1 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:07,400 Speaker 1: On this episode of Nutsworld, Abraham Lincoln is, with the 2 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 1: single exception of George Washington, the most important president in 3 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:17,119 Speaker 1: American history. Without Lincoln, the Civil War would have ended 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: with the South, leaving the Union of America broken. Without Lincoln, 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: the moral basis of freedom would never have been quite 6 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,920 Speaker 1: as articulate. Without Lincoln, so many things that we take 7 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 1: for granted would never have become true. I'm going to 8 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: try to share with you the essence of Lincoln, a 9 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:40,880 Speaker 1: man who is the most complex and probably the smartest 10 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:44,199 Speaker 1: person ever to occupy the White House. What are the 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 1: lessons of Lincoln? What is it about Lincoln that made 12 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: him so unusual, so effective, and so important. I've written 13 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: four novels about the Civil War. I've spent years studying Lincoln. 14 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: I think that he is the center of defining America. 15 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln's rise to greatness is really the classic American story, 16 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: the proof that you could really have almost nothing, and 17 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: if you had ambition and determination and we're willing to 18 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 1: work really hard, amazing things could happen. In eighteen o nine, 19 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,679 Speaker 1: Lincoln is born in Hardin County, Kentucky, and he is 20 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,959 Speaker 1: in a family that's very poor, they ultimately relocate to 21 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,399 Speaker 1: the frontier of Indiana, looking for better land, looking for 22 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 1: greater opportunity, but they're still very poor. And when he's 23 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: nine years old, his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, dies of sickness. 24 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 1: A year later, his father, Thomas Lincoln remarries to the 25 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: widow Sarah Bush Johnston. Long stretch of being extremely poor, 26 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: so poor that I think it's literally true that Lincoln 27 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: learned how to read by the fireplace, because most of 28 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: the time wouldn't use candles, which were expensive. Famous historic 29 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: pictures of Lincoln laying in front of the fireplace looking 30 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,080 Speaker 1: at books when he was very, very young. It's probable 31 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: that in that period he'd never gotten more than about 32 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 1: three years of formal education. But it was also a 33 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 1: period where people often didn't get much education, often did 34 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 1: not do a lot of reading. For his whole life, 35 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: he'll read, and in fact, stories of Lincoln when he 36 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:41,360 Speaker 1: was on the circuit had his horse trained so that 37 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:44,640 Speaker 1: the horse would pull the buggy and Lincoln would read 38 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: between towns. He was immersed in the Bible, and in fact, 39 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: if you really want to understand the cadence of Lincoln, 40 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: look at the King James version of the Bible, because 41 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: Lincoln writes very much in the pattern of the King 42 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: James version, which, of course, in nineteenth century America as 43 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: the most commonly read single book, and so he sounded 44 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:09,640 Speaker 1: right to people. He also worked really hard. As a result, 45 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: he became physically very strong. He's a big guy anyway, 46 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,639 Speaker 1: but in addition that he was physically strong. He does 47 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: a lot of different jobs, both farm jobs and jobs 48 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: in town. And then something which I think really affected 49 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: his life. When he is nineteen years old, he works 50 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: on a flatboat that carried cargo down to New Orleans, 51 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: and he saw slavery in a slave market, and I 52 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: think that he never ever forgot that. He went back 53 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: down again three years later on his second trip to 54 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: New Orleans, and in that period I think he just 55 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: realized it was just wrong and he hated it. Now, 56 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: he didn't run around as an abolitionist, he didn't go 57 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: make a big noise about it. But you will see 58 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: very early in his career, particularly in a very famous 59 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: speech that he in eighteen thirty eight, he's beginning to 60 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: lay out a framework of thinking about these things that 61 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: marks him as different than most of the people around him. 62 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: Clerks a general store when he is twenty two years old. 63 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: Unfortunately for him, the store autombly goes broke and he 64 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: spends a number of years paying off the debt, which 65 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 1: again is one of those things that in a small 66 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,040 Speaker 1: town people really respected him because they came to believe 67 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: that he was somebody that kept his word. Here's a 68 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 1: guy who wants to get ahead. He's striving constantly, he's 69 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: learning constantly, and he's very good with people. He obviously 70 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 1: stood out. He was very tall and very visible for 71 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: his time. He was physically amazingly strong, so people had 72 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,720 Speaker 1: enormous respect at a time when physical strength really mattered. 73 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 1: In addition, people realized he was really smart, and finally, 74 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: he was a great storyteller. So Lincoln was always collecting 75 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: stories to tell people. They were usually kind of long, 76 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 1: drawn out, slow stories, exactly what you'd need if you're 77 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:08,359 Speaker 1: going to be on the circuit as a lawyer and 78 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 1: found yourself every evening at a tavern somewhere having dinner 79 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: and a drink with the boys, and back then it 80 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: would be basically an all male company. And so he 81 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 1: became pretty popular just because you know, he was kind 82 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: of fun to be around, and people thought he had 83 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: good ideas and he had wisdom, but they also thought 84 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: that he was quite sociable. The black Hawk War occurs 85 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,240 Speaker 1: when black Hawk led a group of Indians from several 86 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,839 Speaker 1: different tribes across from what was then the Iowa Indian 87 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 1: territories and they entered Illinois scared everybody, and at that 88 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:45,840 Speaker 1: point there was a call for volunteers, and Lincoln, who 89 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:49,039 Speaker 1: was twenty three at the time, promptly went in and volunteered. 90 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: And the way militia back then picked leaders, they would 91 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: line up behind the person they want to have as leaders. 92 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:58,720 Speaker 1: So Lincoln and one of their candidate for a captain 93 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: of their unit took positions, and then people lined up, 94 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:04,480 Speaker 1: and a lot more people lined up behind Lincoln than 95 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:06,919 Speaker 1: behind the other guy, so he became captain. In fact, 96 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 1: this really touched Lincoln at a personal level, and he 97 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 1: said later quote, I was elected a captain of volunteers, 98 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:16,839 Speaker 1: a success which gave me more pleasure than any I 99 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: have had since. And that was not because he was 100 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:21,919 Speaker 1: going to be a military leader. It was because his 101 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,800 Speaker 1: friends and neighbors had chosen him. They shown respect for him, 102 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:28,279 Speaker 1: they thought he was competent, and as a result, he 103 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: felt a great sense that he gained a lot of ground. 104 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: You know, for a kid from a really poor family, 105 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: born in Kentucky, partially raised in Indiana, and now a 106 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:39,839 Speaker 1: young adult in Illinois, he was getting to be somebody 107 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: who was doing well enough and respected enough to become 108 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: captain of his militia. As Lincoln said at one point, 109 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:48,040 Speaker 1: they never saw a single Indian while he was in 110 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: charge of the militia. They wandered around the woods, didn't 111 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: get anything done that mattered, and disbanded or went home. 112 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,039 Speaker 1: They also was an illustration of how close to the 113 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:00,280 Speaker 1: frontier Lincoln was that he was part of, I think 114 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: the last major Indian campaign in Illinois. As the sweep 115 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: of people began moving further and further west and organizing 116 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:13,240 Speaker 1: more and more from territories into states. I think that 117 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: you have to see in Lincoln this very rural farm 118 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 1: boy who is determined to someday do something that matters, 119 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: and who learns a whole series of tough lessons but 120 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: never backs off, never stops, never slows down. Lincoln was 121 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: a very ambitious man. Ambitious from the very beginning. He 122 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: had a desire to get ahead, and he was constantly 123 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:05,920 Speaker 1: thinking about how to get things done. One of the 124 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: most amazing facts about Lincoln is that when he first 125 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: ran for the legislature at twenty three years of age, 126 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: having lost the first time, Lincoln means to study being 127 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: a lawyer, and that same year he's elected as the 128 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: Whig candidate to the lower house of the Illinois General 129 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 1: Assembly at twenty four years of age. Most of our 130 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: founding fathers and most of our most successful leaders, in fact, 131 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: spent a lot of time learning their trade. And here 132 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:38,040 Speaker 1: is Lincoln at twenty four years of age, entering the 133 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:43,199 Speaker 1: legislature and beginning to learn how to be an effective legislature. 134 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: In fact, he's in the legislature for two years before 135 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:49,440 Speaker 1: he gets a license to practice law, and then he 136 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: moves to Springfield and begins to practice and opens up 137 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 1: an increasingly successful law firm. Now he's not particularly successful 138 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:03,440 Speaker 1: in pursuing a spouse. In eighteen thirty seventy rights to 139 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:06,560 Speaker 1: a woman that he really hoped would marry him. She 140 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: didn't even reply to his letter, Mary Todd Lincoln. They 141 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: have it on and off relationship. Finally Mary Todd agrees 142 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:16,880 Speaker 1: to marry him, and in eighteen forty two they get 143 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:20,560 Speaker 1: married at the same time he's left the legislature's tired 144 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: of going to the state legislature, and he is rising 145 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:26,560 Speaker 1: as a politician. People tend to forget that Lincoln, as 146 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:30,200 Speaker 1: a major leader in the Whig Party as it was 147 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:34,079 Speaker 1: then called in the eighteen thirties, ended up becoming a 148 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 1: leader in the state legislature. He ultimately won a Congressional 149 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: seat from one term, went to Washington, immediately made a 150 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 1: name for himself, introducing what was called the Spot Resolution, 151 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 1: because President Polk had gotten us into a war with Mexico, 152 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,200 Speaker 1: and Lincoln, as a Whig who was opposed to Polk, 153 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:55,440 Speaker 1: was saying he couldn't find a spot of ground on 154 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: which what Polk was saying was true. It was actually 155 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,079 Speaker 1: quite unpopular because during the Mexican War, the war, it 156 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:04,839 Speaker 1: became relatively popular, and have seen a kind of unpatriotic 157 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:08,680 Speaker 1: to be questioning it as Lincoln did. He came back 158 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 1: home not because he lost, but because he'd made a 159 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 1: deal with a fellow Whig that they would alternate terms 160 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: in Congress, a deal which, by the way, the other 161 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:20,560 Speaker 1: guy broke and kept the seat, leaving Lincoln out of 162 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: public office for the better part of a decade and 163 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:26,880 Speaker 1: he kept trying to get back into office. He applied 164 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: to one point to become the governor of the territory 165 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:32,960 Speaker 1: of Oregon and was turned down. He stayed active in 166 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:37,239 Speaker 1: Whig politics while the Whig Party was dying, and gradually 167 00:10:37,559 --> 00:10:40,080 Speaker 1: began to realize that if he had a future, he 168 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: had to join this new thing called the Republican Party. 169 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:47,079 Speaker 1: And so Lincoln became one of the senior leaders, bringing 170 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 1: with him all of his connectivity from the years as 171 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: a wig in Illinois, and became a very prominent Republican. 172 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:58,160 Speaker 1: That led aldumnly to his running for the Senate in 173 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty eight. In what is an absolutely fascinating moment 174 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:05,800 Speaker 1: in American Historan Lincoln is going to run for the 175 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 1: Senate at a time when the senators are actually picked 176 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:11,680 Speaker 1: by the state legislature. So, in a sense, while he 177 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: runs as a personality the autumn, a result will be 178 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: reflected in how the Republicans do in the state legislative races. 179 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:22,680 Speaker 1: He's going to run against Stephen Douglas, one of the 180 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: leading Democrats in the entire country, a man who was 181 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:30,079 Speaker 1: very widely respected, who would risen much faster than Lincoln. 182 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: And so Lincoln is the underdog outsider taking on the 183 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: great senator. The local railroad gave Douglas an entire railcar 184 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,840 Speaker 1: made out to live in for the campaign, and Douglas 185 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:45,360 Speaker 1: set went around the state of Illinois and great comfort. 186 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,199 Speaker 1: Lincoln bought a ticket in the common everyday passenger part 187 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:53,000 Speaker 1: of the train and could be found sleeping by himself 188 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:56,080 Speaker 1: on a bench on the train going from place to place, 189 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:59,400 Speaker 1: and that gave you a sense of their relative significance 190 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 1: as they started into this campaign. Lincoln then decides that 191 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: the way he's going to go after Douglas is he's 192 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 1: going to challenge him to debates. And Douglas, of course, 193 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: being the incumbent and the front runner and the guy 194 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:16,840 Speaker 1: who should win, doesn't want a debate, So Douglas hides 195 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:20,600 Speaker 1: from Lincoln, and Lincoln comes up with this theory very 196 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 1: typical of what you'll see with Lincoln again and again 197 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:28,079 Speaker 1: thinking strategically, and announces that wherever Douglas speaks, Lincoln will 198 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:30,959 Speaker 1: speak the next night. Well, of course, that means that 199 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: Lincoln gets to take a part Douglas's speech. Lincoln in 200 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: effect gets the last word, and after a couple of 201 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:39,360 Speaker 1: weeks of this, Douglas says, if you're going to trail 202 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: me around everywhere, let's just debate, and so they ultimately 203 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:47,080 Speaker 1: agree to seven debates. These were debates where people spoke 204 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: for forty five minutes at a time, where they had 205 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: they outlined huge propositions, and they walked through them. And 206 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:58,440 Speaker 1: it turned out that Lincoln was, in fact an extraordinarily 207 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:00,640 Speaker 1: good debater. Now this should not have come as a shock. 208 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: He had been making a living as a trial lawyer 209 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:07,040 Speaker 1: in Illinois for years. In many ways, appealing to the 210 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:10,160 Speaker 1: voter and appealing to a jury are the same business, 211 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:12,760 Speaker 1: and so he had a very good sense of how 212 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:18,520 Speaker 1: to take complicated ideas, break them down into very simple concepts, 213 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:21,880 Speaker 1: he explained them in a very down home kind of way, 214 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 1: and ultimately be in a position where the jury nodded yes. 215 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: And that's how Lincoln had made a very very good living. 216 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:31,839 Speaker 1: While here he was now applying exactly the same skill, 217 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 1: exactly the same technique to debate, and Douglas suddenly found 218 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: himself in trouble. And part of the reason Douglas was 219 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: in trouble was that he was trying to straddle the 220 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 1: great issue of the eighteen fifties, which was slavery. Douglas 221 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:49,520 Speaker 1: knew that the country was on the verge of breaking apart, 222 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:55,360 Speaker 1: and he knew that Northerners that were increasingly antislavery, something 223 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:59,800 Speaker 1: which had accelerated dramatically with the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, 224 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:03,880 Speaker 1: which was a very popular novel which sold an enormous 225 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:06,480 Speaker 1: number of books in the North and which portrayed in 226 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:11,560 Speaker 1: deeply emotional ways the plight of African Americans who were slaves. 227 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:14,679 Speaker 1: The effect of Uncle Tom's Cabin on the South was 228 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:18,719 Speaker 1: to maximize the degree to which Southerners were now paranoid, 229 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: convinced that the Yankees wanted to destroy their civilization, abolish 230 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:27,160 Speaker 1: agricultural based on slavery, and in an effect, have the 231 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: Yankees dominate their region. So the very intensity with which 232 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: anti slavery movements began to grow, particularly starting in New 233 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:39,040 Speaker 1: England where there were genuine abolitionists, that his people were saying, 234 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:41,560 Speaker 1: not only a slavery bad, but we should abolish it. 235 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:44,760 Speaker 1: And they were sort of the radical wing of the 236 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,120 Speaker 1: emerging Republican Party. But Douglas is trying to do is 237 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: hold together the Democratic Party, which was the party of slavery. 238 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:55,640 Speaker 1: He knew that he couldn't be pro slavery, and when 239 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: in northern Illinois, he couldn't be anti slavery, and when 240 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 1: in southern Illinois. And furthermore, since his real goal was 241 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:05,120 Speaker 1: to run for president in eighteen sixty, he was trying 242 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: to find a formula which would allow both Southern Democrats 243 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: and Northern Democrats to be for him for president. If 244 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:17,520 Speaker 1: he could keep the Democratic Party unified, he would probably 245 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 1: win the presidency, as they'd beaten the Republicans in eighteen 246 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:23,240 Speaker 1: fifty six, and there was every reason to believe that 247 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: a unified Democratic Party could beat the Republicans again in 248 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty. Lincoln, understanding all this, begins to put together 249 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,880 Speaker 1: a strategy that forces Douglas to answer a series of 250 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 1: questions and forces Douglas into an untenable position where he 251 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:45,320 Speaker 1: is too pro slavery for northern Illinois and he is 252 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 1: too obviously hiding and straddling for Southern Illinois, and Lincoln 253 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:53,520 Speaker 1: is sort of chasing him intellectually and forcing him into 254 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: a position that he knows is unsustainable. Douglas, I think, 255 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 1: deep down knew that if we continued on the road 256 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:03,600 Speaker 1: that we were on in eighteen fifty eight, we're going 257 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: to end up in a civil war, and he was 258 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: trying to find a formula that would contain slavery, but 259 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 1: at the same time would not so threaten it that 260 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:18,360 Speaker 1: the South was seceed. Lincoln had a different approach. Lincoln 261 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 1: wanted to communicate unequivocally that slavery was bad, that it 262 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: was unacceptable. Each of them have this balancing act. Lincoln 263 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:31,320 Speaker 1: is anti slavery, he is not quite yet for abolition 264 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: because he knows that he can't win as a straight 265 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: out abolitionist in Illinois. Douglas doesn't want to defend slavery, 266 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: but he wants to block it from being abolished. And 267 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:46,680 Speaker 1: the problem for Douglas is that Southerners have concluded any 268 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 1: effort to limit slavery is in fact and effort to 269 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:55,480 Speaker 1: kill slavery, and so Douglas is gradually losing ground throughout 270 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 1: the South the longer this campaign goes on, and losing 271 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 1: the opportunity to some day President Lincoln, on the other hand, 272 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 1: is gradually consolidating the notion that he's a good enough debater. 273 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 1: He could stand up against somebody who everybody believed, up 274 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,840 Speaker 1: until that year was probably the best orator in the country. 275 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:16,480 Speaker 1: And Lincoln kept growing in stature, Douglas kept declining in stature, 276 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:20,320 Speaker 1: and by election day, Lincoln actually carried the popular vote 277 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:23,719 Speaker 1: by about four thousand. But because what mattered was the 278 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:27,520 Speaker 1: state legislature, the Democrats were able because of the way 279 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:30,600 Speaker 1: the districts were designed, and because of some holdovers who 280 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 1: are in of for election the year, the Democrats kept 281 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: by majority in the legislature. So Douglas got elected, but 282 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:41,639 Speaker 1: ironically Lincoln won the moral fight. Lincoln also on the 283 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 1: skidsun example of both how smart he was and how 284 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:48,639 Speaker 1: ambitious he was. Lincoln had arranged for the newspapers to 285 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:53,199 Speaker 1: cover the Lincoln Douglas debates. Lincoln then arranged for the 286 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:55,680 Speaker 1: Lincoln Douglas debates to be pulled together into a book. 287 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:58,399 Speaker 1: He then arranged for the book to be published in 288 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:02,440 Speaker 1: a very inexpensive form, and thousands and thousands of copies 289 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: of the Lincoln Douglas debates suddenly showed up all over 290 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:09,440 Speaker 1: the country. And here is this lawyer from Illinois who 291 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 1: has only been a congressman for two years in his 292 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,480 Speaker 1: entire career, suddenly beginning to emerge in eighteen fifty nine 293 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:19,440 Speaker 1: as a very serious person who although he had not 294 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,960 Speaker 1: won the Senate seat, had won the popular vote for 295 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: the Senate seat, had proven that he was capable of 296 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 1: taking on Douglas, and all of a sudden, not lots 297 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:31,240 Speaker 1: of people in the Republican Party who begin to wonder 298 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:35,400 Speaker 1: about this guy Lincoln and where he was coming from. Now, Lincoln, 299 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:38,639 Speaker 1: at that point starts campaigning, and he goes out and 300 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:41,639 Speaker 1: he goes into a number of states in the Midwest, 301 00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:45,359 Speaker 1: as far east as Ohio, campaigning because back then they 302 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:47,439 Speaker 1: used to have a lot of off your elections. And 303 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty nine a number of states held elections, 304 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:52,720 Speaker 1: and Lincoln is all over the place campaigning for people, 305 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:57,560 Speaker 1: in effect, picking up iohues everywhere Douglas goes, Lincoln goes, 306 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:01,520 Speaker 1: and on election Day eighteen fifty nine, the Republicans of 307 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:04,679 Speaker 1: one virtually everywhere. So now Lincoln is riding a wave 308 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: as a guy who actually is helpful to the party, 309 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: who's helped grow the party. He's begin to pick up 310 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:14,840 Speaker 1: strength across the Midwest. Two things come into play at 311 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 1: this point. The first is, if you look at the 312 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: United States and you assume for a minute that the 313 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:23,199 Speaker 1: South is never going to vote Republican, then the question 314 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:26,560 Speaker 1: becomes how do you put together a majority in the 315 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:30,000 Speaker 1: electoral College, even though you probably can't put together a 316 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:33,960 Speaker 1: majority of the popular vote. There's a certain advantage to 317 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,679 Speaker 1: having a Midwesterner. They're seen as more moderate. In that period, 318 00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:41,600 Speaker 1: no New Englander was going to get elected president because 319 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:46,159 Speaker 1: they're seen his hardline abolitionists who are very likely to 320 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:49,480 Speaker 1: lead the country into a war. The leading candidate is 321 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: actually from New York Senator Seward, who had been the 322 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:56,119 Speaker 1: dominant leader in the Republican Party, and people sort of 323 00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:00,560 Speaker 1: thought Seward would get to be the nominee except the Midwest. 324 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:03,760 Speaker 1: Lincoln was clearly more effective than Seward, and if you 325 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:06,720 Speaker 1: think that the real battleground against Douglas will be in 326 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: the Midwest, there's sort of an underlying bias in favor 327 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:14,040 Speaker 1: of Lincoln to take on Douglas. And then something really 328 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,520 Speaker 1: weird happens. There are pieces of Lincoln's career that are 329 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:22,199 Speaker 1: almost divine intervention. Seward decides that he's so obviously going 330 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: to be nominated that he goes to Europe, so he's 331 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:28,840 Speaker 1: out of the country, taking for granted that the delegates 332 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:31,440 Speaker 1: are going to be for him. Had Seward stayed home 333 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:34,840 Speaker 1: and had suart worked the delegates. He probably could have 334 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:38,159 Speaker 1: won the nomination, but he leaves. Now Lincoln, who's not 335 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:41,720 Speaker 1: a fool Sunday, realizes there's a big vacuum here, and 336 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:45,159 Speaker 1: for weeks Lincoln is writing people all across the country 337 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:49,600 Speaker 1: while Seward's offseeing Europe. By the time Seward gets back, 338 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,400 Speaker 1: Lincoln has begun to really be a factor. The other 339 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: example of almost divine intervention is where is the Republican 340 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:59,600 Speaker 1: National Convention going to be in eighteen sixty. Oh, it's 341 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:03,680 Speaker 1: going to be in Chicago, Illinois. Well, who can dominate Chicago? 342 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:08,080 Speaker 1: Well Lincoln can. So what happens is his key advisers 343 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 1: go to Chicago, they organize the crowds, they guarantee that 344 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 1: they're going to dominate the energy level with Lincoln supporters. 345 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:19,119 Speaker 1: So gradually he's beginning to build all this momentum, and 346 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:23,080 Speaker 1: Seward suddenly finds himself out of sync. He hasn't kept 347 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:28,160 Speaker 1: touch with the delegates the way Lincoln has. Seward was overconfident, underworked, 348 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, here is the Republican nominee. Now, 349 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:35,840 Speaker 1: poor Douglas, who has spent his whole life trying to 350 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:39,000 Speaker 1: get to be president, who's maneuvered brilliantly, who's organized things, 351 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,480 Speaker 1: has been a great senator, He's really made a lot 352 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,240 Speaker 1: of impact on the country, a much more important person 353 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:48,080 Speaker 1: than Abraham Lincoln. Prior to eighteen sixty. Douglas is watching 354 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:52,080 Speaker 1: his party die because what's happened is the Southerners have 355 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:55,399 Speaker 1: basically said, if you are totally in favor of the 356 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: expansion of slavery everywhere in the country, we're not going 357 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:02,800 Speaker 1: to support you. Well, Douglas knows he can't be for that, 358 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:05,040 Speaker 1: and he won't get any votes in the North if 359 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:07,440 Speaker 1: he's for the expansion of slavery everywhere in the country, 360 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,480 Speaker 1: and so Douglas is caught in a moment where his 361 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: party is disintegrating. The South votes decisively against Lincoln. In 362 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: the North, Lincoln wins alderly with a plurality of the votes, 363 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: and Lincoln gets about forty percent of the vote. He 364 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:26,919 Speaker 1: carries the electoral college decisively because the other guys are 365 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,160 Speaker 1: splitting the rest of it, and outside the South, Lincoln 366 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:49,680 Speaker 1: is dominant and the Republicans are dominant. Lincoln decides that 367 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:53,400 Speaker 1: he is simply not going to get involved in decision 368 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:56,359 Speaker 1: making until he becomes president, which will not happen until March. 369 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,959 Speaker 1: The Union is falling apart, the South is gradually starting 370 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:05,080 Speaker 1: to secede. Federal weapons in the South and armories are 371 00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:08,360 Speaker 1: being taken over by so others. Federal forts are being 372 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 1: taken over by so others, and President Buchanan is refusing 373 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,879 Speaker 1: to do anything to defend the Union and is sitting 374 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: there passively waiting for Lincoln to show up. Lincoln is 375 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:22,760 Speaker 1: sitting there in Illinois thinking to himself, we may end 376 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,680 Speaker 1: up in a really big fight. If we're going to 377 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:30,360 Speaker 1: be in a really big fight, I'd better really mobilize 378 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:35,239 Speaker 1: popular opinion. And so Lincoln decides that he will go 379 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:41,399 Speaker 1: by train. Lincoln went from Springfield to Washington, zigzagging across 380 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:45,919 Speaker 1: the Midwest into northern upstate New York, and everywhere he 381 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,800 Speaker 1: goes he's giving brief speeches. And what he's doing is 382 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,920 Speaker 1: he's letting people, for the first time in history, see 383 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,119 Speaker 1: the President. It's the biggest event in the town's history. 384 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,520 Speaker 1: The train pulls up, Abraham Lincoln gets on the back 385 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,280 Speaker 1: of the train, talks with the crowd for a little while. 386 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:06,119 Speaker 1: His popularity keeps growing. He then gets to Washington and 387 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:09,919 Speaker 1: he gives it inaugural address, he appeals to the South 388 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,000 Speaker 1: and he says, look, we don't have to get into 389 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:16,360 Speaker 1: a war. We don't have to fight. We're not your 390 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:21,760 Speaker 1: natural enemies. The tragic fact is that the South has 391 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,640 Speaker 1: made the decision, at least the hardline elements the South, 392 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:29,040 Speaker 1: have made the decision that if Lincoln is president, they're gone, period. 393 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:33,360 Speaker 1: And I think it's really important to understand this. Lincoln 394 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:37,359 Speaker 1: had become the symbol of abolition, no matter what he said, 395 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,040 Speaker 1: as far as Southern as we're concerned, Lincoln was the enemy. 396 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:42,960 Speaker 1: And if he was going to be prison the United States, 397 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 1: that meant that their enemy was in the White House, 398 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:47,400 Speaker 1: and that meant that they had no choice in their 399 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:52,720 Speaker 1: minds except to secede. Lincoln, again, as a strategist, is 400 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:56,880 Speaker 1: faced with three or four very very big strategic choices. 401 00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,960 Speaker 1: He hadn't thought about what a civil war would be. 402 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,600 Speaker 1: It's certainly not the presidency that he thought he was 403 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: running for. But he understood almost instantly a couple of 404 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 1: big facts. The first was he wanted to be very 405 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 1: very patient and maneuver so that the South fired the 406 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:20,320 Speaker 1: first shot. Lincoln understood that if it was a war 407 00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:22,960 Speaker 1: of northern aggression, which of course is exactly what Southern 408 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,119 Speaker 1: has called it. That he couldn't hold the Union together 409 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,120 Speaker 1: because people weren't going to sign up for a war 410 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: of aggression. He also understood that if it was a 411 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:36,720 Speaker 1: war against somebody who was attacking the Union, he'd have 412 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,520 Speaker 1: a much bigger base of support in the North and 413 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 1: a much greater willingness to sign up volunteers. And Charleston, 414 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,840 Speaker 1: the most active members of secession, I get frustrated and tired, 415 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:51,359 Speaker 1: and they fire on Fort Sumter. Now, when they fired 416 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:55,000 Speaker 1: on Fort Sumter, that suddenly said to the entire North, 417 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 1: they are attacking us. Now it was a defensive war, 418 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: a war to defend the Union. Lincoln was now able 419 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:07,280 Speaker 1: to portray it as I am responding to Southern aggression. 420 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:11,360 Speaker 1: I need your help to defend the Union. And governors 421 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 1: be in calling for volunteers, and people began to show 422 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,359 Speaker 1: up and join the Union army in substantial numbers. The 423 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 1: second thing was Lincoln knew that he could not afford 424 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:23,639 Speaker 1: to have Washington isolated. And yet if you look at 425 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:29,000 Speaker 1: a map, you have Virginia. In the south, you have Delaware, 426 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,199 Speaker 1: which at that time was a pro slavery state, and 427 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:35,520 Speaker 1: you have Maryland, which frankly was essentially pro slavery in 428 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:39,120 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty one, and there was a real danger that 429 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,680 Speaker 1: the railroad would be cut off. There was a real 430 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,719 Speaker 1: danger that the legislature in Maryland would vote for secession, 431 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:51,080 Speaker 1: and Lincoln began taking very dramatic steps. He locked up 432 00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: about half of the Maryland state legislature because he knew 433 00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:59,040 Speaker 1: that if they were allowed to vote, they would vote 434 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,960 Speaker 1: for secession. And Lincoln's attitude was, you can't ask me 435 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:07,199 Speaker 1: to follow rules which guarantee that we will destroy the 436 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: very constitution that you claim you want to defend. And 437 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:13,639 Speaker 1: therefore I'm going to do what I have to do 438 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:17,439 Speaker 1: in order to defend the Constitution. So Lincoln is arguing 439 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 1: that he can use the power that's written in the Constitution, 440 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:25,000 Speaker 1: because the founding fathers understood you could have insurrection, you 441 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:27,960 Speaker 1: could have riots, and there are times when you had 442 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 1: to be able to set aside the normal procedures of 443 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:35,600 Speaker 1: a peacetime society and make sure you could protect the society. 444 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:40,000 Speaker 1: And he applies this in Maryland with substantial force and 445 00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:43,680 Speaker 1: substantial willingness to lock people up and do whatever is 446 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,840 Speaker 1: necessary because he knows if Maryland is able to leave 447 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:51,400 Speaker 1: the Union, Washington will be cut off. If Washington has 448 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,280 Speaker 1: cut off, it's very hard to imagine how the Union's 449 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:59,720 Speaker 1: going to survive. The second thing he knows is that Delaware, 450 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: would is wavering, and Kentucky, which is wavering, need to 451 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 1: be kept in the Union. In fact, Lincoln says at 452 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:08,399 Speaker 1: one point, I hope God is on my side, but 453 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,200 Speaker 1: I have to have Kentucky. And this is one of 454 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,520 Speaker 1: the reasons why purists who realize that Lincoln's very cautious 455 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 1: about abolishing slavery. The reasons pretty simple. If he was 456 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 1: seen as an abolitionist, he would have lost Marylyn, Delaware 457 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:26,840 Speaker 1: in Kentucky immediately. He can't afford to do that because 458 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:30,400 Speaker 1: that means they will lose the war. So the requirement 459 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:34,880 Speaker 1: of survival leads him to be very careful and very cautious, 460 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:38,800 Speaker 1: and as a result, Kentucky Aldamly becomes pro Union and 461 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:43,440 Speaker 1: Delaware Aldamly becomes pro Union. Marylyn, as I said, which 462 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: had a few extra provisions, remains in the Union. So 463 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: Lincoln has won that round. The problem Lincoln has, which 464 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,640 Speaker 1: he doesn't solve for a very long time, is the 465 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 1: key generals don't agree with him. General McClellan, who is 466 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,320 Speaker 1: the key general in the East, doesn't particularly want to 467 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,640 Speaker 1: win the war. McClellan is actually in some way sympathetic 468 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:09,320 Speaker 1: to the South. McClellan wants to protect the North, but 469 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:13,800 Speaker 1: not defeat the South. McClellan is also a very very 470 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,560 Speaker 1: good organizer, and people like him because he's building this 471 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,840 Speaker 1: huge Union army. And the result is Lincoln has tied 472 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: himself to a general who blocked him from decisive action. 473 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 1: In the summer of eighteen sixty two, the Union army 474 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,640 Speaker 1: has moved up is literally within sight of the church 475 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,000 Speaker 1: steeples of Richmond, and Richmond's the key for the South 476 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:43,360 Speaker 1: because it's the biggest industrial city, it's politically vital. It 477 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 1: is the capital of the Confederacy. And the commanding general, 478 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 1: General Johnson, gets wounded and the President of the Confederacy, 479 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: Jefferson Davis, turns to his best adviser, Robert E. Lee 480 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:01,600 Speaker 1: and says, I want you to take charge. Well. Lee 481 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,960 Speaker 1: is tactically one of the greatest commanders in American history. 482 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 1: His ability to maneuver, his ability to inspire his subordinates, 483 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:13,400 Speaker 1: his instant grasp of the battlefield, and the fact that 484 00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,400 Speaker 1: he had been the superintendent of West Point, and so 485 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:18,440 Speaker 1: he knew a lot of these people, and he had 486 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:21,160 Speaker 1: a real instant. He knew, for example, that McClellan was 487 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:25,160 Speaker 1: slow and the McClellan was timid. The result is that 488 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:30,040 Speaker 1: he gets defeated. And the truth is, if you look 489 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:32,200 Speaker 1: at the size of the Union army, if he had 490 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: just been persistent, he would have beaten Lee. But he's 491 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 1: not persistent, and so he wants to retreat back to Washington. 492 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 1: This is the sort of thing Lincoln's faced with again 493 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:46,400 Speaker 1: and again. Lincoln gets frustrated. He appoints a different general. 494 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:48,560 Speaker 1: General Polk gives him a large part of the army. 495 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 1: Polk makes derogatory comments about Lee, how he Polk is 496 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,600 Speaker 1: going to beat them, and Lee turns in a remarkable 497 00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:59,680 Speaker 1: series of moves and what's called the Second Battle of Manassas, 498 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:05,800 Speaker 1: Lee decisively defeats Polk, shattering of the Union army. And 499 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:10,719 Speaker 1: here's Lincoln doing everything that he's supposed to do, picking 500 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: people who are losers. And it's partly because they're up 501 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,480 Speaker 1: against one of the great tacticians in American history. It's 502 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,280 Speaker 1: partly because the Union Army at that stage in the 503 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:25,360 Speaker 1: East still wasn't very well formed and was politically very divided. 504 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,080 Speaker 1: There were sort of a McClellan wing of the army 505 00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:32,480 Speaker 1: generals who wanted to have a very passive war, if 506 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:34,920 Speaker 1: you will, who did not want to defeat the South, 507 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:37,520 Speaker 1: but they wanted to protect the North. And then there 508 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:41,200 Speaker 1: were the Lincoln Republican generals who were very aggressive that 509 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 1: he had a leadership in the Union army in the 510 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,840 Speaker 1: East that was very divided. McClellan ends up in a 511 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:52,040 Speaker 1: very very difficult battle at Antietam. Lee retreats and then 512 00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:55,920 Speaker 1: McClellan sits there for thirty days, and finally Lincoln fires 513 00:31:55,960 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 1: McClellan and then he brings in General Burnside, who says 514 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 1: to him very straightforward, I can't do this. I'm fine 515 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:07,960 Speaker 1: as a core commander, but you put me in charge 516 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:11,560 Speaker 1: of the whole army and I'll just fail. And Lincoln says, well, 517 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 1: it's a risk I will take, while tragically for the 518 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:19,400 Speaker 1: nineteen thousand people to get killed. Burnside was right. He 519 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:23,440 Speaker 1: goes down to Fredericksburg and Lee has his army sitting 520 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:28,600 Speaker 1: on these hills and it's a killing ground, and Burnside 521 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,280 Speaker 1: just kind of marches straight across right into it, gets slaughtered, 522 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 1: pulls back. Lincoln forces himself to sit on the porch 523 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 1: of the White House for three days, watching the wagons 524 00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:43,200 Speaker 1: filled with the bodies of the dead come up to 525 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:47,160 Speaker 1: Union Station to be shipped home. Now, think of the 526 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,360 Speaker 1: moral burden you're now buried. I mean, you've tried McClellan, 527 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:53,080 Speaker 1: he failed. You've tried Polk, he failed. You brought McClellan back, 528 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,640 Speaker 1: he failed a second time. You now tried Burnside. He 529 00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:59,240 Speaker 1: failed worse than the other failures. And so he turns 530 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:03,960 Speaker 1: then to General and Hooker ends up fighting Lee. The 531 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 1: chances will and they basically fight to a draw, except 532 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 1: that Hooker is standing next to a pillar of a 533 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:17,400 Speaker 1: huge beautiful Annie Bella mentioned that they had taken over 534 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:20,240 Speaker 1: his headquarters, and a cannonball hit the pillar, and the 535 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:23,840 Speaker 1: concussion basically took Hooker out of the fight, and so 536 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,640 Speaker 1: at the very moment when they might have won, Hooker 537 00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:29,200 Speaker 1: just sort of out of it. He's had concussion, And 538 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 1: so they fight to a draw, which does it affect 539 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:35,400 Speaker 1: a Union defeat? They pulled back again as General Meade, 540 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,480 Speaker 1: who had watched this and was really really angry. He 541 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:41,520 Speaker 1: thought that Hooker should have kept his nerve and that 542 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,960 Speaker 1: they could have beaten Lee. And Mead, who's a very 543 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:49,200 Speaker 1: tough guy, had a very sharp kind of way of thinking, 544 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:53,000 Speaker 1: and he pulls him together and he says, look, the 545 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 1: Union may depend on this fight, and we've got to 546 00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:58,680 Speaker 1: figure out how we're going to do this. And so 547 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,840 Speaker 1: they organized and they fight Gettysburg, and in the end 548 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:05,000 Speaker 1: Lee loses. I want you to put yourself in Lincoln's position. 549 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:09,880 Speaker 1: For two years, you've been telling the country that this 550 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:13,719 Speaker 1: war is desperately important. You've been getting young men from 551 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:17,920 Speaker 1: all over America to volunteer. They've been getting killed. Virtually 552 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:21,319 Speaker 1: every town or America has lost people, and here you 553 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:26,840 Speaker 1: are waiting to hear what's going to happen and hoping 554 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:28,920 Speaker 1: that this new guy is better than the last people 555 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:33,840 Speaker 1: you picked. They fight a very tough fight. Lee loses, 556 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:40,279 Speaker 1: but just what Mead doesn't follow him. So Mead's won 557 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:45,280 Speaker 1: a battle, but basically, let's league get away. By this stage, 558 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:48,640 Speaker 1: Lincoln's getting very tired, and he also has faced with 559 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,799 Speaker 1: the election coming up in the fall of eighteen sixty four. 560 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:56,440 Speaker 1: But saved Lincoln despite all of the frustrations with the 561 00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,359 Speaker 1: army of the Potomac was the fact that in the 562 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:04,880 Speaker 1: west and at sea, the Union was steadily winning. At sea, 563 00:35:05,239 --> 00:35:09,680 Speaker 1: the United States Navy I had absolute dominance and was 564 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:14,640 Speaker 1: able to gradually strangle all commerce going into the Confederacy. 565 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: In the West. The great virtue was that one particular 566 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:23,800 Speaker 1: general began to rise, and that general was Ulysses Grant. 567 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,359 Speaker 1: Grant had been a West Point graduate. He had been 568 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:31,319 Speaker 1: in the Mexican War. Grant is far and away the 569 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:35,160 Speaker 1: best general of the Civil War. He had an ability 570 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:40,360 Speaker 1: to organize, He had an understanding of warfare. Grant recounts 571 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:43,319 Speaker 1: that his very first time to go into battle, he 572 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,000 Speaker 1: had trained his men. He had hoped for them. He 573 00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:49,200 Speaker 1: wasn't sure that they would fight. They got on a steamboat, 574 00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 1: they went down the river, they got to where the 575 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:54,799 Speaker 1: Confederates were. They got off the boat. They climbed the hill, 576 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:58,440 Speaker 1: and they suddenly realized that all of the rifle pits 577 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:03,400 Speaker 1: were empty, and Grant wrote, I suddenly realized that the 578 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:07,600 Speaker 1: other guy was afraid too. And from that point, for 579 00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 1: the entire rest of the war, I always remembered that 580 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:14,080 Speaker 1: whatever my problem was, the other guy had problems too. 581 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:18,400 Speaker 1: And this became for Grant the hallmark of his leadership, 582 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:23,520 Speaker 1: which was very steady, very calm, very sober. It was 583 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:25,759 Speaker 1: captured by a key moment and one of the things 584 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,800 Speaker 1: which began to change the whole war, when in April 585 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:34,240 Speaker 1: of eighteen sixty two, the Confederate army surprised Grant's forces 586 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:37,879 Speaker 1: at Pittsburgh Lending, and all day long the Confederates drove 587 00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:41,560 Speaker 1: the Union forces back towards the river. Sherman, who was 588 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:45,359 Speaker 1: grants subordinate, recounts in his memoir that he walked over 589 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:48,760 Speaker 1: to see Grant that night in the drizzling rain, Grant 590 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:51,560 Speaker 1: sitting on a little tripod stool outside his tent, which 591 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:53,879 Speaker 1: has been turned over to be a field hospital where 592 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:58,200 Speaker 1: people are having their limbs amputated. Grant's whittling, which was 593 00:36:58,239 --> 00:37:02,040 Speaker 1: his habit, and walks up to him and says, they 594 00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:05,560 Speaker 1: beat us pretty good today, and historically the Union army 595 00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:08,160 Speaker 1: up to that point got in a fight and pulled back, 596 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:12,600 Speaker 1: got another fight and pulled back. Grant, without looking up, said, yep, 597 00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:15,920 Speaker 1: lick him in the morning, though, And Sherman said at 598 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:19,160 Speaker 1: that point he decided he wouldn't recommend withdrawing, and they 599 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:24,080 Speaker 1: began talking. And the reason this mattered is. Their discussion was, 600 00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:27,960 Speaker 1: you know, the Confederates are actually serious, and they are 601 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:33,040 Speaker 1: going to become independent unless we defeat them. And they 602 00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:37,000 Speaker 1: became the first two people other than Lincoln to understand 603 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:39,920 Speaker 1: that this would have to be a war of breaking 604 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:43,440 Speaker 1: the capacity of the South to fight. And from that 605 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:46,799 Speaker 1: evening's conversation, the team that old only won the war, 606 00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:51,480 Speaker 1: which was Grant, Lincoln, and Sherman, began to form. Lincoln 607 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:56,200 Speaker 1: admired one objective thing about Ulysses. Grant, he won, and 608 00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:02,960 Speaker 1: so after Meade fails to follow Lee at Gettysburg, on 609 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,359 Speaker 1: the very same week, Grant won at Vicksburg, a huge 610 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:10,080 Speaker 1: victory which cut off the Confederacy and made the entire 611 00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:13,600 Speaker 1: Mississippi open to the Union. And at that point Lincoln's 612 00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:16,239 Speaker 1: looking out, thinking, all right, I've got a guy who 613 00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:19,600 Speaker 1: knows how to win, and I've got an army in 614 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:21,279 Speaker 1: the East that doesn't seem to know how to win. 615 00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:25,360 Speaker 1: And he brings Grand east. He makes him commander of 616 00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:28,680 Speaker 1: all of the Union armies and commander of the Army 617 00:38:28,719 --> 00:38:32,200 Speaker 1: of the Potomac, and from that point on the team 618 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:36,200 Speaker 1: begins to win decisively. Sherman stays in the West autumnately 619 00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:40,520 Speaker 1: occupying Atlanta. In marching to Savannah and the North, Grant 620 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:43,279 Speaker 1: takes the Army of the Potomac South to defeat Lee 621 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:45,520 Speaker 1: and to keep the Confederate Army of the East so 622 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:49,160 Speaker 1: occupied that they can't do anything to help in the West. 623 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:52,600 Speaker 1: The thing to learn from this isn't Lincoln has endured 624 00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:57,560 Speaker 1: failure after failure. Lincoln is doing everything he can to win. 625 00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:00,799 Speaker 1: He just can't quite figure it out. Didn't quite have 626 00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:04,000 Speaker 1: the right people that I have the right understanding. As 627 00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:07,239 Speaker 1: Lincoln himself said, the goal is not Richmond. The goal 628 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:11,120 Speaker 1: is Lee's army. If you destroy Lee's army, Richmond will fall. 629 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:13,600 Speaker 1: But if you just take Richmond and Lee still has 630 00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:16,040 Speaker 1: an army, then the war is going to go on. 631 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:20,040 Speaker 1: And so finally he found two generals who understood that principle, 632 00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:23,120 Speaker 1: and they set out to win the war. But remember, 633 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:25,759 Speaker 1: at this point in eighteen sixty three, Lincoln still has 634 00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:30,880 Speaker 1: an enormous challenge. Kenny get reelected, and so Lincoln undertakes 635 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:34,440 Speaker 1: one of the most amazing acts in American history and 636 00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:38,920 Speaker 1: something which has almost never taught. On November nineteenth, eighteen 637 00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:43,960 Speaker 1: sixty three, a few months after the Ghettisburg, Lincoln goes 638 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:50,080 Speaker 1: to Ghettisburg to help inaugurate the new first National Military Cemetery. 639 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:54,440 Speaker 1: Lincoln got up and gave a speech from about three 640 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:58,520 Speaker 1: and a half minutes, and it's probably the most famous 641 00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:02,000 Speaker 1: speech Lincoln is given to get us Burg address. First, 642 00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:06,520 Speaker 1: Lincoln's using the trip to Pennsylvania to bring in governors 643 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,600 Speaker 1: from all over the region to talk about reelection. So, 644 00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:12,640 Speaker 1: in a sense, in November of eighteen sixty three, he's 645 00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:17,960 Speaker 1: planning his reelection. Second, pick up the Gettysburg Address and 646 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:21,840 Speaker 1: reread it as a campaign speech. There's basically what he 647 00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:27,319 Speaker 1: says is at the very end, having talked about the 648 00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:31,200 Speaker 1: sacrifice of all the people who died, he says, it 649 00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:34,440 Speaker 1: is rather for us to be here dedicated to the 650 00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:38,479 Speaker 1: great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead 651 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:42,239 Speaker 1: we take increased devotion to that cause for which they 652 00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:45,719 Speaker 1: here gave the last full measure of devotion. Though we 653 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:49,359 Speaker 1: here highly resolve that these deads shall not have died 654 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:53,160 Speaker 1: in vain, that this nation under God shall have a 655 00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:56,160 Speaker 1: new birth of freedom, and the government of the people 656 00:40:56,640 --> 00:40:59,920 Speaker 1: by the people, for the people shall not perish from 657 00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:03,480 Speaker 1: the earth. Now, notice what he's just done. He basically 658 00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:06,120 Speaker 1: just set it up to say, if you re elect me, 659 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:09,440 Speaker 1: they will not have died in vain, because I'm going 660 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,279 Speaker 1: to win the war. But if you elect somebody who's 661 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:15,879 Speaker 1: willing to cave in, then all of these deaths will 662 00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:19,279 Speaker 1: have been in vain. And it's very telling. The next year, 663 00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:23,360 Speaker 1: the general who didn't want to fight the McClellan runs 664 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:28,920 Speaker 1: as Lincoln's primary opponent, and it basically runs on the 665 00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:30,839 Speaker 1: grounds that they could make peace, well, they could only 666 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:35,719 Speaker 1: make peace by allowing the South to secede. Interestingly, the 667 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:40,000 Speaker 1: greatest margins for Lincoln came from the Union army voting 668 00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:43,480 Speaker 1: in the field. The very people whose lives were going 669 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:46,640 Speaker 1: to be put at risk if the war continued voted 670 00:41:46,719 --> 00:41:50,960 Speaker 1: to continue the war, and they did so because they 671 00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:53,880 Speaker 1: were convinced of what Lincoln said was right, that this 672 00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:57,840 Speaker 1: was a moral cause, it was a genuine crusade, that 673 00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:01,239 Speaker 1: it's a reason that they marched to war singing the 674 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:05,240 Speaker 1: battle Him of the Republic, because they meant it. And Lincoln, 675 00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:09,360 Speaker 1: in that sense came to personify the central cause of freedom, 676 00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:13,320 Speaker 1: because what he's done is he's moved you from a 677 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:17,920 Speaker 1: legal concept the Union, to a moral concept. In fact, 678 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:22,200 Speaker 1: it is Lincoln who brings back to life the declational independence. 679 00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:25,640 Speaker 1: Lincoln is not basing the survival of the Union on 680 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:29,719 Speaker 1: the Constitution. He's basing in on the declation independence. And 681 00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:33,080 Speaker 1: that's why he begins to Gettysburg address. Four score and 682 00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:36,400 Speaker 1: seven years ago. Our fathers brought forth in this content 683 00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:41,000 Speaker 1: a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the 684 00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:45,560 Speaker 1: proposition that all men are created equal. Now think about 685 00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:47,640 Speaker 1: that again, from this boy who grew up on a 686 00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:52,840 Speaker 1: farm in Kentucky and Indiana, who migrated Illinois, who didn't 687 00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:56,719 Speaker 1: have much, but now was president of States. So he 688 00:42:56,800 --> 00:43:01,800 Speaker 1: believed in freedom in part because it was about him. 689 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,400 Speaker 1: He never would have risen an an aristocratic society. And 690 00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:07,080 Speaker 1: he knew it, and he knew that on the planet 691 00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:11,279 Speaker 1: wide basis, if the United States collapsed, the cause of 692 00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:13,960 Speaker 1: freedom was set back a thousand years. But if the 693 00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:17,320 Speaker 1: United States had the courage to win and to survive, 694 00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:22,160 Speaker 1: then the very concept of liberty would in fact be 695 00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:26,319 Speaker 1: captured for people all around the planet. There is no 696 00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:30,960 Speaker 1: richer source of lessons than the life of Abraham Lincoln. 697 00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:41,440 Speaker 1: News World is produced by Gingwish three sixty and iHeartMedia. 698 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:46,040 Speaker 1: Our executive producers Debbie Myers. Our producer is Garnsey Sloan 699 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:50,200 Speaker 1: and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the 700 00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:54,440 Speaker 1: show was created by Steve Hendley. Special thanks to the 701 00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:58,160 Speaker 1: team at Gingwig three sixty. If you've been enjoying news World, 702 00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:01,040 Speaker 1: I hope you'll go to apple Pie Cast and both 703 00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:03,840 Speaker 1: rate us with five stars and give us a review 704 00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,440 Speaker 1: so others can learn what it's all about. I'm new Gingwich. 705 00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:08,799 Speaker 1: This is News Book.