democrats are on this side of the aisle, overlooks by the great democrat, stephen douglas, a beautiful portrait that was on in the capital. and on the side, you got the portrait of abraham lincoln overlooking the republicans. between lincoln and douglas, almost begin from the beginning. douglas only served one term in the legislature, but he was always around and he was very ambitious, always the leader of the democrats. lincoln became leader of the whigs, so naturally they were always arrivals. springfield was the capital at the time so douglas spent time in springfield, as well. because it was a small community, they went to the same functions. they got along fairly well. they were both rivals for mary taught lincoln -- mary todd lincoln. abraham lincoln obviously won. some locals say he lost, but he obviously one. douglas seems like he was existing lincoln. -- eclipsing lincoln. his career went so fast. he was elected to congress. he became a well-known u.s. senator. lincoln spent four terms in the legislature, one term in congress, and his political career was over for a while. it

stephen douglas has all but 141 major league at-bats. >> that's an opportunity to go and prove yourself. you always try to prove yourself. >> the giants brought in a pair of veterans, parra and maybin, both of whom have a chance to be starters. >> we are not worried about what's open or not, but just getting better. >> another candidate, austin slater who has shown pretty well in parts of two major league seasons. >> right now, the outfield is wide open and it's time to show that i deserve to be on the team. >> wild card could be macwilliamson, so of the prodigious minor league numbers. >> if the giants think that i can then one day, then it is what it is. >> you just want to succeed, you know, so -- >> it will be exciting. >>> fremont police are investigating a rash of car breakins. >>> and house democrats want a sweeping investigation of president trump. next, the evidence lawmakers are looking for inside the trump administration. >>> the new contract is only a temporary fix. we'll be in the same position in four months. >>> oakland eachers teachers are back in the classroom but stude

there are people who are critical of stephen douglas, too. i don't want you to think douglas is just criticizing people. lincoln is charging the castle and it is not clear here whether buchanan is pulling breckinridge and or wants breckinridge to pull him out. you know douglas is key blocking for him but during the campaign itself, one of the problems that comes up is there are four candidates. and in the course of the campaign, it becomes clear there are essentially two races going on. in the north lincoln versus douglas. in the south it is breckinridge versus bell. most southerners do not want douglas because they don't want popular sovereignty. they want protection for slavery. they don't want douglas because he is allowing a vote on slavery. they sure don't want lincoln. and the irony is, bill is from tennessee, upper south, breckinridge is kentucky, more and bill is one more for compromise or at the very least trying to tamp down the issue then breckinridge is. they do things in the campaign they can do to excite interest. there are songs

he prevailed over stephen douglas. during that campaign, his wife, mary lincoln, went to new york city where she bought her husband a new suit of clothes, where she bought close for herself as well as her little boys. what she also bought was this 20 volumeund set, a set of the complete works of washington irving. thatow this is the set mary took with her to the white house because mary is so good about writing and dating the books she owned. she bought them in new york, brought them back to springfield. i bet you anything she brought them back thinking her husband would prevail in the election of 1860 and she wanted to see this volume sitting on a shelf in the white house. i want to show you one more book. this is a book abraham lincoln would have been proud of. this is long before he was elected president. this is highlighting a really significant achievement in his life. isthis day, abraham lincoln still the only president in american history to actually obtain a patent. he was something of an inventor. patent, he r

again, this is abraham lincoln in 1858 arguing with stephen douglas. and really here, i would say identifying three things that one is able to do in order to try to reverse a ruling of the supreme court. one is to try to shape public opinion, to make speeches, right? second is to try to pass an act of the legislature. and third and finally, maybe add new judges to the court to change its makeup in order to change what the court in the future will actually do. once again, in order to be able to overrule a previous ruling of the court. all of us know what happens next. even though abraham lincoln will lose in the 1850's senate race, he wins the presidency a few years later in 1860. he is sworn in in 1861. after he is sworn in, he makes a speech. and in that speech, he expresses his opposition to the supreme court. even the sort of role of the court as a sort of final arbiter of the constitution. listen to what he says. this is lincoln at his first inaugural, march of 1861. he says the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government upon

that notion is simply wrongheaded, because we have abundant evidence that stephen a douglas, who was not particularly scrupulous about political campaigning, hired a stenographer to deliberately mingle lincoln's words. good testimony from lincoln's shorthand reporter, a guy named robert, who became a congressman, a fairly eminent guy. he was saying that this shorthand reporter that he knew personally was incapable of keeping up with lincoln. he was not a good enough stenographer. second, he was to literally hired by douglas to garble lincoln's words to make them look inarticulate. there is some virtue in taking the democratic virtue of what lincoln said and comparing it to the republican version, and if there is a passage which is longer in the democratic paper than in the republican paper and it doesn't make lincoln look bad, that is probably accurate and should be added. that is because the stenographer covering lincoln may have fallen off the table, or the wind may have carried it away. at thevery fine scholars link study center at not college in galesburg, illinois, who were awar

nobody was more aware of this event stephen douglas, who declared he did not fear lincoln in debating matters of substance but confessed that is one thing -- there is one thing in 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 on my back. else disturbs me. when he begins to tell a story, i feel that i am to be overmatched. next, self-deprecation and subtle attack. engagement-to-face with the public, lincoln's use of the stories and jokes was designed to remind people of his lonely origins, coming from the backwoods of the prairie. it encouraged common people to see him as a natural man able to engage with ordinary farmers and laborers on equal terms. lincoln's lifelong self identification with plain folks was aligned with his habit of self-deprecation. as i noted at the outset, he made much of his appearance. conscience of his unusual portions, his unusually long limbs and aware that people considered him ugly, he faced that head on. he found himself looking down the gun barrel of a pass

stephen: like for the constitution or for james madison? like, who-- >> sadly, i was really into justice williom o' douglas. ... wait a second. ( cheers and applause ) the ninth amendment says that just because a certain right is not listed in the constitution, it doesn't mean we don't have that right. it's like awe little escape hatch where they said, "we understand that we are-- we don't know everything, and that in the future there, might be things we cannot imagine, and we're going to put this amendment here that says' don't assume because it's not in the constitution you don't have that right. '. it's wonderful. so that amendment-- ( applause ) yes, right? >> stephen: is that-- is that-- can i just ask you for a second? >> sure. >> stephen: why-- why that's wonderful to you? >> well, it's wonderful to me because it's the amendment that made birth control legal. it's the amendment that-- ( applause ) yes. >> stephen: is it that-- is it-- when i hear it, i think oh, basically the framers of the constitution are saying, "look, we haven't specifically said you can't do it. basically everything is-- is allow

stephen: what drove you to write a novel? >> i wanted to write a novel for a long time, but i had an idea i thought would sustain a novel. i'm a big douglasnd, has leprechauns. >> it does. >> stephen: it's called "ronan boil and the bridge of riddles." what is it about? >> as a young intern -- i think we have a clip. s it is a book but we have a clip. >> stephen: what's that mean? it's a book. >> did mys send -- i don'ow w t clip but it's probably one of the more important scenes from the book. ( laughter ) i guess should we watch the clip and it will explain everything, maybe? ( singing ) >> did you hear whiskey ruins your short-term memory? >> who's maloney? i don't know! happy mardi gras! ( singing ) ( cheers and applause ) >> thank you. >> stephen: that was terrible. there's no way that's a scene in your look. >> it's not word for word what's actually in the book. >> stephen: i don't believe you. that's total nonsense. it's just two irish guys dressed like leprechauns singing making fart sounds and getting hit in the nuts. ( laughter ) i do not believe you. >> fine. i'm sure we have another clip that this one will make it make more se

i'm going to douglas otkpwg tgo recker., stephen we both moved to the area about the same time. came from a career in music a graduate of the berkeley music.e of for many years he toured worldwide with al stewart. an accomplished musician. then he came back to his roots decidedylvania where he to study the battlefield of antietam. he didn't just study it. engrossed in it. he has done remarkable research do horough as anyone could to put together a book he lanned for many years being "rare images of antieta - and the photographers who took th " them". he book was released on the anniversary of the battle september 17, 2012. it was a labor of love but as fine a research as anyone could conduct. he is a close friend, i was so delighted when he accepted my invitation to speak. my pleasure to introduce steve recker. stephen: thank you very much. it's a great honor to be here and have the opportunity to talk about antietam. nick is right. i did start out as a professional guitar player. this kind of reminds me of those days with the lights, but it is a lot quieter. about 1993, i got t