we could actually run his speeches by william slade. he ran the gettysburg address before him. they spent the night going over the speech. and lincoln basically gave the speech to william and got feedback. it's very interesting this was an african-american, former slave who the president valued so much because he felt -- the president felt he understood the country so well. if it made sense and resonated with william slade, he felt it would resonate with everyday americans. it was a very fascinating relationship. that's the kind of thing you could pick up. >> host: let's talk about elizabeth. she was a fascinating woman who seamstress as you mentioned, who you emancipated herself. she had been an enslaved woman. she felt so strongly about the rules of the game that she actually insisted on paying for herself as opposed to running away. her -- she supported the white family that owned her. they had followed upon hard times. in her own words, her owner was dissipated. her words and her diary said she was reporting 17 people in st. louis with her skills. >> guest: right. >> host: s

more than lincoln's advisors and so he would actually run his speeches by william slade. he ran the gettysburg address by him. he took him up to gettysburg with him and they spent the night before the event going over the speech and lincoln basically gave the speech to william slade and got feedback. and it's very interesting that this is an african-american, a former slave, who the president valued so much because he felt -- because the president felt he understood the country so well and if it made sense and resonated with william slade, lincoln felt it would resonate with every day americans and it was a very fascinating relationship so that's the kind of thing you could pick up. >> host: let's talk a little bit about elizabeth kekly who was a seamstress as you mentioned. she emancipated herself. she self-emancipated. she felt so strongly about the rules of the game that she actually insisted on paying for herself as opposed to running away. she supported the white family that owned her. they had fallen on hard times in her own words, her owner was dissipated and so sh

before that, one example is a person named william slade. abraham lincoln trusted his judgment, and felt that he was in contact with everyday america. he actually got -- bounced each lines off of william slade, and took him with him when he spoke, including at gettysburg. he wanted to see what his valet thought about it. that is remarkable. the person he trusted with the gettysburg address, it was is african-american the valet. >> this was a free man? >> at this point, absolutely, yes. he had been a slave. >> there is something upstairs, downstairs. would you like to tell us? >> the idea of what the president and his family are doing, and what the household staff was doing -- it goes to the point of this amazing trust that the presidents have had in their household staff, particularly the african american staff. they did not want to talk out- of-school. franklin roosevelt's legs were paralyzed by polio. he was terribly afraid of being caught in a fire. he would run through practice -- they call them crawling and exercises -- where he would a