lincoln, we, blacks, are president lincoln's or mr.'s stepchildren, whites are his children, which no doubt shocked his audience, because lincoln's chief goal was preserving the union. and then douglass did what he often did in speeches. it's called -- he learned it from "the columbian orator." it's a reversal. you start at one place and you end in another. because lincoln recognized that in order to preserve the union he needed blacks at his side, although we are his stepchildren, through his transformation, we became accepted as part of a national family. it's a stunning, moving, brilliant speech. and douglass gave various versions of that for the rest of his life. douglass was immensely inspired by his friendship with lincoln. he was proud of it. he felt like he grew as an individual because of it. and there is evidence lincoln did not say as much about his friendship with douglass, but there's evidence that lincoln -- good evidence that lincoln was profoundly moved and transformed through his friendship with douglass, that douglass

lincoln, we, blacks, our president lincoln or mr. lincoln's stepchildren. whites are his children. that shocked his audience. because lincoln's chief goal was preserving the union. douglas did what he often did in speeches, he learned it from the colombian orders -- it is called a reversal. you start at one place and you end in another. he said, "we are lincoln's stepchildren." whites are his children," but because lincoln ultimately recognized that in order to preserve the union, he needed blacks on his side -- "although we are his stepchildren, through his transformation, we became accepted as part of a national family." it's a stunning, moving, brilliant speech. douglass gave various versions of that for the rest of his life. douglass gave various versions of that for the rest of his life. douglass was immensely inspired by his friendship with lincoln. he was proud of it. he felt like he grew as an individual because of it. there is evidence -- lincoln did not say as much. there's evidence that lincoln was profoundly moved and transformed through his friendship with douglas. dou

welcome to the abraham lincoln institute online lincoln symposium. my name is michelle le crowell and i will serve as your host of this series through may 3rd. this live stream speaker symposium is focused on the lifetimes and legacy of president abraham lincoln. you can learn more about the lincoln symposium event schedule by visiting the ford's theater website at www.fords.org or the abraham lincoln institute website at www.lincoln-institute.org. a note to all our viewers. we are taking your questions on our social media platforms later in the program. we will have a q&a section with today's speakers moderated by my colleague jonathan w white please feel free to submit your questions so that we may share them with the speakers then. finally the abraham lincoln institute would like to take this opportunity to thank paul tatro erica, scott, gary erskine carolina dulce, lauren ba juliana avery, andrea bowman and the staff affords theater for all their hard work to make this virtual symposium possible. our first speaker is lucas e morell the john k boa

gurley lincoln's minister doctor. will you speak? he said a prayer for lincoln. and then edwin stanton pronounced words that really were immortal and remembered wrong for the last 150 years. the secretary of war stood in this room and looked at abraham lincoln's body and said now he belongs to the angels. we remember today as now he belongs to the ages but extensive research has revealed. that it's best to remembered by the stenographer tanner who's pencil broke? his only lead pencil broke as he was writing down. what was said in this room, but he remembered that stanton said angels plus it's characteristic with stanton's temperament how we viewed his faith how we viewed the world. he wouldn't have said something as profound as now he belongs to the ages. i have no doubt that in this room. stanton said now he belongs to the angels. people filtered out of the room one by one. stanton remained here alone with the president and at that point he took a small scissors or razor and he approached lincoln's body. and he cut off a lock of lincoln's hair. not for himself,

with lincoln. lincoln obviously was -- according to douglass was not condescending did not hurry him out of the office, although it was not a long meeting, the second meeting is longer. it was respectful, but lincoln did say, basically, you ought to be grateful. >> he said he was the first great man i talked with in the united states freely who in no single instance reminded me of the difference between himself and myself. >> yeah. >> the difference in color. >> that had to mean -- >> he met other formidable white people. that's a remarkable thing to say. >> it was rhetorical useful. >> he wrote it later. >> he did write it later. but anyway, he walked away from there not pleased with the results, but he had just met the president. and the president knows who he is now. this is august of '63. the war is in abeyance. the war is in this horrible situation. it's post vicksburg, post gettysburg, victories for the union but still a horrible state. no one knows where it's going. >> it's only halfway. >>

met lincoln, seen lincoln, imagined they'd seen lincoln imagining they'd be with lincoln somewhere. the same thing went on with douglass by the 1880s. and early 1890s. not unlike the scale. all the way i did this with douglass or saw douglass do that. little reminiscence published in 1881 by the man who claimed to be the poll worker on the night of the election of 1864 and that he had put douglass' ballot in the ballot box, by god. i decided to believe him because the best part of the story is he lived right near douglass. he's a real person and he and douglass were welcomed back into town. they lived a mile from downtown and welcomed back late at night. about 10:00 to go to the telegraph office and learn all the national returns of the election night. and while they come back to the center of the city, says this man, four drunken white thugs come out of the alley way and called him the n word over and over and there was a little clash between them but then this testifier says the drunken white thugs want nothing to do with douglass and they scurried back into their holes and dougla

when he makes lincoln anytime, august 64, it's a lincoln invitation. >> right. >> lincoln needs him. lincoln, rightfully believes that he's not going to win the. we're >> at that moment -- >> they still made in virginia. >> it's only a week from sherman taking, -- >> that makes all the difference. what is, it 65,000 casualties? dead, missing and wounded in the summer of 65 alone? 64, sorry. the north is sick of the war. called stop at the white house, looks him in the eye and ask them to be the chief agent of a scheme to funnel as many slaves as possible out of the upper south before an election day. >> before not gracious day. >> i thought was before november? >> i think it's after. >> that's right, because for months -- anyway, i may lose this election. so help me create a scheme that will damage slavery as much as possible, get as many black fault behind union lines and some legal definition of freedom before mcclelland or the democrats engineer a negotiated peace or whatever the going to do. >> and reverse the executive order. >> reversal mastication, just imagine this. as if it

forum, abraham lincoln association, the abraham lincoln institute and the group of president lincoln's cottage. she's the author of several books. harold holzer is director of roosevelt house public policy institute at hunter college. he co-chaired the u.s. lincoln bicentennial commission appointed by president bill clinton. he's the author of numerous book including "lincoln and the power of the press" and his most recent, the life and art of daniel chester french. he served as chief historian for the 2009/2010 exhibition, lincoln in new york and is a fellow here. his honors include the national humanities medal which was presented to him in 2008. and now as i yield the floor to our speakers, i just ask you, as always, to make sure that anything that makes a noise, like a cell phone, is switched off. now, please join me in welcoming our speakers this morning. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you, louise mirrer, it's wonderful to be at the historical society, particularly for the bill clinton lecture. it's an honor to be one of the participants in that annual event. and it's a special

he was on the boards of the abraham lincoln organization and the lincoln forum. he volunteered with the national park service as a speaker and guide at ford's theater. he was generous and kind. he spoke with the authority established by years of study and his inherent intimacy with the subject derived from his illinois roots. one of his friends said i am a better person and lincoln scholar because of john ellis. the board of the lincoln group has decided to honor his memory with a program that unites his passion and love for ford's theater. we are announcing the john ellis scholarship. the scholarship will make the excellent programs here at ford's more accessible to teachers across the country. the lincoln group will make the scholarship the focus of its ongoing efforts to raise support for lincoln education. this first year, four scholarships be granted to teachers that will be selected by ford's staff. i congratulate the lincoln group of the district of columbia for its support of lincoln education programs here at ford's theater by creating the john ellis sch

lincoln, excuse me, douglas wanted a campaign for lincoln. and the republican party wouldn't let him. they're out there trying to duck and dodge on the emancipation issue. the last thing they want is sending out frederick douglass. to give his barn-burning speeches about abolitionism in all the wrong places. now the truth is he will campaign for every republican president the rest of his life. they wouldn't let him take the stump in 64. he resented it he. outraged he was angry. but he had no choice. what he did do he went to syracuse new york in october to a big black convention. and the famous tradition of the black conventions. delegates from all over the country including five southern states. and he gave a barn burner of a speech about the right to vote. not just about completing the war for emancipation, but the sacred quality of the suffrage. and he declared that the war would never be over until every treasonous. slaveholder was dead or in custody. it's the war propagandist once again in douglas. out there doing this now. not entirely

lincoln, are we, blacks our president lincoln or mr. lincoln's stepchildren. which no doubt shocked his audience because lincoln's chief goal was preserving the union. and then douglas did what he often didn't speeches. he learned it from the colombian order. it's called reversal. we start at one place and you end another. he said we are lincoln's stepchildren. whites are his children. because lincoln ultimately recognized that in order to preserve the union he needed blacks on his side, although we are his step children, through his transformation we became accepted as part of the .ational family it's a stunning, moving, . and douglas gave a various versions of that for the rest life. douglas was immensely inspired by his friendship with lincoln. it.as proud of he felt like he grew us an it. there is evidence lincoln did not say as much about his friendship with douglas. but there is good evidence that lincoln was profoundly moved and transform through his douglas. that douglas helped him move interactions that he wanted to .o . i appreciated you matching the

you said that lincoln? referred to said that white people were suffering because of the presence of black people. what is what do you mean by that? i'm cutting each other's thrones that that's 750,000 got killed and because of the existence of black slavery in the south. and if there hadn't been any blanks there would have been no desire to maintain white supremacy at all costs. that wouldn't have been a war and there wouldn't have been that many deaths. was there it kind of follow-up to that was there a strong support nation and at least in the north for colonization prior to the war? yeah among among whites in the lower north and and the upper south. and the border states that's where the longest support and black support as i indicated was particularly strong not a majority support to be sure but particularly strong in the 1850s. okay you are you mentioned some things about? why the congress allocated the money for colonization? they the early one you mentioned that the british correspondent. here's a qu

who had ever met lincoln, seen lincoln, imagined they'd seen lincoln, had to have a reminiscence of imagining they had been with lincoln somewhere. the same thing went on with douglass by the 1880s and early 1990s. not on quite the scale. all kinds of reminiscences, the day i did this with douglass, the day i did that. there's a little reminiscence in a rochester newspaper in 1881, by the man who claimed to be the poll worker on the night of the election of 1864, and that he had put douglass' ballot in the ballot box, by god. i decided to believe him because the best part of the story is he lived right near douglass. he's a real person, and he and douglass, he says, were walking back into town. douglass lived about a mile from downtown. they were walking back into town late at night about 10:00 to go to the telegraph office and learn all the national returns of the election night. and while they're coming back into the center of the city, says this man, four drunken white thugs come out of an alleyway, and they challenge douglass, called him the n-word over and over and over, and there was a

lincoln, we, blacks are president lincoln or mr. lincoln's -- . which no doubt shocked his audience because lincoln's chief goal was preserving the union and then douglas did what he often did in the speeches, he learned the reversal. you started one plates, you and in another. he said we are lincoln's step children. but because lincoln ultimately recognized that in order to preserve the union, he needed blacks on his side, although we are his stepchildren, through his transformation we became accepted as part of a national family. it's a stunning, moving, brilliant speech. douglas gave the various aversions of that for the rest of his life. douglas was immensely inspired by his friendship with lincoln. he was proud of it. he felt like he grew as a individual because of it. and there is evidence lincoln to not say as much about his friendship douglas. but there is good evidence that lincoln was profoundly moved and transformed through his friendship with douglas. that douglas helped push him in directions that douglas wanted to go. yes. >> i appre

instead abraham lincoln writes out this paragraph. fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away, yet if god wills that it continues until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said 3000 years ago, so still it must be said, the judgments of the lord are true or and righteous altogether. abraham lincoln had been searching throughout the american civil war to figure out what is god's purpose? why the american people have to suffer such a horrible calamity of civil war, four years this war had gone on, 600,000 casualties by this point. mister lincoln spent a lot of time talking to god. this is the answer that he thinks god is sending to america. both sides, north and south, have to suffer because both sides played a role in the egregious sin of american slavery. abraham lincoln feared that people might not react really well to his words in the

you talk about lincoln and race and you call lincoln one of the things historians have uncovered about the history of the colonization movement, which emerged in 1817 and reflected the shift away from an optimistic view of the future in the united states. the first generation looked to a time when african americans would be incorporated as full citizens. by 1817 the colonization council had a different perception of the possibilities of the biracial democracy in the united states and they were very pessimistic about the future because of the reaction against of the egalitarianism of the revolution that had set in and we know what was happening in the north but they were taking votes from blacks that had previously had it and they were entering into a period of tens racial discrimination. people who were committed to a future of universal freedom without slavery maybe began to think pessimistically about that prospect. some were just racist who couldn't imagine the united states with free blacks in it and some were antislavery folks who might have liked that kind of thing but imagine th

and opposed lincoln. and joined in the general -- even at the same time that there was anti-semitism in the south and the north and victimization from the jews all sort of shortages the jews were preying on deprivation to make money but there's no uniform jewish soldiers were just as likely to be bigoted or worried about african-american troops as white soldiers were. you know, there aren't that many heroic stories in this moment when african-american soldiers are allowed to join up. we have record of many soldiers who said i'm going home, i'm going to give up, i'm going abandon ship or camp, and there were those who did. i think the turning point for jewish and christian white soldiers as they were regarding african-american troops was when they proved they could fight, when they proved they would fight, they were just as hard or harder as the white troops. when they proved their courage, when they were subject to atrocities or had soldiers executed after they had surrendered. so they say that no one is

the actor playing lincoln? aye. that's another story. when they saw this lincoln, aye. >> aye. well, on that very happy note, i see we are out of time and i want to thank you. harold, for being such a terrific partner in tonight's program and the whole series. and thank all of you, out there, for watching this evening. for your attention, your questions, and your membership support. we do value you. new york historical. and are so happy to present these programs to you. >> weeknights, we are featuring american history tv programs as a preview of what's available, every weekend, on c-span3. tonight, beginning at 8:00 eastern, a look at the national world war i memorial in washington, d.c. which opened to the public on april 16th. c-span toured the site located near the white house with edwin fountain, former u.s. world war i centennial commission vice chair. he told the story of the memorial's development, and talked about the philosophy behind the design that honors the 4.7 million americans, who served during the war. watch american history tv, tonight, and every weekend on c-

with them putting pressure on abraham lincoln, for their courageous fighting, and then abraham lincolnp to those black men for legislation. what did he decide? >> i'm confused here. >> okay let me cleared up for you. >> the south, and the north there were winning sometimes, and the other side winning sometimes, and it was even steven. but then harry tubman put pressure on him to finally allow the black folks like harriet tubman came to first by car, being a nurse in the union services, and their courageous funding of those black men with weapons in their hand, killing white folks, and as i think mr. clark said earlier, those black men then coming back to d.c., and the african american soldiers from the civil war they would become a problem because so the question is what about those black soldiers fighting gave rise to abraham lincoln for him to decide i'm going to pass legislation to give them the what to do. >> well if you're talking about compensated emancipation proclamation, that's bright lacks being there -- to the army. but african american people had been serving in the navy me

the lincoln one was about his nomination for the presidency. it was lincoln before the beard. washington one i'm working on is george washington, looking at him in one year during the revolution between the fourth of july, 1777 and the fourth of july, 1778. that's more of a military book. rod: speaking of logan and the military, logan succeeded general mcpherson after his unfortunate demise. why was it logan did not get permanent command of the army? gary: the battle i just talked about, july 22nd, 1864. mcpherson was killed during that battle. he's the only major on the union side, the only major general in charge of a major army to be killed in the civil war and this happened in the last 10 months of the war. immediately, logan succeeded him because he was the supporting officer and coordinator and ranked the other two commanders there. he was responsible turning this chaotic moment of losing the commander and helped by his presence to win that battle. but logan was not west point trained and the overall commander was william tecumseh sherman. he had a proclivity to hire in

by 1862, lincoln inched closer to black enlistment but remained tethered to one obstacle, border states. he submitted a resolution that questioned the authority upon which hunter made the decision to mobilize black soldiers. secretary of war stanton clarified that he had not authorized such measures. with no support, hunter disbanded the troops. lincoln regarded the measure premature and recorded the following explanation, quote, to recruiting free negroes, no objection. to recruiting of disloyal owners, no objection. to recruiting slaves of loyal owners without consent, objection, unless the necessity is urgent. indeed, several months after he made the statement, he drafted the preliminary proclamation which did not include any -- lincoln understood that the largest of americans were not ready to accept the idea of a black union soldier despite the country's long history of employing black soldiers. at the same time he called upon the expertise of the russian revolutionary to explore the legal basis upon which the american military would conduct the war which subsequently addressed suc

lincoln was a deep student of shakespeare as a boy. he recited many of the great speeches which he had in a volume. as a young lawyer he traveled with a car with a copy of shakespeare in his saddlebags when he became president. he frequently attended shakespeare's plays in washington. in the white house he often would read aloud from the great the soliloquies. five days before he was assassinated lincoln visited richmond, which had just fall into union troops. he was greeted. joyfully by soldiers and former slaves. and he briefly sat behind the desk from which jefferson davis. had led the confederacy. then he returned to a union riverboat to steam back north. along the way he pulled out a well thumbed volume of shakespeare. and rather in red aloud. to a surrounding group of officers for more than an hour from macbeth which was shakespeare's favorite play. this may seem as strange place to turn during a terrible war it hardly provides solace at least. in a conventional way, but perhaps macbeth fit particularly well because lincoln under

i don't believe for a minute that lincoln didn't see these things. i don't believe for a minute gardner wouldn't have shown them to him or that lincoln would not have expressed interest in them and when i read lincoln's words of the gettysburg address these photographs are what are echoing around in my head. we cannot consecrate we cannot hallow this ground more than those who gave their lives here lincoln is in effect saying, what do you expect me to say? you've seen the bodies. we're now burying the bodies. we're trying to honor them and we're trying to remember. this is what we are fighting for to get past this to me. this is a room in part about paying last respects and there are plenty of people who saw the photographs at matthew brady's who felt as though they were in fact paying last respects to the dead and thanking their lucky stars. they weren't one of them and i think that's a sobering moment for understanding the visceral nature of the war. a lot of civil war photography are portraits of soldiers things that were done as keepsakes to send

when lincoln university, the first black president of lincoln university, the great civil rights leaderan barnes. he befriended a white guy, albert barnes. sort of a century of eccentric leaders, he was eccentric. and they put that there, they created a company, and they became extraordinarily wealthy. with that he'd bought a lot of art. and so he's buying all of us are. then they invited him to lincoln university. when you read all of the information, he has been offered a chance to teach at the best school ever in the world, he was so appreciative, but this was an enormously wealthy man was provided this opportunity. and so he bought this card and so then he shows it in the white elite and the city of philadelphia, they bashed on it. they save the display of the art is even worse. so he swore never to let the white elite look at his art and never too displayed anywhere other than the suburb of philadelphia. he died in 1951 in a car crash. his wife took over the estate. they don't have any children. his wife passed away in 1989 and in the well it says that the art collection is to be m

welcome to the abraham lincoln institute online lincoln symposium. my name is michelle le crowell and i will serve as your host of this series through may 3rd. this live stream speaker symposium is focused on the fe

and she gave lincoln legitimacy. she gave him culture. she brought him into two powerful families her own and her sisters married into the edwards family of illinois, and her husband's father had been governor. so she brought a lot to the table. she believed it was her destiny. to be in the white house can we skip to slide four, please? um, and she loved every minute of it. she saw herself as regal. and she did a lot in the white house, but very little of it got attention. um, she was from the south yet. she supported emancipation. she was fearless during the civil war. she actually visited the front with her husband on several occasions. and almost no press on it. i i found one paragraph in the washington star once. um, when when the confederate army was attacking fort stevens, which was only six miles from the white house. she was urged to leave the white house and she refused to soldiers were pouring in injured soldiers they were they were sleeping in the east room. mary tended to them. she refused to leave. she also spent an enormous

president lincoln knew that our country needed a symbol of strength and unity, a reminder of the shared ideals and common practice that bind our nation, a beacon of hope, again, to see through the darkness. january 6 was a day of darkness for our country. a day, as you know, that was called for in the constitution of the united states for us to validate the presidential election, to certify the results of the electoral college. that day one of the darknessest -- darkest, i will keep saying, our temple of democracy was attacked by insurrectionists. you know all of this. the gleeful desecration of the capitol resulted in multiple deaths, physical harm to over 140 members of law enforcement and terror and trauma among staff, workers, and members. that trauma is something i can never forget or forgive. the insurrection was called for to empeed our -- impede our constitutional mandate, but the congress returned to the capitol under the dome to accomplish our constitutional mandate. thanks to the courage of the capitol police, members and support workers, we showed our country, indeed the wor

before lincoln signed off on libra's orders. he deliberated the prospect of black enlistment with caution and subsequently rebuked subordinates who got ahead of him by issuing orders that either authorized emancipation or the military services of african-american. black men were deployed in the wars prior to the civil war which offered enslaved people a narrow avenue to freedom the civil war however involved a more expansive discussion of both liberty and citizenship. lincoln knew this as well arguing that quote negroes like other people act upon motives. why should they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them if they stake their lives for us. they must be prompted by the strongest motive. even the promise of freedom and the promise being made. it must be kept. the final draft of the emancipation proclamation formally authorized the enlistment of african-american soldiers. whereas he once defended the exclusion of black troops. he just as firmly expressed his unwavering support for their enlistment after the proclamati

instead, when abraham lincoln was assassinated, the assassin effectively muted reconstruction. leaders like pennsylvania congressman thaddeus stevens rightfully called for a bunch more aggressive reconstruction but he failed to persuade his colleagues. the long struggle in defense of freedom is part of america's history at our founding in the declaration of independence, or founders eloquently stated that all people are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. winning the revolution offered the potential for leaders like john adams to rightly persuade their colleagues to end slavery. but they failed. their failure set the stage for the civil war and the failure to complete reconstruction meant 100 years of jim crow and separate but equal that continued into my dads lifetime. america's failure to rightly recognize our painful and often unjust history have meant ongoing division, open wounds that continue to fester. today, let us not fail to persuade our colleagues. let us recognize this holiday. it

about that disparity in pay and he says quite pointedly to president lincoln. are we soldiers or are we laborers? as so many others would argue, you know in the years thereafter arguing for equal pay for equal work and then he goes on to remind president lincoln that at that as soon as the north had opened its armies up to enlistment by african-american's the south had tried to inhibit that by saying that any african-american soldiers who were caught would be killed outright some rarely executed. and lincoln had said if you know you if you do that, you must treat all of our soldiers equally black and white gooding in this letter goes on to say if you tell the south that it has to treat all soldiers black and white the same then why aren't you paying all soldiers the same so wonderful extraordinary letter? indeed when the union army refused to pay the african-american soldiers the 13 dollars a month that they had promised all of the 54th both the officers and the soldiers refused to accept any pay until they received the amount that they were due and it lasted 1

that the steel equipment was needed for the civil war and president lincoln said no. president lincoln said their country needed a symbol of strength and unity and a reminder of the shared ideals and common purpose that bind our nation as a beacon of hope to see through the darkness they the january 6 was a day of darkness for our country. it was a day as you know that was called for in the constitution of the united states for us to validate presidential election to certify the results of the electoral college. that day was one of the darkest i say again in our history. her temple of democracy was attacked by insurrectionists. you know all of this. the desecration of the capitol resulted in multiple deaths and physical harm to over 140 members of law enforcement among staff workers and members. that trauma something i can never forget. the insurrection was called for to impede our constitutional mandate that the congress return to the capitol under the dome to accomplish our constitutional mandate. thanks to the courage of the capitol police members and support worke

president lincoln knew we needed strength and common purpose that define our nation, a beacon of hope to speak through the darkness. january 6 was a day of darkness for our country. it was a day as you know was called for in the constitution of the united states for us to validate the presidential election to certify the results of the electoral college. that day, our dark day, our temple of democracy was attacked by insurrectionists. you know about this. the demreeful december was harm to 140 members of law enforcement and terror and trauma amongst staff and workers and members. that trauma is something i can never forget or forgive. the insurrection was called for to impede our constitutional mandate but the congress returned to the capitol under the dome to accomplish our constitutional mandate. thanks to the courage of the capitol police, members and support workers we showed the world that we would not be diverted from our duty and respect our responsibilities under the constitution. not just the capitol police but other law enforcement as well. on january 6 and the days and week

there's so much racial conflict, racism among whites, somebody like lincoln acknowledged as well that actually going forward it's beyond our imagination to imagine that this could ever really work out and so, that's kind of where lincoln was. in some ways as the civil war started. but the other thing worth seeing and i think that this is to try to say it it seems complicated but a lot of those people, and i would include lincoln also thought as long as african-americans were here in this country, the basic civil rights shouldn't be violated and so you have lincoln saying even before he is elected president he will say things like everyone is entitled to the fruits of their labor. nobody should be enslaved. everyone is entitled to marry. he has a kind of famous statement about interracial marriage and i would never want to marry a black woman and that is quoted but part of the statement is he thinks everyone is entitled to basic civil rights and no one should be enslaved. there are a number of moderates on race that i write about. from montgomery blair from the kind of family that they

despite president abraham lincoln's limits to limit the war to a constitutional fight involving white men only, african americans, both men and women i might add seized the opportunity to gain their freedom however tenuous. beginning with the first salvo fired by south carolina with their articles of succession and continuing through the formal organization of the united states colored troops in 1863. on their agency during the war forced the u.s. federal government to recognize publicly the wars to nature that it was a fight over the right to own another human being, that it was a fight to treat that person has nothing more than -- and it was a fight for the right to exploit that person's labor for personal gain. a month after the war began, black men and women forced the u.s. and the confederate governments to change their policies as they use their agency to demand freedom or the very least protection from the united states government. initially, both government stated and unequivocally that this was a white man's war, and that black military service was not needed nor was it wante