so lincoln had a way with words. >> but lincoln had to construct a coalition. in this role went with everything falling apart and he had to construct an argument. the argument and there's a lot to say about lincoln in thee argument itself because she's a lawyer, he trains himself in logic, he is very cognizant of appealing to people in persuading and bringing them along and using plain language. lincoln also wants to construct an argument that appeals to different parts of these fragments floating across the landscape in order to bring them together in an anti- slavery coalition. he is waiting out the know nothings. he's waiting out the temperance movement and he's got to bring in anti- slavery democrats who hate antislavery weeks who have been running against each other forever. he has work cut out for him. >> a great line from this book is, it connects with that, for him the court room and the campaign were transferable arenas. can you explain? >> in this time lincoln from 1849 to make 18551854, he is not running for public office. he says it's almost differe

lincoln joined me. seward and lincoln traveled up to the seminary ridge and visited the -- some of the key sites that were known even at the time. out here an image for the magnificent photographic history of gettysburg because this image comes from that. and they visit the ground around the seminary for very specific reasons. already, now this is only four months after the battle. all right, there was a kind of pilgrimage route taking shape. this pilgrimage rule often started at seminary ridge. it was recognized to be a key point in the battlefield, of course the stories of the various officers looking out over the battlefield. there were news stories at the time of the battle, and the happens of limbs that had been afternoon ta afternoon -- afternoon talted. he may have known, certainly knew john burns, but he may have known that john burns fought up in that region, the so-called her hero of gettysburg. so john burns who fought in the war of 1812, and went out to the battlefield to defend his home and

lincoln -- the party of lincoln is the whig party. he is a whig. a leader in a state legislature in illinois at the age of 27. he invented the convention system in order for not get himself nominated for the congress in illinois. and so he is a stalwart whig but his rival, steven a. douglas, perennial rival, blows everything up with the passage of the kansas-nebraska act that eliminates repeals of the missouri compromise by which slavery was prohibited in the north. so now the extension of slavery becomes an open question. this is a question also about the political balance of power in the country and the power of what people called the slave power. the parties blow up. the whig part cracks apart. after 1852 there's never another whig presidential candidate. this party just disspin entity greats between lincoln's feet and the democratic party splits went anne and pro slavery and there's an anti-immigrant movement that turns into a party called the know-nothingings and one plank, only native-born protestants can hold public office in the united stat

lincoln joined me. seward and lincoln traveled up to the seminary ridge and visited some of the key sites that were known even at the time. i have here magnificent, photographic history. because this image comes from that. and they visited the ground around the seminary for very specific reasons. already now this is only four months after the battle, already there was kind of a pilgrimage route taking shape. gettysburg was entering the historical memory. of the union and maybe of the united states. born in the united states. and pilgrimage route often started at seminary ridge. it was recognized to be a key point. there were stories of heaps of human limbs out the windows of the seminary course which had been used as a hospital amputation. lincoln and others knew lee's headquarters was quite nearby. he may have known, certainly knew of john burns but may have known that john burns had fought up in that region, the so-called hero of gettysburg. he had already been famous in harpers -- what other denizen

lincoln joined me. they traveled up to the seminary ridge and visited some of the key sites that were known even at the time. i have here a magnificent history of gettysburg. this image comes from that. they visit the ground for very specific reasons. now, this is only four months after the battle. already there was a kind of pilgrimage route taking shape. gettysburg was entering of the union and late tr the united states of the civil war. it often started at seminary ridge. it was recognized to be a key point in the battlefield. of course story looking out over the battlefield, there were stories in the newspaper at the time of the battle and after of human limbs out the windows of the seminary which have been used as the hospital. lincoln and others knew probably that lees headquarters was near by. he may have known -- certainly knew of john burns but he may have known that john burns had fought in that region. he had already been famous. what other of gettysburg made the cover of harpers weekly? so j

lincoln.i'm excited about this one. i love that one and this was even more rich. so, "wrestling with his angel: the political life of abraham lincoln". it begins in march 1849, lincoln returned to springfield to practice law. 1849. and then 1856 the know nothing party nominates for president, national convention for the republican party, so we have that backdrop, the title, what is it about? >> "wrestling with his angel: the political life of abraham lincoln" it is a title that i took from the story of jacob. it is from the bible. in the bible, jacob wrestles through a long night. possibly with himself. the bible says an angel. at the ends of the night, and with the break of dawn, he comes to a realization of who he is and adopts a new name. israel. lincoln wrestles through a long night. it is a long, dark night. the last years. he enters it coming home to springfield. after one term in the congress. he ends it by founding the illinois republican party. and adopting his own new identity and em

lincoln? not enough of it to be a really compelling argument. not a gold digger argument. she sees qualities in him that others at first blush don't. most of the time when people met lincoln, what they thought they were meeting, as one illinois acquaintance described it, when you met lincoln for the first time, it was like meeting a rough intelligent farmer. and that, of course, could easily make you underestimate him. he made jokes about his own looks. and why shouldn't he? because if he didn't, someone else would. so he would beat them to the punch. a photographer once said to lincoln, as photographers will, just look natural. lincoln's reply was, that's what i'm trying to avoid. on another occasion he told a joke about a man riding through the forest on the path and coming from the other direction on the path, woman on a horse who stops and stares at him. very rude thing to do. he says to her, madam, what are you staring at? she says, well, you're about the ugliest man i've ever met. to whi

not lincoln. this is undoubtedly lincoln and the photographer set up his station exactly to catch this scene exactly. he knew as he turned this way, people in front of lincoln would be momentarily out of way and lincoln would come into view and that's when he snapped this shot. this is not, as far as i know, as recognized as one of the official photographs of lincoln. possibly there is maybe some doubt. in fact i think it should be added to that list. well, i maybe don't have to show this to many of you here, of course lincoln was coming down this way. this is an aerial view. the turn that he made is here. came around this way to the cemetery. evergreen is over here. they did not go through evergreen cemetery. wills made sure they ignored every cemetery. he was not happy with the leader of the evergreen cemetery. so they went this way and probably up the center of what we think of now as tcenter of te cemetery. maybe up this way here. there is a sunken road. this picture is taken from one of the h

lincoln joined me. seward and lincoln traveled up to seminary ridge, and visited key sites that were known, even at the time. from ahere, and image photographic history of gettysburg. this image comes from that. visited the ground around the seminary for very specific reasons. already, only four months after the battle, already there was a kind of pilgrimage route taking shape. gettysburg was entering the historical memory of the union, and later of the united states, the reborn united states after the civil war. and this pilgrimage route often started at seminary ridge. it was recognized to be a key with on the battlefield, stories from various officers looking out over the battlefield. there were stories in various newspapers hyping the battle, looking atof people the windows of the hospital, which was used as a center for amputation. lincoln knew these headquarters were nearby. he may have known that john burns had fought up in that region, the so-called hero of gettysburg. famous.lready been what ot

so i picked lincoln. my best friend, who was my best friend because his father owned a delicatessen, a good friend to have, picked genghis khan and he became a rock and roll promoter. so these choices or accidents can have insidious or enormously positively consequential impact. so i went up to the library and i picked richard nelson currents the lincoln nobody knows as my book. i read it. i don't remember what i wrote. it was two sides of a piece of loose leaf paper. but at that moment the thing that converged was it was the moment of the civil war centennial. and kids, particularly boys, particularly white male people, kids were enthralled by this battle, battle recreations. i still remember -- speaking about the unresolved issues that we've heard about at our conference, i remember when president kennedy did something that most people have forgotten. he learned, in the days that he took over the civil war centennial observation that the initial event in charleston was going to be coordinated at a segre

they knew about lincoln, though. that is your moses, that is mr. lincoln. and the word spread and lincoln was surrounded by hundreds of people. by the time he had finished, thousands of people. i would like to think that he realized this may have been the most important day of his life. it is the day he understood the destruction of the war, the end of the war, and the changed relationship that african-americans would emerge from the war with. mr. carmichael: a true revolution. pressing theops rebellion to the side of the slaveholders, and this no one could've possibly foreseen. thank you so much. you have been a dear friend to me over the years, and let me say to eat it, you have -- to edith, you have been wonderful to me and my wife, and we are so thankful not just for your friendship, but you are a fantastic scholar. you have always been successful, engaging to people. we are so appreciative of everything you have done. thank you so much, harold. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national cap

he loved lincoln. i think it is safe to say that david davis was a republican in 1864 because he loved lincoln, and he wouldn't have been otherwise. assuming he got to the supreme court he wouldn't have indicated his partisan. but when you read what he said, you know he's a whig. >> other questions or thoughts? let's give michael les benedict another hand. >> thank you so much. enjoyed it. thank you. [ applause ] >>> saturday on american history tv on c-span3, we're live from virginia beginning at 8:30 a.m. eastern with day-long coverage of a civil war symposium. we will look at defensive strategies employed by the union and confederate armies and hear from historians on gettysburg and other important battles. sunday at 6:00 p.m. on american artifacts, american presidents, life portraits. we tour the presidential portraits exhibit at the herbert hoover presidential library and museum in iowa. at president lyndon b. johnson's exhibit. >> lyndon johnson was always on the telephone. he had a telephone ins

they throw their support behind lincoln, lincoln gets the nomination and cameron works very aggressively to win pennsylvania or abraham lincoln which he succeeds in doing so beginning in november 1860, cameron expects he will be rewarded with a seat in the cabinet. lincoln ends up trying to renege on that bargain as new yorkers who were irritated by the place in the cabinet conspired to work against cameron but ultimately, he succeeds and he's taken into the cabinet where he has a very rocky tenure for about ten months. as i understand the negotiations in chicago, it is politically vague about which to seek he would be offered. he seems to prefer being the secretary of treasury basesecren the idea that he was a businessman with years of experience building canals and the banking industry and the newspaper industry and that would be very valuable as an experience to the secretary of treasury. when cameron and lincoln get on that pass and decide which is the he's going to get, the only seat is lef that is left is the secretary of war and in fact he says you should pick someone was for the

lincoln was able to add armor to the vehicle. curiously, it is still a convertible so there was a weak spot in protection. nevertheless, it does represent a turning point in presidential transportation. if we look, we will see other modifications you would not see on a typical vehicle. it has wide running boards which were common in the 1930's although they were starting to fade away in popularity. at the back of the car, there is a sign that says "do not pass." if you come on the motorcade, you should not pass it. the president should always be seen in front of the group. there are grab handles on the back in the front, and sides for secret service agents to hold onto the vehicle and platforms for the agents to protect the president and passengers. presidents' motorcades were evolving. they could still be modest during roosevelt's term with a few trailing vehicles carrying other people in the presidential party. the greatest status in the would-be to be able to ride in the car with the president himself. important dignitaries or

this went -- this lincoln was a perfect fit for president kennedy. will we think about large cars like x and lincolns, we take of those tailfins and the shiny chrome. by 1958 and 1959, perhaps it got a bit excessive beyond the point of good taste. they really were a breath of fresh air. this car is clean, very elegant looking, very formal. the perfect met for president kennedy because we think about him as being very elegant, very modern, very forward-looking as he leads us into the new frontier. it made a perfect match, president kennedy and the vehicle. changedng about the car after november 22, 1963, when the president was assassinated. there had been a roof for the vehicle, even though it was a convertible, but it was one like we saw a really are, the bubble top, acrylic to protect from weather. it would provide any protection from any kind of weapon. of course, the car was in convertible configuration that day in dallas. after the assassination the car was immediately sent back to the white house, where the fbi and secret service conducted a tho

lincoln says i won't do for this office. he declines but the day before the occupation he meets with lincoln and says i won't pay for the secretary of war. they proved this as believe there is a war coming. if you look who he takeslly, hea initially is experienced when it comes to the military. he oversaw military education. perhaps he understood. he asked him to go to washington and assess preparation. that being said they didn't have the best relationship. in his dealings with cameron and he's difficult than he really likes watching him squirm and we see this in two instances. first is the period in november 1860 and the inauguration of march 1861 where he does everything in his power to renege on the agreement to take him into the cabinet and this has to do with the fact he is pressured by the political opponents and also to a lesserin extent people in new york who were opposed. he's quite rude in dealing with this important politician. it is a shocking departure from the normal behavior with medical problems. the other i

and lincoln never shakes it. lincoln visits to army of potomac in october 1862, he insists to see where hooker's men fought. so what happens here? july 2nd, dan sickles who was a masterful politician as he was as shaky as a general, of course, loses his way. but that gives him first access to lincoln. and he actually writes in lincoln's mind the first draft of what happened at gettysburg. and i've had bosses like this, the first story they get is the story that sticks in their mind. lincoln had that weakness, you report to me and i get this understanding especially with the simple notion i could have gone there. i could have gone down there and led them myself. meade can't win in that situation. >> it's astonishing. lincoln met sickles on july 5th. that's crazy, that soon. sickles is already recuperating or in washington recuperating, july 5th, the campaign against meade began. >> one of the myths that's endured and i heard it all the time when i worked at gettysburg is the statement by lincoln about meade with l

lincoln knew it. meade knew it. and more than that, if you read the press on the eve of the campaign in the north, they did a tremendous job of preparing the northern populous for the fact that this campaign was going to be different. that these were not existential moments and that this was epic. and in fact when they came to write the reports in the official records, that is what they called the sections of -- epics. not battles but epics and i think that the partnership getting very specific about it, if you look at it from the perspective of both grant and meade, both of them are in very difficult situations and manager and subordinate. we are one or the other in our lived and sometimes both. and put yourself in the situation of a meade. whose boss is going to sit and take his chair and sit next to you at your desk all day every day. that is a hard situation, whose boss is going to spend a pretty fair amount of energy kind of subtly communicating to you that culture of the organization in a you have managed now

a finalist for the lincoln prize. he received the richard right literary award for national distinction and history. he is currently at work on a book of the mythology surrou surrounding. he will be sharing with us more of his more recent work. [ applause ] >> thank you for all being here on a saturday morning. i will talk to you about scheduling a talk on henry hallic this early in the morning. i appreciate everybody being here. it was quite a while ago that actually the book came out. i had gone to a meeting -- actually a meeting of one of these history conventions. we exchanged pleasantries with people. well, you wait for a response. i ran into a colleague and it's like what are you working on? i told him i had just started working on a biography. and he said john, you'll never finish it. you'll die of bordum first. i must say that the fear of death was not high on my priority list. i did check my pulse pretty regularly. i really had more concrete concerns. the concerns were really that i finished this book on sher

>> can you comment on his relationship with abraham lincoln and what lincoln thought about him? is there anything public on that? >> good question. abraham lincoln, you've heard the famous statement, abraham lincoln said he's a mere clerk. >> he also said, of course, i have to like him because if i don't like him nobody will. lincoln is very frustrated by halleck for this reason. he brings halleck onboard because lincoln is smart enough to know that he doesn't know a whole lot about military stuff. of course, he knows a lot more than he thinks and by the end of the war he's teaching his general, but at this particular time lincoln wants somebody learned in the skill in the military skills to be at his side to help him organize the union war effort. i want you to tell me what i should do and halleck won't do it. he just simply takes the position -- in fact, he almost resigns. he offers to resign. if you make me tell you what i think ought to be done, i'll resign and lincoln throws up his hand, and i think lincoln may be understood that this is it. this is the best i've got. this

it's a political nadir for the lincoln administration. there's one hope left, one card left that the united states army had not played and that is rosecrans's 46,000 men. and on the day after christmas, the federals, the stakes could not be higher because if the largest army in the union army, the army of the potomac has failed, the third largest army, grant's army is retreating ignominio ignominiously. if they fail, too, i'm not sure lincoln's going to be able to withstand a political storm. so that's the stakes of stones river. that's the latest of 1862. there's five days of maneuvering through cold weather, rainy weather at one point the men as they wake up their pants are soez so frozen they have to crack them. they're three miles west of myrrh free murfreesboro. that night bragg and rosecrans consult with their commanders. he has three core commanders, each corps 10,000 to 15,000 men. alexander mccook is holding the right side of his line, george henry thomas and on the left is thomas. will crittendon. bragg's commanders who will be

it is a nadier, a political nadier for the lincoln administration. there is one hope left and one card left that lincoln and the united states army have not played and that is rosecrans' 46,000 men in nashville and on the day after christmas, rosecrans marches out of nashville. the federals, the stakes could not be higher. because it's the largest army on the union army and the army of the potomac has failed and the third largest army, grant's army is retreating ignominiously and the second largest army is the army of the cumberland, if they fail, too, i'm not sure lincoln will be able to withstand the political storm that will be in advance at the moment and that is the stakes at stone's river and that is the stakes of 1862 when on boxing day the 26th of december rosecrans and his men leave nashville. there's five days of maneuvering through cold weather, rainy weather. at one point the men are so frozen as they march that as they -- when they wake up their pants are so frozen that they have to crack them before they can start marching, but at the e

it's lincoln pushing command fors in the field going forward. well, what happens, this december of 1862, we'll take it chronologically. first december 1st, 1862, burnside's crossed the river two days before, the army of the potomac hurls itself against the heights of fredericksburg. robert e. lee's easiest victory. i certainly agree with that. in one portion of the field they break the line, but for all intents and purposes, it's a one-side fight and burnside is sent scurrying across the river. it's a complete bummer for the north. then moving over land, it goes well until december 1862, earl van doran cuts grant's supply ride and forces him to go back to tennessee. even though they move down the river to vicksburg, for all intents and purposes, in the north it is viewed as a significant defeat. then on the 27th of december, william t. sherman leads an expedition at chickasaw bluffs northwest of town, north/northwest of town, and has smaller western versions. so the news from the battle front is not good. on top of everything, lincoln is facing

douglass never voted for lincoln which is very interesting, in 1864, he does not vote for lincoln. he thinks that lincoln is committed too much to the union and does not care as much about the slaves. and there is fascinating material and -- in douglass's magazine in which months by months, going after lincoln. and he is concerned that lincoln wants to colonize blacks, to central america. so, the revision as part of my reading is that this was a more prickly relationship than has been previously been thought. that does not mean that by 1865, that these people have not profoundly influenced each other. i think that is also there. i think it is one of the more fascinating stories about the civil war, this particular relationship. lincoln was keeping an eye on douglass. in the early 1860's and reading what he was saying, there is evidence of that. and douglass was following the lincoln-douglass debates -- stephen douglass debates in 18 58. to make a long argument short, what i argue in my book is that there are more profound human connection between frederick douglass and john brown t

abraham lincoln's birth state. he believed that to lose kentucky was nearly the same as to lose the whole game, and it sure looks like that's going to happen. you've got confederates on the offensive on the atlantic seaboard against charleston. you've got confederates on the offensive in mississippi and in west tennessee, and you've got confederates on the offensive in baton rouge, louisiana. so, all of a sudden, this army or this country, this confederacy that had been on the ropes has roared back to life, has come off the ropes, and is putting a flurry of blows against the union. there's also a great debate that's been going on in the summer of 1862. it's been a political one in the north about the nature of this conflict. in other words, how hard is this war going to be against the south? are we fighting the southern armies, are we also fighting the southern economy and the southern society? that includes everything from do you burn fence rails if you're troops and you need to build fires? do you live off the la

but also to lincoln. so let's take a look. it was in this room that ab lincoln came to visit the sitting governor at the time. governor den son. it was february 13, 1861. sitting across from the governor at this very desk behind me. it was in in room that he was delivered a telegram. and lincoln opened the telegram and it indicated that the electoral college had met, and had ratified the voice of the people. so he was truly the president-elect of the united states. the oath of office used to be taken in march. so lincoln was on his way from springfield illinois to washington dc. and he had stopped along the way. and in many cases that same route during his funeral was retraced. so lincoln was once again here at the ohio state house when his funeral train came to columbus. on april 29th, 1865. lincoln did lay in state in the grand rotunda for 6 and a half hours. and just in that short amount of time, 50,000 people filed passed the president's open casket. it was a phenomenal site to see the numbers of people that came by horse

it's not just abraham lincoln. from thisrectly painting. this is of abraham lincoln. enough i can do this -- now if i can do this. there. that way.e them this is a good portrait. a good version of it. ok. does one of those not have a bearded lincoln? portrayed ase wa not bearded. not like he is now. i do not think there is, no. >> i'm really intrigued by the of the administrative structure for the creation of this with an army engineering stepping in, the architect being beneath him, the conflict between the two over credit for the building. it's a repetition of what have and a generation earlier at the united states capital. essentially a congressional building, because it library of congress. congress authorized and paid for. they created their own office of -- in the capital in 1860. that leads me to this question. was there any connection or involvement between the architect of the capitol and the 1890 -- construction of this? >> yes. the architect of the capitol as part of this community -- committee. the committee was ultimately abolished. one person was going t

he gives some great speeches about lincoln and about his love of lincoln at about lincoln as the great savior of the country. prickly and ultimately, still very moving in this relationship between the two great figures. do we have another question? anyoneve a question to on the panel that can answer. one is about the relationship between douglas and harriet tubman. this came from the eastern shore, they were from different counties. i am not sure about the dates on that. , i havend one is thought more about this over the years as i studied african-american history, my history. when douglass was making his speech is about slavery -- speeches about slavery, what did douglas think about the status of native americans because slaves were not citizens, free blacks were not citizens and indians were not citizens. we have three categories where there were no citizenship. tubmango back to harriet since harriet tubman is really big right now in dorchester county. did they meet, did they have similar thoughts, any thoughts on that? answer a little about that. i don't know how close his relations

also to abe abe lincoln, let's take a look. >> it was in this room that abraham lincoln came to visit the sitting governor at the time. it was february 13th 1861, it was in this state house sitting across from governor dennisen in this desk behind me. he was delivered a telegram, and lincoln opened the telegram, and had indicated the electoral college had met and ratified the voice of the people. so he was truly the president-elect of the united states. the oath of office used to be taken in march. so lincoln was on his way from springfield, illinois to washington, d.c.. he had stopped along the way. and in many cases that same route during his funeral was retraced. abraham lincoln was once again at the state house april 29th, 1865. he did lay in state in the grand rotunda. in that short amount of time, 50,000 people filed past the president's open casket. it was a phenomenal sight to sigh the number of people that came by horse and buggy that day to pay their respects to the slain president. we have eight of our hearing rooms named after ohio's eight presidents. ohio referred to as t

the pressure on the lincoln administration is enormous. is a political nadir for the lincoln administration. there is one hope left. there is one card left that lincoln and the united states army have not played, and that is rosecrans's 46,000 men in nashville. on the day after christmas, rosecrans marches out of -- marches out. the stakes could not be higher. it is the second-largest army. the army of the potomac has failed. is third largest army diminishing with its tail between its legs. the second-largest army is the army of the cumberland. if they fail, i am not sure lincoln will withstand the political storm that will turn. that is the stakes of stones river. that is the stakes of the late december 1862, when on boxing day, rosecrans and his men leave nashville. there are five days of maneuvering through cold weather, rainy weather. at one point the men are so frozen, when they wake up their pants are so frozen they have to crack them before they can start marching. 30, thend of december two armies are lined up in two parallel lines