the most important though was that thomas lincoln was a great storyteller. we know this from the testimony of two cousins of abraham on his mother's side. they grew up with the lincoln family, john hanks and dennis hanks. one of them said years after abraham lincoln was famous, one of them said that thomas was as good a story as abraham, and the other said he was an even better storyteller. abraham used stories throughout his life to warm up audiences. he used them as a lawyer in courtrooms to put witnesses, judges, juries at ease and on his side. he used them as a politician when he was speaking. he also used them in private to entertain people and to keep them away, to keep them off his back. one of his cronies remembered the moment after he was elected president but before he was inaugurated. so he had four months in springfield, illinois when the world is descending upon him, and this man -- his name was leonard sweat. he said that to all of his visitors, he heard them all, he told them all a story and he sent them all away. probably the smarter ones as t

in the first thing that i noticed when i first came to write about this is how far lincoln has moved from payne and thomas paine said that he revolted at the substitutionary atoen atonement, because it is making god out to be a passionate man who took revenge on his own son by killing him. but now, here, lincoln's god is willing the deaths of tens of thousands of hundreds of thousands of men to expash ynd slavery. the second thing i saw about this is the math of the gettysburg address which is four score and seven years, and that is to 1865, and that minus 250 is 1615, and this is jamestown. and that is the first american colony, the first colony to accept slaves from africa. so in the second inaugural, the found iing fathers have disappeared and the only major speech that lincoln gives except for the house divided speech were the founding fathers are not mentioned. they are a dimensional less point of toil that has to be paid for by the civil war. the second inaugural had a fourth paragraph, short paragraph which ends it. it is one sen sentence long. "with malice toward none, with charity for all, with f

and her kids, first son, bonds with thomas lincoln because he's like thomas lincoln. he just wants to be a subsistence farmer. that's his goal in life. and there's an anchored correspondent between him and abraham lincoln, because he's living with thomas lincoln, and they keep asking abraham lincoln for money, and lincoln sends it to them, but he's, you know, he writes them occasionally and why are you just scratching around from -- i think that's the phrase he uses, some really kind of rough phrase, why are you just scratching around from farm to farm? what kind of a life is this? and of course this is the life that lincoln had rejected. he didn't want to do this. he wanted to make something of himself and now he's a corporate lawyer and he's into politics and he's like thinking, oh geez, my, you know, my step brother here and my father, you know, what kind of a life are they leading. and it's a painful correspondent to read. >> herndon was not very kind to mrs. lincoln. >> they hated each other. well you know what? i think for him that was envy. didn't want anyone t

and the correspondence between him and abraham lincoln because he's living with thomas lincoln and they keep asking abraham for money and lincoln sent it to them, but he's, you know, he writes them occasionally and why are you just scratching around. i think that's what he has, and it's rough praise and why are you just scratching around farm to farm and what kind of a life is this? of course, this is the life that lincoln had rejected and he didn't want to do this and he wanted to make something of himself and now he's a corporate lawyer and into politics and he's thinking, oh, geez, my stepbrother here and what kind of life are they leading? it was a painful correspondence to read. >> herndon was not very kind to mrs. lincoln. >> yeah. you know what? i think for him that was envy, and he also hated children. you know? he said they were brats. they came into the office and threw the papers around and they made water on the floor and they made noise and they were terrible and i'm sure they did and lincoln apparenyas a father because he didn't, he wanted to do the oppite of what -- head'

thomas jefferson. mr. brookhiser is the author of "founder's son, a life of abraham lincoln." this hour-long talk is part of a series on the founders hosted by the society of the four arts in palm beach, florida. >>> welcome to the second presentation t

abraham lincoln didn't believe and this thomas jefferson didn't believe that.something -- they saw three equal branches. comes to this type of a ban, you are right, using what he said on the campaign trail, not looking at the constitutional nature of it. let's put the countries that this latest constitutional ban would ban travel from, iran, libya, north korea, somalia, syria, venezuela, and yemen. notably, north korea and venezuela, not muslim majority countries. why do you believe the supreme court will uphold this ban? >> well, just take a look at that third ban. i mean, what the court did in hawaii was to say right, we're going to exclude venezuela and north korea and we'll just do it for the rest. i mean, that's just shear politics, basically. and it's dangerous. and it invites a rebuke from the president. and those terrible words of andrew jackson, the chief justice has made his law now let him enforce it. pete: frank, can we pull politicking out of thpolitics o? is there something the executive branch can do to change this. >> the third branch the judges

thomas jefferson had an audience because he was a president. abraham lincolnrom atlanta, georgia changed the world. we are here today to recognize his genius. we saw the tremendous rhetorical ferocity of a hip-hop star out here spitting lyrics. but how about being in your hotel room, sick and tired, raining like cats and dogs, and you don't feel well. the audience might be low. and they call you in your hotel room, room 306 in the lorraine motel. and then you get up, get dressed, and go to mason temple and give one of the coldest off the top of the dome speeches every given. all we say, america, be true to what you said on paper. and here yes living. i'm going to introduce this panel. but you know what time it is. we're living with a man who gets up every morning at 5:30 a.m., talking about a shit hole country. we know where the shit hole is. beneath his nose and above his chin. he gets up every morning to ex-crete the feces of moral depravity into a nation he has turned into a psychic commode. antiquated, adolescent, recalcitrant, arthritic, proud to be moles

thomas has the story. >> it's 160 years this year. yeah it's old. >> reporter: when the mayor island naval cemetery came into being abe lincoln was four yearsa awayton had just been born. fws a place where heroes are buried. >> they went wait, way above and beyond the call of duty. >> retired army colonel nester aliga is part of a group of volunteers working to save the cemetery in years of neglect. although remember they keep the grass cut and weeds down. the grave stones are crumbling, the drainage problem haves affected it. not what you'd expect for the medal of hrn recipients. >> this history compels you. >> mirena heads the non-profit historic trust. they need money. the property was deeded to the city of vallejo when the navy moved out in 1996. but the feds left no money to care for it why both the volunteers and the is it he want the navy or the department of veteran affairs to take over the property again. >> and if we don't move this forward, to me it's a slap in the face to not only veterans those that served, but the entire city of vallejo. >> the city draft add letter saying it will deed the property toe the feds while nester head as

lincoln saved. -- saved it. at brown university, he said no one is teaching american history. in 1801, thomas jefferson wrote to joseph easily, and in the steelers and who came to the country in 1794 and said, "we can no longer say there's nothing new under the sun, for this whole chapter in the history of mankind is new. enormousn, it is an privilege to introduce our speakers, the two great historians who indeed are mindful of the future, have contributed greatly with their prodigious research to the past, and their exquisite writing and scholarship. ladies and gentlemen, joseph ellis and gordon wood. thank you. [applause] >> we will start with professor wood. let's start with the declaration. what were some of the great challenges that led to the declaration? professor wood. essor wood: the decision had been made on july 2. that is the day that jefferson thought would be celebrated. committee, five declarationop this which i think no one at the time fully realized the importance of it. they gave it to this younger man who had come lay to the second to thental -- come late second continental