brian: when yale university took the name john calhoun off of one of their buildings, what was your reactionthomas: oh my gosh. by this time, i had given up all hope for the academic world. practically nothing surprises me anymore. if we are again look retrospectively, for whatever reason the name was put on there, it was there. i don't know if anything has happened since then to make calhoun better or worse than he was when that decision was made. back, ife going to go you are so desperate you have to go back into history and find it, that really says something. brian: we talk about the impact of vietnam and watergate on the country. what about the impact of slavery on the country? thomas: great. in any a number of ways. the question is -- the thing that always gets me is that the past, whatever it is, good, bad, it is irrevocable. the only thing we have any influence over our the present in the future. pained we do -- i was so to learn that apparently angela merkel in germany saw the need to take in these refugees in order to help germany live down the terrible record of hitler's. nothing

when yale university ook the name john calhoun off one of their buildings, what was your reaction? my gosh, by this time, i had given up all hope or the academic world, and so practically nothing surprised me anymore. again, look g to, retrospectively, whatever reason it name was put on there, was there and i don't know anything that has happened since any that's made calhoun better or worse than he was when that decision was made. go back, going to first, you're so desperate for rievances that you have to go back into history to find them, that really says something. about the e talked impact of vietnam and watergate on the country. what about the impact of slavery country? mr. sowell: great in any number of ways. the question is -- the thing that always gets me is that the past, whatever the, good, bad, terrible, it's irrevocable, and the only thing we have any the present r are and the future. and nothing that we do -- i was pained to learn that, merkel in angela germany felt a need to take in in order to help germany live down the terrible record of hitler. ever going to change

and in this great debate, john calhoun is going to try to help us understand the power of the word "reserved." he says, the doctrine which denies to the states the right of protecting their reserved power -- that's a pretty bold statement, declaring the states have a right to do something. why would they have a right to protect their reserved power? because they're reserved. let look the word "reserved. " it means to exercise dominion over a thing to the exclusion of all others. think about this. if there's a chair on this stage and on that chair is a sign that says, reserved to krisanne hall. if someone else sits in chair what die have the right to do? kick them out, right? if the chair says, reserve to krisanne hall and i don't have the right to kick them out, is the chair reserved? no. by establishing through form and function, that the state's powers are reserved, the people in creating the states and the states in ratifying the constitution declared that these powers are the property of the state to exercise dominion over that property to the discussion exclusion of everybody else, to i

john c calhoun is the initial inspiration. >> you can also say looking at recent decades that it is one thing to making a statement, it is another when you get into the office and say let me look at that idea differently now that i am here. we can help. -- hope. [laughter] >> we will just to these four questions is because we are running out of time. me, i remember reading an author and he felt that he did not understand the civil war, he did not understand the history of america. i am wondering if lincoln had an was,ht into how big this in saying that i agree he was really talking about the situation, not of washington himself. his view of the civil war, he knew that this would be a big deal. right that he was facing a challenge that is bigger than washington. i would like your opinion on that. south carolina had been making trouble for years. nullification crisis was all about south carolina. there was a speech that said they had peculiar opinions and that state. lead, fiveina to the other states followed them. it was a whole new thing, they were a leader grade i think it would be an