also it is the same year president abraham lincoln was assassinated by john wilkes booth. people in cincinnati where devastated to hear this news. just to my right we have the secretary desk. this belong to alphonso taft, william's father. this was the desk he probably while he was an attorney, possibly downtown in cincinnati, which we have been fortunate enough to have acquired back here in the caps on. mantle have a slate fireplace. we put this marble finish back on it as it originally had won -- worn when the taft's had installed it. this was very typical back in the victorian era days, since children had to wear cloth diapers. it was more of a convenience for the parents to put boys in a dress. when they needed to go to the bathroom all mom had to do was , raise up the dress, pop in the two safety pins, and then the boys could go to the restroom. over in the bookcase i will , point out shakespeare's dramatic works. these are original books, which they would time to read and discuss. also down in the lower bookcase level there are smaller books you see, black books that

during the civil war when you had secession and then purportedly everybody everybody -- except for john wilkes-booth helping move forward once the gettysburg address was proclaimed and once you had general lee give general grant his sword and in my view from what the president who followed did i think should have been impeached. he should have been tried for treason and all of the northern troops the union troops out of the south and allowing the rampage against the former slaves to take place and the horrors that took place for many years thereafter, i think there is a betrayal of these lofty statements that are contained in the forming of this union and the further portrayal happens to be what occurred at every war where african-americans were told he will be free and you will have equal rights and we have riots, murders etc. taking place thereafter. do you think that maybe the next step that's important would be to write the wrong maybe where a lot of folks who are in the confederacy just say that leigh just gave grant his sword and the president of the confederacy etc. or what would be your thou

and so we can learn things, john wilkes booth, ashley wilkes in gone with the wind, there's an allusion this. the judge in the case, that everyone does pay attention to come a little bit after this affair, the judges named is camden as in camden, new jersey, camden, maine. our friend from baltimore, the orioles, they play in camden yard. so it's a very big deal and wilkes is a big deal and you can see it on a map. otis is not so much. and so the last chapter is actually the story and you have heard about the great william penn and the great city of philadelphia. and then i say that there is this little bunny dangerfield in this gritty little plays. but actually they have a story to tell as well. he was a very great man, he believed in american independence and liberty and i tried to tell the story about how if we pay attention when he said it has interesting implications as to how we can protect these rights today. >> you see how this great teacher, how these can bring these cases behind the constitution to light. phenomenal questions from the audience and i better start asking them bec

during the civil war when you had secession and then purportedly everybody everybody -- except for john wilkes-booth helping move forward once the gettysburg address was proclaimed and once you had general lee give general grant his sword and in my view from what the president who followed did i think should have been impeached. he should have been tried for treason and all of the northern troops the union troops out of the south and allowing the rampage against the former slaves to take place and the horrors that took place for many years thereafter, i think there is a betrayal of these lofty statements that are contained in the forming of this union and the further portrayal happens to be what occurred at every war where african-americans were told he will be free and you will have equal rights and we have riots, murders etc. taking place thereafter. do you think that maybe the next step that's important would be to write the wrong maybe where a lot of folks who are in the confederacy just say that leigh just gave grant his sword and the president of the confederacy etc. or what would be your thou

talk about where he admits to the union that publicly endorses then is an incredible moment and john wilkes booth with linkedin endorsement and then to act on the threat. and then to give the vote to blacks because what is the postwar settlement? but how will they live to be adjusted in to the new world of freedom? >> you mentioned reconstruction. with a contested meeting after the four years of for a pair of machines that would have been. so the same way the house was before. but to completely rebuild and that contest with reconstruction everyday through 1865 but the war itself. >> it is a debate over reconstruction and restoration with different location and. and to have that decision will the nation of look-alike? san the ideas about that so part of the problem of reconstruction if those states if your assumption in's that secessionism constitutional even though they say those services are gone creates a different set of possibilities. for those who'd talked in those terms but lincoln had no use of the status of the state as a pernicious destruction. with the our practical relations to t

so it's such an incredible moment speaking about the meaning of the war and john wilkes booze is among those standing in the crowd, and he said that at the last speech that you will ever made. to the extent in which he is part of civil rights and that includes the northern industrial capitalist state that howard friedman going to live in sort of be a into this new world of freedom. >> reconstruction is when you rebuild after a fire or damage from the storm. and another meaning is that you completely rebuild on a new pattern and a new foundation and so that contest between these two meanings of reconstruction and all sorts of other manifestations that grew out of these contested meanings was at the core of the -- okay, not only of the postwar years but the war itself. >> that's exactly right and the debate over reconstruction, restoration and that there from the beginning. and one thing that he understood from the start is that he had this vision and at some point this will start in denmark. what will this nation look like and his ideas about god going through a lot of changes in turmoi

and he's wearing a t-shirt that has a quote from john wilkes booth when he shot lincoln the latin wordsts thus forever and on the back of the t-shirt, there's the words of thomas jefferson that the tree of liberty must be watered from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots. >> i left a trail on purpose, a few pieces in my car, i had a piece i was wearing on my back so even if i wouldn't have been apprehended and had a trial i would have still gained the benefit automatically of being identified. i had already made sure that was in place. >> mcveigh had this all very carefully choreographed and he decides to go this way. and let the federal agents connect the dots that mcveigh has so conveniently placed for them. >> mcveigh's trail begins to come rapidly into focus for investigators. but to the local police in perry, he is still being detained as just a small-time offender. it's a cat and mouse chase mcveigh clearly relishes. >> i described it as playing a game with them. i am playing the game with law enforcement and every day i laug laugh. >> by the time federal agents ide

why is there a statue of john wilkes booth? i would be happy to explain, but history is about asking questions and getting questions. i would welcome any questions. because we have c-span here, we want to hear the questions. please raise your hand if you have a question, comment. right behind you? >> big fan. i'm one of the teenagers who read your book. mr. davis: you make me feel so old. >> sorry. the first chapter is the revolution, the second is civil war. you talk about bad wars and good wars. 1812 and the war of mexico -- can you talk about that? mr. davis: which six battles did i choose and why did i leave others out? there are six battles. yorktown. petersburg. civil war. i write about that because it is one of the overlooked. we know about gettysburg, atlanta burning, antietam. petersburg gets overlooked. it is unfortunate for a number of reasons. it really is the final point at which we and grant are battling face to face. it is the story of the people of petersburg caught between two warring armies. the fact they were

during the civil war when we have secession purportedly everybody was almost at a point except john wilkes-boothf this move forward once the gettysburg address was displayed and want to head general made gift general grant his sword. in my view from what the president followed lincoln did i think he should have been impeached and he should have been tried for treason and what occurred in terms of safety all of the northern union troops out of the south and allowing a rampage against these former slaves to take place and the horrors that took place for many years thereafter i think there is a bit trail of these lofty statements that are contained in the forming of this union. in a further betrayal happens to be what has occurred in every war were african-americans were told you will be free. you will have equal rights essentially and we have riots, murders etc. taking place thereafter. do you think that maybe the next step that's important would be to right the wrong maybe wear a lot of folks who are in the confederacy just think we just gave grant his sword and that was it. he wasn't president o

a similar case, john wilkes is accused of printing anonymous pamphlets criticizing the king. he objects to the general warrant is invalid because it did not specify a specific place. a jury believes it violated the natural rights of the english people. those are two examples of jurors refusing to convict people. do you really believe given that history of our constitution, the fact that we are now a democracy and no longer ruled by a king means that civil juries should not retain the right to nullify what they consider unjust laws? >> the context of nullification, you have an arbitrary authority, you have had no voice in the shaping of those laws. suddenly, you are up against them. the king has said, i know what seditious libel is and i have proven it. the jury says, we don't agree with it. one of the things was, they might have a right to collect, but it is unfair. it is making law. why do you want 12 people arbitrarily chosen to make law? a little bit different. everybody wants to nullify something. you have a ruling about gay marriage, you have governors who say, not here.

across the 11 street bridge, this was a conduit of liberty this is how it looked the night the john wilkes booth wrote across it. this is a guard on the bridge. he seemed to feel confident that he was among friends for tomato concealment of his character and purpose area he said he had walked 60 miles and was going north. we can't get our young folks walk across the street. and then there is emancipation in washington. april 16 18 to two. it was the day that should live on in history, it is the only instance of copperheads of emancipation in the history of our country. and this is on a negroes outside the district. five days before the passage of they were running away in numbers. there were making their way to the city of washington having got the idea that they will be free here. it is reported that 100 to 200 slaves crossed the eastern branch bridge every week. the work of people like patsy, we would not know what we know about this. in the case of d.c. emancipation, a small number of african-americans also got paid in the case of gabriel coakley, he is one of the black folks who have m

. >> can you imagine, like, if lee harvey oswald had had the chance to spill his guts or john wilkes booth? i knew i had one of the most saddest and horrible stories that has ever been told in american journalism. >> i never had trouble admitting to my involvement in what i did, because i feel no shame for it. you see, with these tapes, i feel very free in talking. you've got this adrenaline pumping, but you force yourself to stay calm and not be noticed. i then pulled up to the light, which was red at the time, and then lit the main fuse, which was approximately two minutes. you could see someone calling me a coward with a 7,000-pound bomb. i lit the two-minute fuse at stoplight and i swear to god, that was the longest stoplight i ever sat in in my life. i'm thinking, okay, it's lit. green. green. i'm down, what, a minute 30? i pulled up to the building, pulled the parking brake, turned it off, and then i made sure my door was locked. stepped out and walked across the street. the mission was accomplished. i knew it was accomplished and it was over. >> without warning, all of a sudde

as he sits in the booth watching the play, the president is assassinated by john wilkes booth. weitzel resumes his career in the corps of engineers. he dies in philadelphia, pennsylvania, march 19, 1884. he dies of a typhoid fever. he marries a second time. they have three children. two die in infancy. one daughter, irene, survives. weitzel's grave is in a very modest plot in cincinnati, ohio in spring grove cemetery. the day i went looking for it, i had a hard time finding it. it's a small slab with his name, birthdate, date of his death. years later, someone etched the word "general" above his name, perhaps as an afterthought. not to think the military forgot about his accomplishments. arlington cemetery, ironic as it is, the former home of robert e lee, you will find weitzel drive is one of the main roads running through the cemetery today. at a gate on the east entrance to arlington cemetery, two columns erected, ord-weitzel gate. although his grave site in cincinnati is modest and humble, the army honored him in arlington cemetery. so that is right at an hour, and it's the

but did you know that john wilkes booth's get away horse had one eye? >> is that relevant? >> it's not relevant but it's an interesting fact. >> if that horse had two eyes -- >> one eye. he would've gotten away with it. >> he still got away on a horse with one eye. i'm brian unger and i'm a time traveler. that's why i'm here. well, okay, i have a show on the travel channel called "time traveling" with yours truly. it's not actually yours truly, but my midwestern humility prevents me from saying my own name in the title of my own show. so it's time traveling with me. brain unger. okay. there, i said it. >> one of the most dramatic stories in american history, and a turning point for the nation begins here in downtown washington, april 1865. the golden gate bridge was built in the midst of the great depression. a symbol of new deal optimism in very dark times. manhattan's skyscrapers, they have defined this city for over a century. but back in 1913 there was one behemoth building that set the standard for all skyscrapers to come. >> we're slicing off a piece of history that m

also it is the same year president abraham lincoln was assassinated by john wilkes booth. people in cincinnati where devastated to hear this news. just to my right we have the secretary desk. to alfonso task. this was the desk he probably worked out while he was an attorney, possibly downtown in cincinnati, which we have been fortunate enough to have acquired here. we have a slave mental higher place. we put this marble finish back on it as it originally had won hadtaft installed it -- itn the taft's had installed . this was very typical back in sincectorian era days, children had to wear cloth diapers. convenience for the parents to put boys in a dress. all mom had to do was raise up the two safetyin pins, and then the boys could go to the restroom. i will point out shakespeare's dramatic works. these are original books, which they would time to read and discuss. also down in the lower bookcase level there are smaller books , that represents the skull and bones. alfonso taft is one of the cofounders of this elite society. the books in the right-hand thatr, these are books

john wilkes booth and ashley wilkes is an allusion. so everyone does pay attention a little bit after said judges name camden such as camden new jersey jersey, maine, of baltimore baltimore, a day ariels plea in camden yard. so it is of very big deal you can see it on a map. in the last chapter, you have heard the a great city of philadelphia than there is a little bloodied dangerfield the state's call the new jersey this little place called camden but they have of the story to tell as a very great man but hugo black of his era believe the american independence and liberty and a try to tell the story if you pay attention it has interesting implications with fourth amendment rights. >> you can see how just there is a lot monica -- phenomenal evidence in oslo to motivate jefferson. >> with non-partisan the most important decision ever marbury vs. madison that beer and ale makes my top-10 constitutional decisions. [laughter] budget before they we're doing this in the next time the u.s. supreme court strikes down an act of congress for dre