i started going to some of the material he said literally the first debate with steven douglas in 1858e's running for a senator at the time against douglas. douglas had controlled the illinois democratic party and at that time there were not directly elected he became the senator. so what happened was in talking about slavery made another argument. this was during the first debate. he said you know, every man has a right to earn his own. i'm paraphrasing, to be on an equal footing with everyone. so this is lincoln's view of economic progress that you have a right to offer your labor for pay that you have the opportunity to ascend the economic ladder. how do you move up? how do you avoid being this back a woodsman all your life doomed to farming? how do you do that? while this is part of the american system. it kind of grown up to learn in our history. but there's more to it than that. here is something even more exciting. this is another side plot and the whole lincoln story that really during his sort of i would not call exile but it's his estrangement from politics which would last r