what we think will be an enduring legacy of amazon. how to build and operate customer focused long-term thinking and organizations that take a pride in operational excellence. announcer: watch the communicators monday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. announcer: the lincoln presidential library and museum houses some of the president's rarest and most confidential documents. we take you inside for a look at some of these treasures and the stories behind some of abraham lincoln's most famous words. >> e are standing, this is the archive where we have about 52,000 items related to abraham lincoln and we have a vast archive of illinois history, about 12 million pages worth of

manuscripts. about 200,000 books, half a million photographs and videos. it's really the place where researchers come to write books about abraham lincoln, dissertations etc. even filmmakers come here and across the street in the museum that's where the public comes from all over the world. we have visitors from more than 100 countries worldwide they come to our museum to learn more about the life and times of abraham lincoln. here in the library we love the museum, because it's our stage. it's where we can put some of these documents and personal items that help illustrate the life of abraham lincoln edits where we can share them with the world. we have about 52,000 pieces in our lincoln collection and the majority of those pieces are housed downstairs in our private controlled archives. many pieces reside in our vault.

we take very seriously here our job to preserve those items because 500 years from now, and it sounds like a long way off but i want people to be able to see these pieces that help bring abraham lincoln's life really in full color. today i pulled some items from a controlled vault that i wanted to share with you. a handful of documents, some from abraham lincoln's personal life, some from his very public life but help illustrate why today abraham lincoln is considered america's greatest president and he is the most written about american of all times. the first piece comes from january 1851. abraham lincoln had just come back from being a congressman. his term in congress didn't go particularly well. he really devoted himself at that point to rebuilding his law practice. he got a series of letters

coming from his father's home and the news was that his father was not doing well.his health was really failing. they were begging lincoln to come visit his father on his deathbed. abraham lincoln didn't answer the first letter. it's not until a second letter comes that he decided to pen the letter addressed to dear brother. it's to his stepbrother john d johnston. abraham lincoln writes really the last words that he wants read to his father and i will read just a little bit here to give you a flavor of what mr. lincoln writes. "you already know i desire neither father or mother shall want of any comfort either in health or sickness while they live and i feel sure you have not failed to use my name as necessary to procure a doctor or any such thing. abraham lincoln was a well-known lawyer.

he was a former congressman and certainly he could use his name and you can acquire a doctor to help his father to his final illness. but abraham lincoln's says in this letter "my business is such now that i could hardly leave home. if it were not as it is that my own wife is sick of bed a case of baby sickness and i suppose is not dangerous. mary had just given birth the previous december to their little boy willie but he writes down a small paragraph here that he wants read to his father on his deathbed. these are the last words that lincoln once spoke to his father. "i sincerely hope, father, may yet recover his help at all events tell him to remember to call upon and confide in our great and good and merciful maker, who will not turn away from him in any extremity. he notes the fall of the sparrow and numbers the hair of our heads.

and will not forget the dying man who puts his faith in him. it's a pretty the religious words from abraham lincoln, who it's pretty well known that he had not exactly the most orthodox religious views but of course as mr. lincoln matures his religious views become more mature as well. those words that he wants read to his father come from the gospels. abraham lincoln was certainly an individual who knew his bible very well but i think it's significant that he chooses those religious words to be read to his father on his deathbed because he knew his father was a religious man. thomas lincoln did die from that final illness. abraham lincoln didn't visit him on his deathbed, he didn't attend his funeral. he never introduced his wife or his children to his father. it's a complicated relationship. the next piece that i decided to show, this comes from abraham lincoln's presidency.

this is one of the most significant documents that abraham lincoln ever issued. this is a copy of the emancipation proclamation. for the first year and and a half of the civil war abraham lincoln fought the conservative war a war to save the union and not attack slavery. by the summer of 1862 it is clear that something needs to be done about slavery so abraham lincoln, after the battle of antietam, the bloodiest day in american history, abraham lincoln issues the emancipation proclamation, which frees those slaves that are in territories that are currently under rebellion. the original emancipation proclamation doesn't exist. it was actually burned up in the great chicago fire in 1871. this is one of we think 48 copies that abraham lincoln signed afterwards.

these were commemorative copies. this includes abraham lincoln's original signature as well as the signature of his secretary of state and his secretary. this was the document that was issued as a war measure. abraham lincoln was the commander-in-chief. he was trying to put down the rebellion. in theory the emancipation proclamation would only be in effect as long as there was an open rebellion. once the rebellion was quashed, the emancipation proclamation would no longer be the law of the land. in january 1865 congress passed the 13th amendment. it was forwarded along to the states and that's how the 250 year institution american slavery meets its end. i chose this document to help illustrate abraham lincoln's relationship with his generals. famously abraham lincoln went through several generals commanding union forces before

he found ultimately ulysses s grant that helps bring an end to the american civil war. earlier in the war abraham lincoln thought he had found his general, general george mcclellan, a young very intelligent individual graduate of west point graduated second , in his class in 1846. lincoln thought mcclellan could bring an end to the war and it turns out there were problems all along the way. after the battle of antietam in september 1862 abraham lincoln is begging general mcclellan to move the army and pursue the rebels. pursue robert e lee and maybe bring an end to this horrible war and time and time again, general mcclellan would have a series of excuses for the president of the united states on why he couldn't leave his soldiers to deliver a knockout blow to the confederate forces. in this letter written october

27, 1862, i think you get a sense of mr. lincoln's losing his patients with general. he writes, "general mcclellan,yours of yesterday received most certainly i intended no injustice to end the end if i've done any i deeply regret it. but to be told after more than four weeks total inaction of the army and during which period we have sent to that army every fresh horse we possibly could to mounting the whole too and he leaves a blank space, but the cavalry of horses were too much fatigued to move. presented a very cheerless almost hopeless prospect for the future and it may have for -- forced something of impatience into my dispatches. if not recruited and rested

then, when could they ever be? mr. lincoln is writing a response to a report that mcclellan staff had sent to him saying they couldn't pursue robert e lee's forces at the moment because their horses were too fatigued. they were even suffering from sore tongues, as the general said. abraham lincoln had to have been frustrated when he got this report back. notice we said he left a gap there and when he completed this letter i think abraham lincoln wanted to know the exact number of horses that he had sent general mcclellan and his army. and abraham lincoln found out, we had sent 7918 horses to mcclellan. he is frustrated with general mcclellan but how much longer is he going to have patience for mcclellan? there's an election that comes up the next week in 1862 it's the midterm election and the day after the election he relieves mcclellan of his duty. the next piece we brought out of the vault today i think is the most significant piece that we

have at the abraham lincoln presidential library and museum. that is saying a lot for a world-class collection but this is one of five copies of the gettysburg address. hand written by abraham lincoln. this time that he wrote the gettysburg address he gave it to a man named edward everett. today we don't really remember edward everett but in the 19th century edward everett was a prominent individual, a great speaker, he's actually the main speaker that day at gettysburg on november 19, 1863. he gives the main speech when they are dedicating the cemetery. he gives a talk that lasts for over two hours. he did not speak from notes and he sort of put the battle of gettysburg into the context of world history and the great battles of world history. after he finished his talk abraham lincoln came up and read from two sheets of paper and

afterwards everett sent him a little note that said, you said more in two minutes and i was able to say in two hours. would you write out the gettysburg address and send it to me. this is what abraham lincoln sent him. everett made a scrapbook memorializing that day and on the final pages he pasted in these two pages of the gettysburg address. in the 20th century that scrapbook was available for purchase and school kids in illinois during world war ii they save their pennies they -- save their pennies and nickels and they were able to purchase that scrapbook containing the gettysburg address. they then donated that scrapbook to the illinois state historical library and of course that's our collection. i love this piece the gettysburg address written by abraham lincoln, how could he get any better than that? but it has an illinois

connection and that's really our mission. abraham lincoln and the entirety of illinois history and this document speaks to it perfectly. i wanted to end by showing you a letter from the end of abraham lincoln's life. this was written on march 20, 1865 and this is really abraham lincoln's response to an admirer. the young lady had told her brother that she wanted abraham lincoln to handwrite the second inaugural and send it to her. the request comes to abraham lincoln and he wants to do something nice for this young lady named mrs. amanda hall. he doesn't write out the entirety of his second inaugural address. the second inaugural is the

shortest inaugural address in american history. just 702 words. it's incredible poignant. it's also may be the best religious meditation on the meaning of the civil war and as i said at the time, abraham lincoln second inaugural sounded more like a sermon than it did in the standard political speech. what's interesting is mr. lincoln just writes out one paragraph from the second inaugural and it's not the most famous paragraph that we remember today, paragraph that we remember today with malice toward none, charity from all, instead abraham lincoln writes out this paragraph. out this paragraph "fondly do we hope fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. yet if god wills that it continues until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and so every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with

the sword. as was said 3000 years ago, so still it must be said the judgments of the lord are true and righteous altogether." abraham lincoln had been searching throughout the american civil war to figure out what's god's purpose, why do the american people have to suffer such a horrible calamity of civil war, four years this war had gone on for more than 600,000 casualties by this point. mr. lincoln spent a lot of time talking to god. this is the answer that he thinks god is sending to america both sides north and south have to suffer because both sides played a role in the egregious sin of american slavery. abraham lincoln feared that people might not react really well to his words in the second inaugural to his conclusion of why they are suffering had to occur because in abraham lincoln's words, people don't

often like to be told when they are wrong. a beautiful poignant note that abraham lincoln sums up the war with. nothing replaces primary sources. the letters that abraham lincoln left behind, those artifacts that he left behind, they are powerful pieces of the past. documents are the bedrock of what makes up those 18,000 books that are written about abraham lincoln. the new documents come to light all the time and every once in a while they help fit puzzle pieces together. those objects that are in our museum you can read about the civil war, you can watch movies or documentaries about abraham lincoln's life but there is power in museum objects. he achieved great amazing things but we can't lose sight of the he's another citizen of america like us. that is really powerful lesson. announcer: congress returns for

legislative business on february 22. until then committees continue work on covid relief legislation based on president biden's $1.9 trillion plan. they face a february 16 deadline for their bills and the house plans to take up the bill by the end of the month. the next vote is expected on monday, the 22nd. the senate is scheduled to take up the nomination of lyndon greenfield to be u.s. ambassador to the united nations, a particular vote to advance her nomination with a confirmation vote expected the following day for tom vilsack to be agriculture secretary. chambers are holding brief pro forma sessions. watch the house alive on c-span, the senate live on c-span2. former health and human services secretary mike leavitt testified on the government's coronavirus response in