first of all, the 250 years of unrequited toil. once again, the theft of labor. 250 years of stolen labor. that's what we've seen. and then for one of the very few times in his career talking about the physical brutality of slavery. usually lincoln talks about slavery as an abstraction, a principle. here it's that every drop of blood drawn with the lash. in other words, lincoln is reminding the country that the horrible violence of the civil war has been preceded by the horrible violence of slavery. that is the moral equation in the war, says lincoln. and implicitly from talking previously about compensating the owners, the second inaugural raises the question, what is due to the slaves? what is the nation's responsibility for that 250 year of unrequited labor? what are the requirements of justice in the face of this long history? what is necessary to enable these slaves and the descendants of the slaves to enjoy the pursuit of happiness that lincoln always thought was their natural right but what had been so long denied to them? w

(laughs) >> totally unrequited. totally unrequited. but it took a lot of time. it took a lot of tears and years to figure this out. my family was very nervous about it because as the minority they saw my marrying a christian as a threat to judaism and the traditions. now they were not observant jews but they were strong cultural jews. in fact one of the odd dis here is that while they objected to my marrying a catholic, the first seder, the first passover my mother ever went to was at her catholic daughter-in-law's because she never grew up with that tradition. in many ways... i couldn't have predicted it, but marrying a woman of faith made ritual and faith and belief more a part of my life and in many ways i'm a better jew because i married a catholic. >> they all say i'm the best jew in the family and i keep saying low bar. >> not a lot of competition. >> rose: and to the rituals and faith and understanding what's best about the cultural... >> and also drag him to temple and things like that. >> rose: you drag him to team? >> yes, he said for a while my mother