1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,480 Speaker 1: Hi, this is newt Twenty twenty is going to be 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:05,160 Speaker 1: one of the most extraordinary election years of our lifetime. 3 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: I want to invite you to join my Inner Circle 4 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: as we discuss each twist and turn in the race 5 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: and my members only Inner Circle Club. You will receive 6 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:18,960 Speaker 1: special flash briefings, online events, and members only audio reports 7 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:21,599 Speaker 1: from me and my team. Here's a special offer to 8 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: my podcast listeners. 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This offer ends January thirty first. 16 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 1: On this episode of Newtsworld, Abraham Lincoln is, with the 17 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:07,399 Speaker 1: single exception of George Washington, the most important president in 18 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: American history. Without Lincoln, the Civil War would have ended 19 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:17,680 Speaker 1: with the South leaving the Union, with America broken. Without Lincoln, 20 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,199 Speaker 1: the moral basis of freedom would never have been quite 21 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:25,440 Speaker 1: as articulate. Without Lincoln, so many things that we take 22 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: for granted would never have become true. I'm going to 23 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: try to share with you the essence of Lincoln, a 24 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: man who is the most complex and probably the smartest 25 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: person ever to occupy the White House. What are the 26 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: lessons of Lincoln? What is it about Lincoln that made 27 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: him so unusual, so effective, and so important. I've written 28 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: four novels about the Civil War. I've spent years studying Lincoln. 29 00:01:54,160 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: I think that he is at the center of defining America. 30 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln's rise to greatness is really the classic American story, 31 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: the proof that you could really have almost nothing, and 32 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:22,360 Speaker 1: if you had ambition and determination and we're willing to 33 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:27,920 Speaker 1: work really hard, amazing things could happen. In eighteen o nine, 34 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: Lincoln is born in Hardin County, Kentucky, and he is 35 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: in a family that's very poor. They ultimately relocate to 36 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: the frontier of Indiana, looking for better land, looking for 37 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: greater opportunity, but they're still very poor. And when he's 38 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 1: nine years old, his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, dies of sickness. 39 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:53,080 Speaker 1: A year later, his father, Thomas Lincoln, remarries to the 40 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 1: widow Sarah Bush Johnston. That long stretch of being extremely poor, 41 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: so poor that I think it's literally true that Lincoln 42 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: learned how to read by the fireplace, because most of 43 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: the time wouldn't use candles, which were expensive. Famous historic 44 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,680 Speaker 1: pictures of Lincoln laying in front of the fireplace looking 45 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: at books when he was very, very young. It's probable 46 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 1: that in that period he'd never gotten more than about 47 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 1: three years of formal education. But it was also a 48 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:27,760 Speaker 1: period where people often didn't get much education, often did 49 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:30,519 Speaker 1: not do a lot of reading. For his whole life, 50 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 1: he'll read, and in fact stories of Lincoln when he 51 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: was on the circuit had his horse trained so that 52 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: the horse would pull the buggy and Lincoln would read 53 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: between towns. He was immersed in the Bible, and in fact, 54 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: if you really want to understand the cadence of Lincoln, 55 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: look at the King James version of the Bible, because 56 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 1: Lincoln writes very much in the pattern of the King 57 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: James version, which, of course, in nineteenth century America as 58 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 1: the most commonly read single book, and so he sounded 59 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 1: right to people. He also worked really hard. As a result, 60 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: he became physically very strong. He's a big guy anyway. 61 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: But in addition, that he was physically strong. He does 62 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: a lot of different jobs, both farm jobs and jobs 63 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: in town, and then something which I think really affected 64 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: his life. When he is nineteen years old, he works 65 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: on a flatboat that carried cargo down to New Orleans, 66 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: and he saw slavery in a slave market, and I 67 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: think that he never ever forgot that. He went back 68 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: down again three years later on his second trip to 69 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,600 Speaker 1: New Orleans, and in that period, I think he just 70 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,160 Speaker 1: realized it was just wrong and he hated it. Now, 71 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: he didn't run around as an abolitionist, he didn't go 72 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 1: make a big noise about it. But you will see 73 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: very early in his career, particularly in a very famous 74 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,840 Speaker 1: speech that he gave an eighteen thirty eight, he's beginning 75 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: to lay out a framework of thinking about these things 76 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: that marks him as different than most of the people 77 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:08,160 Speaker 1: around him. Clerks a general store when he is twenty 78 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: two years old. Unfortunately for him, the store autombly goes 79 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:15,440 Speaker 1: broke and he spends a number of years paying off 80 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:17,479 Speaker 1: the debt, which again is one of those things that 81 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,840 Speaker 1: in a small town people really respected him because they 82 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:24,279 Speaker 1: came to believe that he was somebody that kept his word. 83 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:28,600 Speaker 1: Here's a guy who wants to get ahead. He's striving constantly, 84 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: he's learning constantly, and he's very good with people. He 85 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 1: obviously stood out. He was very tall and very visible 86 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: for his time. He was physically amazingly strong, so people 87 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 1: had enormous respect at a time when physical strength really mattered. 88 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 1: In addition, people realized he was really smart. And finally, 89 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: he was a great storyteller. So Lincoln was always collecting 90 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,599 Speaker 1: stories to tell people. They were usually kind of long, 91 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: drawn out, slow stories, exactly what you need if you're 92 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:03,839 Speaker 1: going to be on the circuit as a lawyer and 93 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: found yourself every evening at a tavern somewhere having dinner 94 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:10,120 Speaker 1: and a drink with the boys, and back then it 95 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:13,479 Speaker 1: would be basically an all male company. And so he 96 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: became pretty popular just because, you know, he was kind 97 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: of fun to be around, and people thought he had 98 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:21,919 Speaker 1: good ideas and he had wisdom. But they also thought 99 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,440 Speaker 1: that he was quite sociable. The black Hawk War occurs 100 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,039 Speaker 1: when Blackhawk led a group of Indians from several different 101 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: tribes across from what was then the Iowa Indian territories 102 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:37,679 Speaker 1: and they entered Illinois. Scared everybody, and at that point 103 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: there was a call for volunteers, and Lincoln, who was 104 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:44,560 Speaker 1: twenty three at the time, promptly went in and volunteered. 105 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:48,840 Speaker 1: And the way militia back then picked leaders, they would 106 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: line up behind the person they want to have as leaders. 107 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:54,239 Speaker 1: So Lincoln and one of their candidate for a captain 108 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: of their unit took positions, and then people lined up, 109 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,359 Speaker 1: and a lot more people lined up behind Lincoln, behind 110 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: the other guy, so he became captain. In fact, this 111 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,479 Speaker 1: really touched Lincoln at a personal level, and he said 112 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: later quote, I was elected a captain of volunteers, a 113 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: success which gave me more pleasure than any I have 114 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: had since. And that was not because he was going 115 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: to be a military leader. It was because his friends 116 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: and neighbors had chosen him. They show in respect for him, 117 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 1: they thought he was competent, and as a result, he 118 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: felt a great sense that he gained a lot of ground. 119 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: You know, for a kid from a really poor family, 120 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: born in Kentucky, partially raised in Indiana, and now a 121 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: young adult in Illinois, he was getting to be somebody 122 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: who's doing well enough and respected enough to become captain 123 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:41,240 Speaker 1: of his militia. As Lincoln said at one point, they 124 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: never saw a single Indian while he was in charge 125 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: of the militia. They wandered around the woods, didn't get 126 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: anything done that mattered, and disbanded and went home. They 127 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 1: also was an illustration of how close to the frontier 128 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 1: Lincoln was that he was part of I think the 129 00:07:55,960 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 1: last major Indian campaign in Illinois, as sweep of people 130 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: began moving further and further west and organizing more and 131 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:09,800 Speaker 1: more from territories into states. I think that you have 132 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 1: to see in Lincoln this very rural farm boy who 133 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: is determined to someday do something that matters, and who 134 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: learns a whole series of tough lessons but never backs off, 135 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: never stops, never slows down. Next, Lincoln's political career begins 136 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: and he works strategically to gain national attention. You've been 137 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: listening to my conversations with Leo Grillo, founder of Delta Rescue. 138 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: Delta Rescue is celebrating forty years of saving animals and 139 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: providing love to abandon dogs and cats. Delta Rescue was 140 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,320 Speaker 1: the first no kill shelter in the United States and 141 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: now the largest care for life sanctuary was kind in 142 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: the world. The stories that Leo shared on my show, 143 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: like Delta, a black Doboman that started this organization, all 144 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 1: the way to the thirty five dogs Leo found while 145 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 1: hiking in the Angeles National Park just warm my heart. 146 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: Delta Rescue continues to grow the on site hospital, his 147 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: staff seven days a week with veterinarians and state of 148 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:30,640 Speaker 1: the art equipment. Delta Rescue treats all diseases and conditions 149 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:35,320 Speaker 1: and up to fifteen hundred dogs, cats and horses. Delta 150 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:38,320 Speaker 1: Rescue is an incredible cause, and we know we can't 151 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: take our money with us when we leave, nor do 152 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:42,680 Speaker 1: we want to leave it to the I r S. 153 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: Let's help our furry friends to day and support this 154 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: amazing cause. Go to Delta Rescue dot org, slash newt 155 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 1: for information on donations and getting involved. And right now 156 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: there's some new entertaining content streaming on the site. Newts 157 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: World listeners can go to the site for two free 158 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: family movies, To Magic starring Christopher Lloyd and directed by 159 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:07,800 Speaker 1: Robert Davey and The Rescuer starring Leo Grillo. Enjoyed these 160 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:11,440 Speaker 1: two heartwarming movies for us animal lovers. Go to Delta 161 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:15,199 Speaker 1: Rescue dot org, slash NEWT. That's Delta Rescue dot org 162 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:31,000 Speaker 1: slash n e WT. Lincoln was a very ambitious man. 163 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 1: Ambitious from the very beginning. He had a desire to 164 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:40,040 Speaker 1: get ahead, and he was constantly thinking about how to 165 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:43,439 Speaker 1: get things done. One of the most amazing facts about 166 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:47,679 Speaker 1: Lincoln is that when he first ran for the legislature 167 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:52,320 Speaker 1: at twenty three years of age, having lost the first time, 168 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:55,720 Speaker 1: Lincoln means to study being a lawyer, and that same 169 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 1: year he's elected as the Whig candidate to the lower 170 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: house of the Illinois General Assembly at twenty four years 171 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 1: of age. Most of our founding fathers and most of 172 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:08,840 Speaker 1: our most successful leaders, in fact, spent a lot of 173 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: time learning their trade. And here is Lincoln at twenty 174 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,880 Speaker 1: four years of age, entering the legislature and beginning to 175 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:20,200 Speaker 1: learn how to be an effective legislature. In fact, he's 176 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: in the legislature for two years before he gets a 177 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: license to practice law. And then he moves to Springfield 178 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:30,599 Speaker 1: and begins to practice and opens up an increasingly successful 179 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:37,200 Speaker 1: law firm. Now he's not particularly successful in pursuing a spouse. 180 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: In eighteen thirty seventy, writes to a woman that he 181 00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:43,200 Speaker 1: really hoped would marry him. She didn't even reply to 182 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: his letter. Mary Todd Lincoln. They have it on and 183 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: off relationship. Finally Mary Todd agrees to marry him, and 184 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,440 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty two they get married. At the same time, 185 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:57,880 Speaker 1: he's left the legislature's tired of going to the state legislature, 186 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: and he is rising as a Paul Petician. People tend 187 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:04,200 Speaker 1: to forget that Lincoln as a major leader in the 188 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:08,400 Speaker 1: Whig Party as it was then called in the eighteen thirties. 189 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:13,000 Speaker 1: He ultimately won a congressional seat from one term, went 190 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:16,680 Speaker 1: to Washington, immediately made a name for himself, introducing what 191 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:21,080 Speaker 1: was called the Spot Resolution. Because President Polke had gotten 192 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 1: us into a war with Mexico, and Lincoln is a 193 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 1: Whig who was opposed to Polke, was saying he couldn't 194 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: find a spot of ground on which what Polke was 195 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: saying was true. It was actually quite unpopular because during 196 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 1: the Mexican War, the war became relatively popular, and I 197 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 1: was seeing a kind of unpatriotic to be questioning it 198 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:43,080 Speaker 1: as Lincoln did. He came back home not because he lost, 199 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:45,760 Speaker 1: but because he'd made a deal with a fellow Whig 200 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:48,840 Speaker 1: that they would alternate terms in Congress, a deal which, 201 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: by the way, the other guy broke and kept the seat, 202 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 1: leaving Lincoln out of public office for the better part 203 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:58,200 Speaker 1: of a decade, and he kept trying to get back 204 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:01,880 Speaker 1: into office. He applied one point to become the governor 205 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,960 Speaker 1: of the Territory of Oregon and was turned down. He 206 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:08,680 Speaker 1: stayed active in Whig politics while the Whig Party was dying, 207 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,400 Speaker 1: and gradually began to realize that if he had a future, 208 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: he had to join this new thing called the Republican Party. 209 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: And so Lincoln became one of the senior leaders, bringing 210 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 1: with him all of his connectivity from the years as 211 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,839 Speaker 1: a Whig in Illinois, and became a very prominent Republican. 212 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 1: That led, autumnly to his running for the Senate in 213 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:35,400 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty eight. In what is an absolutely fascinating moment 214 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 1: in American Historan Lincoln is going to run for the 215 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:41,720 Speaker 1: Senate at a time when the senators are actually picked 216 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: by the state legislature, So in a sense, while he 217 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:48,240 Speaker 1: runs as a personality, the autumn result will be reflected 218 00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:51,560 Speaker 1: in how the Republicans do in the state legislative races. 219 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:55,360 Speaker 1: He's going to run against Stephen Douglas, one of the 220 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,680 Speaker 1: leading Democrats in the entire country, a man who was 221 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,800 Speaker 1: very widely respect who would risen much faster than Lincoln, 222 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:06,840 Speaker 1: and so Lincoln is the underdog outsider taking on the 223 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 1: great senator. The local railroad gave Douglas an entire rail 224 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 1: car to live in for the campaign, and Douglas soft 225 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: went around the state of Illinois and great comfort. Lincoln 226 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 1: bought a ticket in the common everyday passenger part of 227 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 1: the train and could be found sleeping by himself on 228 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: a bench on the train going from place to place, 229 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 1: and that gave you a sense of their relative significance 230 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:35,880 Speaker 1: as they started into this campaign. Lincoln then decides that 231 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:38,200 Speaker 1: the way he's going to go after Douglas is he's 232 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: going to challenge him to debates. And Douglas, of course, 233 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,120 Speaker 1: being the incumbent and the front runner and the guy 234 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 1: who should win, doesn't want a debate. So Douglas hides 235 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 1: from Lincoln, and Lincoln comes up with this theory very 236 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 1: typical on what you'll see with Lincoln again and again 237 00:14:55,320 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 1: thinking strategically, and announces that wherever Douglas speaks, Lincoln we'll 238 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 1: speak the next night. Well, of course that means that 239 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:06,560 Speaker 1: Lincoln gets to take a part Douglas's speech, Lincoln in 240 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: effect gets the last word, and after a couple of 241 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: weeks of this, Douglas says, if you're going to trail 242 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,680 Speaker 1: me around everywhere, let's just debate, and so they ultimately 243 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: agree to seven debates. These were debates where people spoke 244 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:22,280 Speaker 1: for forty five minutes at a time, where they had 245 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 1: they outlined huge propositions, and they walked through them. And 246 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:30,800 Speaker 1: it turned out that Lincoln was, in fact an extraordinarily 247 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: good debater. Now this should not have come as a shock. 248 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: He had been making a living as a trial lawyer 249 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: in Illinois for years. In many ways, appealing to the 250 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: voter and appealing to a jury are the same business, 251 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:45,080 Speaker 1: and so he had a very good sense of how 252 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:50,840 Speaker 1: to take complicated ideas, break them down into very simple concepts, 253 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: He explained them in a very down home kind of way, 254 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: and ultimately be in a position where the jury nodded yes. 255 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 1: And that's how Lincoln had made it very very good living. 256 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:04,160 Speaker 1: While here he was now applying exactly the same skill, 257 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:07,640 Speaker 1: exactly the same technique to debate, and Douglas suddenly found 258 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 1: himself in trouble and part of the reason Douglas was 259 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 1: in trouble was that he was trying to straddle the 260 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:18,120 Speaker 1: great issue of the eighteen fifties, which was slavery. Douglas 261 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: knew that the country was on the verge of breaking apart, 262 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:27,320 Speaker 1: and he knew that Northerners were increasingly anti slavery, something 263 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:31,800 Speaker 1: which had accelerated dramatically with the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, 264 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,840 Speaker 1: which was a very popular novel which sold an enormous 265 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: number of books in the North, and which portrayed in 266 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:43,520 Speaker 1: deeply emotional ways the plight of African Americans who were slaves. 267 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:46,640 Speaker 1: The effect of Uncle Tom's Cabin on the South was 268 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: to maximize the degree to which Southerners were now paranoid, 269 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:55,600 Speaker 1: convinced that the Yankees wanted to destroy their civilization, abolish 270 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 1: agricultural based on slavery, and in the effect the Yankees 271 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:05,040 Speaker 1: dominate their region. So the very intensity with which anti 272 00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:08,119 Speaker 1: slavery movements began to grow, particularly starting in New England, 273 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 1: where there were genuine abolitionists, that his people were saying, 274 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: not only his slavery bad, but we should abolish it. 275 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:16,720 Speaker 1: And they were sort of the radical wing of the 276 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:20,080 Speaker 1: emerging Republican Party. But Douglas is trying to do is 277 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:23,040 Speaker 1: hold together the Democratic Party, which was the party of slavery. 278 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:27,560 Speaker 1: He knew that he couldn't be pro slavery and win 279 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:31,200 Speaker 1: in northern Illinois, he couldn't be anti slavery and win 280 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:34,119 Speaker 1: in southern Illinois. And furthermore, since his real goal was 281 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: to run for president in eighteen sixty, he was trying 282 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 1: to find a formula which would allow both Southern Democrats 283 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: and Northern Democrats to be for him for president. If 284 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:49,479 Speaker 1: he could keep the Democratic Party unified, he would probably 285 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 1: win the presidency, as they'd beaten the Republicans in eighteen 286 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:55,199 Speaker 1: fifty six, and there was every reason to believe that 287 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:58,639 Speaker 1: a unified Democratic Party could beat the Republicans again in 288 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:03,879 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty. Lincoln, understanding all this, begins to put together 289 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:07,840 Speaker 1: a strategy that forces Douglas to answer a series of 290 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: questions and forces Douglas into an untenable position where he 291 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:17,280 Speaker 1: is too pro slavery for northern Illinois and he is 292 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:21,919 Speaker 1: too obviously hiding and straddling for Southern Illinois, and Lincoln 293 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 1: is sort of chasing him intellectually and forcing him into 294 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:29,920 Speaker 1: a position that he knows is unsustainable. Douglas, I think, 295 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 1: deep down knew that if we continued on the road 296 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 1: that we were on in eighteen fifty eight, we're going 297 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: to end up in a civil war. And he was 298 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: trying to find a formula that would contain slavery, but 299 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:45,879 Speaker 1: at the same time would not so threaten it that 300 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: the South would succeed. Lincoln had a different approach. Lincoln 301 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:54,960 Speaker 1: wanted to communicate unequivocally that slavery was unacceptable. Each of 302 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 1: them have this balancing act. Lincoln is anti slavery, he 303 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:03,320 Speaker 1: is not quite yet for abolition because he knows that 304 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:06,360 Speaker 1: he can't win as a straight out abolitionist in Illinois. 305 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 1: Douglas doesn't want to defend slavery, but he wants to 306 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: block it from being abolished. And the problem for Douglas 307 00:19:14,119 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: is that Southerners have concluded any effort to limit slavery 308 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:23,400 Speaker 1: is in fact and effort to kill slavery, and so 309 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 1: Douglas is gradually losing ground throughout the South the longer 310 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: this campaign goes on, and losing the opportunity to some 311 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: day be president. Lincoln, on the other hand, is gradually 312 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,760 Speaker 1: consolidating the notion that he's a good enough debater, he 313 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:39,680 Speaker 1: could stand up against somebody who everybody believed, up until 314 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:42,400 Speaker 1: that year was probably the best orator in the country. 315 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:47,080 Speaker 1: And Lincoln kept growing in stature, Douglas kept declining in stature, 316 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:50,920 Speaker 1: and by election day, Lincoln actually carried the popular vote 317 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: by about four thousand. But because what mattered was the 318 00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:58,120 Speaker 1: state legislature, the Democrats were able because of the way 319 00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:01,320 Speaker 1: the districts were designed, because of some holdovers who are 320 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: for election the year, the Democrats kept by a majority 321 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:09,360 Speaker 1: in the legislature, so Douglas got elected, but ironically Lincoln 322 00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: won the moral fight. Lincoln also on the skidsun example 323 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: of both how smart he was and how ambitious he was. 324 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: Lincoln had arranged for the newspapers to cover the Lincoln 325 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: Douglas debates. Lincoln then arranged for the Lincoln Douglas debates 326 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:27,719 Speaker 1: to be pulled together into a book. He then arranged 327 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:30,359 Speaker 1: for the book to be published in a very inexpensive form, 328 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,359 Speaker 1: and thousands and thousands of copies of the Lincoln Douglas 329 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 1: debates suddenly showed up all over the country. And here 330 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 1: is this lawyer from Illinois who has only been a 331 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 1: congressman for two years suddenly beginning to emerge in eighteen 332 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 1: fifty nine as a very serious person who, although he 333 00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: had not won the Senate seat, had won the popular 334 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:54,639 Speaker 1: vote for the Senate seat, had proven that he was 335 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,520 Speaker 1: capable of taking on Douglas, and all of a sudden, 336 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:00,440 Speaker 1: lots of people in the Republican Party who begin to 337 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:04,920 Speaker 1: wonder about this guy Lincoln and where he was coming from. Now, Lincoln, 338 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,359 Speaker 1: at that point starts campaigning, and he goes into a 339 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:12,120 Speaker 1: number of states in the Midwest, as far east as Ohio, 340 00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 1: campaigning because back then they used to have a lot 341 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:17,399 Speaker 1: of off your elections, And in eighteen fifty nine a 342 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,080 Speaker 1: number of states held elections, and Lincoln is all over 343 00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:23,440 Speaker 1: the place campaigning for people, in effect picking up ioues 344 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: everywhere Douglas goes, Lincoln goes, and on election Day eighteen 345 00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:32,120 Speaker 1: fifty nine, the Republicans have one virtually everywhere. So now 346 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:34,960 Speaker 1: Lincoln is riding a wave as a guy who actually 347 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:38,240 Speaker 1: is helpful to the party, who's helped grow the party. 348 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 1: He's begin to pick up strength across the Midwest. Two 349 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,439 Speaker 1: things come into play at this point. The first is, 350 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:47,399 Speaker 1: if you look at the United States and you assume 351 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:49,639 Speaker 1: for a minute that the South is never going to 352 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 1: vote Republican. Then the question becomes, how do you put 353 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:57,560 Speaker 1: together a majority in the electoral College, even though you 354 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,119 Speaker 1: probably can't put together a majority of the popular vote. 355 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:06,040 Speaker 1: There's a certain advantage to having a Midwesterner they're seeing 356 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 1: is more moderate in that period. No New Englander was 357 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:10,960 Speaker 1: going to get elect at present because they're seeing his 358 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:15,240 Speaker 1: hard line abolitionists who are very, very likely to lead 359 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,679 Speaker 1: the country into a war. The leading candidate is actually 360 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:22,160 Speaker 1: from New York Senator Seward, who had been the dominant 361 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: leader in the Republican Party, and people sort of thought 362 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:29,120 Speaker 1: Seward would get to be the nominee, except in the Midwest. 363 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,359 Speaker 1: Lincoln was clearly more effective than Seward, and if you 364 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 1: think that the real battleground against Douglas will be in 365 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:38,800 Speaker 1: the Midwest, there's sort of an underlying bias in favor 366 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 1: of Lincoln to take on Douglas. And then something really 367 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 1: weird happens. There are pieces of Lincoln's career that are 368 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:50,760 Speaker 1: almost divine intervention. Seward decides that he's so obviously going 369 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:54,040 Speaker 1: to be nominated that he goes to Europe, so he's 370 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:57,360 Speaker 1: out of the country, taking for granted that the delegates 371 00:22:57,359 --> 00:22:59,960 Speaker 1: are going to be for him. Had Suard stayed home 372 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,399 Speaker 1: and had Suart worked the delegates, he probably could have 373 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,720 Speaker 1: won the nomination. But he leaves. Now Lincoln, who's not 374 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:10,959 Speaker 1: a fool, Suddenly there's a big vacuum here. And for weeks, 375 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: Lincoln is writing people all across the country while Seward's 376 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,919 Speaker 1: offseeing Europe. By the time Seward gets back, Lincoln has 377 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,520 Speaker 1: begun to really be a factor. The other example of 378 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: almost divine intervention is where is the Republican National Convention 379 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,000 Speaker 1: going to be in eighteen sixty. It's going to be 380 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:33,280 Speaker 1: in Chicago, Illinois. Well who can dominate Chicago? Well Lincoln can. 381 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:37,520 Speaker 1: So what happens is his key advisors go to Chicago, 382 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: they organize the crowds, they guarantee that they're going to 383 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:45,680 Speaker 1: dominate the energy level with Lincoln supporters. So gradually he's 384 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: beginning to build all this momentum. And Seward suddenly finds 385 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,600 Speaker 1: himself out of sink. He hasn't kept touch with the 386 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:55,880 Speaker 1: delegates the way Lincoln has. Seward was overconfident, and all 387 00:23:55,880 --> 00:24:00,280 Speaker 1: of a sudden, here is the Republican nominee. Now, poor Douglas, 388 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: who has spent his whole life trying to get to 389 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,119 Speaker 1: be president, who's maneuvered brilliantly, who's organized things, has been 390 00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 1: a great senator, He's really made a lot of impact 391 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:12,439 Speaker 1: on the country, a much more important person than Abraham Lincoln. 392 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 1: Prior to eighteen sixty, Douglas is watching his party die 393 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:20,400 Speaker 1: because what's happened is the Southerners have basically said, if 394 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 1: you are totally in favor of the expansion of slavery 395 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:27,640 Speaker 1: everywhere in the country, we're not going to support you. Well, 396 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,680 Speaker 1: Douglas knows he can't be for that, and he won't 397 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:32,240 Speaker 1: get any votes in the North if he's for the 398 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,920 Speaker 1: expansion of slavery everywhere in the country. And so Douglas 399 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,720 Speaker 1: is caught in a moment where his party is disintegrating. 400 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,440 Speaker 1: Of the South votes decisively against Lincoln. In the North, 401 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,719 Speaker 1: Lincoln wins alderly with a plurality of the votes, and 402 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,840 Speaker 1: Lincoln gets about forty percent of the vote. He carries 403 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 1: the electoral college decisively because the other guys are splitting 404 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:57,119 Speaker 1: the rest of it, and outside the South, Lincoln is 405 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:01,680 Speaker 1: dominant and the Republicans are dominant. Coming up, Lincoln struggles 406 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: to keep the Union together during the Civil War. Lincoln 407 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:25,200 Speaker 1: decides that he is simply not going to get involved 408 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:27,679 Speaker 1: in decision making until he becomes president, which will not 409 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:32,200 Speaker 1: happen until March. The Union is falling apart, the South 410 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:35,720 Speaker 1: is gradually starting to secede, and armories are being taken 411 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: over by so others. Federal forts are being taken over 412 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:43,240 Speaker 1: by so others. President Buchanan is refusing to do anything 413 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:47,040 Speaker 1: to defend the Union and is sitting there passively waiting 414 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:50,159 Speaker 1: for Lincoln to show up. Lincoln is sitting there in 415 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,639 Speaker 1: Illinois thinking to himself, we may end up in a 416 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,560 Speaker 1: really big fight. If we're going to be in a 417 00:25:55,560 --> 00:26:01,760 Speaker 1: really big fight, I'd better really mobilize popular opinion. And 418 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:06,360 Speaker 1: so Lincoln decides that he will go by train. Lincoln 419 00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: went from Springfield to Washington, zigzagging across the Midwest into 420 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:16,240 Speaker 1: northern upstate New York, and everywhere he goes he's giving 421 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: brief speeches. And what he's doing is he's letting people, 422 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:22,960 Speaker 1: for the first time in history, see the President. It's 423 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,359 Speaker 1: the biggest event in the town's history. The train pulls up, 424 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,479 Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln gets on the back of the train, talks 425 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:33,000 Speaker 1: with the crowd for a little while his popularity keeps growing. 426 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:37,280 Speaker 1: He then gets to Washington and he gives it inaugural address. 427 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,320 Speaker 1: He appeals to the South and he says, look, we 428 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: don't have to get into a war. We don't have 429 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:48,160 Speaker 1: to fight. We're not your natural enemies. The tragic fact 430 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,960 Speaker 1: is that the South has made the decision, at least 431 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:54,920 Speaker 1: the hardline elements the South have made the decision that 432 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,800 Speaker 1: if Lincoln is president, they're gone. Period. And I think 433 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:03,639 Speaker 1: it's really important understand this. Lincoln had become the symbol 434 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,119 Speaker 1: of abolition, no matter what he said, as far as 435 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,359 Speaker 1: Southern as were concerned, Lincoln was the enemy. And if 436 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 1: he was going to be president Nited states, that meant 437 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:14,360 Speaker 1: that their enemy was in the White House, and that 438 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 1: meant that they had no choice in their minds except 439 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:21,879 Speaker 1: to secede. Lincoln again, as a strategist, is faced with 440 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:26,720 Speaker 1: three or four very very big strategic choices. He hadn't 441 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,760 Speaker 1: thought about what a civil war would be like. It's 442 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 1: certainly not the presidency that he thought he was running for, 443 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:37,280 Speaker 1: but he understood almost instantly a couple of big facts. 444 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: The first was he wanted to be very very patient 445 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: and maneuver so that the South fired the first shot. 446 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:50,040 Speaker 1: Lincoln understood that if it was a war of Northern aggression, 447 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,159 Speaker 1: which of course is exactly what Southern has called it, 448 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:56,680 Speaker 1: that he couldn't hold the Union together because people weren't 449 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,080 Speaker 1: going to sign up for a war of aggression. He 450 00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 1: also understood that if it was a war against somebody 451 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:06,320 Speaker 1: who was attacking the Union, he'd have a much bigger 452 00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 1: base of support in the North and a much greater 453 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:13,480 Speaker 1: willingness to sign up volunteers. And Charleston, the most active 454 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: members of secession, I get frustrated and tired, and they 455 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:20,879 Speaker 1: fire on Fort Sumter. Now, when they fired on Fort Sumter, 456 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:25,480 Speaker 1: that suddenly said to the entire North, they are attacking us. 457 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,280 Speaker 1: Now it was a defensive war, a war to defend 458 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:32,880 Speaker 1: the Union. Lincoln was now able to portray it as 459 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:37,520 Speaker 1: I am responding to Southern aggression. I need your help 460 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:41,600 Speaker 1: to defend the Union, and governors began calling for volunteers, 461 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: and people began to show up and join the Union 462 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:48,720 Speaker 1: army in substantial numbers. The second thing was Lincoln knew 463 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:51,479 Speaker 1: that he could not afford to have Washington isolated. And 464 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,960 Speaker 1: yet if you look at a map, you have Virginia 465 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,440 Speaker 1: in the South. You have Delaware, which at that time 466 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:01,960 Speaker 1: was a pro slavery state, and you have Maryland, which 467 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:05,720 Speaker 1: frankly was essentially pro slavery in eighteen sixty one, and 468 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:10,400 Speaker 1: there was a real danger that the railroad would be 469 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:12,680 Speaker 1: cut off. There was a real danger that the legislature 470 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:16,479 Speaker 1: and Marylan would vote for secession. And Lincoln began taking 471 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:20,719 Speaker 1: very dramatic steps. He had locked up about half of 472 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 1: the Maryland state legislature because he knew that if they 473 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,960 Speaker 1: were allowed to vote, they would vote for secession. And 474 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:33,680 Speaker 1: Lincoln's attitude was, you can't ask me to follow rules 475 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:37,480 Speaker 1: which guarantee that we will destroy the very constitution that 476 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:41,400 Speaker 1: you claim you want to defend. And therefore I'm going 477 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: to do what I have to do in order to 478 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:47,120 Speaker 1: defend the constitution. So Lincoln is arguing that he can 479 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:50,160 Speaker 1: use the power that's written into the Constitution because the 480 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: founding fathers understood you could have insurrection, you could have riots, 481 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:57,280 Speaker 1: and there are times when you had to be able 482 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:01,719 Speaker 1: to set aside the normal proceed of a peacetime society 483 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:05,080 Speaker 1: and make sure you could protect the society. And he 484 00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:10,280 Speaker 1: applies this in Maryland with substantial force and substantial willingness 485 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,520 Speaker 1: to lock people up and do whatever is necessary, because 486 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,959 Speaker 1: he knows if Maryland is able to leave the Union, 487 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:21,000 Speaker 1: Washington will be cut off. If Washington's cut off, it's 488 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:23,440 Speaker 1: very hard to imagine how the Union's going to survive. 489 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,840 Speaker 1: The second thing he knows is that Delaware, which is wavering, 490 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 1: and Kentucky, which is wavering, need to be kept in 491 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,000 Speaker 1: the Union. In fact, Lincoln says at one point, I 492 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:36,160 Speaker 1: hope God is on my side, but I have to 493 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:39,080 Speaker 1: have Kentucky. And this is one of the reasons why 494 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:44,000 Speaker 1: purists who realize that Lincoln's very cautious about abolishing slavery. 495 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:47,120 Speaker 1: The reason is pretty simple. If he was seen as 496 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:51,200 Speaker 1: an abolitionist, he would have lost Marylyn, Delaware, in Kentucky immediately. 497 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:54,640 Speaker 1: He can't afford to do that because that means they 498 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 1: will lose the war. So the requirement of survival leads 499 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 1: him to be very careful and very cautious, and as 500 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:07,480 Speaker 1: a result, Kentucky, Aldaly becomes pro Union, and Delaware aldamately 501 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:10,160 Speaker 1: becomes pro Union. Maryland, as I said, which had a 502 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:14,040 Speaker 1: few extra provisions, remains in the Union. So Lincoln has 503 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:17,280 Speaker 1: won that round. The problem Lincoln has which he doesn't 504 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:21,240 Speaker 1: solve for a very long time. Is the key generals 505 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 1: don't agree with him. General McClellan, who is the key 506 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,480 Speaker 1: general in the East, doesn't particularly want to win the war. 507 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:31,800 Speaker 1: McClellan is actually in some way sympathetic to the South. 508 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:36,160 Speaker 1: McClellan wants to protect the North, but not defeat the South. 509 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:41,520 Speaker 1: McClellan is also a very very good organizer, and people 510 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:45,120 Speaker 1: like him because he's building this huge Union army. And 511 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:49,600 Speaker 1: the result is Lincoln has tied himself to a general 512 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 1: who blocks him from decisive action. In the summer of 513 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:59,000 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two, the Union army has moved up is 514 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 1: literally within sight of the church steeples of Richmond, and 515 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:05,720 Speaker 1: Richmond's the key for the South because it's the biggest 516 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:09,560 Speaker 1: industrial city, it's politically vital. It is the capital of 517 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: the Confederacy. And the commanding general, General Johnson, gets wounded 518 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:19,720 Speaker 1: and the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, turns to 519 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:24,560 Speaker 1: his best adviser, Robert E. Lee, and says, I want 520 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:28,320 Speaker 1: you to take charge. Well. Lee is tactically one of 521 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:32,400 Speaker 1: the greatest commanders in American history. His ability to maneuver, 522 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:36,440 Speaker 1: his ability to inspire, his subordinates, his instant grasp of 523 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 1: the battlefield and the fact that he had been the 524 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,280 Speaker 1: superintendent of West Point, and so he knew a lot 525 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:44,800 Speaker 1: of these people, and he had a real instant He knew, 526 00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:48,719 Speaker 1: for example, that McClellan was slow and the McClellan was timid. 527 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:54,480 Speaker 1: The result is that he gets defeated. And the truth 528 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:56,760 Speaker 1: is he look at the size of the Union army. 529 00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: If he had just been persistent, he would have beaten Lee. 530 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:02,760 Speaker 1: But he's not persistent, and so he wants to retreat 531 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: back to Washington. This is the sort of thing Lincoln's 532 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 1: faced with again and again. Lincoln gets frustrated. He appoints 533 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,320 Speaker 1: a different general. General Polk gives him a large part 534 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:17,600 Speaker 1: of the army. Polk makes derogatory comments about Lee, how 535 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,640 Speaker 1: he Polk is going to beat them, and Lee turns 536 00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:23,760 Speaker 1: in a remarkable series of moves and what's called the 537 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:29,400 Speaker 1: Second Battle of Manassas Lee decisively defeats Polk, shattering of 538 00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 1: the Union army. And here's Lincoln doing everything that he's 539 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:38,880 Speaker 1: supposed to do, picking people who are losers, and it's 540 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:42,760 Speaker 1: partly because they're up against one of the great tacticians 541 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:45,960 Speaker 1: in American history. It's partly because the Union army at 542 00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:48,400 Speaker 1: that stage in the East still wasn't very well formed 543 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:52,000 Speaker 1: and was politically very divided. There was sort of a 544 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: McClellan wing of the army generals who wanted to have 545 00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 1: a very passive war, if you will, who did not 546 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,280 Speaker 1: want to defeat the South, but they wanted to protect 547 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,760 Speaker 1: the North. And then there were the Lincoln Republican generals 548 00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:07,680 Speaker 1: who were very aggressive. You had a leadership in the 549 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:11,800 Speaker 1: Union army in the East that was very divided. McClellin 550 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:15,680 Speaker 1: ends up in a very very difficult battle at Antietam. 551 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:19,120 Speaker 1: Lee retreats, and then McClellan sits there for thirty days, 552 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:23,080 Speaker 1: and finally Lincoln fires McClellan and then he brings in 553 00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:28,600 Speaker 1: General Burnside, who says to him very straightforward, I can't 554 00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:32,400 Speaker 1: do this. I'm fine as a core commander, but you 555 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:34,239 Speaker 1: put me in charge of the whole army and I'll 556 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:37,880 Speaker 1: just fail. And Lincoln says, well, it's a risk I 557 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:41,880 Speaker 1: will take, while tragically for the nineteen thousand people to 558 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:46,920 Speaker 1: get killed. Burnside was right. He goes down to Fredericksburg 559 00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:51,080 Speaker 1: and Lee has his army sitting on these hills and 560 00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:55,160 Speaker 1: it's a killing ground, and Burnside just kind of marches 561 00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:59,440 Speaker 1: straight across right into it, gets slaughtered, pulls back. Lincoln 562 00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:02,319 Speaker 1: forces himself to sit on the porch of the White 563 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:06,440 Speaker 1: House for three days watching the wagons filled with the 564 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:09,960 Speaker 1: bodies of the the dead come up to Union Station to 565 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:13,359 Speaker 1: be shipped home. They think, of the moral burden you're 566 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,359 Speaker 1: now buried. I mean, you've tried McClelland he failed. You've 567 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:18,840 Speaker 1: tried Polk he failed. You brought McClelland back. He failed 568 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:21,520 Speaker 1: a second time. Even now tried Burnside. He failed worse 569 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,800 Speaker 1: than the other failures. And so he turns them to 570 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:29,920 Speaker 1: General Hooker, and Hooker ends up fighting Lee the chances 571 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:34,359 Speaker 1: will and they basically fight to a draw, except that 572 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:39,640 Speaker 1: Hooker is standing next to a pillar of a huge 573 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:43,440 Speaker 1: beautiful Annibella mentioned that they had taken over his headquarters, 574 00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:47,320 Speaker 1: and a cannonball hit the pillar, and the concussion basically 575 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,520 Speaker 1: took Hooker out of the fight, and so at the 576 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:52,359 Speaker 1: very moment when they might have won, Hooker just sort 577 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:54,839 Speaker 1: of out of it, and so they fight to a draw, 578 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:57,919 Speaker 1: which is an affect a Union defeat. They pull back 579 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:00,880 Speaker 1: again as General Meade, who who had watched this and 580 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: was really, really angry. He thought that Hooker should have 581 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 1: kept his nerve and that they could have beaten Lee. 582 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:11,479 Speaker 1: And Mead, who's a very tough guy, had a very 583 00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:15,319 Speaker 1: sharp kind of way of thinking. And he pulls him 584 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:18,520 Speaker 1: together and he says, look, the Union may depend on 585 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,399 Speaker 1: this fight, and we've got to figure out how we're 586 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:24,120 Speaker 1: going to do this. And so they organize and they 587 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:27,439 Speaker 1: fight Gettysburg, and in the end Lee loses. I want 588 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,560 Speaker 1: you to put yourself in Lincoln's position. For two years. 589 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:35,800 Speaker 1: You've been telling the country that this war is desperately important. 590 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:39,600 Speaker 1: You've been getting young men from all over America to volunteer. 591 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:43,480 Speaker 1: They've been getting killed. Virtually every town or America has 592 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:47,680 Speaker 1: lost people, and here you are waiting to hear what's 593 00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:52,120 Speaker 1: going to happen and hoping that this new guy is 594 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:55,640 Speaker 1: better than the last people you picked. They fight a 595 00:36:55,880 --> 00:37:02,520 Speaker 1: very tough fight. Lee loses, but guess Meade doesn't follow him. 596 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:08,120 Speaker 1: So Mead's won a battle, but basically let's league it away. 597 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,360 Speaker 1: By this stage, Lincoln's getting very tired, and he also 598 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:15,080 Speaker 1: faced with the election coming up in the fall of 599 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:18,759 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four. W saved Lincoln Despite all of the 600 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:23,280 Speaker 1: frustrations with the Army of the Potomac was the fact 601 00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:27,040 Speaker 1: that in the West and at sea, the Union was 602 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:31,839 Speaker 1: steadily winning. At sea, the United States Navy I had 603 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:36,920 Speaker 1: absolute dominance and was able to gradually strangle all commerce 604 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:41,320 Speaker 1: going into the Confederacy. In the west. The great virtue 605 00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:46,440 Speaker 1: was that one particular general began to rise, and that 606 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:51,160 Speaker 1: general was Ulysses Grant. Grant had been a West Point graduate. 607 00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:55,000 Speaker 1: He had been in the Mexican War. Grant is far 608 00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:58,359 Speaker 1: and away the best general of the Civil War. He 609 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 1: had an ability to organize, He had an understanding of warfare. 610 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,960 Speaker 1: Grant recounts and his very first time to go into battle, 611 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:10,080 Speaker 1: he had trained his men, he had hoped for them. 612 00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:12,840 Speaker 1: He wasn't sure that they would fight. They got on 613 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:15,560 Speaker 1: a steamboat, they went down the river. They got to 614 00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:17,919 Speaker 1: where the Confederates were, and they got off the boat. 615 00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:21,440 Speaker 1: They climbed the hill, and they suddenly realized that all 616 00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:25,759 Speaker 1: of the rifle pits were empty, and Grant wrote, I 617 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:31,040 Speaker 1: suddenly realized that the other guy was afraid too. And 618 00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:33,279 Speaker 1: from that point, for the entire rest of the war, 619 00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:37,080 Speaker 1: I always remembered that whatever my problem was, the other 620 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:41,120 Speaker 1: guy had problems too, and this became for Grant the 621 00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:45,480 Speaker 1: hallmark of his leadership, which was very steady, very calm, 622 00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,480 Speaker 1: very sober. He was captured at a key moment and 623 00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:51,359 Speaker 1: one of the things which began to change the whole 624 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:55,320 Speaker 1: war when in April of eighteen sixty two, the Confederate 625 00:38:55,400 --> 00:39:01,160 Speaker 1: army surprised Grant's forces at Pittsburgh, and all day long 626 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:05,600 Speaker 1: the Confederates drove the Union forces back towards the river. Sherman, 627 00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:09,080 Speaker 1: who was Grant's subordinate, recounts in his memoir that he 628 00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:12,160 Speaker 1: walked over to see Grant that night, the drizzling rain. 629 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,680 Speaker 1: Grant sitting on a little tripod stool outside his tent, 630 00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:17,640 Speaker 1: which has been turned over to be a field hospital 631 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:22,399 Speaker 1: where people are having their limbs amputated. Grant's whittling, which 632 00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:25,640 Speaker 1: was his habit, and Charmer walks up to him and says, 633 00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:29,640 Speaker 1: they beat us pretty good today, and historically the Union 634 00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:31,799 Speaker 1: army up to that point got in a fight and 635 00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:35,480 Speaker 1: pulled back, got another fight and pulled back, and Grant, 636 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:38,439 Speaker 1: without looking up, said, yep, lick him in the morning, though, 637 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:41,520 Speaker 1: and Sherman said at that point he decided he wouldn't 638 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:45,759 Speaker 1: recommend withdrawing, and they began talking. And the reason this 639 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:49,839 Speaker 1: mattered is their discussion was, you know, the Confederates are 640 00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:54,240 Speaker 1: actually serious, and they are going to become independent unless 641 00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:58,800 Speaker 1: we defeat them. And they became the first two people 642 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:02,560 Speaker 1: other than Lincoln to understand that this would have to 643 00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:05,640 Speaker 1: be a war of breaking the capacity of the South 644 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:10,120 Speaker 1: to fight. And from that evening's conversation, the team that 645 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:13,280 Speaker 1: old only won the war, which was Grant, Lincoln, and Sherman, 646 00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:18,520 Speaker 1: began to form. Lincoln admired one objective thing about Ulysses. Grant. 647 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:25,359 Speaker 1: He won, and so after Meade fails to follow Lee 648 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:30,280 Speaker 1: at Gettysburg, on the very same week, Grant won at Vicksburg, 649 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,960 Speaker 1: a huge victory which cut off the Confederacy and made 650 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:37,000 Speaker 1: the entire Mississippi open to the Union. And at that 651 00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:40,239 Speaker 1: point Lincoln's looking out thinking, all right, I've got a 652 00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:43,640 Speaker 1: guy who knows how to win, and I've got an 653 00:40:43,719 --> 00:40:45,279 Speaker 1: army in the East that doesn't seem to know how 654 00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:49,120 Speaker 1: to win. And he brings Grant east, he makes him 655 00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:52,759 Speaker 1: commander of all the Union armies and commander of the 656 00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:56,200 Speaker 1: Army of the Potomac, and from that point on the 657 00:40:56,239 --> 00:40:59,640 Speaker 1: team begins to win decisively. Sherman stays in the West, 658 00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:03,960 Speaker 1: automately occupying Atlanta. In marching to Savannah and the North, 659 00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:07,360 Speaker 1: Grant takes the Army of the Potomac South to defeat 660 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:09,880 Speaker 1: Lee and to keep the Confederate Army the least so 661 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:13,480 Speaker 1: occupied that they can't do anything to help in the West. 662 00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:16,319 Speaker 1: The thing to learn from this is it Lincoln has 663 00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:21,560 Speaker 1: endured failure after failure. Lincoln is doing everything he can 664 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:24,520 Speaker 1: to win. He just can't quite figure it out. It 665 00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:26,680 Speaker 1: didn't quite have the right people. They don't have the 666 00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:30,840 Speaker 1: right understanding. As Lincoln himself said, the goal is not Richmond. 667 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:34,359 Speaker 1: The goal is Lee's army. If you destroy Lee's army, 668 00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:37,279 Speaker 1: Richmond will fall. But if you just take Richmond and 669 00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:39,840 Speaker 1: Lee still has an army, then the war is going 670 00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:43,040 Speaker 1: to go on. And so finally he found two generals 671 00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:45,839 Speaker 1: who understood that principle, and they set out to win 672 00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:48,960 Speaker 1: the war. But remember, at this point in eighteen sixty three, 673 00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:53,520 Speaker 1: Lincoln still has an enormous challenge. Kenny get reelected, and 674 00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:57,480 Speaker 1: so Lincoln undertakes one of the most amazing acts in 675 00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:01,160 Speaker 1: American history, and something which is almost ever taught. On 676 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:06,360 Speaker 1: November nineteenth, eighteen sixty three, A few months after the 677 00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:12,240 Speaker 1: Gettisburg Lincoln goes to Gettisburg to help inaugurate the new 678 00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:17,759 Speaker 1: first National Military Cemetery. Lincoln got up and gave a 679 00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:21,399 Speaker 1: speech from about three and a half minutes, and it's 680 00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:26,320 Speaker 1: probably the most famous speech Lincoln has given. The Gettisburg Address. First, 681 00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:30,880 Speaker 1: Lincoln's using the trip to Pennsylvania to bring in governors 682 00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:33,960 Speaker 1: from all over the region to talk about reelection, So, 683 00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:36,960 Speaker 1: in a sense, in November of eighteen sixty three, he's 684 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:42,279 Speaker 1: planning his reelection. Second, pick up the Gettisburg address and 685 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,200 Speaker 1: reread it as a campaign speech. It's basically what he 686 00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:51,680 Speaker 1: says is at the very end, having talked about the 687 00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:55,560 Speaker 1: sacrifice of all the people who died, he says, it 688 00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:58,799 Speaker 1: is rather for us to be here dedicated to the 689 00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:02,840 Speaker 1: great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead 690 00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:06,600 Speaker 1: we take increased devotion to that cause for which they 691 00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:10,040 Speaker 1: here gave the last full measure of dootion. Though we 692 00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:13,680 Speaker 1: here highly resolve that these deads shall not have died 693 00:43:13,719 --> 00:43:17,520 Speaker 1: in vain, that this nation under God shall have a 694 00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:20,480 Speaker 1: new birth of freedom, and the government of the people 695 00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:24,319 Speaker 1: by the people, for the people shall not perish from 696 00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:27,760 Speaker 1: the Earth. Now, notice what he's just done. He basically 697 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:30,440 Speaker 1: just set it up to say, if you re elect me, 698 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:33,799 Speaker 1: they will not have died in vain, because I'm going 699 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:36,640 Speaker 1: to win the war. But if you elect somebody who's 700 00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:40,239 Speaker 1: willing to cave in, then all of these deaths will 701 00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:43,600 Speaker 1: have been in vain. And it's very telling. The next year, 702 00:43:44,160 --> 00:43:47,720 Speaker 1: the general who didn't want to fight for McClellan runs 703 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:53,239 Speaker 1: as Lincoln's primary opponent, and that basically runs on the 704 00:43:53,239 --> 00:43:55,160 Speaker 1: grounds that they could make peace, well, they could only 705 00:43:55,200 --> 00:44:00,040 Speaker 1: make peace by allowing the South to secede. Interestingly, the 706 00:44:00,160 --> 00:44:04,360 Speaker 1: greatest margins for Lincoln came from the Union army voting 707 00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:07,799 Speaker 1: in the field. The very people whose lives were going 708 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:11,000 Speaker 1: to be put at risk if the war continued voted 709 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:15,279 Speaker 1: to continue the war. And they did so because they 710 00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:18,319 Speaker 1: were convinced that what Lincoln said was right, that this 711 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:22,319 Speaker 1: was a moral cause, it was a genuine crusade. It's 712 00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:25,920 Speaker 1: a reason that they marched to war singing the battle 713 00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:29,520 Speaker 1: Hymn of the Republic because they meant it. And Lincoln, 714 00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:33,720 Speaker 1: in that sense, came to personify the central cause of freedom. 715 00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:37,640 Speaker 1: Because what he's done is he's moved you from a 716 00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:42,200 Speaker 1: legal concept the Union to a moral concept. In fact, 717 00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:46,560 Speaker 1: it is Lincoln who brings back to life the declai independence. 718 00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:49,960 Speaker 1: Lincoln is not basing the survival of the Union on 719 00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:54,040 Speaker 1: the Constitution. He's based in on the declaition independence. And 720 00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:57,440 Speaker 1: that's why he begins to Gettsburg Address four score and 721 00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:00,720 Speaker 1: seven years ago. Our fathers brought for in this content 722 00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:05,360 Speaker 1: a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the 723 00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:09,920 Speaker 1: proposition that all men are created equal. Now think about 724 00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:11,960 Speaker 1: that again, from this boy who grew up on a 725 00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:17,160 Speaker 1: farm in Kentucky and Indiana, who migrated Illinois, who didn't 726 00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:21,560 Speaker 1: have much, but now was presidented States. So he believed 727 00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:26,200 Speaker 1: in freedom in part because it was about him. He 728 00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:28,880 Speaker 1: never would have risen an an aristocratic society. And he 729 00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:32,280 Speaker 1: knew it, and he knew that on the planet wide basis, 730 00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:36,160 Speaker 1: if the United States collapsed, the cause of freedom was 731 00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:39,040 Speaker 1: set back a thousand years. But if the United States 732 00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:43,080 Speaker 1: had the courage to win and to survive, then the 733 00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:47,920 Speaker 1: very concept of liberty would in fact be captured for 734 00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:51,600 Speaker 1: people all around the planet. There is no richer source 735 00:45:51,640 --> 00:46:03,000 Speaker 1: of lessons than the life of Abraham Lincoln. You can 736 00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:06,319 Speaker 1: read more about Abraham Lincoln and see my recommendations for 737 00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:11,440 Speaker 1: further study on our showpage at newtsworld dot com. Newtsworld 738 00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:15,360 Speaker 1: is produced by Westwood One. Our executive producer is Debbie 739 00:46:15,360 --> 00:46:19,239 Speaker 1: Myers and our producer is Garnsey Slump. Our editor is 740 00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:23,680 Speaker 1: Robert Barowski, and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. Our guest 741 00:46:23,719 --> 00:46:27,120 Speaker 1: booker is Grace Davis. The artwork for the show was 742 00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:31,400 Speaker 1: created by Steve Penley. The music was composed by Joey Salvia. 743 00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:35,360 Speaker 1: Special thanks to the team at Gingwistreet sixty and Westwood 744 00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:39,400 Speaker 1: One's John Wardock and Robert Mathers. Please email me with 745 00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:43,040 Speaker 1: your comments at newt at newtsworld dot com. If you've 746 00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:46,120 Speaker 1: been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope you'll go to Apple Podcast 747 00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:49,080 Speaker 1: and both rate us with five stars and give us 748 00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:51,640 Speaker 1: a review so others can learn what it's all about. 749 00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:00,960 Speaker 1: On the next episode of Newtsworld, our inside look at 750 00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:05,000 Speaker 1: the spying business continues with another episode of Spies Like 751 00:47:05,160 --> 00:47:08,480 Speaker 1: Us Experience What the CIO was like for a career 752 00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:13,040 Speaker 1: female agent. Very few people knew my actual employer. I 753 00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:17,040 Speaker 1: told my father because I thought he would understand. I 754 00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:20,520 Speaker 1: told a couple of my siblings. I never told my mother. 755 00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:23,920 Speaker 1: My mother never knew where I worked. I'm Nut Kingwich. 756 00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:36,960 Speaker 1: This is Nutsworld, the Westwood one podcast network.