are thrilled to welcome richard brookhiser, renowned historian and author, back to the new york historical society. mr. brookhiser is a senior editor of national review as well as columnist for american history. in 2004 he acted as historian and curator for new york historical's exhibit, alexander hamilton, the man who made water in america. and in 2003, he received the national community's metal. he has written numerous books on revolutionary america, including biography of james madison, which is why we have him here tonight. before we begin i ask you to turn off cell phones and electronic devices for the duration of the program. and now please join me in welcoming rick brookhiser. [applause] richard: thank you, gail. thank you all for coming. i was just speaking with carl mangus, and we were remembering that we first met in 2002, when carl had a program at his alma mater hamilton college about alexander hamilton. we were saying we were early adapters and the world has certainly caught up with our interest in that respect. the first tenant of the -- thef them it's to the first 10 amendments to t

permanent collections of not only the museum of modern art, but the barjeel foundation and the new york historical societyhave you inadvertently become part of the art establishment? >> it's really funny because in some ways, i have. like, i always hate when people front and they say, "oh, i'm such an outsider," and then they're saying it from their fancy manhattan loft. it's, it's really terrible when people do that. but on the other hand i am in these fancy collections. but i still wouldn't even know how to get a gallery show and write an artist statement in, like, their proper vocabulary and jargon that they like. >> does that divide even exist anymore between sort of high art and the kind of art that you have spent your life doing? >> oh, absolutely. high art is stuff that sells for $1 million. >> that's true. >> it's stuff that's deliberately scarce that's like a stock certificate or something. i don't do stuff like that i think because i'm just too greedy to make stuff. >> what do you mean by too greedy? >> well, no because it's if you wanna be one of those type of artists, you basically wanna creat

on monday, we are at the new york historical society in new york city.for the presentation of the guggenheim lemon prize awarded laman prize awarded to the best of military history. then on tuesday from our studios in washington d.c., on afterwards, we'll discuss the 19 years in prison and weigh in on reducing the prison population. on wednesday, history of civil engineering professor henry examines america's infrastructure. >> .. washington journal contin. t is back atl wrigh our desk. she is out with a new book, con job.

the new york historical society hosted this hour long event. >>> welcome, it's great to be back in the same seats as we always occupy. for those of you who have come to a number of our sessions. we are promised and we are promising each other that we'll do more in the coming seasons. we have a topic today that we think is one of the best that we've come up with, it's a neglected civil war story. because of the focus on sherman's march through georgia. there's a little less attention on sherman's other march, which followed the march through georgia. take a look at this scowling man in a fantastic coat, as we begin talking about him. i'm going to start with john who as you heard has written two wonderful books about william sherman, and i think we need to know how you can do it in a few minutes his family, his psyche, tell us something about this fellowhe d in tble breasted uniform coat. >> this picture that you see was taken of sherman and he didn't want to have that picture taken 37 he's not a happy camper, this is not the best picture of him. very briefly, sherman has a very difficul

the new york historical society hosted this event. we join this discussion in progress. and if i may add, what followed slavery would be black codes. and so every southern state

on monday where at the new york historical society for the presentation of the guggenheim prize awarded to the best in military history. then on tuesday from her studios in washington d.c., chuck will be a guest on our author interview program, afterwards. mr. senghor will discuss his 19 years in prison and weigh in on reducing the prison population. on wednesday, history and civil engineering professor henry will examine america's infrastructure at regulator bookshop. >> ..

the new york historical society posted this hour-long event.

the new york historical society hosted this hour long event. >>> welcome, it's great to be back in the same seats as we always occupy. for those of you who have come to a number of our sessions. we are promised and we are promising each other that we'll do more in the coming seasons. we have a topic today that we think is one of the best that we've come up with, it's a neglected civil war story. because of the focus on sherman's march through georgia. there's a little less attention on sherman's other march, which followed the march through georgia. take a look at this scowling man in a fantastic coat, as we begin talking about him. i'm going to start with john who as you heard has written two wonderful books about william sherman, and i think we need to know how you can do it in a few minutes his family, his psyche, tell us something about this fellow in the double breasted uniform coat. >> this picture that you see was taken of sherman and he didn't want to have that picture taken 37 he's not a happy camper, this is not the best picture of him. very briefly, sherman has a very diffic

the new york historical society hosted this hour-long event. >> so tonight's program is james madison, father of the constitution, and it is part of the lecture series in american history. i would like to thank carl mangus for all of his support,

the new york historical society posted this event. we join this discussion in progress. and every less if i may add them what followed slavery would be black coats. state every southern passes these laws, trying to impose what looks like quasi-slavery on the newly emancipated. >> is for governments johnson had created. >> absolutely. you had incidents of african-americans not being able to purchase land, when they would have been able to do that, because you had black soldiers who may have had a little bit of money. you had people trying to limited resources, they were not allowed to either purchase the land or rent the land. you have black people being denied the right to serve on juries. certainly cannot vote, but the most heinous problem during this period was the apprenticeship laws. a lot of us think that black men were rounded up and jailed, if they did not have visible means of support. if they do not have employment. the real tragedy, i think, of his early period, starting right and 1867 war into 1866 was the apprenticeship of african-american children. children

this was taped at the new york historical society in september. you and i both know alexander hamilton, the huge things he gave to the country are clearly his legacy. >> yeah. >> rose: but are both of these men known for as much as of the fact that there was this dual as any other aspect in the public imagination? >> in the public imagination, henry adams said this was the most dramatic moment in the early history of the republic, so they both ended up being defined by this moment, by the duel, and i hope between my biography and the spectacular show that people are going to realize that alexander hamilton, his accomplishments were so extraordinary and that he was a major founder on par with washington and jefferson and madison and we owe him a tremendous debt. i think he gave us the economic and financial maturity at the outset of the country that really enabled the federal government to succeed, that enabled the constitution to succeed. there was no announcement this combination of financial, legal, tech no contract skills and political theory t

the new york historical society posted this event. we join this discussion in progress. and every less if i may add them what followed slavery would be black coats. state every southern passes these laws, trying to impose what looks like quasi-slavery on the newly emancipated. >> is for governments johnson had created. >> absolutely. you had incidents of african-americans not being able to purchase land, when they would have been able to do that, because you had black soldiers who may have had a little bit of money. you had people trying to limited resources, they were not allowed to either purchase the land or nt

i think it is an extraordinary painting in the new york historical society, i urge you. it is always up, and i urge you to go see it. it is worth studying and thinking about. we have to move on quickly to a wonderful image which is the washington monument. now, robert mills, as i think i told you, designed the washington monument in -- designed the washington monument in 1836. he won the competition for it, for doing so. but in that competition he beat out other people, and the competition, and they were people who were unhappy about his wedding. mills at the time was running high. he had just secured the patent office, which he also designed, and he also had secured the addition to the treasury, which destroys pennsylvania avenue, and he was not so much responsible for that as perhaps the story is it was andrew jackson who put his cane into the road and said, this is where the dam building is going to be. and that is supposedly the story. well, let's take a look at what mills had created in the washington monument. it was an enormous, tall obelisk, much taller than the

the new york historical society hosted this hour long event. >>> welcome, it's great to be back in the same seats as we always occupy. for those of you who have come to a number of our sessions. we are promised and we are promising each other that we'll do more in the coming seasons. we have a topic today that we think is one of the best that we've come up with, it's a neglected civil war story. because of the focus on sherman's march through georgia. there's a little less attention on sherman's other march, which followed the march through georgia. take a look at this scowling man in a fantastic coat, as we begin talking about him. i'm going to start with john who as you heard has written two wonderful books about william sherman, and i think we need to know how you can do it in a few minutes his family, his psyche, tell us something about this fellow in the double breasted uniform coat. >> this picture that you see was taken of sherman and he didn't want to have that picture taken 37 he's not a happy camper, this is not the best picture of him. very briefly, sherman has a very diffic

so then you come to new york, and there's this fabulous research at the american-irish historical society, at the new york city tenement museum which you can understand what it was like to be in one of those tenements. a lot of papers there. then you walk the civil war battlefields which, as an american, i think every person should do. i had never done it. it's so so profoundly moving. and the national park service, let's give them credit. they do a great job of keeping those american markers intact. so i walked the wall up to mary's heights. and you see, my god, these guys were totally exposed. there was no way for them to go. there's formations just getting mowed down by industrial strength or artillery and musketly. and then you go to antithem and this awful, awful place where 23,000 people died, and the library of congress has all the civil war correspondence. most of it's on line now so you can read meagher's battle reports in that. finally, you end up in virginia city, montana, which isn't quite a ghost town yet. you can get a bison burger and a beer -- [laughter] and there's a grea