no one was more aware this then stephen douglas himself as the judge declared he did not fear lincoln in debating matters of substance, but he confessed, there's one thing, however, of which i stand constantly in dread when lincoln begins to tell a story, i begin to get apprehensive. every one of his stories seems like an whack upon my back. that is exactly the effect that the anecdotes of which he is a master have upon me. nothing else, disturbs me that when he begins to tell a story i feel that i about to be overmatched. .. on this side of the underdog. he asserted a big man to come a little bit technique. did it more or less not stop to his prepresidential years. again some of the biggest these is a democracy. in his political wrestling with douglas coming as soon the identity based in the worldwide burned out by the democrats prime help for the white house would do with the status of a very great and peered he himself like it was only a small bid. i have the irony of the language in tents abide by the diminutive little giant did a next of these elongated lincoln ps i mention plump

and stephen douglas, who believed the nomination should have come to him, made life as difficult for james buchanan as he possibly could. and one thing which conspired to assist douglas that way was the situation in kansas. the lecompton constitution came to congress, buchanan put all of his political muscle behind it and douglas did everything he could to stymie it. buchanan calls douglas to the white house, they have a very unpleasant conversation. and buchanan says to douglas, i would like you to remember what happened to reeves, meaning somebody who had challenged president jackson and came out on the short end of things. to which douglas replied, mr. president i would like you to remember that general jackson is dead. [laughter] >> and the two of them faced off that way and really things spiraled downhill for james buchanan after that. by contrast, abraham lincoln comes in as this dark course. with -- horse. with no particular experience and an executive search form -- firm would have never given him a second look. the impression he makes on rough,is that of a intelligent farmer.

you have to be stephen douglas. [laughter] well, it was on that day that i decided i was going to be interested in abraham lincoln out of defiance if nothing else. and now i am completing my 33rd year at the university where i have taught about him in rooms full of south carolinians. so please forgive me if i look up at the box and say mr. president, i made it. i made it. [applause] i have been fortunate enough to have done some work in an area of abraham lincoln that has really not attracted and a norma's amount of attention, and i would like to share some of that with you today. as i tell my students at the beginning of every class, please fasten your seatbelts, and let's go back in time to the era of abraham lincoln. may 4, 1865. oak ridge cemetery, illinois. the weather is warm, and the sun is shining through the clouds. the day is peaceful, and wind blows through the prairie to the west. everybody in springfield is on the street and they are silent and mournful. their sorrow is so all-encompassing they do not k

you have to be stephen douglas. well, it was on that day that i decided i was going to be interested in abraham lincoln out of defiance if nothing else. yard am completing my 33 -- year at the university where him in rooms about full of pack south carolinians. please forgive me if i look up at the box and say mr. president i made it. [applause] i have been fortunate enough to have done some work in an area that has really not attracted many people. i would like to share some of that with you today. as i tell my students at the beginning of every class, please seatbelts, and let's go back in time to the era of abraham lincoln. may 4, 1865. oak ridge cemetery, illinois. his son is speaking to the clouds, it is peaceful. in wind blows through the prairie to the west. is onody in springfield the street and they are silent and mournful. is sosorrow all-encompassing they do not know where to go or what to do. , itlandscape is beautiful has been specially cared for for this occasion. there is a tall distinguished looking a

i think keyholes stephen douglas' seat in the senate. here is our final artist. a you can imagine, she caused sensation in washington. her name was -- than 20very young, less when she got sittings with abraham lincoln and mary lincoln was not amused at the time alone she got with her husband. she was very pretty and coquettish -- she flirted her way into getting settings. it wasn't easy for women artists and she had a lot of talent. she was widely photographed and portrayed, something we would call a movie star today. this is the first work she did. not very accomplished. not even often recognized as the first work. , still notnt on quite as accomplished as you would expect. she claimed that lincoln said to her, you remind me of my late boy, willie. you are how old he would be if he were alive. who knows? then she started to get it. this was her final series of models. she entered a competition for one of the biggest art commissions of the civil war era. lincolno do a statue of for the rotunda, guaranteed rotunda placement. mary lincoln was not pleased that she w

stephen a douglas, lincoln's longtime illinois rival, announced that every man must be for the united states or against it. there could be no neutrals in this war, only patriots or trait ors. the newouth, confederate nations suddenly became far more formidable. most white southerners decided to fight for independence. slave states,l virginia, north carolina, tennessee, and arkansas, sided with the deep south and doubled the new nations military manpower. a great many virginians who rejected secession in february decided in april the question had changed entirely. the new question was, which side are you on in a war? both sides mobilized fast armies and both stumbled into a war approved more bloody and protracted than anyone expected when it first started. secession was the most calamitous example of bad judgment in all of american history. this outrageous leap into the unknown was designed to counteract a supposed threat to slavery, even though lincoln and his fellow republicans vowed they would not touch slavery where it already existed. but when sudden secessionists fractured the un

in fact, lincoln is talking about is eternal rival, stephen a douglas. >> and also napoleon, don't you think? napoleon had not died out long ago. >> exactly right. >> in either case. it is sad. >> it is the image of napoleon as the dictator who tramples democracy, who ruins the initial revolution. lincoln had been writing anonymous editorials under pseudonyms denouncing douglas as taking those sorts of actions. douglas was an enormously dynamic, capable, skillful and demagogic person who was already rising above lincoln. and kept rising above him for decades. lincoln is looking at douglas here. ron pointed out the lovejoy connection. this is crucial to the speech because the background is that elijah lovejoy is an abolitionist editor who has been running a newspaper in illinois, who has his printing presses that are destroyed by mobs and thrown into the mississippi river. and in defense of his printing press warehouse he is attacked by a mob. he brings his own people to protect him. he refuses to give in. they have a battle in which he is murdered. there is a trial. the abolitionists a

douglas macarthur were used by the participants in sexual acts. yes, it's true. and i certainly hope they rinsed off that corn cob pipe. >> jon: oh! oh! >> stephenwasn't that fun? dishing about fat leonard and the horny old navy guys. so why in god's name did i only hear about it now? i mean, what has happened to us as a nation? we let ourselves, distracted by trump's phony wiretap claims and two pages of his 12-year-old tax returns when i could have been making joke jokes about rear ads and their semen in manila fill-a-penis. that's what i i'm mississippiingute. that's why i got into this game. damn you, donald trump. we have a great show for you tonight. glenn close is here, but when i return i'll show you what kid rock is shooting now. stick around! some have it, some don't. when the odds are stacked against you, you either hide or stand up. at strayer university we've seen it in our students for 125 years. and if you ever think of quitting, our success coaches will be there to pick you up and work with you every day to put you on the right path. it's time. strayer university. let's get it, america. ( band playing ) ( band playing ) ( cheers