the scholarly take is how does this process compared to some kind of ideal. as a policymaker, you're less interested in that. there is no one ideal that exists in every circumstance. if you're asking the question i'm asking, does this process produce the best decision for this president at this moment? you realize that the answer will differ from president to president. more about the decision to increase american troop levels in iraq. ,his is american history tv only on c-span3. the history -- is on the campus of unc chapel hill in north carolina.

>> this is a contested claim that we argue with the university of georgia about. there is a question about whether georgia's was charted first. the unc charter came later but the unc opened first. the unc and the city were founded at the same time. when this area was selected, there was no counter village here. there were a few farms. there was an anglican chapel, but no town to speak of. on the day that they laid the cornerstone, they also had an auction of town lots. they understood that if the university was going to succeed, they needed a town to support it, to provide businesses and places for people to live. the town and the university were born in the same day.

the university was chartered in 1789. the ground broke on the first 1795,ng in 1793 and in the university opened. they held a ceremony. no students showed up. it took a few weeks before the first student showed up. he came from over 100 miles knew the coast of north carolina. he was the entire student body for two weeks before more students drifted to campus. for the first century, it was a school for white men only. theas on ly 1890 before first woman was admitted. they did not start admitting african-americans until the 1950's. slave people were involved in all of the early campus fillings. -- buildings. slavery playedat

a role in the financing of the university. this one, due to the fact that the state legislature did not originally allow funding for the university. they provided funding through the sheets. if any unclaimed property, meaning the owner died without a legal heir, the unclaimed property would belong to the university and they would sell it and take the proceeds. there were a number of situations where the university inherited enslaved people and immediately ordered them to be sold to finance the university. after the civil war, slavery was an integral part of life in the town of chapel hill. students and faculty were overwhelmingly on the side of the confederacy. theus life dwindled in years after the civil war. a lot of students left to enlist.

the university stayed open but only barely. only at the end of the war did troops make it to the village of chapel hill. the university administrators and state leaders managed to negotiate from preventing the university from being destroyed. from many soldiers united states regiments housed on campus and in nearby towns. a branch of the railroad finally came to town. a couple of textile mills developed. the industry for the town and nearby communities began to develop outside the community. in the 1890's, the university began a drive toward becoming a modern university. this meant expanding enrollment and making a more constructive effort to be involved in a

positive way for the life of the state. the university began to grow in prestige and in national reputation. was embarkingn it on an ambitious building and growth campaign. to some extent, inspired by universities in the midwest. engageversity began to not just with the state of north carolina but the region. these academic programs attracted students from all over and brought attention to toversity faculty and began develop this reputation as a regional leader but also a national leader in higher education. the university is vastly different today from when it was founded. some of the buildings are still there but it is tough to imagine place from the

bustling place it is now. unc is now a modern global university. it has tied to programs and research facilities all over the world. it's still located in the heart of the state and is at the center of public life in the heart of north carolina. that's really important. staff cities tour recently traveled to chapel hill, north carolina. learn more about chapel hill and other stops, visit c -span.com/citiestour. you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend, on c-span3. >> next, historians james holland and richard frank discussed two grim events that took place in june andul