister to italy published a book titled "man and nature" or physical nature as modified by human affairs, he, and attorney and former member of the house of representatives, like congressman moral, a vermont need of, witness -- native, witness how the lumber business had devastated his home state forests, man and nature, and included chapters on animals, .oods, waters, and sand it detailed how human action damage the natural environment but man is everywhere a disturbing agent, he wrote, wherever he plants his foot, the

harmonies of nature are torn to discourse and even though man and nature work -- had information that may not be easily comprehended by readers without education or backgrounds , more than 100,000 copies of the book were sold during the first few months of publication. the book likely struck a chord with american readers at a time when a devastating war was fracturing their nation and damaging its natural landscape. perhaps lincoln's most far-reaching environmental action was one that he never wrote about or commented on in public. in may of 1864, senator john conyers of california wrote a titled the simi valley grant act, a decade earlier, a big tree protest had started in california and swept across the nation. two giant sierra redwood trees on public lands had been taken

down by entrepreneurs looking to display bark from the trees. first, california newspapers condemned the actions. even the new york herald editorialized against the slaughter of these two california trees. which have been given the names mama tree and mother of the forest. he was in the california assembly when the big tree protest occurred and had become determined to save his state forests. act -- simi valley rent grant act would give federal to the state of california for preservation from development. the bill stated that said state shall accept this grant upon the express condition that the premises shall be held for public use and recreation and shall be inalienable for all time.

lincoln signed the bill into law on june 30, 1864. the grant act was the forerunner of the national parks, the idea of governments preserving land for development had begun to take hold in the 1840's. in 1844, william: bright, the public and newspaper edit -- poet and newspaper editor called for new york politicians too great a great central park in new york city. as the city's population soared, green spaces were disappearing and he articulated that to preserve some green space as an escape from the growing urban landscape. in 1857, new york state lawmakers acquire land and designated it the creation of central park. in an article in atlantic monthly in 1858, henry david the rope call for national preserves -- henry david thoreau called for national preserves to be had for inspiration and our own troop recreation.

-- true recreation. the first national park yellowstone, established in 1872. the yellowstone valley grant act did more than preserve land in california but established the idea that the federal government would play a role in preserving and managing the natural environment. federal governments had managed land through the homestead act passed in 1862, but that legislation had given away, not preserved, federal land to individuals and to railroad companies for development. when his life tragically ended in 18 city five, abraham lakin -- in 1865, abraham lincoln was thinking about healing and nation action by war, the nature -- the nation would have to be healed politically, economically, spiritually, and perhaps environmentally, and in his final day signals that abraham lincoln may have been considering the damaging effects of four years of civil war and

what it had done to the american landscape. in her autobiography, mary lincoln's seamstress and companion, a former slave, reported an incident that took place in petersburg, virginia in april of 1865, near the end of the civil war. lincoln and his wife had visited petersburg after it came under union control. the city and its surrounding natural landscape had suffered damage during the union siege of petersburg that had lasted more than nine months. departing from petersburg, lincoln insisted his visiting party stop to view and a tree on the outskirts -- oak tree on the outskirts that attracted his attention. she said he and members of his party took a second look at the isolated and magnificent specimen of the stately grandeur of the forest.

every member of the party was only too willing to a siege to the president's request and to visit the tree, it was made and much enjoyed. perhaps lincoln admired the tree for its resilience during the long siege of petersburg. perhaps the tree suggested nature's endurance despite the damage brought upon natural landscapes by human beings. perhaps lincoln has sensed the natural environment symbolized by the tree would need care in the aftermath of this devastating war. had lincoln lived to complete his second term, he may have developed an environmental agenda that carry forward through the end of the 19th century. thank you. [applause] we have time for questions. >> i am david and my question is -- what are the unfair to say

that lincoln, as an environmentalist, policy was dismal given the total war policy? >> i'm sorry? >> unfair to say lincoln's policy as an environmentalist was dismal given the total war? >> in total? you could probably make that argument. i argue it was complicated, problematic, and still evolving at the time of his death. mike many other americans -- like many other americans, he did not quite understand in -- what was happening to the environment, yes, henry david thoreau worked -- were mentioning damage, perhaps during his presidency he began to listen. here.nk you for being dr. tackac: thank you. >> i am curious what you might

think about how lincoln would think about global warming and what might he do about it? thank you. dr. tackac: he did believe in science. [applause] he had a respect for science. i think he would have opened his mind to that argument. that has been leveled in the last several years. i think he would have been open to that argument, discussing that issue. it is sometimes hard to predict how lincoln would handle a problem we have now, or anybody from the past would handle a problem we have now. you know, that could be difficult to do. in addition to saying he believed in science, he also

believed in technology. dr. tackac: yes. >> which can come in conflict with environmentalism and i think i read that, they go back in time to look at green presidents come and lincoln usually is not mentioned in that term. do you think there was a conflict between the science side and the technology side of a bramley can? -- abraham lincoln? dr. tackac: yes, because he endorsed the railroad and other scientific developments which had an impact on the department. -- an impact on the environment. the names on the list are teddy roosevelt, five and d roosevelt, -- franklin d. roosevelt, richard nixon, for his creation of the environmental protection agency, lincoln sometimes makes those lists and sometimes does not. that, the conflict

between science and technology, environmentalism and technology, would be one that would interest him. >> i am vice president for programming at the lincoln group of d.c. and a docent at smithsonian american history and his science advisor, did you find out much about the relationship between the lincoln and joseph henry? dr. tackac: i did not, you can inform us. the firsthenry was president of the smithsonian and one of the founders. he had a weather station on top of the castle, the first building completed in 1853. when you study him and his biographer, they say he was lincoln's science dr. tackac: thank you.

and mary mused about going to europe and the holy land. he would talk about going out to see yosemite and the redwoods. he did indicate an interest and going out west. he loved reading about it. he said after this whole mess is over with, he and his wife were going on a nice tour of europe. but he also talked about perhaps visiting the west. he never got a chance to do that except through reading. >> i understand that the president lincoln was to date the only president of the united , for ito hold a patent righting a was for

ship that had capsized? dr. tackac: it was for keeping ships brilliant. if ships got stock, it was costly, they had to unload the ship and loaded the ship again, and he had gotten a patten. it was never implemented, but it was to solve the problem. >> in your studies, have you found that there was any sort of nexus between his interest in the natural world as you use ofed, and his physical principles to solve practical problems as evidenced by his patent? dr. tackac: yes. i think that is probably the best evidence. he did not have a formal education. he did not study physics. i think he had a great interest in those kinds of issues, and it

came out in that patent a uniqueon, which was discovery for its age. in your studies, did you find any indication that the war definitely had an impact or how did it impact -- that the --cticalities >> he totally endorsed the total was advocated by others. that would result in a tremendous damage to the natural landscape. he thought we had to win the war, but i think perhaps the damage to the landscape actually opened him up to a environmental in -- healing that needed to

take place. we will bind up the nation's wounds. maybe some of them were environmental that had to be bound up when the great war was going to end. the previous question, i want to mention at the smithsonian museum we do have his patent model on display. it is interesting pretty should come see it. last question. thank you very much. [applause]