founded not on ideals of human equality but in the famous words of the confederate vice president alexander stevensfounded upon, quote the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man, that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition, confederate states, the first government in the history of the world based upon this great physical, philosophical and moral truth. this enormous threat to the american future covered in expansive land larger than thor tire european territory conquered by napoleon. almost as large as the asia conquered by kahn. this confederacy was in the process of mobilizing a greater percentage of its population as soldiers than any european power had ever achieved. those troops were led by some of the most experienced military men on the north american continent starting with confederate president jefferson davis. a west point graduate, decorated combat veteran, and former u.s. secretary of war. the confederacy also wielded a powerful economic weapon near total control of the world's cotton supply at a time when textiles were driving

they were strongest in georgia where his own vice president alexander stevens and joseph brown led the assault, still jornl georgia remained for the president. vice president stevens and governor boune could not turn the state legislature against davis. until the bitter end davis remained the dominant political force in the confederacy. finally let's turn to davis as specific military commander in chief. davis never shunned his role as leaders of confederate people and nations i tried to show. at the same time he took quite seriously his position as a military commander and chief as the head of the confederate armed forces. davis considered himself an expert in military matters and he believed himself qualified it to command an army or it to command commanders of armies. he never doubted his own military ability or judgment. and directly the confederate war efforts, davis adopted hands-on tactics, his own pred election as well as his sense of duty involved in all aspects of confederate military from the trivial to the deadly serious. his administrative style dated back to his time z th

high school textbooks, but i wonder how many students of american history are asked to read alexander stevens' cornerstone speech? that would be a pretty effective anecdote that the civil war was not about slavery. jefferson was wrong -- >> someone in our audience has actually written that. >> the scholars bring to light the documents of our past that are frank and open about the racial idealogy. >> i never got my steak, by the way. i was never issued my steak. >> larry has a couple broken ones. >> that's when you get the steaks. >> the story of the lost cause has been mobilized around a set of political products. this goes without saying, i guess the premise of all this, it's the political projects that have been pervasive over the last 150 years which find useful material in the story of the lost cause that i think propels it forward and makes scholars sometimes relatively marginal in the conversation, because it's being driven by political projects of huge import. i'm reminded of the film "the birth of a nation." the character, ben cameron, right, ben cameron is a hero of the klansmen. one

high school textbooks, but i wonder how many students of american history are asked to read alexander stevens' cornerstone speech? that would be a pretty effective anecdote that the civil war was not about slavery. jefferson was wrong --

high school text books but i wonder how many students of american history are asked to read alexander steven's corner stone speech. that could be an effective anecdote that the civil war was not about slavery. there it is laid out. >> we quote it. >> bonner in our audience has written. >> i think scholars by bringing to light the documents of our past that are frank and open about the racial ideology of the confederacy can make a count contribution i hope people read those and confront what they mean. >> i imagined that reason that scholars seem drowned out. i never got my stake, by the waxt do you get a stake if i wasn't issued my stake. the reason -- >> gary has several broken ones. >> you get it when you write about the confederacy. >> there's -- the story of the lost cause has been mobilized around a set of political projects. it goes without saying i think the premise of all of this that it's the political projects that have been pervasive over the last 150 years which find useful material in the story of the lost cause that i think propels it forward and makes scholars relatively, someti

his vice president, guy by the name of alexander stevens flat out says, we need to leave to protect slavery. period. end of story. in some of davis's writings he says you cannot have the federal government infringing on these rights. this is it, end of story, we need to talk about it. you need to get this in your notes because i'm going to want you to be able to debate this issue of kind of how people are reacting and pointing to the constitution, these inaugural addresses to look at the issue of slavery and its influence and -- how should we phrase it? how it ties into the causes of the civil war. okay? y'all know or if you haven't heard it's sometimes a big fight over was slavery the central issue of the civil war, was it not the central issue of the civil war? this is classic material for an essay question for the last exam, okay. hint, hint, hitting you over the head with a hammer here. all right. you've got it. what i want you to be able to do -- remember, i don't want to know about your feelings. i don't care if you had an ancestor who served in the 6th wisconsin and the union is righ

johnson, george lund, alexander mu chef, steven a. shoresman, s.d.shubula, rob spire, and michael f. walsh. [ applause ] >> now to begin this evening, our old friend, not old, but good -- >> he's kind of old. >> atlantic council chairman senator chuck hagel. he's one of the men who constantly remind us what's best about washington. [ applause ] from serving his country in vietnam to the united states senate, he also serves as co-chairman of the president's intelligence advisory board. as co-chair of the china 100,000 strong initiative and is member of the secretary of defense's policy board. >> ladies and gentlemen, our friend and great leader, senator chuck hagel. [ applause ] >> thank you. i am grateful. this is old chuck. i am here on behalf of the board of directors of the atlantic council to thank you, to acknowledge what each of you continue to do for the atlantic council. you make a better world for all of us. that is the essence of why we recognize those tonight that joe and mica have already acknowledged because they represen

general steven carryny marched from kansas to santa fe to san diego and fought two major battles outside los angeles. a brigade of mormons that followed kearney's path nearly starved. alexander donaldson led a famous troop of missouri volunteers from santa fe to chihuahua, mexico. the hour yangs marched more than 2,000 miles and won two battles. after they marched from here to here, they marched all the way to monterey and then to the coast, and then they took a ship back to new orleans. it's a real epic. donaldson was called the zen upon the of the age. the treaty ending the war, the treaty of guadalupe hi call the go in february 1848 cost the united states $18 million or 37 cents per acre. it was the second best land bargain in u.s. history after the louisiana purchase which brought the u.s. 828,000 square miles for $15 million. just as the mexican war treaty was being signed, california was learning of a gold strike that would become the gold rush of '49. during the, what they called the roaring 40s, america's industrial age was in its early years. railroads and steamships were being rapidly built, and samuel morse's telegraph linked washington and baltimore, soon thereaf