WEBVTT - The Story of America: The Crisis That Gave Rise to Abraham Lincoln [Ep. 27]

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<v Speaker 1>This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,

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<v Speaker 1>the show where America is the star and the American People.

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<v Speaker 1>To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to

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<v Speaker 1>the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

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<v Speaker 1>podcasts up. Next, another installment of our series about Us,

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<v Speaker 1>the Story of America series with Hillsdale College professor and

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<v Speaker 1>author of the terrific book Land of Hope, Bill McLay.

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<v Speaker 1>This episode the Rise of Lincoln.

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<v Speaker 2>If there was one issue more than any other that

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<v Speaker 2>led to the political rise of Abraham Lincoln, one issue

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<v Speaker 2>more than any other that led to America's seemingly inevitable

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<v Speaker 2>march towards Civil War, it was the issue of slavery.

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<v Speaker 2>Particularly was the Fugitive Slave Act. This law turned Northerners

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<v Speaker 2>into co conspirators with the South because it required Northerners

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<v Speaker 2>to cooperate and actively engage in supporting the practice of slavery,

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<v Speaker 2>requiring them to track, capture, and return escape slaves to

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<v Speaker 2>their owners, rather than allowing them to live as free

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<v Speaker 2>people with the rights of God gave them, and our

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<v Speaker 2>own declaration declared.

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<v Speaker 3>It was one thing to accept its existence down there

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<v Speaker 3>as long as they weren't expected to abide by the

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<v Speaker 3>same law as protecting the rights of slaveholders.

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<v Speaker 2>To hold slaves as property human beings as property. There's

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<v Speaker 2>another thing to be complicit in that institution. The Fugitive

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<v Speaker 2>Slave Law was a law that turned toleration of the

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<v Speaker 2>peculiar institution into participation, and that was a bridge too

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<v Speaker 2>far for Northern Nurse. One state Supreme court was consen

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<v Speaker 2>seemed the law unconstitutional. Vermont essentially nullified the Fugitive Slave

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<v Speaker 2>Act through legislation of its own, and just as importantly,

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<v Speaker 2>very prominent critics, including writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, spoke out.

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<v Speaker 2>And I should add here that Emerson was very slow

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<v Speaker 2>to come to the anti slavery cause. He was not

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<v Speaker 2>congenitally political. He was interested in ideas, but this act

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<v Speaker 2>galvanized him to speak out. The last year has forced

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<v Speaker 2>us all into politics and made it a paramount of

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<v Speaker 2>duty to seek what it is offered and a duty

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<v Speaker 2>to shun. We do not breathe well. There is infamy

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<v Speaker 2>in the air. I have a new experience. I wake

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<v Speaker 2>in the morning with a painful sensation to carry about

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<v Speaker 2>all day, and which when traced home, is the odious

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<v Speaker 2>remembrance of that ignominy which has fallen on Massachusetts, which

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<v Speaker 2>robs the landscape of beauty and takes the sunshine.

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<v Speaker 4>Out of every hour.

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<v Speaker 2>I have lived all my life in this state and

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<v Speaker 2>never had any experience of personal inconvenience from the laws

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<v Speaker 2>until now.

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<v Speaker 4>What kind of legislation is this? What kind of constitution

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<v Speaker 4>which covers it?

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<v Speaker 2>And yet the crime which the second law ordains is

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<v Speaker 2>greater than the crime which the first law forbids. For

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<v Speaker 2>it is a greater crime to re enslave a man

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<v Speaker 2>than to enslave him at first, when it might be

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<v Speaker 2>pretended to be a mitigation of his lot as a

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<v Speaker 2>captive in war. What shall we do, first abrogate this law,

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<v Speaker 2>then proceed to confine slavery to slave states and help

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<v Speaker 2>them effectually to make an end of it. Or shall we,

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<v Speaker 2>as we are all are advised on all hands, lie

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<v Speaker 2>by and wait the progress of the census.

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<v Speaker 4>But will slavery libel?

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<v Speaker 2>I fear not. She's very industrious, gives herself no holidays,

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<v Speaker 2>No proclamation will put her down. She got Texas and

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<v Speaker 2>now will have Cuba and means to keep her majority.

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<v Speaker 2>The experience of the past gives us.

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<v Speaker 4>No encouragement to lie by.

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<v Speaker 2>Shall we call a new convention, or will any expert

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<v Speaker 2>statesman furnish us a plan for this summary or gradual

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<v Speaker 2>winding up of slavery? So far as the Republic is

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<v Speaker 2>its patron, where.

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<v Speaker 5>Does the sound itself? Since it is agreed by all

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<v Speaker 5>saying men of all parties there was yesterday? The slave

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<v Speaker 5>is mischievous? Why does the sounth itself never offer the

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<v Speaker 5>smallest counsel of her own? Let us hear any project

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<v Speaker 5>with candorin respect?

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<v Speaker 2>Is it impossible to speak of it with reason and

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<v Speaker 2>good nature? It is really the project fit for this

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<v Speaker 2>country to entertain and accomplish. Everything invites emancipation. The grandeur

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<v Speaker 2>of the design, the vast stake that we hold, the

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<v Speaker 2>national domain, the manifest interest of the slave states, the

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<v Speaker 2>religious effort of the free States, the public opinion of

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<v Speaker 2>the world, all joined to demand it. Very powerful words

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<v Speaker 2>from Emerson abolitionists Pastor Luther Lee of Syracuse, and these

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<v Speaker 2>simple words to describe.

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<v Speaker 4>The Fugitive Slave Act.

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<v Speaker 2>It is a war upon God, upon his own law,

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<v Speaker 2>and upon the rights of humanity. To obey it or

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<v Speaker 2>aid in its enforcement is treason against God and humanity.

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<v Speaker 2>It involves the guilt of violating every one of the

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<v Speaker 2>Ten Commandments. It was in this context and at this time,

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<v Speaker 2>that Uncle Tom's Cabin was published by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

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<v Speaker 2>The novel, published in two volumes, had a profound impact

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<v Speaker 2>on attitudes towards slavery in the United States, depicting in

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<v Speaker 2>stark terms the cruelty of slavery and the perils that freedom.

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<v Speaker 4>Seeking slaves faced.

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<v Speaker 2>At the same time, the effort was underway to connect

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<v Speaker 2>are two coasts with a transcontinental railroad. There were two

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<v Speaker 2>main proposals, one by Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and another

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<v Speaker 2>by Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. In short, a Southern

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<v Speaker 2>and a Northern proposal. Eager to get a deal done,

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<v Speaker 2>Douglas fashion and agreement that would bring the Southerners on board.

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<v Speaker 2>He proposed that the land west of the Missouri be

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<v Speaker 2>organized into two distinct territories, the Kansas Territory and the

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<v Speaker 2>Nebraska Territory, and each would be allowed to settle by

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<v Speaker 2>popular vote a slavery issue for themselves. It was a

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<v Speaker 2>huge mistake.

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<v Speaker 1>When we come back more of the Rise of Lincoln

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<v Speaker 1>here on our American stories, This is Lee Habib And

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<v Speaker 1>this is our American stories, and all of our history

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<v Speaker 1>stories are brought to us by our generous sponsors, including

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<v Speaker 1>Hillsdale College, where students go to learn all the things

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<v Speaker 1>that are beautiful in life and all the things that

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<v Speaker 1>matter in life. If you can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale

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<v Speaker 1>Go to Hillsdale dot edu. That's Hillsdale dot edu. And

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<v Speaker 1>we returned to our American stories and with our Story

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<v Speaker 1>of America series with Hillsdale College professor and author of

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<v Speaker 1>Land of Hope Bill McLay. When we last left off,

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<v Speaker 1>to get his way for constructing a transcontinental railroad up north,

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<v Speaker 1>Stephen A. Douglas fashioned a deal in which territories in

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<v Speaker 1>the West would vote on whether they would become free

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<v Speaker 1>or slave states. His concept was called popular sovereignty. It

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<v Speaker 1>was a decision that would haunt the nation. Let's return

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<v Speaker 1>to the story.

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<v Speaker 2>Now, this was a big deal because both new territories.

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<v Speaker 2>Both proposed territories were north of the line established by

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<v Speaker 2>the Missouri Compromise, thus opening up territory to slavery where

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<v Speaker 2>it had already been forbidden. Douglas's proposal led to furious

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<v Speaker 2>debate for months, but to get the railroad built, both

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<v Speaker 2>houses of Congress ended the debate with the passage of

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<v Speaker 2>the Kansas Nebraska Act of eighteen fifty four, and President

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<v Speaker 2>Franklin Pierce signed it into law. It was a huge mistake,

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<v Speaker 2>some might even.

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<v Speaker 4>Call it Reckliffe.

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<v Speaker 2>Soon violent conflicts erupted in competing communities, with pro slavery

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<v Speaker 2>mobs attacking the town of Lawrence. Those attacks were answered

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<v Speaker 2>by anti slavery attacks by the abolitionist John Brown and

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<v Speaker 2>his son. This is how Bleeding Kansas got its name,

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<v Speaker 2>as this state would be state state to be found

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<v Speaker 2>itself caught between competing ideas about slavery and to competing

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<v Speaker 2>governments and to competing constitutions. It also revealed the sheer

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<v Speaker 2>folly that somehow popular sovereignty.

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<v Speaker 6>Would settle these differences.

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<v Speaker 2>The bitter differences in violence over the issue of slavery

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<v Speaker 2>was not confined to Kansas. He'd managed to spill onto

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<v Speaker 2>the floor of the US Senate itself. Senator Charles Sumner

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<v Speaker 2>of Massachusetts delivered a bitter speech against the Kansas Nebraska Act,

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<v Speaker 2>and he needed to stop with the legislation. He personally

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<v Speaker 2>attacked Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina, accusing him of

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<v Speaker 2>having embraced quote the harlot slavery as his mistress. These

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<v Speaker 2>insults were surely designed to prompt an equally outrageous rebubble,

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<v Speaker 2>and it came just days later when Congressman Preston Brooks,

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<v Speaker 2>who was a cousin of Butler, confronted Sumner at his desk,

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<v Speaker 2>denounced his speech as a libel on South Carolina and

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<v Speaker 2>mister Butler, and then went on to hit Sumner over

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<v Speaker 2>the head with a heavy cane, nearly killing him. The

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<v Speaker 2>reaction to this fight between these men revealed just how

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<v Speaker 2>profoundly polarized the nation was. Northerners supporting Sumner, while Brooks

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<v Speaker 2>received adulation of all kinds from newspapers of the South

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<v Speaker 2>and hundreds of new canes from fans of his won't

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<v Speaker 2>even inscribed a cane with these words hit him again.

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<v Speaker 2>By the time Sumner gave his now famous speech, he'd

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<v Speaker 2>become a member of a new political party, the Republican Party,

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<v Speaker 2>a product of and direct response to the Kansas Nebraska.

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<v Speaker 2>Its membership was constituted of anti slavery advocates from the Democratic,

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<v Speaker 2>Whig and Free Soil parties and unified around opposing the

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<v Speaker 2>extension of slavery into the new territories. In short time,

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<v Speaker 2>it became the second largest party in the nation. At

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<v Speaker 2>the same time, the largest party, the Democratic Party, was

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<v Speaker 2>struggling to maintain unity as its northern and southern factions

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<v Speaker 2>became more and more divided. The Republican Party from its

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<v Speaker 2>inception was a party of the North, almost exclusively. Because

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<v Speaker 2>the Democratic Party was the only national party, it expected

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<v Speaker 2>a victory in the eighteen fifty six election. Their candidate

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<v Speaker 2>was James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, who had experience as a

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<v Speaker 2>Congressman and a Secretary of State under James K.

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<v Speaker 4>Polk. The Republican Party.

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<v Speaker 2>Campaign on what were classic Whig issues, including what we

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<v Speaker 2>today might call infrastructure and tariffs protectionism, but it was

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<v Speaker 2>also the first national party to declare fully its opposition

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<v Speaker 2>to slavery. Buchanan was a familiar face, and he won

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<v Speaker 2>with I hope he could maintain this delicate, fragile status.

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<v Speaker 6>Quo in America.

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<v Speaker 2>But just days after his inauguration, the Supreme Court handed

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<v Speaker 2>down its momentous dred Scott decision, that decision would only

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<v Speaker 2>add to the already deep divide on slavery. Ironically, Justice Tawny,

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<v Speaker 2>who authored the decision, was hoping it would settle the issue.

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<v Speaker 2>Far from that. Here's some details of the case. Dred

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<v Speaker 2>Scott was a man who had been born a slave.

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<v Speaker 2>He had been sold to a surgeon, who took him

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<v Speaker 2>to Illinois, a free state, and then to the Wisconsin Territory,

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<v Speaker 2>which was also free. Remember, the Northwest Ordinance proscribed slavery,

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<v Speaker 2>and the Wisconsin Territory, as well as Illinois, were both

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<v Speaker 2>part of that covered by the Northwest Organs. So in

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<v Speaker 2>the Wisconsin terry, Scott married and had two daughters. After

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<v Speaker 2>his master's death in eighteen forty six, Scott sued in

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<v Speaker 2>the Missouri courts for his freedom on the simple grounds,

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<v Speaker 2>or so it seemed at the time, that his residence

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<v Speaker 2>in a free state and free territory as a freeman

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<v Speaker 2>made him a freeman. The case made its way through

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<v Speaker 2>the court system to the US Supreme Court, where it

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<v Speaker 2>was presided over by the aforementioned Justice Tawny, Roger B. Tawny,

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<v Speaker 2>a Democrat from Maryland. Well. The court ruled against Scott

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<v Speaker 2>and Tawny, who wrote, the majority of the opinion took

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<v Speaker 2>his chance to stake his claim and resolve the issue

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<v Speaker 2>of slavery the territories once and for all. There were

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<v Speaker 2>three main components to the decision. First, the Court dismissed

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<v Speaker 2>Scott's claims, arguing that he lacked standing to sue because

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<v Speaker 2>he he was not a citizen. Why was he not

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<v Speaker 2>a citizen? He was not a citizen because the Constitution

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<v Speaker 2>did not intend, the Court said, to extend the rights

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<v Speaker 2>of citizenship to blacks, said openly racial argument Number two,

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<v Speaker 2>he also argued the court argued that Congress lacked the

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<v Speaker 2>power to deprive any person of his property without due process,

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<v Speaker 2>and because slaves were property, slaves were property, slavery.

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<v Speaker 4>Could not be excluded from any.

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<v Speaker 6>Federal territory or state, so argued with the court.

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<v Speaker 2>Finally, number three, the Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise

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<v Speaker 2>itself was not just moved due to the passage of

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<v Speaker 2>the Kansas Nebraska hacked, but unconstitutional from the start. It

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<v Speaker 2>had been all along because it invalidly excluded slavery from

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<v Speaker 2>Wisconsin and other northern territories. So with the Missouri Compromise

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<v Speaker 2>tossed the side and thrown on the ash heap of history.

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<v Speaker 2>Everything was now up for grabs, and the radical Southerners

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<v Speaker 2>wasted no time calling for a federal slave code to

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<v Speaker 2>protect their property.

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<v Speaker 4>As they thought of it.

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<v Speaker 2>They were emboldened by the dread Scott case and thought

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<v Speaker 2>things were turning their way.

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<v Speaker 4>At last.

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<v Speaker 2>They even sensed, and with good reason, that President Buchanan

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<v Speaker 2>was on their side. Northerners, too, believe Buchanan was a

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<v Speaker 2>tool of the pro slavery South at worst, and a

0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:39.920
<v Speaker 2>man not willing to spend any political capital on the

0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:44.200
<v Speaker 2>issue of slavery at best. Leadership on the issue of

0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:45.400
<v Speaker 2>slavery would have.

0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.000
<v Speaker 4>To come from some other source.

0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.360
<v Speaker 2>So at last we come to one of the great

0:16:56.160 --> 0:17:00.880
<v Speaker 2>luminaries on the great figures of American political history, a

0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:05.800
<v Speaker 2>rising star of the Republican Party, a very successful trial lawyer,

0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:08.440
<v Speaker 2>a one term Whig congressman.

0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.600
<v Speaker 6>Who was This man is Abraham Lincoln.

0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.359
<v Speaker 1>And you've been listening to Hillsdale College professor and author

0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:22.760
<v Speaker 1>of Land of Vote, Bill McLay telling one heck of

0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:27.400
<v Speaker 1>a story, all of the elements political, cultural, leading straight

0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.440
<v Speaker 1>to a collision, and that would be the Civil War.

0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:34.840
<v Speaker 1>Up through this context rises a lawyer and a fairly

0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:39.119
<v Speaker 1>unknown man up till now named Abraham Lincoln. When we

0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:42.919
<v Speaker 1>continue more of the remarkable story of the rise of

0:17:42.960 --> 0:18:09.199
<v Speaker 1>Lincoln here on our American Stories, and we returned to

0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:13.240
<v Speaker 1>our American Stories and our final portion of our story

0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:16.399
<v Speaker 1>on the Rise of Abraham Lincoln is a part of

0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:20.399
<v Speaker 1>our Story of America series with Hillsdale College professor and

0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:24.040
<v Speaker 1>author of Land of Hope Bill McLay. Let's pick up

0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:25.600
<v Speaker 1>where we last left off.

0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.960
<v Speaker 6>Who was this man, this Abraham Lincoln?

0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.720
<v Speaker 4>Well, his life story became the stuff of legend.

0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:41.240
<v Speaker 2>He was the uncommon common man born into a humble

0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:46.080
<v Speaker 2>frontier life, who wrotese to prominence through sheer, grit, determination

0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:50.840
<v Speaker 2>and talent and hard work. He was born in Kentucky,

0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.320
<v Speaker 2>literally in a log cabin. We know almost nothing of

0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:56.800
<v Speaker 2>his early life except.

0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:57.359
<v Speaker 4>That he was poor.

0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:02.240
<v Speaker 2>He moved around from Kentucky to Indiana from Indiana, Illinois

0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:07.360
<v Speaker 2>as his father moved around, which was not unusual.

0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:07.520
<v Speaker 4>In those days.

0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:13.680
<v Speaker 2>We know he hated the chores of farm life, endless work, plowing, harvesting, chopping, wood,

0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:19.080
<v Speaker 2>hauling water. And although he had almost no formal schooling,

0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:23.400
<v Speaker 2>he was a voracious reader and had a great love

0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:29.480
<v Speaker 2>of words of rhetoric, of oratory, and he knew that books,

0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:33.680
<v Speaker 2>in his great capacity for the use of the English language,

0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:37.399
<v Speaker 2>would be a ticket to his rising in the world.

0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:46.000
<v Speaker 2>He arrived as a very young man in New Salem, Illinois,

0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.119
<v Speaker 2>unknown to anyone. He got a job as a clerk,

0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:55.119
<v Speaker 2>and through his exertions became a very popular member of

0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:59.960
<v Speaker 2>the community. He was appointed postmaster and then a secon

0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:04.080
<v Speaker 2>and try was elected to the Illinois General Assembly, the

0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:09.040
<v Speaker 2>state legislature. For Lincoln, this success was the embodiment of

0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:13.080
<v Speaker 2>the Declaration of Independence, a document he revered and would

0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:17.320
<v Speaker 2>repeatedly return to because it so beautifully affirmed equal worth

0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:22.600
<v Speaker 2>of all people, ordinary people, and their equal right to life.

0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:25.160
<v Speaker 4>Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:29.480
<v Speaker 2>That love of equality was not some passing affection. It

0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:31.359
<v Speaker 2>was deep and profound.

0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:32.400
<v Speaker 4>For Lincoln.

0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:35.840
<v Speaker 2>The words equality meant the rights of all people to

0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:40.600
<v Speaker 2>the fruits of their own labor, a principal grounded not

0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:44.560
<v Speaker 2>in the will of government or any human source, but

0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:50.080
<v Speaker 2>in nature itself, in God. And that's why Lincoln so

0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:54.600
<v Speaker 2>despised slavery from his earliest days, because he believed, deep

0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.639
<v Speaker 2>in his core that slavery was a form of theft

0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:03.320
<v Speaker 2>aft and allowed one class of men to steal from

0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:09.560
<v Speaker 2>another class of men. Well, some say that men make

0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:12.680
<v Speaker 2>the times, and others say the times make the men.

0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:14.000
<v Speaker 4>It was in the.

0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:17.320
<v Speaker 2>Fervor of the eighteen fifties, with slavery heavily weighing on

0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:19.480
<v Speaker 2>the nation, that Lincoln emerged.

0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:21.800
<v Speaker 4>Stephen Douglas, the little.

0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:23.320
<v Speaker 6>Giant from Illinois.

0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:26.720
<v Speaker 2>He was out for reelection to the Senate in eighteen

0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:29.560
<v Speaker 2>fifty eight in what was just going to be a

0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:30.600
<v Speaker 2>warm up for.

0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:34.080
<v Speaker 6>A presidential bid in eighteen sixty.

0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:37.840
<v Speaker 2>Lecold opposed Douglas from the very beginning of this campaign,

0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:41.159
<v Speaker 2>and he was a natural choice to compete for the

0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:47.119
<v Speaker 2>Illinois Senate seat. So he had his moment, and the

0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:50.840
<v Speaker 2>Senate candency gave him a platform, a moral platform to

0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:56.840
<v Speaker 2>attack Douglas's ideas, his political skills expose his lack of

0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:00.040
<v Speaker 2>principle when it came to the weightiest moral.

0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:01.280
<v Speaker 4>Issue of the day.

0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:04.439
<v Speaker 2>In eighteen fifty eight, he challenged Douglas to a series

0:22:04.480 --> 0:22:09.560
<v Speaker 2>of debates, seven in all, and Douglas accepted. These debates

0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:15.280
<v Speaker 2>were real classics of American oratory. Of all oratory, Lincoln

0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:17.320
<v Speaker 2>tried at every turn to make Douglas appear to be

0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:21.960
<v Speaker 2>a radical and pro slavery Progens Good sympathizer, which Douglas

0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:25.400
<v Speaker 2>actually was not. Douglas, for his part, tried to make

0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:29.960
<v Speaker 2>Lincoln look like a dangerous abolitionist radical, which Lincoln was not.

0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:33.720
<v Speaker 2>Lincoln was anti slavery, but he was not in favor

0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:38.119
<v Speaker 2>of abolition, but the debates were substantive and worthy of

0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:42.479
<v Speaker 2>the state of Illinois, the Senate, and the nation. Lincoln

0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:45.119
<v Speaker 2>would go on to lose the election to Douglas, but

0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:49.200
<v Speaker 2>it was a competitive race, and Lincoln emerged as a

0:22:49.320 --> 0:22:54.880
<v Speaker 2>national figure, a possible and plausible Republican candidate for president

0:22:55.480 --> 0:23:00.520
<v Speaker 2>in eighteen sixty. So the Republican Party came just a

0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:03.720
<v Speaker 2>few seats short four to be exec of an absolute

0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:08.240
<v Speaker 2>majority in Congress. A growing and a Senate Republican Party,

0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:12.520
<v Speaker 2>and a fracturing in the National Democratic Party foreshadowed.

0:23:11.800 --> 0:23:13.640
<v Speaker 6>Trouble ahead for the nation.

0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:19.520
<v Speaker 2>The last dire warning of things to come with the

0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:23.000
<v Speaker 2>news of abolitionist John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry on

0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:26.399
<v Speaker 2>the night of October sixteenth, eighteen fifty nine, at the

0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:35.439
<v Speaker 2>Federal Arsenal. Brown's hatred of slavery had grown. He was

0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:38.880
<v Speaker 2>convinced that God had called him to do what he

0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:41.920
<v Speaker 2>did that night, which was to strike at the institution

0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:45.840
<v Speaker 2>of slavery itself. His plan was simple. He and his

0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:49.360
<v Speaker 2>men would seize guns from the Federal Arsenal and use

0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:51.880
<v Speaker 2>them to arm slaves in the region and begin an

0:23:51.920 --> 0:23:54.679
<v Speaker 2>uprising which would lead to the creation of a slave

0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:58.520
<v Speaker 2>run state. This effort was doomed from the start, and

0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:02.199
<v Speaker 2>fourteen lines were long in the process to being his

0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:09.040
<v Speaker 2>own sons. Brown was hanged in December of that year,

0:24:09.320 --> 0:24:12.240
<v Speaker 2>and these were some of his final words before being

0:24:12.400 --> 0:24:16.440
<v Speaker 2>put to death. In the first place, I deny everything

0:24:16.520 --> 0:24:19.840
<v Speaker 2>but what I have all along admitted design on my

0:24:19.960 --> 0:24:23.720
<v Speaker 2>part to free slaves. I intended certainly to have made

0:24:23.920 --> 0:24:26.480
<v Speaker 2>a clean thing of that matter, as I did last

0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:29.520
<v Speaker 2>winter when I went into Missouri and took slaves without

0:24:29.560 --> 0:24:32.320
<v Speaker 2>the snapping of a gun on either side, moved them

0:24:32.359 --> 0:24:35.800
<v Speaker 2>through the country, and finally left them in Canada. I

0:24:35.840 --> 0:24:38.840
<v Speaker 2>designed to do the same thing again on a larger scale.

0:24:39.040 --> 0:24:42.200
<v Speaker 2>The court acknowledges, as I suppose the validity of the

0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:45.200
<v Speaker 2>law of God, I see a book kissed here, which

0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:48.480
<v Speaker 2>I supposed to be the Bible, or at least.

0:24:48.359 --> 0:24:49.320
<v Speaker 4>The new Testament.

0:24:49.840 --> 0:24:53.600
<v Speaker 2>That book teaches me that all things whatsoever I would

0:24:53.680 --> 0:24:57.040
<v Speaker 2>that men should do to me, I should do even

0:24:57.119 --> 0:25:00.960
<v Speaker 2>so to them. It teaches me further to quote remember

0:25:01.040 --> 0:25:04.920
<v Speaker 2>them that are in bonds as bound wisdom. I endeavored

0:25:04.920 --> 0:25:06.320
<v Speaker 2>to act upon that instruction.

0:25:06.680 --> 0:25:08.280
<v Speaker 4>I say, I am too young.

0:25:08.160 --> 0:25:11.320
<v Speaker 2>To understand that God is any respector of persons. I

0:25:11.400 --> 0:25:14.280
<v Speaker 2>believe that you have interfered as I have done, as

0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:17.000
<v Speaker 2>I have always freely admitted that I have done in

0:25:17.080 --> 0:25:22.200
<v Speaker 2>behalf of his despised poor was not wrong. But right now,

0:25:22.240 --> 0:25:24.439
<v Speaker 2>if it is deemed necessary, that I should forfeit my

0:25:24.560 --> 0:25:27.199
<v Speaker 2>life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and

0:25:27.359 --> 0:25:30.560
<v Speaker 2>mingle my blood further with the blood of my children,

0:25:30.840 --> 0:25:34.400
<v Speaker 2>and with the blood of millions in this slave of country,

0:25:34.440 --> 0:25:39.640
<v Speaker 2>whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel and unjust enactments, I.

0:25:39.680 --> 0:25:42.480
<v Speaker 4>Submit so that it be done.

0:25:46.400 --> 0:25:50.000
<v Speaker 2>Southerners were horrified by Brown's actions and took his violent

0:25:50.080 --> 0:25:52.680
<v Speaker 2>rampage to be an indication of what the North had

0:25:52.720 --> 0:25:56.840
<v Speaker 2>in store. Northerners saw Brown as a martyr of sorts,

0:25:57.080 --> 0:26:00.000
<v Speaker 2>even the saint. There was little room for moderates left

0:26:00.320 --> 0:26:03.399
<v Speaker 2>on the issue of slavery. By the election of eighteen sixty,

0:26:03.440 --> 0:26:07.080
<v Speaker 2>the Democratic Party had all become apart, not acceptable to

0:26:07.200 --> 0:26:11.840
<v Speaker 2>Southerners and Buchanan supporters. They dominated their own candidate and

0:26:11.960 --> 0:26:15.880
<v Speaker 2>Vice President, John Breckenridge of Kentucky. Other Democratic dissenters would

0:26:15.920 --> 0:26:19.840
<v Speaker 2>form a new party, the Constitutional Union Party. In short,

0:26:19.840 --> 0:26:22.200
<v Speaker 2>it was a mess. It would make the likelihood of

0:26:22.200 --> 0:26:29.760
<v Speaker 2>a Republican victory a probability. Lincoln won one hundred and

0:26:29.800 --> 0:26:34.120
<v Speaker 2>eighty electoral votes from all eighteen Free states, and only

0:26:34.240 --> 0:26:38.080
<v Speaker 2>from those states he didn't get a single vote a

0:26:38.160 --> 0:26:41.920
<v Speaker 2>single electoral vote from the South. Douglass got an anemic

0:26:42.040 --> 0:26:46.280
<v Speaker 2>twelve electoral votes and finished a distant fourth. Lincoln's win

0:26:46.440 --> 0:26:49.400
<v Speaker 2>was a turning point in American life and a momentous

0:26:49.520 --> 0:26:53.240
<v Speaker 2>victory for many reasons. In many ways, it was the

0:26:53.280 --> 0:26:55.639
<v Speaker 2>first time a president had been elected on an entirely

0:26:55.720 --> 0:26:59.960
<v Speaker 2>regional basis, and some Southerners warned that such an impressed

0:27:00.160 --> 0:27:03.239
<v Speaker 2>that such an outcome in this election would leave the

0:27:03.280 --> 0:27:06.760
<v Speaker 2>South with no choice but to secede from the Union.

0:27:07.280 --> 0:27:11.080
<v Speaker 2>Immediately after the election, the state of South Carolina did

0:27:11.119 --> 0:27:13.359
<v Speaker 2>precisely that war.

0:27:13.760 --> 0:27:16.600
<v Speaker 6>It seems, was almost inevitable.

0:27:18.520 --> 0:27:21.640
<v Speaker 1>The story of the rise of Lincoln here on our

0:27:21.800 --> 0:27:23.080
<v Speaker 1>American stories,