to lincoln it was -- lincoln backed him into the corner.hern community decides to ban slavery by vote, would you accept that? douglas says yes, i am going to standby popular sovereignty. southern dams would never support douglas for president after that. >> though it is just an illinois senate race, douglas' celebrity and lincoln's sharp rhetoric got national attention. >> their debates fired up the nation. here is this country lawyer using humor and logic to condemn the man who's the architect of the kansas nebraska, the policy that divided the nation. the newspaper fed the beast. newspapers were not covering the debate, they were riling up converts to their causes and strictly, openly partisan, the way some people believe broadcast and cable television is today. according to the republican news newspapers, when the debate was over, abraham lincoln, was carried off in triumph on the shoulders of his supporters. according to the democratic newspapers, when the debate was over, abraham lincoln had to be carried off by his supporter. with the

lincoln draws even with seward.tion announces that ohio is going to change four of its votes for lincoln. >> the entire hall erupts. >> lincoln emerged as the republican nominee. >> the cincinnati newspaper said that an entire tribe of shrieking comanches and an acre of hotel gongs could have been lost in the hall. you wouldn't have heard them at all with the woof that went up for lincoln. >> where was lincoln when all these ballots were being cast? he was sitting in the office of the republican newspaper in springfield, illinois, in his favorite chair, waiting for the telegram he accepts the handshakes of all of his friends, and he says, thank you, thank you, gentlemen. but i've really got to go home. there is a little woman who is going to be more interested in this than you are, and makes his way home to tell mary that her dream has come true. through all of the defeats, disappointments, setbacks, he still, through words and a bit through images, he had made himself the leader of the republican party. >> announce

and when lincoln lincoln greeted him. oh, there's my friend douglas and when he asked his opinion of the speech douglas said it was a sacred effort. so douglas came to see that. lincoln's slow plotting methodical means of moving the country forward was actually crucial to freeing four million black americans and i think that's a very poignant moment when? douglas discovers my god this guy is is saying exactly what this war was about it was about ending slavery. and that was not the you know, that was not the overarching of interpretation of the war at the time. and you did an immense amount of research for this for this book and it shows and did you come across anything in in your sources that surprised you? yeah chief justice i think the thing that surprised me most was just how bitterly hate hated lincoln was and how he he got it from all sides. i mean he the south of course viewed him is a terrible tyrant, but so did many democrats in the north. they they viewed him as somebody who had sort of trash the constitution yo

lincoln was no abolitionist. lincoln was a modern antislavery advocate.hat it means he was a person that said slavery was wrong but didn't believe it was important to actively end slavery immediately. >> the institution of slavery founded on justice and bad policy. >> his evolving antislavery position was fine where it was in the south but should not be expanded into the west. he believed the founding father intended for slavery to die a natural death. they are not allowed to expand the institution to die a natural death. that's why you don't see the word slavery in the constitution. >> he talked about slavery should not be allowed to expand because of constitutional prohibition on that. he talked about the idea that slave iry was harmful to free white northerners. >> free white folk workers could not compete. rather it is wanting to secure territory where white men who would not slave holders would not have to compete against slave holders. he was willing for there to be gradually e mancipation. >> it does not quit with the image of the great emancipator

how lincoln would practice. he was possibly reading aloud to the people around him so he would do that and we know thatgettysburg address , however short it was may well be the greatest two-minute oration in american history so the person that seems to have been the primary sounding board was an african-american who hadknown him for years . so that's all part of the lincoln story. the book is not endless, it's about 4 to 500 pages. i wish i could get everything but i'd like to think i got to some of it thank you so much, michael gerhart and judy for a wonderful discussion. the crucial question of lincoln and his mentors and the civil war more generally, he has inspired us and reminded us lincoln was educable and so are we and so do you the national constitution center, thank you for taking an hour in the middle of your evenings to educate yourself and the constitution and you can continue that crucially important work by reading the books of the wonderful dollars that we have put her from today, including most r

lincoln was evolutionary. and being evolutionary, he became revolutionary . >>> in 1809 america is a country in its infancy. the nation toils to pay off its revolutionary war debts and make a name for itself on the world stage. despite the legal end to the slave trade in 1808, demand for american made cotton and the enslaved men and women who farm is booms. the new country's growth is not only intertwined with slave labor, it's entirely dependent on it. >> it is absolutely crucial for understanding what went on in the country, that before the 1860s most of the first presidents were from the south. the slave power controlled the country. >> at lincoln's birth, we are still in the final weeks of the thomas jefferson presidency. so we are really in the founding era of the united states. >> you have this the immense territory that the united states had gained with the louisiana purchase. and so there is this whole question about the expansion of the nation. how it was going to expand, where slavery would exist. an

when you're after the lincoln-douglas -- one year after the lincoln-douglas debates lincoln makes a tour , through ohio. he gives five speeches in ohio, follows it up with two in indiana, four in wisconsin, seven in kansas territory. but the time he goes out to new york city cooper union is part , of this tour and if you step back and look at it, it is pretty obvious what is going on. remember what i said, between 1854 and summer of 1859, 160 speeches in those five years, only one outside of illinois. now from september 1859 to march of 1860, 30 speeches in eight states. is that a coincidence? that is somebody running for president and he is doing it under the radar and it is working beautifully. he gets coast-to-coast coverage on his speeches, north to south and east to west, more than any lincoln-douglas debate and is doing it without having to share the stage. the cooper union speech is part of that 30 speech tour. the reason lincoln even got invited to give a speech in cooper union is because the folks in new york were reading his cincinnati speech which got covered in washington and

lincoln. abraham lincoln gets a lot of books written about him. he pointed out in your book that some 16,000 books have been written about our 16th president. what prompted you to write yours? guest: thank you for having me this morning. my book is what i call a cultural biography. i believe that everyone of us is so much determined by our immediate culture, our social group. our family's cultural background. also in the larger culture as well that intersect with our lives. it has never been done with lincoln before. he had many biographies that traces life from day to day. nothing that ever expands out to the culture that was constantly seeping into his consciousness. shaping him. he in turn became an effective politician came back and shaped it. the interchange, which i consider really valuable, i think our most innermost beliefs and thoughts are really profoundly shaped by the culture that we live in. that's exactly what distinguishes my book from any other book on lincoln. host: your book

lincoln writes. "you already know i desire neither father or mother shall want of any comfort either in health or sickness while they live and i feel sure you have not failed to use my name as necessary to procure a doctor or any such thing. abraham lincoln was a well-known lawyer. he was a former congressman and certainly he could use his name and you can acquire a doctor to help his father to his final illness. but abraham lincoln's says in this letter "my business is such now that i could hardly leave home. if it were not as it is that my own wife is sick of bed a case of baby sickness and i suppose is not dangerous. mary had just given birth the previous december to their little boy willie but he writes down a small paragraph here that he wants read to his father on his deathbed. these are the last words that lincoln once spoke to his father. "i sincerely hope, father, may yet recover his help at all events tell him to remember to call upon and confide in our great and good and merciful maker, wh

abraham lincoln. two days before the convention begins. the idea that abraham lincoln is a dark horse at the convention, not true at all. before that convention begins he is already one of the two highest considered candidates. what in the world happens in those two days for that to occur? i am going to bring this up. you want to know. you know he wins the thing. how? how does he win? we will answer that for you. there are three ingredients to this whole product yielding abraham lincoln the nominee. and i can -- i can mention them in any order because they are all going to be important. let's start with the messenger and the message and then the team that supports him. the messenger is of course abraham lincoln himself. now you might think this is not going to be as important as the national convention because i already said he's not going to be there, right? he's not there because normally the candidates for the nomination don't show up at the convention. for those that want the trivia, who was the f

abraham lincoln.id not answer the question yet, right? i said how does a two-time senate loser win that nomination? i only answered the point about how he will be considered. here is the problem. ok, he is going to be one of 12 to consider, but he is the only one of the 12 essentially that does not have a prominent political position at the time of that convention which begins on may 16. if you think about it you have a lot of senators will be considered. you have governors like chase, and you even have a supreme court justice who is being considered for the nomination. mark twain once said that history does not repeat but it often rhymes. get this one. the supreme court justice is going to be the candidate for the nomination. he is in his 70's and his name is john mcclain. go figure. they are considering him as well. lincoln is one of the few of the 12 that does not have a political position. he is a lawyer in illinois. he is not a sitting anything. he is a lawyer that had lost a couple senate races.

lincoln writes. "you already know that i desire that either father or mother shall want of any comfort in health or sickness while they live. i feel sure that you have not failed to use my name is necessary to procure a doctor. ." certainly you could use his name to get a doctor and help him through his final illness. but abraham lincoln says in this letter, "my business is such now that i can hardly leave home. if it were not how it is that my own wife is sick in bed, baby sickness, and i assume it is not dangerous. ." mary had given birth to their little boy, willie, but he writes down a small paragraph that he once read to his father on his deathbed. these are the last words that lincoln wants spoken to his father. i sincerely hope that father may recover his health, but in all of this, tell him to remember to call upon and confide in our great and merciful and good maker, who will not turn away from him in any extremity. he knows the fall of the sparrow and numbers the hairs of our head. and he w

lincoln association. please help me welcome him to the national archives were he will discuss his most recent book which we have a copy of here, “the great comeback: how abraham lincoln beat the odds to win the 1860 republican nomination.” it has been acclaimed by critics and fellow lincoln authors, so ladies and gentlemen, i introduce you to gary. [applause] gary: good afternoon, as you can see i am blessed with lincoln's height, not. we have a good close knit group, we did not need the 150 or whatever, i think we will all be singing kumbaya before this is over. we just celebrated of course the bicentennial of lincoln's birth back in february, but i am here to talk about another anniversary that a lot of people do not quite recognize with lincoln and that is we are in the midst of the 150th anniversary of his presidential bid. that will culminate we could say with the election of 1860, really the zenith of that campaign will be the nomination of may 18, and why i say that is the senate -- zenith is it wa

it's a lincoln's. attachment to the union which may be his greatest attribute and i think alexander stephens said something like that too and you and i have emailed a bit. really interested in their friendship their friendship and rivalry. but lincoln is to further all the goals. you just mentioned including winning over democrats in the north and keeping border states extremely important and i by the way over the course of writing this book. felt that it was incredibly important that virginia had not yet seceded by the time virginia even more than kentucky and missouri and maryland. it was really important that this state of presidents was still part of the united states when he was inaugurated. at that to further all those goals. to retelling the history and he's a master. retailer and that might be the right word because there were a lot of floating competitive ideas of american history, you know, we're all in the history business. we all retell it all the time and we're seeing a really interesting

this was lincoln's. hope this this was what lincoln held out lincoln believed that slavery would end when southern slaveholders concluded that it was no longer in their interest to maintain slavery now, you might think many people at the time thought. oh boy, you know, this is a long shot but lincoln could point to this states of the north who at one time had allowed slavery and they changed their minds because lincoln did believe that economies modernized and what a modern economy needed was a flexible workforce and slavery is not flexible at all. it's just the opposite. so anyway, this is lincoln's hope but it but it's something the has to believe because lincoln puts great. he has reference for the constitution and he knew that the constitution guaranteed slavery lincoln's interpretation the constitution 70 years of yeah 70 years by this time of interpretation of the constitution had concluded that the states could have slavery as long as they wanted lincoln's position basically was congress can't tel

and this was not just lincoln. this was widespread throughout the north, though lincoln in particular focused on this, with his reverence of the constitution, but a particular interpretation of that constitution. he turned to two of his political heroes, henry clay, senator from kentucky, and thomas jefferson, from virginia. and look at what they said about slavery. both of them repeatedly wrote about the evils of slavery and the ways to try to eliminate slavery. of course he didn't concentrate on as much that both of them were major slave owners. jefferson owning over 100 slaves, clay owning over 50 slaves during their lifetime. and though they talked about it, they didn't push legislation through that would have actually limited or ended slavery, at least not very often. so, selectively taking what was useful from henry clay and jefferson, they're able to start looking at the united states and the constitution itself as guided the nation toward ending slavery. lincoln in a speech in 1854 said the theory of our go

let's start with abraham lincoln. the when we're starting with abraham lincoln i should also say let's start with understanding that i, like many historians, like abraham lincoln, think he's one of the greatest presidents in the united states. i like most historians also don't particularly like andrew johnson and think he's one of the worst presidents of the united states, so i should at least state our biasses up front and i think over the next hour you'll see why many historians revere lincoln and don't take as kindly to andrew johnson. >> i understand that lincoln hand his background with the constitution, there's a couple of things that informed his understanding ever it. one was nationalism, lincoln from his earliest days was a nationalist and we don't have writings from him when he was six or seven years old or a teenager talking about nationalism. we can get some sense of this as important nationalism was to him. after being owe elected president on his trip to washington, d.c. to be inaugurated. he told the cr

let's start with abraham lincoln. we will start with abraham lincoln, we have to say ... let's start with understanding that, i, like many historians, like abraham lincoln think he's one of the president of united states. like most historians, also don't particularly like andrew johnson. i think he's the worst president united states. -- let's state our bias ease up front. but i think, over the next hour you will see why many historians revere lincoln, and don't take as kindly to andrew johnson. understand lincoln, and his background with the constitutions. couple of things that inform, just understanding of it. one, was nationalism. lincoln, from his earliest days, was a nationalist. and, we don't have ridings from him. six or seven years old, a teenager talking about nationalism. but we can get some sense of this, how important nationalism was to him. from a speech he gave. and after being elected president, on his trip to washington d.c., to be inaugurated. he told the crowd, he said may i be pardon if upon this occasion i mention that way back in my childhood, the ear

though i don't see lincoln really -- lincoln's not maneuvering against mcclellan.think lincoln is still kind of feeling his way along as commander in chief. on january 27, lincoln issues his famous orders, calling for a general advance of the armies on washington's birthday, which was of course meaningless because there was going to be no advance on february 22nd. by this time, however, mcclellan does have a plan. and you have your handout there. as you know, i am no military historian so we are not going to revamp the campaigns. i do have a few maps to buttress my credentials. i give you the first map -- let's see. do i have the first map? yes, i do. the peninsula campaign. and look up there, you see the name of mcclellan moved to the southeast and you see urbanna. and mcclellan originally plans to land troops at urbanna thinking is confederates would withdraw from manassas. and that was his original plan that he presents to lincoln. now, there's going to be a serious -- there's going to be a serious difficulty at the beginning because the president objects to the

decisions at lincoln's cottage. while in residence there, lincoln visited with wounded soldiers, spent time with self emancipated men, women and children and drafted the emancipation proclamation. joan cummins is a public historian, artist and educator and program assistant at lincoln's cottage, she supports their public facing programming, particularly for students and teachers. she also works very closely with one of their programs called students opposing slavery for young abolitionists working to combat human trafficking and she also is the co-host of a podcast which i think has a terrific name. welcome, joan, to history happy hour. >> thanks for having me, colleen. i'm excited to be here and share with you all about lincoln's experience during the summers of his presidency. he lived at president lincoln's cottage for three summers while he was president. let me get to three summers. the summer of 1862, '63 and '64. the family was planning to come out here again for the summer of 1865 when the president was kill

he tries to interfere with lincoln's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, lincoln ignores him, andit goes through the war. what tawny really believed his ability as chief justice to be was that the judiciary -- and we think as we're taught in civics class or in government class, we're taught that in the american constitutional system there are three branches. there's the executive. there's the judicial. there's the legislative, and there are checks and balances, and these three operate with separate powers, but they operate in a? all, but that was his view of things. the civil war sends the supreme court into something of an abeyance. once lincoln ignores tawny's attempt to meddle on the subject of habeas corpus, the supreme court really does not have a tremendous amount to do during the war. i mean, there are some important cases that are heard, but for all practical purposes, the supreme court court is comparatively silent. but once the war is over and also, by the way, once roger tawny is dead in october of 1864, the court lurches right back into that path of insisting on its su

he is the author of "abraham lincoln: president." "lincoln, a short introduction." and one of my personal favorite books "gettysburg: the last invasion." welcome scott and allen to midtown scholars. >> reconstruction. right from the very beginning of the book you called reconstruction the ugly duckling of american history, why? >> because it is. because it is. the era in american history that we like least to talk about. partly because reconstruction is regarded so widely as a failure. and we don't like to talk about failures. it also has the misfortune of coming as a trough between two very high ridges in american history. the highest of all being the civil war. then on the other side is the guilded age. the guilded age is not something that we're quite as dedicated to for the civil war. it has a bit more modelling to it. but never the less it is identifiable. we can talk about characters in the guilded age as if they had pzazz and sparkle. but reconstruction seems to be a tale of missed opportunities. of sorted adventures, of failure of vision, and especially of a

he just threw that out as an idea lincoln. that's lincoln the closet feminist. let's make it the cloud fabulous. right? but this was something that harriet tubman really lived out her fight for her own pension her fight for financial independence was something that mattered to her to me. what was interesting really to find out was harried on the kambahi river in south carolina. so the 1970s and eighties when black feminists get together in boston to start a movement a black radical feminist movement. what do they call it? the combaji river collective? they will honoring harriet tubman her activism on the ground, but also her later relatively unknown activism within the suffragist movement the person who's better known for this is sojourner truth because she spoke so widely in women's rights conventions. did not speak so much in the women's rights conventions, but her actions and later on her support for suffrage while she is living in upstate new york was something that these women were aware of and that they wanted to honor a particular kind of black feminism.

that lincoln can boast. so, choosing johnson, to be his running mate, seemed like the perfectly logical thing. until, it turned out that it wasn't, a perfectly logical thing. they started to see signs of, this very early on. johnson, shows up for his inauguration. , first of all he wrote to lincoln and said, do i really have to come? for the inauguration. that really was not the question, he wanted to be asking. of course, he said, you have to be here. so, various. is the fourth of, march 1865. he shows up, and he has, a cold. bronchitis perhaps. he has been self medicating himself. with whiskey. we. he is sworn into office, an senate chamber. and delivers a long, rambling address. that makes a very clear from the start, that the man is. drunk, it's so bad that handle handle, and behind him has to tug on the coattails of his morning coat. to say, you are done. you are done. going out into the portico, of the capital, to be sworn in himself, lincoln says to the master of ceremonies. don't let johnson, speak o

i don't see lincoln really ... lincoln's not maneuvering against mcclelland. i think lincoln is kind of feeling his way along, as commander in chief. on january 27th, lincoln issues his famous order, calling for a general advance for the armies of washington's birthday. was, of course meaningless. because there was gonna be no advance in february 22nd. by this time, however, mcclelland does have a plan. and, you have your hand out there. as you know, i have no military historian -- we are not gonna tactically fight mcclelland's campaigns. i do have a few maps to sort of, buttress my credentials a little bit perhaps. i give you the, i give you the first map ... let's see. do i have the first nap, yes i do. the peninsula campaign, and look up there. you see the name of mcclelland, move to the southeast and you see mcclelland, originally plans to land troops in our ban, a thinking the confederates would then withdraw from the masses and that was his original plan that he presents to lincoln. now, there is going to be a serious ... difficulty at the beginning. bec

lincoln.aham lincoln gets a lot of books written about him. he pointed out in your book that some 16,000 books have been written about our 16th president. what prompted you to write yours? guest: thank you for having me this morning. my book is what i call a cultural biography. i believe that everyone of us is so much determined by our immediate culture, our social group. our family's cultural background. also in the larger culture as well that intersect with our lives. it has never been done with lincoln before. he had many biographies that traces life from day to day. nothing that ever expands out to the culture that was constantly seeping into his consciousness. shaping him. he in turn became an effective politician came back and shaped it. the interchange, which i consider really valuable, i think our most innermost beliefs and thoughts are really profoundly shaped by the culture that we live in. that's exactly what distinguishes my book from any other book on lincoln. host: your book poin

i don't think if lincoln was lincoln, i don't believe that he would have acquiesced to the torrent of violence that was visited upon african americans after that. i mean, you know his work, he's written about the coming into texas and seeing bodies, you, know floating down the river, coming into a town with 27 or 28 people hanging from trees, men and women and children. just carnage! and if lincoln had heard those kinds of things, i think if he was lincoln, the people that you're interested in, he would've done something. johnson didn't but i don't know that he actually encourage people to do that. >> okay, we'll take another question. i'll make my answers short, i'm sorry. i'm kind of going on. >> i don't always agree with you, but in an interview recently, i heard that he thought lincoln was jefferson's greatest student, what is your observation about that? lincoln was jefferson's greatest student. >> he obviously said all on her to jefferson. he understood that he had to use that declaration of americas creek to get this thing back together again. and say, now we have a new birth o

lincoln was a party guy. it's not inconceivable that he would have recognized the future of the republican party would depend on black voting rights in the south. kind of alliance coalition of non- saving rights. that's consistent with the way he thought about things and the way were hogan's with thinking about things. it's conceivable it could go that way as well. the 15th amendment, i don't know but it's not hard for me to imagine congressional statutes or congressional reconstruction that requires black voting constitutional amendments in order to control the reporting party in the south. >> i think me and the audience could go on for hours. on the other hand, we can't go on for hours. thank you very much. thank you very much for the discussion. ♪♪ >> you are watching tv on c-span2 every weekend with the latest nonfiction books and authors. book tv on c-span2 created by america's cable television company. today brought to you by these television companies to provide book to be two beers as a public service

she she quotes mary lincoln as warning abe lincoln not to trust andrew johnson. that he is a danger. and lincoln issues his terms for the southerners to return and gained and then the booth operation, which is a highly organized operation, and they poured a ton of none it, quarter waks by jefferson davis and robert e. lee. do you think had that operation, as sufficient as it was, intended to kill andrew johnson? that he would have survived? >>. >> i don't know, it is too far off. the suggestion is that johnson may have been in on this and and i don't know. >> johnson was being impeached or convicted by one vote, they tried to convict him, as i understand it, because they passed that law saying that the senate could have a say in who his cabinet was. and wasn't that considered unconstitutional? >> later it was. >> but it was awhile, but did was not at the time. >> only in the sense that people thought it was a bad idea later on. >> i'm not sure that i want to say this, but -- >> oh, go ahead. >> i want to respond to the question of the united states colored troops

i don't think, if lincoln was lincoln, i don't believe that he would have acquiesced took a torrent of violence that was visited upon african americans after that. eric foner, you know his work. coming into texas and seeing bodies, floating down the river, coming into town with like 20 7:20 people hanging from trees, men women and children. just cartilage. if lincoln and heard those kinds of things, i think -- he would've done something. johnson didn't, but i don't know if he actually encourage people to do that. okay, we will take all the questions here. i will make my answer short, i'm sorry i'm kind of going on tangents. >> i don't always agree with him, but an interview recently, i heard george will say that he thought that lincoln was jefferson's greatest student. what is your observation about that? lincoln was jefferson's greatest student? >> he obviously said all wanted to jefferson. he understood that you had to use a declaration, americas creek, to get this thing back together again. and, so we have a new birth for freedom and so forth. and think, yes. and that sense, he was.

course of reading the comments to mary lincoln, and she quotes mary lincoln as warning abe lincoln notto trust andrew johnson, that he's a danger, and when -- then lincoln issues his terms for the southerners to return and gained their forgiveness if you will, and then the booth operation which was a highly organized operation into which the confederacy poured a great deal of money through their intelligence operation. quarterbacked by jefferson davis, due to robert e. lee. do you think that had that operation, as sufficient as it was, intended to kill andrew johnson, that he would have survived? >> i talk a little bit about this in the book. i don't know. i mean, it's too far off, and i don't know enough about that to make a claim about the notion that -- the suggestion is that the johnsons may have been in on this. he was targeted, but he really wasn't targeted. i don't know. >> johnson lost being impeached or convicted by one vote, and they tried to convict him as i understand it because they passed that law saying that the senate could have a say in who his cabinet was. >> mm-hmm.

lincoln's birth date day present? the lincoln project set itself apart from most political organizations by never even addressing for the most part ideas or policies. instead they went personal, always, immediately. right for the throat. rather than argue against what donald trump might be doing or not doing the lincoln project instead threatened his attorneys and then spread filth about his age. in january, for example, one lincoln project executive bragged, "we're constructing a database of trump officials in staff that will detail their roles in the trump administration and track where they are now. they will be held accountable." it always sounded a little more like ms-13 than a political operation. now, because everything is irony, there are reports tonight that the fbi is investigating the lincoln project, specifically one of its founders, a man called john weaver. you may remember him because he helped to manage john mccain's run for president and worked for former ohio governor john kasich, a close associate o

now the new cnn original series "lincoln: divided we stand" explores lincoln's tragic personal life andmaking political career to reveal the real abraham lincoln and all his complexity and imperfection. here's a preview. >> a lot of people say lincoln was a fiery opponent of slavery from the day he was born. that's not quite true. >> a great way to put down the rebellion is to yank the enslaved africans out from under his enemies. and the guy really was freeing slaves hoping they'd go back to africa. they don't tell you that in second grade. >> the scent of slavery has loomed over america for centuries. and it was not absolved with emancipation. >> lincoln died close to easter. so this made it easy for people to imagine that he died for the sins of the nation. >> the martyr narrative made it possible for us to think of lincoln in a simplistic way. >> joining us now, cnn's senior political analyst john avlon, the author of the upcoming book "lincoln and the fight for peace." sort of the end of the story where the clip we played is more of the beginning of the story. you have to look no f

lincoln's birthday present? the end of the lincoln project. we can all celebrate that.re's probably never been an organization sleazy or more vicious in american politics than the lincoln project. not tonic naturally was funded by tech oligarchs in silicon valley. it set itself apart by never addressing for the most part ideas or policies. instead, they went personal, immediately write for the throat. rather than argue against of what donald trump may be doing, it instead threatened to his attorney and spread felt about his age. in january, for example, we are constructing a database of trump officials and staff that will detail their roles in the trump administration and track where they are now. they will be held accountable. it always sounded a little more like ms-13 than a political operative. now, because everything is irony, their reports tonight the fbi is investigating the lincoln project, specifically one of its founders john weaver. you may remember him because he helped manage john mccain's run for president. he also works for ohio governor john kasich. he's

project. >> the lincoln project group led by g.o.p. strategist who want one thing: trump out! and they are producing blistering anti-trump ads. >> jennifer of "the washington post" writes "at least the lincoln project founders can say to their children and grandchildren that they gave their all to defend the deeply held principles." >> john weaver, a cofounder of the lincoln project. >> laura: john weaver, the media's go-to guy for calling out conservatives over their political and moral deviance. well, you may recall "the angle" was the first television show to break this story. >> several young men reach out to me to warn me that he approached them after saying that he could offer them career advice, jobs, internships or just leverage in politics that they want to work in it. suddenly, they switched the content with sexual matter asking what their sexual preferences were what their body types were. how their body was and kind of a disgusting manner. >> laura: that was almost three weeks ago, but it was only this past weekend that "th

i can tell you right now many members of the lincoln project no. it was blatant, open and he was going after the end turns. >> laura: is all of the fruit of the poisonous tree. and also, as he did in his explanation, well kind of implying that is why he did what he did was also insulting. >> and he said it was consensual. how was messaging a 14-year-old when you are 57 consensual? >> laura: it is obviously not, ryan, you are courageous to break the story. i'm glad we had one first. "the new york times" three weeks later. ryan girdusky, thank you so much. victor davis hanson, and laura logan investigative journalist and a host, and the return to the border is now available. victor, groups like the lincoln project mirrored all trump supporter zest threat to democracy immoral, politically and otherwise. your reaction to these new developments. >> they were served as youthful idiots and took $100 million. they use it for themselves and their friends. they were hypocrites and moral superior all under the idea trump proposed and exponential threat. laura

and lincoln had that. experience, no executive experience, character is ultimately what counted. and he was able to summon the better angels of our nature, to focus on what unites us, not what divides us, even in civil war. even his enemies admitted he was honest. and he never took the road of the politics of personal destruction. so, in many ways, he was made so central. but as a historian once said, as long as we have a politics of race in this country, we have a politics of civil war memory. and we still have not got out from under it. the lessons to learn of how we fell so short, especially after lincoln's death are ones we cannot learn enough. we need to keep it. >> in our mind as we face the future. >> i want to ask you more about those lessons learned or what can be applied to joe biden's presidency. because obviously it was such a divided time in american history under lincoln's administration. here we are today with a country that is coming apart at the seams in many ways. what should joe biden lo

-- rather lincoln's funeral. one of my favorite things is the fact that he got a speeding ticket. grant got a speeding ticket. he got stopped by a policeman in washington, d.c. and he said, you're going too fast in your carriage, general. but you're the president, we'll let you go. no, i'm paying. i did wrong so i should pay. he was policed by a sharpie, literally. yellowstone national park, he signed the first national park this country had. i think too the courageous death he had, which we didn't talk about much in the memoir, but it was awful. i mean, you read some of these things, it literally brings tears to your eyes what that man suffered. and i think the big thing is that grant is the most important figure -- once lincoln is gone, grant is the most important figure in american history in the late 19th century. but it's also a fact that sherman loved the theater and he would go to the theater and he would go on wednesday to see the first half and go on thursday to see the second half because he couldn't st

neighbor him lincoln with 17%. -- abraham lincoln with 17%. ronald reagan with 10%.eorge washington, 9%. john f. kennedy, 6%. bill clinton, 2% in that category. thomas jefferson, 2% as well. the pool done last week -- poll done last week, yougov and the economist. according to the people, donald trump with 46% of those polled. barack obama, 24% said he was the worst president. richard nixon with 5%. george w. bush, 4%. jimmy carter, 3%. woodrow wilson, george h. w. bush with 2%. james buchanan, 1%. sample size, about 1500 adults. that was done recently. the poll finds obama named the best u.s. president and trump the worst. that is our question for you on this president's day. this is a different take on that. it is from usa today. kennedy leaves the field in modern presidents. how americans ranked presidents from 1960's will be viewed by history. they looked at recent presidents going back to kennedy. kennedy is at the top. the blue shade means outstanding. the red is below average or poor. kennedy with the most outstanding, least amount of poor ratings. a lot of ou

it's from the lincoln/douglass debates.h, and it's a purely racist statement certainly by the standards of the day. but it's an outlier in the lincoln lexicon. i think that's important to understand. lincoln was a complex figure. his views on race evolved over time. but his whole political career was based on opposing the extension of slavery. then when he achieved the presidency, he of course enacted the emancipation proclamation and then forced through the 14th amendment, which is an even more achievement in terms of the permanence of slavery. as frederick douglass once said, from an abolitionist perspective, he was cold and late to the game in effect. but from the perspective of the national sentiment, he was radical and zealous and achieved what no other president had done. >> frederick douglass is becoming famous. i mean people knowing about him more. >> a little trump reference there. i got that. i got you on that. >> so biden -- when he was being inaugurated, i should say, the president-elect referenced lincoln in hi