and lincoln at lincoln stung by this. so when he encounter his jefferson, it's that he has any lack of confidence in the ideas that jefferson articulates. it's the jefferson doesn't live up to them and a way for lincoln that is the problem of the american republic itself. so we have our articulated these great ideas. are we able to live up to them? and that really becomes the theme of his presidency. and in many respects, i think that's the theme of, the legacy that lincoln hands down to us are. these principles that we talk about is this this creed, what he called a proper to which we are dedicated. are we really capable living up to it? he thought the war was the acid test for that. in may of 1861, he said to john this war is going to prove one way or the other. i'm paraphrasing lincoln here. this war is going to prove one way or the other whether people are capable of self-government or the first time we come face to face with a large scale problem. we're all going to go to pieces. and if we all go to pieces, then what

abe lincoln. lincoln overlook criticism. when he wrote the famous letter to me saying that you you drive the enemy from our soil. it's all our soil. i'm so disappointed we could have won this war, but then showing his ability, a commander in chief as a leader in the long term, he, of course, writes on the bottom, never sign, never something we should all do with email when we're angry. put in the reserve or whatever you call it. the draft file. don't send it. wait 24 hours. that's part of genius. so that's that's favorite command story with made i think you only knew me for a few minutes before gettysburg. i'll give full credit to gene murray on this. she wrote a fabulous essay in a book that i co-edited, which helped me really understand mead's command decision in the wake of gettysburg and. and the bottom line is lincoln completely misunderstood the limits with which meat. mead had to work. i mean, he he had an army that was very battered and very bloodied. and the idea that mead can just gallivant across southern pennsylv

lincoln met. it's important for museum visitors to see original pieces on display, be it a that abraham lincoln wrote a a everyday that might have been in his home that he with as he got ready for the day. those pieces are incredibly and as people walk through our museum because there's power there's magic in a museum artifact, there is something to be said for standing in front of the actual object. you can read about object. you can see it in a different format. maybe a picture, a book. but when you're standing right in front it there is power in that piece. and i think the greatest power, those pieces is that they remind us that figures like abraham lincoln, lincoln himself, he's just a human being. and when you stand in front one of those pieces, you understand that abraham lincoln was a human

it was a problem for lincoln. he learns to be -- we know as late as 1858, the local presbyterian minister in springfield was the minister at the church where the lincolns were at a pew. one of lincoln's friends said the minister tried to convert him but couldn't. there is nothing to suggest that lincoln had any real sense of religiosity. >> we will fast-forward that you mentioned 1858. that was the year that lincoln catapulted to national attention with his failed senate bid. you say by this point -- regarding the slavery question, he was a man on fire. how did he approached the question in campaigning for office in 1858? >> lincoln came home and he was sort of a washtub politician. he was in congress and had been very unsuccessful. he did not run for reelection. the kansas nebraska act opens northern territories to slavery. he had lots of ideas about lots of things in politics. he was mostly animated by his opposition to slavery. and what makes him so different in the newly formed republican party which was found

lincoln is already growing. it's already come to the realization it's not the geographic capital, it's the army. we've got to destroy the confederate. confederate army. and in this particular case, the failure at fredericksburg having this enormous impact on people, halleck comes up with a plan of basically doing the same thing, cutting off briefly, cutting off lee's army and force, setting them back, actually, or getting around behind him and cutting off from richmond. so richmond will then and hooker will be hero and everybody will live happily ever after. but it doesn't doesn't work out that way. hooker's plan for a forward envelopment. if you continued it i think had a good chance of working. but as soon as lee makes a counter movement hooker stops and starts digging in. and it's interesting though, because we criticize him for that. and i do for digging in and sort of continue on the offensive. but stephen sears, who's written probably the best book on chancellorsville and on hooker and all, makes the argum

myth seven lincoln bed in the lincoln bedroom. so this is actually a painting was done by an artist named peter waddell. he did a series of these historic portraits that show different moments, white house history and and obviously then sort of how the white house was decorated at certain moments. and and this is supposed to be a picture of what is today the lincoln bedroom now in lincoln's time, it was his cabinet room and his office. so if you've seen the movie if you seen the movie, you probably remember that there were maps on the wall. he had his desk. he had a large rectangular table right in the middle. and that's usually where the cabinet gathered. so he actually used the lincoln bedroom space as office and the cabinet room. but just pay attention to these details and what it looks like because it changed pretty rapidly time now one of the first visiting foreign dignitaries to come to the white house was, prince albert. and when he came to the white house during the lincoln administration, the white house didn't even reall

lincoln when lincoln died, there was obviously no tv or internet, but there was a telegraph and that's been called the first national funeral. so what is the important importance in our national memory of the way that lincoln's death was observed and commemorate it almost simultaneously? the country? anyone? well, so there's a couple of things i would keep in mind with that. and martha hodes makes this point very convincingly in. the book that lincoln's death was viewed very differently in the moment that it happened versus how we view it today. obviously, over time, lincoln has developed a legacy of great emancipator, one of the greatest american presidents savior of the union. but remember, there was a considerable amount of people in the country who did like lincoln, who had who had fought against the union, who had cheered that lincoln had been assassinated. so there was an outpouring of national. but i would say it was predominantly more in the north and west parts of the united states. so that's an instance where i think we today reflect upon lincoln as this great national hero.

rented at you mostly in deference to married republicans, he was happily to convert lincoln.uld say he managed to get up one of lincoln's friend said the minister trite and just couldn't. there's nothing to suggest nothing in the public records or private records to suggest lincoln had any real sense of relief generosity before going off to washington as president. >> lincoln's god, sunday night at eight eastern on c-span's q&a. you can listen to q&a and all of our podcast under free c-span now app.

: lincoln's god sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q and a. you can listen to q and they and our podcasts on our c-span now apps. >> if you ever missed any of c-span's coverage you can find it anytime online, c-span.org, videos of key hearings, debates and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights, these points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select video, this timeline makes it easy to quickly get an idea what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest. >> a healthy democracy doesn't just look like this. it looks like this. where americans can see democracy at work with citizens that are truly informed. a republic thrives. get informed, straight from the source on c-span, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, from the nation's capital to wherever you are. the opinion that matters most is your own. this is what democracy looks like, c-span powered by cable. >> and now seval

so what is lincoln going to do? lincoln is going to come up with the idea to send a force that would just deliver food and supplies. anderson's men. but if they were opposed, if they were fired on, they were going to bring reinforcements. well. well, the confederate government views this delivering the food. but, you know, as an act of war, because, again, they didn't believe that they had the right to the fort. so on april 4th, the relief is sent by lincoln to charleston harbor. on april 10th president jefferson davis tells beauregard to tell anderson to evacuate the fort immediately, and if he doesn't, to reduce the fort the day. on april 11th, 1861, this man you see is james chestnut. mary chestnuts husband, who actually used to be senator from south carolina, had resigned and was now a colonel in the confederate army who was an aide. beauregard he, along with captain stephen de lee and lieutenant alexander chisholm, are going to go out to fort sumter. they go out there, they meet anderson and they tell him his o

remember, lincoln, a laer? he doesn't believe the south as because he would say that no sovereign nation has a provision in its organic law for its own termination. there's scidelae in the constitution that allows states leave. so we can igi. and spoiler alert, when the union wins the battle of ttburg george gordon mead will write a note to his army and he says he looks forward to increased ertion and to drive the enemy from our soil. abraham lincoln is beside it's all our soil. okay so let's about how instruments of nationalow are playing out here. there is a diplomatic element of this. if we think about it the confederacy has representatives in england and francorames seidel, james mason are over there ting to get those european powers to come on this out. they are offset by the united ambassors to england. charles and william dayton in, france, trying to keep them out of t. this is at play all throughout the american civ information, all elements. i think we struggle wi ts by. but perhaps eatest example the

as president. >> "lincoln's god" sunday night. listen to all of our podcasts on