diana schaub, the last word is to you. our friend colin thibeault says some of lincoln speeches are famous for being very short. was that intentional and does that impact his rhetorical intention and constitutional ideas? your thoughts on his shortness as we close this wonderful program. >> yes, and i think i don't have much time left to answer this. so i will try to be as brief as lincoln. yes, he acquires this gift for brevity and you see it especially in the gettysburg and the second inaugural. i think it's very deliberate on his part. part of it, especially in the gettysburg address, i think is he hoped it would be memorized by americans. so my suggestion is that we all commit both the gettysburg address and the second inaugural to memory. >> what a wonderful challenge, and friends, let's take up diana schaub'challenge. and if you succeed in memorizing either the gettysburg address or the second inaugural, then write to me and jay rosen at constitutional center dot org and let me know! i will send you a congratulations

his greatest speeches how lincoln moved the nation welcome michael burlingame noah feldman and diana schaub. michael berlin. let us begin with you. tell our friends why you argue in your new book that lincoln was the black man's president and you have you have several speeches of frederick douglass that you begin with including in 1865 eulogy on lincoln where he said no people at class of people in the country have a better. reason for lamenting the death of lincoln then have the colored people. what is the significance of that? speech? and why do you believe that lincoln was the black man's president? well, thank you very much for your kind introduction and thank you for inviting me. i feel a little out of place because my book is focused the central theme i'm book is let's not focus on lincoln speeches and writings and policies in the light. let's focus on lincoln's interaction with black people both in springfield and in washington, but the title of the book comes from a eulogy that frederick douglass delivered on june 1st 1865 in cooper union the premiere site in the country to give up