there are two pieces by ralph waldo emerson largely dealing with emancipation. how influential were his writings and speeches on abraham lincoln dealing with >> he registers at a contemporary type. the op ed columnist. the first piece was calling for an emancipation proclamation. it is the demand of civilizat n civilization. all else is intrigue. he had been crusading on this question for a long time. really you can see him -- you feel him writing to an audience of one, trying to stiffen lincoln's spine. after it is issued and emerson writes at the end of that year celebrating its arrival. he says, though, but it better not just be a piece of paper. he needs to stand up and deliver on the promise that is made here. >> and his tone is victorious almost. >> and yet still a warning that we need to back it up and put actions where our words are. >> we're going to hold your feet to the fire here. >> so this is one of two pieces. you have a piece by harriet beacher stowe. she responds to the women of great britain. how did that come about? >> she had a relationship wi

toward the end of the mexican-american war ralph waldo emerson sized it up. he said the united states will conquer mexico, but it will be as the man swallows arsenic which brings him down in turn. emerson said, very interesting, he said he was not alone in saying this. many wise men of the day said the same thing, but they were powerless to prevent it. and that is the abbreviated version of kearney's march. there was a lot of things going on, and i was so interested, i do different -- in the way i approach history. i don't generally spend years and years looking at a topic. i go into it sort of fresh and think maybe doing that i have a little, a different kind of perspective on it because i'm interested in learning something new, and i guess i'm vain enough to think if it interests me, it will interest you. and sometimes that worked, and can it's been fun to write these books. as you know, i wrote a book, forest gump, which allows me to write these kind of works. [laughter] but i've got a little niche. i mean, at first everybody was horrified. i became one of