william henry seward. james mccune smith very clearly recognized the racism in william henry stewart defense of freeman and he was absolutely furious at him for that. >> part of the excellence of this book, i'll say again, is a way in which you navigate the complicated entanglements of what it is to think about race and racial legacy and american culture. i said this to you, if one is building a classic trying to study that complexity, and if morrison's beloved is in there, baldwins fire, next time, all these books that ask any reader to figure out how do you witness and participate and find your place in the story, i think we could say that your book would be there. so i just want to congratulate you and thank you. thank you for sharing it with us. us. what a phenomenal work. >> thank you so much. that means the world to me. i am very touched that you would say that.ll thank you so much. and thank you all for being a part of this conversation. [applause] >> thank you, robin bernstein, kevin quashie. what he conversation. this is what we hope to do with the american antiquarian society, to think about the

one of the reasons why it got so big so fast was that william henry stewart was then best known as theovernor of new york defended him pro bono. and we note 20 yearsar later activists would become the secretary of state to abraham lincoln he wouldn't brokered the sale of alaska if you've ever heard of stewart's folly, that is him. that was in the future however afraid the prosecutor was jon was the son of the recent president martin van buren. this was a clash of the titans it got very big very fast daily transcripts of the trial daily telegraph i got published the trial attracted the commentary of walt whitman, of course in greeley entirely clear about why he killed he wanted back pay, and if he couldn't have it, he would have payback. but no one, the prosecution or the de >> the prosecution where the defense, wanted to hear the challenge to the system. because the auburn system was the engine behind auburn's prosperity and by this point of the auburn system it's a presentable was actually the major engine behind new york's prosperity and also a major player in party politics. the pri

so, here, we will jump forward, as i said, to william henry stewart. so, this is the time we will cover, 1776 to the civil war. and william henry seward, of course, a famous statesman, a man who wanted to be president as much as maybe one or two other dudes in the country's history, maybe only second to henry clay in how bad he wanted to be president. william henry seward said this in a speech to congress in 1856. "to obtain an empire is easy and common," so, lots of empires in the world. but, he said, "to govern it well is difficult and rare, indeed." and he is talking about a period that is much later than what we have been talking about, by which point, the united states has acquired essentially everything, including the gadsden purchase, that will become a part of the modern, continental u.s. so, seward is pointing to the same problem that adam smith alluded to. this is not an easy task to undertake. you have to find a way to control this territory, and to have to do it in a way that is fair and equitable. we talked about that tension last time, rig