so we look forward to the next piece of san augustine history that we will uncover. >> throughout the weekend, american history tv is featuring saint augustine, florida. our city's tour staff recently traveled there to learn about its rich history. learn more about san augustine and other stops on our tour at c-span.org/citiesto ur. you are watching american history tv. >> american history tv is featuring c-span's original series "first ladies: influence and image on sunday nights at 8:00 p.m. for the rest of the year. we tell the stories of america's 45 first ladies. now, martha washington on "first ladies, influence and image." this is about one hour and a half. ♪ >> martha washington was george

c-span cities tour staff when we recently traveled to san augustine to explore the city's rich history. learn more about saint augustine on american history tv. shannon o'neill: we are at the san augustine lighthouse and museum. this is the location of florida's first lighthouse. there was originally a lighthouse built here sometime in the late 1600s, and in the 1700s, it was turned into a functional lighthouse. after florida became a state they kind of what some money into it, made it into a lighthouse with an oil lamp, and they realized it was going to fall into the ocean, so they started building the current lighthouse we had today, and that was completed in 1874, and the old one fell into the ocean in 1880. the current tower we have has been here since 1874. the purpose of the lighthouse here -- there's kind of two. one is to serve as a location reminder to all of the ships in the area, so each lighthouse has its own individual day mark and night mark. our lighthouse day mark is the black and white stripes with the red top. no other white house can have -- no other lighthouse can h

the treaty of paris in 1763 had a huge impact on san augustine. because spanish florida was traded to great britain, and that meant spanish than augustine was traded to great britain. and so all of the residents that were spanish departed san augustine by early 1764. almost all of them want to havana, with area around havana. if you want to mexico. saint augustine became a british town, the spanish left, the british came in. there was some overlap. the spanish looking town with british -- once again largely soldiers here. didn't care much for spanish houses in spanish architecture. they had been enemies for years. so we do have reports of them taking down some of the spanish wooden houses to use for firewood. that was easier than going out and cutting firewood. they a lot of complaints about the spanish consultant convenience more than design in their buildings. the person the person then moved into this house was maria evans, she came here and her husband with whom she came died and she remarried, and they did very well. she was a midlife, she had

the treaty of paris in 1763 had a huge impact on san augustine. because spanish florida was traded to great britain, and that meant spanish than augustine was traded to great britain. and so all of the residents that were spanish departed san augustine by early 1764. almost all of them want to havana, with area around havana. if you want to mexico. saint augustine became a british town, the spanish left, the british came in. there was some overlap. the spanish looking town with british -- once again largely soldiers here. didn't care much for spanish houses in spanish architecture. they had been enemies for years. so we do have reports of them taking down some of the spanish wooden houses to use for firewood. that was easier than going out and cutting firewood. they a lot of complaints about the spanish consultant convenience more than design in their buildings. the person the person then moved into this house was maria evans she came here and her husband with whom she came died and she remarried, and meijer. they did very well. she was a midlife,

the area around 30 degrees eight minutes and is also the location of the 1565 1st settlement of san augustine 42 42 years before the settlement of jamestown and 55 55 years before the pilgrims landed in plymouth rock. >> the hotel was built by henry morrison flagler. a man who is very little known outside of the state of florida but he was one of the wealthiest men in america. he he essentially had been a cofounder of standard oil with john d rockefeller a man who always wanted to undertake some great enterprise. as it turned out florida was it. he realized he needed to on the railroad between jacksonville and saint augustine to ensure that guests can get to his hotel conveniently. so clearly the dream was beginning to grow. a man who had big dreams and he was a visionary. >> watch all of our events saturday at noon eastern on c-span2 book tv and sunday afternoon at 2:00 o'clock on american history tv. it's. >> the cato institute held a a discussion on the challenges and implications of tax reform and ways to broaden the tax base. panelists what does some of the reform plans laid out by the 2

he was a visionary. >> watch all of our events from san augustine on saturday at noon on c-span twosook tv. "washington dental -- journal" continues. host: is the tax system fair? our phone lines are open if you want to join the conversation. we have split them up i income level. you can see the numbers there on the screen. are you getting your money's worth? is your tax bill about right? give us a call. we want to hear your thoughts in the last 40 minutes they. we will start with robert in california on the line for people who made between $25,000 and $60,000 last year. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, sir. caller: it's not about fairness, it's disproportionate. there are people who pay no tax at all and i would say anybody who works is not paying any taxes. you are paying in x amount. that is kind of a problem i think. host: what is the solution to that problem? should government employees pay more in taxes? caller: i think there has to be a way where we are more accountable to what we are doing. you see a lot of people working in the government sector, they don't produce what

this is the location of the first settlement of san augustine 42 years before the settlement of jamestowns founded and 55 years before the pilgrims landed on plymouth rock. >> the hotel was built by henry morrison flagler. flagler is a man who is very little known outside of florida. he was one of the wealthiest men in america. he had been a cofounder of standard oil company with john d rockefeller. he always wanted to undertake some great enterprise. as it turned out, florida was it. he realized he needed to own the railroad between jacksonville and saint augustine to ensure guests could get to his hotel conveniently. clearly, the dream was beginning to grow. he had a man who had big dreams. he was a visionary. >> watch all of our events from saint augustine on saturday at noon easter and sunday afternoon at 2:00. >> to v.a. doctors testify about some of the retaliation they faced after becoming whistleblowers at the veterans affairs department. we will also year from other v.a. officials. congressman mike kaughman chairs this meeting of the house subcommittee meeting. kaughman chairs th

augustine. this is american history tv on c-span three. >> [speaking spanish] [cannon fire] >> we want to welcome you all to castillo de san marco nationalour national park service. behind you is the castillo which is

san marco national monument, part of your national park service. behind you is the castillo which is a fortification but it's the first one made out of stone in saint augustine. it was built for a very particular reason. spain decided they had to build the stone fortification in saint augustine to ensure their foothold on the florida territory. they were concerned about england encroaching and pushing them out of the area and they saw florida as important in helping to defend their hold on the caribbean and central south america. they started construction in 1672 so you have 23 years worth of construction and the biggest reason for all that time is only about 175 people were working on the project at any one time. all the stone had to be quarried from the island across the bay and shipped across a no mechanical stuff, no metal barges, it was all man-made stuff. brute force and ignorance played a part and add to that the fact that really they are dealing with very simple machines building these ramps and pulleys and things like that. spain always wanted to have stone fortifications here. all the way back to the late 16th century. 15 80's or so they were talki

if you see that white house -- that lighthouse with those colors, you know you are in san augustine. we still have our original 1874 lens, and it has three bull's-eyes on it, and when they rotate, basically, the beams are 30 seconds apart. a steady light with 32nd flashes is what it will look like when you're on the ocean, and that is our unique night mark. we basically serve to let sailors know they are in san augustine and let them know where the port is so they can safely be guided inside. the lighthouse still comes on every night. as a museum, we maintain that now through volunteers and that and donations. we actually came in and restore the lighthouse and the original keepers house, which was from 1876 and we have preserved those for future generations so they can see how the lighthouse works, how it was operated. the keepers that live here -- it was like a military post for them. they and their families lived here. they worked a and night. it was a very tough job. 219 steps to the top of the tower, and they had to climb up every two or three hours to put oil into the lantern an