this question might be answered by earle shettleworth there. what was the relationship of mr. blaine towards the native population of the state? native american population. we know there were natives in the civil war that had their own regiments and what not down in the south. >> thank you, jonathan. i'll jump in because our time is really short. big question but short time. >> yeah. i'm not sure that i have a quick answer for that. >> is that right? any place to go for that? is there material available in maine's historical -- >> i would definitely look to neil's book to start out with. and also the state library. very good reference at the state library. >> i would like to close. we have just really a minute left and ask you the question. support our thesis. what was the legacy, what's the importance to america today of james g. blaine having been a politician here? >> i think his influence as secretary of state was very important. it's a great legacy. his desire to build some kind of cohesion between the north american and south american and central american states. >> i th

this question might be answered by earle shettleworth there. what was the relationship of mr.ward the native population of the state? native american population? because we know there were natives in the civil war, had their own regiments and what not down in the south. >> thank you, jonathan. i'll jump in because our time is really short. big question but short time. >> yeah. i'm not sure that i have a quick answer for that. >> is that right? any place to go for that? is there material available in maine's historical --

this question might be answered by earle shettleworth there. what was the relationship of mr.e towards the native population of the state? native american population. we know there were natives in the civil war that had their own regimens and what not down in the south. >> thank you, jonathan. i'll jump in because our time is really short. big question but short time. >> yeah. i'm not sure that i have a quick answer for that. >> is that right? any place to go for that? material available in maine's historical -- >> i would definitely look to neil's book to start out with. and also the state library. very good reference at the state library. >> i would like to close. we have just really a minute left and ask you the question. support our thesis. what was the legacy, what's the importance to america today of james g. blaine having been a politician here? >> i think his influence as secretary of state was very important. it's a great legacy. his desire to build some kind of cohesion between the north american and south american and central american states. >> i think there's that

earle shettleworth is maine's state historian and is also the director of maine's historic preservationhanks for being here. elizabeth leonard, chair of the history department at maine's colby college and an expert on the civil war era of history. let me have you set the stage for us, about mid 1880s america, 20 years past the civil war. what was the country like at this time? we are going into this election and he is a contender. >> i would start by saying we are a long ways past the civil war in many ways. i think that's indicated by the fact that there is going to be a democratic president that is elected that year, and that would have been unthinkable just a short time before that. that's one thing to say. >> why would it have been unthinkable? >> because the republicans were the winners of the war and they had controlled the government for a long time and they had controlled reconstruction. and it feels to many like a handoff to the south to let the democrats come in to the white house. >> now i'll stay with you for a second because maine is your expertise. but talk to me about nor