and the south carolinians with all due respect were nut jobs from day one. and in july 1776 -- the same month as the declaration, a south caroli south carolinian named thomas lynch, great last name, thomas lynch says to the other members of -- at the continental congress, you start talking about slavery, we're out of here. he would never persuade the south carolinians. here is what you could have done. you could have isolated them. you have to get the virginians onboard and some of the virginians, many of them, are reasonable. they're slave holders. they know that slavery is a bad thing. they don't want to actually pass it on to their children and grandchildren because they think it corrupts the souls even of masters. george mason says that. thomas jefferson says it but doesn't do stuff about it because his party depends on it. james madison understands this in his bone. so does george washington. the reasonable virginians understand their slave holders, that slavery is a bad business. you have to persuade them. then the north carolinians have to decide wheth

and the south carolinians with all due respect were nut jobs from day one. and in july 1776 -- the same month as the declaration, a south caroli south carolinian named thomas lynch, great last name, thomas lynch sa t

south carolina talked about succession as it did 40 years prior to the time it finally did it, south carolinians became very agitated if somebody from georgia or mississippi set foot in south carolina to try to promote secession. this is our business. they could regard fellow successioners as agitators. there is no coordinators. there is this meeting in january 1861 when several southern senators meet -- i mentioned this in my talk for those of you who were awake, about -- it's time for us to success. but no unanimity were charged with doing. for instance the delegation from florida, which is only three people, was specifically instructed by its convention not to enter into any new confederation. the delegation for south carolina led primarily by the fire eaters, they believe their mandate was simply to go and to talk and then to come back and report to the south carolina convention on what had been discussed and then perhaps debate some more to see what should we do. no one's going there except, perhaps, a few georgians led by alexander h. stevens committed to the idea of we cannot wait around.

another south carolinian, actually an acquaintance of mary chestnut, her name was lousea mccord. and lousea mccord lived a life of great privilege, the daughter of a very wealthy man, she married a very wealthy man. and he died and she owned five plantations and she ran them herself. all by herself. she never remarried. and she publishes essays that are strongly pro slavery. and what she says is what so many other pro slavery figures say. she says the world is a hierarchy, that's the way things are and she says whites are superior to blacks, and she says, men are superior to women. and she said we just have to accept that. that's just the way things are, and that's the way the world works. of course, if you could go back in a time machine we might say to lousea mccord if you think that women are inferior to men why are you -- why are you writing these essays? if women are inferior to men why are you writing these forceful essays. you can see in the essays that lousea mccord is a smart person and a good writer. she can make a coherent argument in print. so disputes or undermine wh

he's another south carolinian who has done incredibly well. i want to thank my host this morning and i want to acknowledge the presence of mrs. davis, margaret davis, because of all the special work that she does with the marine corps scholarship foundation and other programs that take care of our military kids and families. so margaret, thanks so much for coming out. [ applause ] i do have to say it's an honor for me to share the podium this morning with such distinguished company as general petraeus and mr. o'hanlon and i feel somewhat out of place but hopefully by the time i finish making my remarks, you'll understand why i think it is appropriate that i be here. people don't think of national security when you hear the term "nasa." but hopefully in my brief remarks i'll have an opportunity to help you understand the critical role that we do play. when i embarked on my military career, and i hate to say it, but nearly 50 years ago. that sounds like a long time, but it's not. it really isn't. not in today's life. that is just a brief period