earl shuttleworth is maine's state historian and also the director of the maine's historic preservationmission. thanks for being here. and elizabeth blair is an expert on the civil war region era and president of colby college. let me have you set the stage for us about mid-1880s america. we're 20 years past the civil war. what was the country like at that time as we're going into this election where he was a contender? >> i would start by saying we're a long ways past the civil war in many ways. and i think that's indicated by the fact that there is going to be a democratic president that is elect that had year, and that would have been unthinkable just a short time before that, so that's one thing to say. >> why would it have been unthinkable? >> because the republicans were the winners of the war, and they had controlled the government for a long time and they had controlled reconstruction, and it feels to many people like a handoff to the south to let the democrats come into the white house. >> i'll stay with you for a second maine is your expertise. talk to you about north and sout