1 00:00:05,589 --> 00:00:07,548 (train bell chiming) 2 00:00:15,433 --> 00:00:17,266 - The door's locked from the inside? 3 00:00:17,351 --> 00:00:18,142 - Yes, ma'am. 4 00:00:20,104 --> 00:00:20,978 - Key, please. 5 00:00:23,107 --> 00:00:26,308 My uncle is an invalid, he requires absolute privacy. 6 00:00:26,402 --> 00:00:27,651 Do you understand? 7 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:30,812 See to it. 8 00:00:30,906 --> 00:00:33,907 (suspenseful music) 9 00:01:00,978 --> 00:01:03,178 - We'll take a special overnight train. 10 00:01:03,272 --> 00:01:05,564 I've cleared the tracks and had the telegraph lanes cut 11 00:01:05,649 --> 00:01:07,516 from here to Baltimore. 12 00:01:07,610 --> 00:01:10,527 These men intend to kill you. 13 00:01:21,791 --> 00:01:24,458 You can't risk being recognized. 14 00:01:33,928 --> 00:01:37,304 (train whistle blowing) 15 00:01:39,975 --> 00:01:42,976 (suspenseful music) 16 00:01:59,495 --> 00:02:01,286 - Now 17 00:02:01,372 --> 00:02:04,039 - This is not how I planned to get to Washington. 18 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:11,088 - [Man] Ladies and gentlemen, 19 00:02:11,215 --> 00:02:13,882 some of you may have heard of him. 20 00:02:13,968 --> 00:02:15,425 - [Woman] His story has been passed down 21 00:02:15,553 --> 00:02:17,469 from one generation to the next. 22 00:02:17,555 --> 00:02:20,222 - Four score and seven years ago. 23 00:02:20,307 --> 00:02:23,425 - He felt that democracy in its purest form 24 00:02:23,519 --> 00:02:25,644 is for all people. 25 00:02:25,728 --> 00:02:27,728 - [Lincoln] All persons held as slaves 26 00:02:27,815 --> 00:02:31,099 shall be thence forward and forever free. 27 00:02:31,193 --> 00:02:34,769 - But there's something deeper than what he did. 28 00:02:34,864 --> 00:02:36,780 It's about who he was. 29 00:02:36,906 --> 00:02:39,241 - Lincoln grew up in poverty. 30 00:02:39,326 --> 00:02:40,275 - Haven't done anything 31 00:02:40,369 --> 00:02:41,785 to make anyone remember that I ever lived. 32 00:02:41,912 --> 00:02:42,911 - He's living proof 33 00:02:42,997 --> 00:02:45,956 that Americans can rise from obscurity to power. 34 00:02:46,083 --> 00:02:49,418 - With that wit and that charm and that intellect. 35 00:02:49,503 --> 00:02:51,953 - It's better to stay silent and be thought a fool 36 00:02:52,047 --> 00:02:53,630 than to speak up and remove all doubt. 37 00:02:53,757 --> 00:02:56,008 - He has this deep sense of empathy. 38 00:02:56,093 --> 00:02:58,135 - [Christy] He takes the Declaration of Independence. 39 00:02:58,262 --> 00:02:59,970 - All men are created equal. 40 00:03:00,097 --> 00:03:03,807 - And turns it into a nation's moral compass. 41 00:03:03,934 --> 00:03:05,350 (glass shattering) 42 00:03:05,436 --> 00:03:06,643 (mob shouting) 43 00:03:06,770 --> 00:03:09,638 - As the country is breaking apart, there's a turning point 44 00:03:09,732 --> 00:03:11,023 where he's gonna have to take a stand. 45 00:03:11,108 --> 00:03:12,649 - Charge! (guns banging) 46 00:03:12,776 --> 00:03:14,142 - Blood will be on your hands! 47 00:03:14,236 --> 00:03:16,478 - Blood is already on my hands! 48 00:03:16,572 --> 00:03:18,530 - You have to learn how to be a Commander in Chief. 49 00:03:18,616 --> 00:03:20,282 - I can't have a war on two fronts. 50 00:03:20,367 --> 00:03:23,994 - He was willing to admit he was wrong and to change. 51 00:03:24,121 --> 00:03:25,245 - We can attack immediately. 52 00:03:25,331 --> 00:03:27,497 - [Doris] He was the right person at the right time. 53 00:03:27,625 --> 00:03:29,991 - If we let this stand for one minute longer, 54 00:03:30,085 --> 00:03:31,126 (gun bangs) 55 00:03:31,212 --> 00:03:33,253 we might as well say goodbye to the whole thing. 56 00:03:34,131 --> 00:03:36,173 Union, democracy, 57 00:03:37,801 --> 00:03:38,800 all of it. 58 00:03:38,886 --> 00:03:41,762 (dramatic music) 59 00:03:49,063 --> 00:03:51,939 (hammer thudding) 60 00:04:01,909 --> 00:04:04,368 - Abe, come here. 61 00:04:17,507 --> 00:04:18,632 Hold it steady. 62 00:04:30,104 --> 00:04:33,722 (hammer thudding) 63 00:04:33,816 --> 00:04:37,317 - You think anyone will know mom is in there? 64 00:04:38,946 --> 00:04:42,731 - God will know. 65 00:04:42,825 --> 00:04:46,702 - We should put a marker, write her name on it. 66 00:04:46,787 --> 00:04:47,661 - Leave it alone. 67 00:04:49,456 --> 00:04:52,374 - When Lincoln's mother died, she had said to him, 68 00:04:52,459 --> 00:04:57,254 Abraham, I'm going away from you now and I shall not return. 69 00:04:57,381 --> 00:05:00,749 Death was a common traveler during that period of time. 70 00:05:00,843 --> 00:05:03,385 - Lincoln's childhood was hard. 71 00:05:03,470 --> 00:05:06,805 Lincoln's father was a carpenter some of the time, 72 00:05:06,890 --> 00:05:08,923 farmer some of the time. 73 00:05:09,018 --> 00:05:11,226 He wasn't good at making money. 74 00:05:15,065 --> 00:05:17,733 - Abraham Lincoln had a hard scrabble, 75 00:05:17,818 --> 00:05:20,610 poverty ridden existence. 76 00:05:20,738 --> 00:05:22,654 - They lived on the frontier 77 00:05:22,740 --> 00:05:26,033 in a one room cabin that had a dirt floor. 78 00:05:27,202 --> 00:05:28,452 - [Doris] There were times when he fell into 79 00:05:28,579 --> 00:05:30,945 an extreme sense of sadness and melancholy, 80 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:33,373 that would stay with him the rest of his life. 81 00:05:35,502 --> 00:05:37,127 - [Harold] After the death of his mother, 82 00:05:37,254 --> 00:05:39,004 his father traveled to civilization 83 00:05:39,089 --> 00:05:41,048 looking for a replacement wife. 84 00:05:42,384 --> 00:05:44,959 And he was left alone with his older sister 85 00:05:45,054 --> 00:05:46,261 for months and months. 86 00:05:48,265 --> 00:05:50,974 (somber music) 87 00:06:02,529 --> 00:06:03,612 - [Doris] How the children survived 88 00:06:03,697 --> 00:06:07,324 that time alone on the frontier is hard to imagine. 89 00:06:08,452 --> 00:06:10,494 They were foraging for food. 90 00:06:10,621 --> 00:06:12,412 They looked like wild animals. 91 00:06:18,128 --> 00:06:21,329 - In the early 1800s Lincoln is at the edge of 92 00:06:21,423 --> 00:06:23,632 what is the American frontier. 93 00:06:23,717 --> 00:06:26,968 - It's just six years after the Louisiana Purchase. 94 00:06:27,054 --> 00:06:30,672 The nation expands all the way over to the Mississippi River 95 00:06:30,766 --> 00:06:34,058 and parts of the northwestern and plains areas. 96 00:06:34,144 --> 00:06:35,102 - We can trace 97 00:06:35,187 --> 00:06:36,895 the movement of the American population 98 00:06:36,980 --> 00:06:38,063 across the continent. 99 00:06:38,148 --> 00:06:40,816 And the Lincoln family is exemplifying that trend 100 00:06:40,901 --> 00:06:43,193 and they moved steadily westward. 101 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,195 - Frontier life is dangerous, 102 00:06:45,322 --> 00:06:47,856 and consists of a lot of hard labor. 103 00:06:47,950 --> 00:06:49,741 Clearing the land, chopping down trees, 104 00:06:49,827 --> 00:06:51,701 removing tree stumps. 105 00:06:51,829 --> 00:06:53,203 Lincoln is a hard worker, 106 00:06:53,330 --> 00:06:54,696 but he doesn't like physical labor. 107 00:06:54,790 --> 00:06:56,998 He's not someone who enjoys farming. 108 00:07:04,591 --> 00:07:06,049 (horse neighing) 109 00:07:06,176 --> 00:07:07,759 - [Ted] After a few months, 110 00:07:07,845 --> 00:07:10,429 Lincoln's father remarried a woman 111 00:07:10,514 --> 00:07:12,681 named Sarah Bush Johnston. 112 00:07:14,518 --> 00:07:15,684 - Hey, there you are. 113 00:07:17,771 --> 00:07:18,687 Come on. 114 00:07:27,948 --> 00:07:28,822 Go on. 115 00:08:08,071 --> 00:08:10,071 - You can read, Abraham? 116 00:08:10,157 --> 00:08:11,281 - Sorry, ma'am. 117 00:08:19,416 --> 00:08:20,874 - It's all right. 118 00:08:26,757 --> 00:08:28,548 - There's plenty of work out there. 119 00:08:29,343 --> 00:08:30,258 Come on. 120 00:08:39,227 --> 00:08:42,145 - We're used to reading about evil stepmothers, 121 00:08:42,272 --> 00:08:43,980 Lincoln had a good stepmother. 122 00:08:44,107 --> 00:08:46,307 She brought a little library of books. 123 00:08:46,401 --> 00:08:48,944 She couldn't even read them herself, but she had them. 124 00:08:49,029 --> 00:08:53,323 - And she forges an extraordinary bond with Abraham. 125 00:08:53,450 --> 00:08:58,537 She understood him, she sympathized with him. 126 00:08:58,622 --> 00:09:00,989 She would encourage him about reading 127 00:09:01,083 --> 00:09:03,324 and education and ambition. 128 00:09:03,418 --> 00:09:05,043 - He's basically self-taught. 129 00:09:05,128 --> 00:09:07,879 He read some of the best writing in the English language. 130 00:09:07,965 --> 00:09:11,299 The King James Bible, Shakespeare, and Greek classics, 131 00:09:11,385 --> 00:09:13,334 and a few other adventure books thrown in 132 00:09:13,428 --> 00:09:14,511 like Robinson Crusoe. 133 00:09:14,638 --> 00:09:19,808 He was drawing from this incredibly rich fountain. 134 00:09:20,269 --> 00:09:22,519 - He went to a primitive school for less than one full year 135 00:09:22,646 --> 00:09:24,062 where he stood out. 136 00:09:24,147 --> 00:09:25,188 One of his friends said, 137 00:09:25,315 --> 00:09:28,024 his ambition soared beyond all the rest of us. 138 00:09:28,151 --> 00:09:29,851 That while we were playing, 139 00:09:29,945 --> 00:09:32,353 he was reading and rereading his books. 140 00:09:32,447 --> 00:09:34,072 - [Harold] The most impressive thing 141 00:09:34,157 --> 00:09:35,189 about Lincoln's ability to teach himself 142 00:09:35,284 --> 00:09:38,868 is his mastery of Euclid, he loved geometry. 143 00:09:38,996 --> 00:09:40,745 - [Doris] He's reading about George Washington. 144 00:09:40,831 --> 00:09:42,706 He's reading about the founding fathers. 145 00:09:42,833 --> 00:09:45,250 - He is reading that all men are created equal. 146 00:09:45,335 --> 00:09:47,002 It's the most revolutionary statement 147 00:09:47,087 --> 00:09:50,380 ever articulated by any founding country. 148 00:09:50,507 --> 00:09:52,549 That is a mindblowing proposition. 149 00:09:56,430 --> 00:09:58,046 - Where'd you get that? 150 00:09:58,140 --> 00:10:01,549 - I borrowed it from Mr. Crawford. 151 00:10:01,643 --> 00:10:03,101 - Put it away and get to bed. 152 00:10:03,186 --> 00:10:04,603 I'm gonna need you to dig out them rocks 153 00:10:04,688 --> 00:10:05,812 first thing tomorrow. 154 00:10:11,528 --> 00:10:12,694 - His father didn't understand 155 00:10:12,779 --> 00:10:16,898 why Abraham chose to read instead of to work on the farm. 156 00:10:16,992 --> 00:10:19,567 He thought it was a sign of laziness. 157 00:10:19,661 --> 00:10:22,287 But Abraham had a different set of ambitions. 158 00:10:22,372 --> 00:10:25,406 Through everything he read, he began to imagine, 159 00:10:25,500 --> 00:10:27,542 to envision another way of life. 160 00:10:27,628 --> 00:10:30,503 (thunder booming) 161 00:11:09,503 --> 00:11:10,502 - It rained last night. 162 00:11:14,424 --> 00:11:17,092 - This is worth 75 cents. 163 00:11:17,177 --> 00:11:19,803 - I'll work it up, I swear, Mr. Crawford. 164 00:11:22,724 --> 00:11:24,891 - Three days working in my fields. 165 00:11:29,398 --> 00:11:31,815 (Abe grunts) 166 00:11:36,029 --> 00:11:37,946 - [Doris] This kid doesn't share the values 167 00:11:38,031 --> 00:11:39,948 of physical labor with his father. 168 00:11:41,076 --> 00:11:42,817 He yearns to fight his way out 169 00:11:42,911 --> 00:11:44,744 of that daily struggle for survival. 170 00:11:52,129 --> 00:11:54,629 - [Sue] Crawford ought to be ashamed. 171 00:11:54,715 --> 00:11:56,464 - Ouch. - Stay still. 172 00:11:56,550 --> 00:12:00,135 - Three days work, nothing to show for it. 173 00:12:00,220 --> 00:12:01,970 - I get to keep the book. 174 00:12:02,055 --> 00:12:03,179 It's mine now. 175 00:12:05,100 --> 00:12:07,008 - But despite the tension between them, 176 00:12:07,102 --> 00:12:10,178 Abe got his storytelling talent from his father, 177 00:12:10,272 --> 00:12:12,180 who did have a great sense of humor. 178 00:12:12,274 --> 00:12:13,514 - So this preacher starts his sermon 179 00:12:13,608 --> 00:12:17,736 by saying to the congregation, today I represent the Christ. 180 00:12:17,821 --> 00:12:21,689 Just then this little blue lizard runs up his pants 181 00:12:21,783 --> 00:12:26,527 and he starts to kick them pants off. (laughs) 182 00:12:26,621 --> 00:12:29,873 - A little blue lizard runs up the preachers leg. 183 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:32,533 Off come his pants. 184 00:12:32,627 --> 00:12:34,586 The lizard runs under his shirt. 185 00:12:34,671 --> 00:12:36,588 Well, that comes off too. 186 00:12:36,673 --> 00:12:39,207 One little old lady from the congregation 187 00:12:39,301 --> 00:12:40,540 can't take anymore. 188 00:12:40,635 --> 00:12:41,593 She shouts to the preacher, 189 00:12:41,678 --> 00:12:44,763 who's standing there, no pants, no shirt on. 190 00:12:44,848 --> 00:12:49,142 If you represent the Christ I am done with the Bible! 191 00:12:50,604 --> 00:12:52,604 - That yarn of a lie when your Pa told it, 192 00:12:52,689 --> 00:12:53,396 and it's still a lie. 193 00:12:53,523 --> 00:12:55,398 - It's a mighty good lie though. 194 00:12:56,943 --> 00:13:00,069 - Gentlemen, names Dennis Offutt, 195 00:13:00,197 --> 00:13:02,230 looking for Mr. John Hanks. 196 00:13:02,324 --> 00:13:03,072 - That's me. 197 00:13:05,494 --> 00:13:07,568 - Need some men to build me a flatboat, 198 00:13:07,662 --> 00:13:09,904 take some barrels down to New Orleans. 199 00:13:09,998 --> 00:13:11,623 I heard you're a river man. 200 00:13:11,708 --> 00:13:12,832 - New Orleans? 201 00:13:14,002 --> 00:13:16,920 - I can't be gone that long, got a family to tend to. 202 00:13:17,047 --> 00:13:19,247 - I'll pay you a decent wage. 203 00:13:19,341 --> 00:13:20,924 - Well, I could go for you, Mr. Offutt. 204 00:13:21,051 --> 00:13:22,801 I made a trip to New Orleans 205 00:13:22,886 --> 00:13:24,427 with cousin John here a couple years back. 206 00:13:24,554 --> 00:13:26,304 - This ain't a job for a jokester. 207 00:13:26,389 --> 00:13:27,430 Serious work. 208 00:13:32,145 --> 00:13:33,520 I'll take the group of ya. 209 00:13:35,232 --> 00:13:36,931 - Whaddya say? 210 00:13:37,025 --> 00:13:39,150 John, this could be my chance. 211 00:13:39,236 --> 00:13:40,652 - All right. 212 00:13:40,737 --> 00:13:42,028 - Got a deal then, huh? 213 00:13:44,866 --> 00:13:45,907 - Thank you, Mr. Offutt. 214 00:13:45,992 --> 00:13:47,075 -Pleasure sir. 215 00:13:49,746 --> 00:13:51,663 - He could read about other people's adventures, 216 00:13:51,748 --> 00:13:53,957 but now this was an adventure of his own. 217 00:13:54,084 --> 00:13:56,450 He begins to create that wider world 218 00:13:56,545 --> 00:13:58,795 that he's dreamed of since he was a little kid. 219 00:13:58,922 --> 00:14:02,507 - He took his flatboat journey down the Mississippi River 220 00:14:02,592 --> 00:14:07,295 to New Orleans and there he saw the big city. 221 00:14:07,389 --> 00:14:09,764 He saw what a new world might look like 222 00:14:09,850 --> 00:14:12,141 beyond the remote farm. 223 00:14:13,728 --> 00:14:15,854 - And during the course of that visit, 224 00:14:15,939 --> 00:14:18,481 he saw more than he had ever seen. 225 00:14:19,901 --> 00:14:22,143 New Orleans was the largest slave trading port 226 00:14:22,237 --> 00:14:23,978 in the United States. 227 00:14:24,072 --> 00:14:28,199 - He saw human beings with hearts and minds 228 00:14:28,285 --> 00:14:32,328 being sold like chattel, like animals, like furniture. 229 00:14:33,707 --> 00:14:37,000 And it left a lasting and haunting impression on him. 230 00:14:42,048 --> 00:14:43,664 - When he comes back home, 231 00:14:43,758 --> 00:14:45,842 there was a law in Illinois at the time 232 00:14:45,969 --> 00:14:49,053 that you had to give your wages to your father 233 00:14:49,139 --> 00:14:52,340 until you reached the age of majority, which was 21. 234 00:14:52,434 --> 00:14:55,977 He's now 21, so he can strike out on his own. 235 00:14:56,062 --> 00:14:59,272 Offutt offers him a job to be a clerk in his general store. 236 00:15:01,943 --> 00:15:03,276 - You'll be back by winter. 237 00:15:05,071 --> 00:15:08,522 - I'm gonna be a clerk now, in a new store. 238 00:15:08,617 --> 00:15:09,991 - Stores go under every day. 239 00:15:10,911 --> 00:15:11,868 - So do farmers. 240 00:15:13,788 --> 00:15:16,122 I'm gonna keep studying, be ready. 241 00:15:18,585 --> 00:15:19,542 - You'll do fine. 242 00:15:25,675 --> 00:15:26,507 - Bye, Pa. 243 00:15:28,178 --> 00:15:30,845 (somber music) 244 00:15:51,368 --> 00:15:54,994 (fighters grunting) 245 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:56,204 - [Man] That your new man? 246 00:15:56,289 --> 00:15:58,081 - Yeah, that's Lincoln. 247 00:15:58,208 --> 00:16:01,250 - [Bystander] That's an illegal hold! 248 00:16:01,378 --> 00:16:03,127 (fighters grunting) 249 00:16:03,213 --> 00:16:05,713 - I've never seen Armstrong lose. 250 00:16:05,799 --> 00:16:07,006 How long they been at it? 251 00:16:07,092 --> 00:16:09,592 - About an hour. (laughs) 252 00:16:09,719 --> 00:16:11,636 (fighters grunting) 253 00:16:11,721 --> 00:16:14,472 - Armstrong, preventing this will fail. 254 00:16:14,557 --> 00:16:16,265 - It ain't over til I win. 255 00:16:17,769 --> 00:16:18,685 - Call it a draw. 256 00:16:19,646 --> 00:16:21,104 Then we both win. 257 00:16:25,735 --> 00:16:28,528 (crow murmuring) 258 00:16:30,281 --> 00:16:31,155 - It's a draw. 259 00:16:36,746 --> 00:16:38,446 - New Salem was a tough town. 260 00:16:38,540 --> 00:16:42,667 There was a gang led by a tough guy named Jack Armstrong. 261 00:16:42,752 --> 00:16:46,796 Newcomers had to prove themselves or be on the outs. 262 00:16:46,923 --> 00:16:49,132 - New Salem itself is yet another one of these 263 00:16:49,259 --> 00:16:51,384 just emerging frontier towns. 264 00:16:51,469 --> 00:16:54,295 It's very small, just a few hundred people. 265 00:16:54,389 --> 00:16:57,098 - But for Lincoln, it seems like a bustling metropolis. 266 00:16:57,183 --> 00:16:59,300 There's a post office, there's three general stores, 267 00:16:59,394 --> 00:17:00,968 there's a blacksmith's shop. 268 00:17:01,062 --> 00:17:02,729 - It had an intellectual community, 269 00:17:02,814 --> 00:17:04,856 it had a little debating society, 270 00:17:04,941 --> 00:17:08,108 it had a teacher who loaned him books. 271 00:17:08,194 --> 00:17:10,478 - He's demonstrated his physical prowess. 272 00:17:10,571 --> 00:17:11,479 He's a hard worker. 273 00:17:11,573 --> 00:17:14,147 He's also known for his intelligence. 274 00:17:14,242 --> 00:17:16,826 - And he will have the funniest stories to tell. 275 00:17:16,953 --> 00:17:20,579 He will have you and your friends in stitches. 276 00:17:20,665 --> 00:17:22,823 - And Lincoln has to learn how to hustle. 277 00:17:22,916 --> 00:17:27,377 He's a store owner, he's a land surveyor, a shopkeeper. 278 00:17:27,464 --> 00:17:32,216 - Eventually Lincoln became a grocer and he sold whiskey. 279 00:17:32,302 --> 00:17:35,002 He also becomes the village postmaster, 280 00:17:35,096 --> 00:17:38,506 and that's where he first got news beyond Illinois. 281 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:42,343 Reading about issues far beyond his limited sphere. 282 00:17:42,437 --> 00:17:43,644 - Everybody would come to the store, 283 00:17:43,730 --> 00:17:47,065 they'd debate issues, they'd stay around and talk politics. 284 00:17:47,150 --> 00:17:49,734 - He was always interested in politics. 285 00:17:50,820 --> 00:17:51,694 He loved politics. 286 00:17:53,323 --> 00:17:55,281 - In little towns like New Salem, 287 00:17:55,366 --> 00:17:58,034 politicians running for office would come on Saturdays. 288 00:17:58,161 --> 00:17:59,118 and gives speeches. 289 00:17:59,204 --> 00:18:01,662 - Illinois needs railroads. 290 00:18:01,748 --> 00:18:04,707 You got a railroad, you can get your goods to market. 291 00:18:04,834 --> 00:18:07,085 Y'all elect me to state assembly 292 00:18:07,170 --> 00:18:10,371 and I swear I'll bring the railroad right 293 00:18:10,465 --> 00:18:11,872 here to New Salem. 294 00:18:11,966 --> 00:18:14,875 (audience applauds) 295 00:18:14,969 --> 00:18:17,845 - No, you won't. - I beg your pardon? 296 00:18:17,931 --> 00:18:19,472 Who said that? 297 00:18:19,557 --> 00:18:20,264 - I did. 298 00:18:21,518 --> 00:18:23,551 See, the way I figure it, 299 00:18:23,645 --> 00:18:26,729 if they do build that railroad it'll be near Springfield. 300 00:18:26,856 --> 00:18:28,889 I saw as much in the paper. 301 00:18:28,983 --> 00:18:30,108 And how far are we from Springfield? 302 00:18:30,193 --> 00:18:32,393 About what, 20 miles? 303 00:18:32,487 --> 00:18:33,986 That won't do us a lick of good. 304 00:18:34,072 --> 00:18:35,196 See, this fella, he's right about us 305 00:18:35,281 --> 00:18:36,397 needing to get to market, 306 00:18:36,491 --> 00:18:39,567 but what we need in New Salem is to widen the river 307 00:18:39,661 --> 00:18:41,619 so the steamships can get here. 308 00:18:41,704 --> 00:18:43,162 Then this town will take off, 309 00:18:43,248 --> 00:18:45,248 like a rabbit in front of a pack of wolves. 310 00:18:45,375 --> 00:18:48,501 - Well, I could vote for both, waterway and the railroad. 311 00:18:49,379 --> 00:18:51,170 - I don't think so, mister. 312 00:18:51,256 --> 00:18:53,548 How much that railroad gonna cost? 313 00:18:53,633 --> 00:18:54,582 A lot, right? 314 00:18:54,676 --> 00:18:56,050 See, this fella, he might be able to talk 315 00:18:56,136 --> 00:18:58,085 the hind leg off a donkey, 316 00:18:58,179 --> 00:18:59,420 but if they build that railroad, 317 00:18:59,514 --> 00:19:02,756 there won't be a dime left of tax money for our river. 318 00:19:02,851 --> 00:19:05,309 Then we'll just be like the, like the runt of the litter, 319 00:19:05,395 --> 00:19:08,604 left behind squinting for a meal when there's nothing left. 320 00:19:08,731 --> 00:19:11,399 (audience cheers and applauds) - Tell 'em Abe. 321 00:19:11,484 --> 00:19:14,277 - There was something about the way Lincoln spoke. 322 00:19:14,404 --> 00:19:16,604 He was able to translate complex issues 323 00:19:16,698 --> 00:19:18,105 into something simple, 324 00:19:18,199 --> 00:19:20,441 terms of the daily life of the people. 325 00:19:20,535 --> 00:19:22,994 Within eight months of his being in New Salem, 326 00:19:23,079 --> 00:19:26,038 the residents wanted him to run for the state legislature. 327 00:19:27,458 --> 00:19:29,375 - At the time we have a two party system 328 00:19:29,460 --> 00:19:31,836 with the Democrats and the Whigs. 329 00:19:31,921 --> 00:19:35,631 And the Whig Party was most interested in 330 00:19:35,758 --> 00:19:38,134 infrastructure that would help the country grow. 331 00:19:38,261 --> 00:19:40,720 - Lincoln very much defines himself initially as a Whig. 332 00:19:40,805 --> 00:19:42,463 An ardent advocate for the federal government 333 00:19:42,557 --> 00:19:44,298 taking a particularly active role 334 00:19:44,392 --> 00:19:47,351 in promoting improved railroads or turnpike networks, 335 00:19:47,437 --> 00:19:49,187 and navigable rivers. 336 00:19:49,272 --> 00:19:51,814 - in Lincoln's day, if you wanted to run for office, 337 00:19:51,941 --> 00:19:53,900 you simply put out a handbill 338 00:19:53,985 --> 00:19:57,028 telling what your promises were and what you stood for. 339 00:19:57,113 --> 00:19:59,980 So at 23 years old he writes this handbill 340 00:20:00,074 --> 00:20:02,158 and it's an extraordinary document. 341 00:20:02,285 --> 00:20:05,036 First of all, most politicians put out a short document. 342 00:20:05,121 --> 00:20:09,156 His is 2,000 words long, and it's very personal. 343 00:20:09,250 --> 00:20:12,493 It starts saying, every man has his peculiar ambition. 344 00:20:12,587 --> 00:20:15,213 Mine is to be esteemed by my fellow man. 345 00:20:15,298 --> 00:20:18,299 And what he means by that is to accomplish something worthy 346 00:20:18,384 --> 00:20:20,384 so my story will be told. 347 00:20:20,470 --> 00:20:22,720 - In that same time, he talks about how he grew up. 348 00:20:22,805 --> 00:20:24,430 I was born, I've ever remained 349 00:20:24,515 --> 00:20:26,807 in the most humble walks of life. 350 00:20:26,893 --> 00:20:30,645 If you elect me, I'm still gonna be this humble guy. 351 00:20:30,730 --> 00:20:32,647 I'm not gonna become somebody different. 352 00:20:32,732 --> 00:20:34,565 - [Doris] And then he says, I promise you, 353 00:20:34,651 --> 00:20:38,352 I will do everything I can to make my promises come true. 354 00:20:38,446 --> 00:20:40,238 - He's a young man on the make, right? 355 00:20:40,323 --> 00:20:42,189 And then he wasn't shy about it either. 356 00:20:42,283 --> 00:20:45,534 Lincoln seems to emerge out of the roughness 357 00:20:45,662 --> 00:20:48,028 and ambition and the hunger 358 00:20:48,122 --> 00:20:50,748 of what was certainly a very young country. 359 00:20:50,833 --> 00:20:53,417 He had pulled himself out of poverty. 360 00:20:53,503 --> 00:20:55,920 There was no shame in saying, I want to be famous. 361 00:20:56,005 --> 00:20:58,256 He's unembarrassed about forging alliances 362 00:20:58,341 --> 00:20:59,924 with people who can help him. 363 00:21:00,009 --> 00:21:01,884 He wants to make people like him. 364 00:21:02,011 --> 00:21:03,886 He is a politician. 365 00:21:04,013 --> 00:21:06,430 - I'm from New Salem, Abraham Lincoln. 366 00:21:06,516 --> 00:21:07,765 I'm running for state assembly. 367 00:21:09,519 --> 00:21:11,936 I'll tell you what, if I can toss this thing past yours, 368 00:21:12,021 --> 00:21:12,728 you take a look at this? 369 00:21:12,855 --> 00:21:15,147 It'll tell you where I stand. 370 00:21:15,233 --> 00:21:17,984 - Hell, you toss this ball farther than me, 371 00:21:18,069 --> 00:21:18,985 I'll vote for you. 372 00:21:20,530 --> 00:21:21,404 - All right. 373 00:21:23,866 --> 00:21:26,158 What about you boys? - You get all our votes. 374 00:21:33,334 --> 00:21:35,751 (Abe grunts) 375 00:21:37,505 --> 00:21:40,748 - In 1834 Abraham Lincoln is elected 376 00:21:40,842 --> 00:21:43,551 to the Illinois state legislature as a Whig, 377 00:21:43,636 --> 00:21:45,094 a new political party established 378 00:21:45,221 --> 00:21:47,254 by United States Senator, Henry Clay, 379 00:21:47,348 --> 00:21:50,758 to promote infrastructure, a national bank, and tariffs. 380 00:21:50,852 --> 00:21:55,813 And he becomes one of the Long Nine of Sangamon County, 381 00:21:56,399 --> 00:21:59,767 - The Long Nine were a group of Whig legislators, 382 00:21:59,861 --> 00:22:01,694 including Lincoln, who got their name 383 00:22:01,779 --> 00:22:04,572 because they were all over six feet tall. 384 00:22:04,657 --> 00:22:06,574 They advocated for internal improvements 385 00:22:06,659 --> 00:22:07,658 for the state of Illinois, 386 00:22:07,744 --> 00:22:10,328 that they wanted to move the state Capitol 387 00:22:10,413 --> 00:22:13,205 from the sleepy little town of Vandalia 388 00:22:13,291 --> 00:22:14,498 to Springfield, Illinois. 389 00:22:17,045 --> 00:22:19,837 - We gotta move the capital from Vandalia to Springfield. 390 00:22:19,922 --> 00:22:22,790 - But the Democrats will do whatever they can to stop us. 391 00:22:22,884 --> 00:22:25,593 They're already trying to redraw Sangamon County lines. 392 00:22:25,678 --> 00:22:27,386 That means two less seats for us. 393 00:22:28,723 --> 00:22:30,723 - We want the capital in Springfield, 394 00:22:30,808 --> 00:22:32,933 in Sangamon, in our county. 395 00:22:33,019 --> 00:22:33,976 Why? 396 00:22:34,103 --> 00:22:35,302 - Because there's value to having the power 397 00:22:35,396 --> 00:22:36,771 in our own backyard. 398 00:22:36,856 --> 00:22:39,440 - So, if it's valuable, shouldn't there 399 00:22:39,525 --> 00:22:42,568 be a cost for it? 400 00:22:42,653 --> 00:22:43,611 There's a spending bill coming up, right? 401 00:22:43,696 --> 00:22:44,570 - Right. 402 00:22:45,782 --> 00:22:47,782 - What if we tack on an amendment 403 00:22:47,867 --> 00:22:50,868 that says whatever city gets the capital 404 00:22:50,953 --> 00:22:53,746 will have to pay the state of fee for that privilege. 405 00:22:54,749 --> 00:22:58,084 A large fee, $50,000. 406 00:22:58,169 --> 00:23:00,002 Vandalia could never afford that. 407 00:23:00,797 --> 00:23:02,004 But Sangamon could. 408 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:04,715 That's what I'm thinking. 409 00:23:04,801 --> 00:23:09,053 - Lincoln was immediately perceived as different, unique, 410 00:23:09,138 --> 00:23:10,838 wily and smart. 411 00:23:10,932 --> 00:23:13,349 Taller than everyone else, funnier than everyone else, 412 00:23:13,476 --> 00:23:15,559 stronger than everyone else. 413 00:23:15,645 --> 00:23:16,852 He was a magnetic person. 414 00:23:16,979 --> 00:23:20,439 He was always making friends and they gravitated to him. 415 00:23:20,525 --> 00:23:23,359 And he meets John T. Stewart who advises him 416 00:23:23,486 --> 00:23:25,444 that he should study the law. 417 00:23:25,530 --> 00:23:28,021 - He had to study it all on his own, however. 418 00:23:28,116 --> 00:23:30,241 He would have to borrow books from John Stewart, 419 00:23:30,326 --> 00:23:31,450 who was 20 miles away. 420 00:23:31,536 --> 00:23:34,328 He'd have to walk those 20 miles, borrow the book, 421 00:23:34,414 --> 00:23:36,664 come back, read the book, return the book, 422 00:23:36,749 --> 00:23:37,748 and then get another one. 423 00:23:37,834 --> 00:23:38,866 But he passed the bar. 424 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:41,836 - He's now on his way, he's taken another step. 425 00:23:41,921 --> 00:23:45,706 He's gonna be around people who make things happen. 426 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,050 - He would in fact, serve four terms 427 00:23:48,177 --> 00:23:50,010 in the Illinois state legislature. 428 00:23:50,096 --> 00:23:54,098 And with each term, his profile and his prestige would grow. 429 00:23:54,183 --> 00:23:57,059 He promotes roads, he promotes canals. 430 00:23:58,146 --> 00:23:59,478 - The American economy is transforming 431 00:23:59,564 --> 00:24:01,939 in the early decades of the 19th century. 432 00:24:02,024 --> 00:24:05,234 The transportation revolution is so crucial 433 00:24:05,361 --> 00:24:07,236 to moving goods and people, 434 00:24:07,363 --> 00:24:10,114 factories which are using new steam technology 435 00:24:10,199 --> 00:24:12,867 makes cotton profitable in a way that it hadn't been. 436 00:24:12,952 --> 00:24:14,785 Makes it the boom crop. 437 00:24:14,871 --> 00:24:16,120 Changes the Southern economy, 438 00:24:16,205 --> 00:24:19,957 where slave based agriculture becomes enormously profitable. 439 00:24:21,335 --> 00:24:23,461 - The entire United States benefits from slavery, 440 00:24:23,546 --> 00:24:26,246 even if they want to argue that they don't. 441 00:24:26,340 --> 00:24:28,757 Northern cotton mills are reliant upon 442 00:24:28,885 --> 00:24:31,969 the cotton produced by enslaved laborers in the south. 443 00:24:32,054 --> 00:24:34,254 The insurance industry in New York City 444 00:24:34,348 --> 00:24:36,223 is where slave holders bought policies 445 00:24:36,309 --> 00:24:39,259 to protect the bodies of their enslaved men and women. 446 00:24:39,353 --> 00:24:41,103 Merchants, bankers, the brokers, 447 00:24:41,230 --> 00:24:43,230 the people who extended loans, 448 00:24:43,316 --> 00:24:47,935 they are all tied up in the institution of slavery. 449 00:24:48,029 --> 00:24:49,653 - It's this global enterprise. 450 00:24:49,739 --> 00:24:51,939 In key areas of the deep south, 451 00:24:52,033 --> 00:24:53,449 you're talking about communities 452 00:24:53,576 --> 00:24:57,369 that are 60 to 70% enslaved. 453 00:24:57,455 --> 00:25:00,623 So the use of terror and violence 454 00:25:00,750 --> 00:25:03,250 have been the method of control. 455 00:25:03,336 --> 00:25:05,252 - [Caroline] But there certainly were white northerners 456 00:25:05,338 --> 00:25:08,339 who believed that slavery is morally wrong. 457 00:25:08,424 --> 00:25:10,257 They are abolitionist. 458 00:25:10,343 --> 00:25:13,594 - And at the heart of all of these things 459 00:25:13,679 --> 00:25:15,295 is the story of Abraham Lincoln himself 460 00:25:15,389 --> 00:25:17,473 and his own transformation. 461 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:21,435 - At the time, Lincoln was an anti-slavery man. 462 00:25:21,521 --> 00:25:23,354 He didn't like slavery, 463 00:25:23,439 --> 00:25:26,190 but that didn't mean that he was an abolitionist. 464 00:25:26,275 --> 00:25:28,651 - He thought that eventually slavery would die away 465 00:25:28,778 --> 00:25:29,944 and rot on the vine. 466 00:25:30,029 --> 00:25:33,489 But as a politician, he had to be very, very cautious 467 00:25:33,616 --> 00:25:36,992 in expressing his anti-slavery views. 468 00:25:38,955 --> 00:25:41,822 - Once the capital gets moved to Springfield, 469 00:25:41,916 --> 00:25:43,874 he arrives in Springfield on a horse 470 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,994 and two saddlebags with all of his possessions, that's it. 471 00:25:47,088 --> 00:25:49,296 And he gets an offer to have a junior partnership 472 00:25:49,382 --> 00:25:53,175 in a law practice with John Stewart, his fellow legislator. 473 00:25:53,302 --> 00:25:57,680 - He moved to Springfield, Illinois on April 15th, 1837. 474 00:25:57,807 --> 00:26:00,975 I always find that to be bizarrely coincidental. 475 00:26:01,060 --> 00:26:03,352 He was 28 years old when he moved 476 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:08,023 and he had 28 years more to live to the very day. 477 00:26:09,277 --> 00:26:12,194 (patrons laughing) 478 00:26:17,577 --> 00:26:18,867 - [Shopkeep] You can try it on if you like. 479 00:26:18,995 --> 00:26:21,078 - Oh no, thank you, I'm only looking. 480 00:26:21,163 --> 00:26:21,912 - Can I help you? 481 00:26:22,999 --> 00:26:24,873 - How much would a bed cost? 482 00:26:25,835 --> 00:26:27,459 Well, I can sell you one for $17. 483 00:26:29,338 --> 00:26:30,212 - 17. 484 00:26:31,257 --> 00:26:32,205 I see. 485 00:26:32,300 --> 00:26:33,132 Thank you. 486 00:26:39,515 --> 00:26:40,547 Here's the thing, mister. 487 00:26:40,641 --> 00:26:43,142 - Joshua, Joshua Speed. - Oh, Abraham Lincoln. 488 00:26:44,645 --> 00:26:48,555 I'm newly arrived and I'm a freshly minted lawyer 489 00:26:48,649 --> 00:26:50,441 and it's not certain I will succeed. 490 00:26:50,526 --> 00:26:51,984 - Jury's still out, is it? 491 00:26:52,069 --> 00:26:54,403 - (chuckles) Jury hadn't even been chosen yet. 492 00:26:55,740 --> 00:26:59,658 The thing of it is is I don't have money for the bed, 493 00:26:59,744 --> 00:27:00,451 not yet. 494 00:27:01,537 --> 00:27:03,329 - Do you have any prospects? 495 00:27:03,414 --> 00:27:05,748 - Yes, I'm partnering with John Stewart. 496 00:27:06,834 --> 00:27:08,083 He's well-established. 497 00:27:09,337 --> 00:27:11,578 - I've got a room upstairs with a bed in it, you know, 498 00:27:11,672 --> 00:27:12,921 if you're looking for a share. 499 00:27:13,049 --> 00:27:15,248 Come on, take a look and see if you like it. 500 00:27:15,343 --> 00:27:16,258 - Yeah. 501 00:27:16,385 --> 00:27:18,251 - [Joshua] These are the boys, by the way. 502 00:27:18,346 --> 00:27:20,137 - Hi, gentlemen. - Abe Lincoln. 503 00:27:20,222 --> 00:27:22,473 - The man managing the store is a young man 504 00:27:22,558 --> 00:27:23,932 named Joshua Speed. 505 00:27:24,060 --> 00:27:25,976 Speed and Lincoln take an almost 506 00:27:26,062 --> 00:27:27,645 instant liking to each other. 507 00:27:27,730 --> 00:27:31,106 The two are about as close as anyone really gets 508 00:27:31,233 --> 00:27:32,265 to Abraham Lincoln, 509 00:27:32,360 --> 00:27:35,102 who was otherwise a very, very private person. 510 00:27:35,196 --> 00:27:38,271 - For the next four years, they lived in the same room, 511 00:27:38,366 --> 00:27:39,940 they slept in the same bed. 512 00:27:40,034 --> 00:27:42,826 There were more people than beds in those days. 513 00:27:42,912 --> 00:27:45,412 - When business was over with the store for the day, 514 00:27:45,498 --> 00:27:46,613 in the back room 515 00:27:46,707 --> 00:27:51,118 all the young political, ambitious types would gather. 516 00:27:51,212 --> 00:27:53,170 - [Doris] It's there that he meets Stephen Douglas, 517 00:27:53,255 --> 00:27:54,380 the Little Giant as he's called 518 00:27:54,465 --> 00:27:58,133 because he's short of stature, but huge in personality. 519 00:27:58,260 --> 00:28:00,969 And as a Democrat, he's opposed to government support 520 00:28:01,097 --> 00:28:02,846 for infrastructure projects. 521 00:28:02,932 --> 00:28:04,223 - [Harold] And Douglas becomes Lincoln's 522 00:28:04,308 --> 00:28:06,392 lifelong political rival. 523 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:10,521 - And then in 1837, a sustained recession 524 00:28:10,606 --> 00:28:12,231 hit the state of Illinois. 525 00:28:12,316 --> 00:28:13,524 Up til that point, 526 00:28:13,609 --> 00:28:16,819 Lincoln had been the champion of infrastructure projects. 527 00:28:16,946 --> 00:28:18,654 - The economy is a disaster 528 00:28:18,781 --> 00:28:21,481 and funding for those damn improvement bills, 529 00:28:21,575 --> 00:28:23,534 it's as dead as that bear under your feet, Lincoln. 530 00:28:23,619 --> 00:28:24,952 And if you keep going, 531 00:28:25,037 --> 00:28:27,496 your career will soon enjoy the same fate. 532 00:28:27,623 --> 00:28:30,157 - A bad economy doesn't mean that improvements 533 00:28:30,251 --> 00:28:33,043 to roads and waterway should stop, Douglas. 534 00:28:33,129 --> 00:28:35,504 If anything, they should be built faster. 535 00:28:35,631 --> 00:28:36,672 - Faster? 536 00:28:36,799 --> 00:28:37,831 Now you've lost me. 537 00:28:37,925 --> 00:28:40,134 - If it's raining, do you stop building a roof 538 00:28:40,219 --> 00:28:43,262 and stand there getting wet, or do you build a double quick? 539 00:28:44,807 --> 00:28:48,008 Building faster will bring back business and trade. 540 00:28:48,102 --> 00:28:49,059 - It doesn't make sense. 541 00:28:49,145 --> 00:28:51,061 - No, it's delusional. 542 00:28:51,147 --> 00:28:53,689 - I made a promise to look out for the people of Sangamon. 543 00:28:53,816 --> 00:28:55,348 - Well, you wouldn't be the first politician 544 00:28:55,443 --> 00:28:56,400 to break a promise. 545 00:28:56,485 --> 00:28:58,527 - Or the last. (laughs) 546 00:28:58,654 --> 00:29:00,946 - I'm telling my Whigs to vote for more funding. 547 00:29:01,031 --> 00:29:03,532 You should tell your Democrats to do the same. 548 00:29:03,659 --> 00:29:06,076 It takes a little courage to do what's right. 549 00:29:06,162 --> 00:29:09,329 - Was it a courageous man who digs his own grave? 550 00:29:09,415 --> 00:29:10,289 Or just a fool. 551 00:29:12,501 --> 00:29:14,367 - You know, I heard a fella say once, 552 00:29:14,462 --> 00:29:17,045 it's better to stay silent and be thought a fool 553 00:29:17,173 --> 00:29:19,256 than to speak up and remove all doubt. 554 00:29:21,343 --> 00:29:24,094 - Spin all the country wisdom you like, Lincoln. 555 00:29:24,180 --> 00:29:25,387 It won't make you right. 556 00:29:28,976 --> 00:29:31,935 (suspenseful music) 557 00:29:34,523 --> 00:29:36,607 (guests chattering) 558 00:29:40,362 --> 00:29:42,988 - You planning on pouring that? 559 00:29:52,333 --> 00:29:53,290 - Thank you. 560 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,169 - I didn't expect to see you here, Lincoln. 561 00:29:57,254 --> 00:29:58,128 - Oh. 562 00:29:59,882 --> 00:30:02,800 - Mr. Douglas, you haven't introduced your friend. 563 00:30:02,885 --> 00:30:06,220 - Ms. Mary Todd, this is Mr. Abraham Lincoln. 564 00:30:06,305 --> 00:30:09,056 - Ms. Todd, I am honored. 565 00:30:10,392 --> 00:30:12,592 - Mr. Lincoln's a stubborn Whig, 566 00:30:12,686 --> 00:30:15,095 determined to drop his carriage over a cliff 567 00:30:15,189 --> 00:30:18,190 when everyone else has reigned in their horses. 568 00:30:18,275 --> 00:30:19,483 - Perhaps Mr. Lincoln sees a road 569 00:30:19,568 --> 00:30:20,901 where you don't, Mr. Douglas. 570 00:30:24,031 --> 00:30:28,492 - Ms. Todd, I would like to dance with you in the worst way. 571 00:30:42,508 --> 00:30:45,509 (classical music) 572 00:30:50,099 --> 00:30:52,724 - [Allen] Lincoln had a great passion for women. 573 00:30:52,810 --> 00:30:54,801 He was very bashful, he was very shy, 574 00:30:54,895 --> 00:30:55,853 but that didn't mean 575 00:30:55,938 --> 00:30:59,106 that he was not always thinking about women. 576 00:31:00,234 --> 00:31:02,276 - Mary Todd was the Belle of the town. 577 00:31:02,361 --> 00:31:04,978 She was beautiful, she was witty. 578 00:31:05,072 --> 00:31:06,813 She attracted many suitors. 579 00:31:06,907 --> 00:31:11,535 She was actually courted by Stephen Douglas, among others. 580 00:31:11,620 --> 00:31:15,289 She was educated, she came from a long line of diplomats, 581 00:31:15,374 --> 00:31:17,165 ambassadors, governors. 582 00:31:17,293 --> 00:31:19,492 She was very interested in politics. 583 00:31:19,587 --> 00:31:23,330 - She was from a prominent Whig political family. 584 00:31:23,424 --> 00:31:25,132 Her father was a slave holder, 585 00:31:25,217 --> 00:31:27,593 but he was also a Whig who knew Henry Clay, 586 00:31:27,678 --> 00:31:30,003 who was Lincoln's political hero. 587 00:31:30,097 --> 00:31:33,173 - I myself am a great admirer of Henry Clay. 588 00:31:33,267 --> 00:31:34,182 - Really? 589 00:31:35,436 --> 00:31:38,604 Wow, I didn't think that a lady like yourself would be- 590 00:31:38,689 --> 00:31:40,063 - Interested in politics? 591 00:31:41,358 --> 00:31:44,067 I hope you'll find I'm not like other ladies, Mr. Lincoln. 592 00:31:44,987 --> 00:31:46,528 (Chuckling) 593 00:31:47,156 --> 00:31:48,739 Now tell me, 594 00:31:48,824 --> 00:31:51,825 what is this cliff you're determined to drive over? 595 00:31:53,662 --> 00:31:55,528 - Lincoln felt an instant connection to 596 00:31:55,623 --> 00:31:57,530 her and she, to him. 597 00:31:57,625 --> 00:31:59,750 She saw something in him right away. 598 00:32:06,467 --> 00:32:07,591 - Well, Mr. Lincoln, 599 00:32:07,676 --> 00:32:09,376 you said you wanted to dance with me in the worst way 600 00:32:09,470 --> 00:32:10,427 and you certainly did. 601 00:32:12,056 --> 00:32:15,307 - Oh, well. - Don't look so wounded. 602 00:32:16,644 --> 00:32:18,769 It's not your dancing skills I'm interested in. 603 00:32:25,361 --> 00:32:28,654 - Finally, it seems like all those pieces of his life 604 00:32:28,739 --> 00:32:30,730 came together to allow him to rise 605 00:32:30,824 --> 00:32:32,065 beyond the adverse circumstances 606 00:32:32,159 --> 00:32:33,867 of his childhood on the frontier. 607 00:32:35,287 --> 00:32:38,163 - At the time, like Lincoln, there's another young man 608 00:32:38,248 --> 00:32:39,539 who was trying to rise up 609 00:32:39,625 --> 00:32:42,909 through education and literacy to escape. 610 00:32:43,003 --> 00:32:45,629 Frederick Douglass had been born into slavery, 611 00:32:45,714 --> 00:32:47,247 he was separated from his mother 612 00:32:47,341 --> 00:32:49,249 when he was about a year old. 613 00:32:49,343 --> 00:32:51,418 He was chosen when he was about eight or nine years old 614 00:32:51,512 --> 00:32:52,970 to go to Baltimore 615 00:32:53,055 --> 00:32:55,889 to be the house servant for his master's family. 616 00:32:55,975 --> 00:32:57,975 His mistress had never had a slave before 617 00:32:58,060 --> 00:32:59,926 and didn't know that it was illegal to teach him 618 00:33:00,020 --> 00:33:00,936 to read and write. 619 00:33:01,063 --> 00:33:02,854 And so out of the goodness of her heart 620 00:33:02,940 --> 00:33:05,983 she began to teach young Frederick his ABCs. 621 00:33:06,068 --> 00:33:09,436 - And the more he reads, it's a fire in his belly. 622 00:33:09,530 --> 00:33:11,321 This is why they don't want to educate the Negro, 623 00:33:11,407 --> 00:33:14,491 because when we become aware, when we understand, 624 00:33:14,576 --> 00:33:16,702 we can no longer be enslaved. 625 00:33:16,787 --> 00:33:18,445 - [Kenneth] And Frederick knew that he would one day 626 00:33:18,539 --> 00:33:20,539 make his attempt to escape. 627 00:33:20,624 --> 00:33:23,875 (horse neighing) 628 00:33:23,961 --> 00:33:24,835 - Fred? 629 00:33:25,963 --> 00:33:26,670 Fred! 630 00:33:30,426 --> 00:33:31,624 - You got the ticket? 631 00:33:31,719 --> 00:33:34,594 - Had to show em my papers before they'd sell it to me. 632 00:33:36,682 --> 00:33:39,057 Straight through to Newark, then a ferry. 633 00:33:40,436 --> 00:33:44,396 Listen, that's where you have to be extra careful. 634 00:33:44,481 --> 00:33:46,940 They slave catches on the lookout there. 635 00:33:47,026 --> 00:33:48,692 - Anna, I'll be all right. 636 00:33:49,778 --> 00:33:50,902 - You don't know that. 637 00:33:55,075 --> 00:33:58,118 Let me see your sailor's pass again. 638 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:07,919 They catch you this time they gonna sell you south. 639 00:34:10,841 --> 00:34:11,715 - I have to go. 640 00:34:25,438 --> 00:34:29,274 - Douglass was helped by my great, great, great grandmother, 641 00:34:29,359 --> 00:34:31,985 Anna Murray, who was the first in her family 642 00:34:32,071 --> 00:34:33,195 to be born free. 643 00:34:33,322 --> 00:34:36,856 She sold a feather bed to help finance his escape. 644 00:34:36,949 --> 00:34:39,784 She sold the sailors disguise that he would wear, 645 00:34:39,870 --> 00:34:42,788 and he carried with him seaman's protection papers 646 00:34:42,873 --> 00:34:44,664 that he had borrowed from a friend. 647 00:34:46,001 --> 00:34:48,368 - [Christy] It's dangerous because there's slave patrols 648 00:34:48,462 --> 00:34:50,003 looking for runaways. 649 00:34:50,089 --> 00:34:51,588 - There were lots of consequences 650 00:34:51,672 --> 00:34:53,672 for people that attempted to run away 651 00:34:53,759 --> 00:34:54,966 and that were recaptured. 652 00:34:55,052 --> 00:34:59,304 People would have their feet cut off, other limbs cut off. 653 00:34:59,389 --> 00:35:00,430 They would have to wear 654 00:35:00,516 --> 00:35:03,725 these grotesque contraptions around their necks. 655 00:35:03,852 --> 00:35:05,885 - Severe whipping with a bullwhip, 656 00:35:05,979 --> 00:35:08,221 cutting your Achilles tendon. 657 00:35:08,315 --> 00:35:10,607 You can still work, can't run. 658 00:35:11,735 --> 00:35:13,944 And the ultimate punishment is death. 659 00:35:21,161 --> 00:35:24,329 (suspenseful music) 660 00:36:01,243 --> 00:36:04,777 - He successfully escaped on that train and then by boat. 661 00:36:04,872 --> 00:36:07,038 And he would taste freedom for the first time 662 00:36:07,124 --> 00:36:08,290 in New York City. 663 00:36:08,417 --> 00:36:11,668 Anna would join him two weeks later and become his wife. 664 00:36:13,380 --> 00:36:17,048 - In Springfield, Abraham and Mary courted for two years. 665 00:36:17,134 --> 00:36:19,718 But they had kind of a stormy courtship. 666 00:36:19,803 --> 00:36:20,793 Opposites attract 667 00:36:20,888 --> 00:36:23,180 and they were definitely opposite in temperament. 668 00:36:23,265 --> 00:36:25,098 He was laconic and laid back, 669 00:36:25,184 --> 00:36:28,018 she was mercurial, she was temperamental. 670 00:36:28,103 --> 00:36:30,637 But they decided to get married. 671 00:36:30,731 --> 00:36:34,232 - Meanwhile, because of the sustained recession in Illinois, 672 00:36:34,318 --> 00:36:37,068 the state legislature can't finish these projects 673 00:36:37,154 --> 00:36:40,113 that Lincoln has promised his constituents he will deliver. 674 00:36:40,199 --> 00:36:42,982 And he shouldered the blame and he actually said then 675 00:36:43,076 --> 00:36:43,909 that and that he would not run 676 00:36:43,994 --> 00:36:45,327 for the legislature the next time. 677 00:36:45,454 --> 00:36:48,821 So it seemed like it was the end of his political career. 678 00:36:48,916 --> 00:36:50,657 - Abraham and Mary were supposed to be married 679 00:36:50,751 --> 00:36:55,712 on January 1st, 1841, but Lincoln got cold feet. 680 00:36:56,423 --> 00:37:00,383 They broke up, he called it the fatal 1st of January. 681 00:37:01,428 --> 00:37:03,595 - And now he'd broken two promises. 682 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:05,672 He broke the promise to his constituents 683 00:37:05,766 --> 00:37:08,508 and he'd broken his promise to Mary. 684 00:37:08,602 --> 00:37:11,978 And he said at the time that the chief gem of his character 685 00:37:12,064 --> 00:37:14,064 was his ability to keep his word, 686 00:37:14,149 --> 00:37:17,016 and now that he was no longer confident he could do that, 687 00:37:17,110 --> 00:37:19,486 he wasn't sure he could do anything. 688 00:37:19,571 --> 00:37:22,489 That's what led him into this most profound depression 689 00:37:22,574 --> 00:37:23,690 that he had ever suffered. 690 00:37:23,784 --> 00:37:26,526 His friends worried that he might take his life. 691 00:37:26,620 --> 00:37:28,528 - Joshua's Speed, his roommate, 692 00:37:28,622 --> 00:37:31,748 actually hides all of Lincoln's knives and razorblades. 693 00:37:31,833 --> 00:37:33,541 - Meanwhile, Joshua Speed announces 694 00:37:33,669 --> 00:37:35,627 that he's closing up shop in Springfield 695 00:37:35,712 --> 00:37:37,295 and moving back to Kentucky. 696 00:37:37,381 --> 00:37:39,422 Lincoln loses his closest friend. 697 00:37:41,134 --> 00:37:42,008 - You're off then? 698 00:37:44,513 --> 00:37:45,512 - What will you do? 699 00:37:47,599 --> 00:37:51,101 - I'll be better or I'll be dead. (chuckles) 700 00:37:53,021 --> 00:37:54,646 Don't worry, Speed, I won't die. 701 00:37:56,817 --> 00:37:57,732 Haven't done anything 702 00:37:57,859 --> 00:37:59,859 to make anyone remember that I ever lived. 703 00:38:00,654 --> 00:38:04,114 (Abe and Joshua chuckle) 704 00:38:06,368 --> 00:38:08,952 (soft music) 705 00:38:33,186 --> 00:38:36,479 - [Greg] Lincoln isn't in such a state of depression, 706 00:38:36,565 --> 00:38:38,565 he can barely drag himself out of bed. 707 00:38:40,193 --> 00:38:42,569 - He had been going on such a high, in a sense, 708 00:38:42,654 --> 00:38:47,106 going from the fields to political office, a lawyer, 709 00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:50,869 to about to marry a woman from a very elite family. 710 00:38:50,954 --> 00:38:52,412 And it all comes apart. 711 00:38:53,248 --> 00:38:55,040 - But that drive that he'd had 712 00:38:55,125 --> 00:38:58,284 ever since he was a little kid, ever since his mother died, 713 00:38:58,378 --> 00:39:01,788 to create something that would allow his story to be told, 714 00:39:01,882 --> 00:39:03,289 saved him. 715 00:39:03,383 --> 00:39:05,550 He finished his term in the state legislature. 716 00:39:05,635 --> 00:39:07,844 He went back to his practice of law. 717 00:39:07,929 --> 00:39:10,680 He and Mary had stayed apart for an entire year. 718 00:39:10,766 --> 00:39:14,392 And then finally in 1842 friends brought them back together 719 00:39:14,478 --> 00:39:17,103 and they renewed their engagement, they got married. 720 00:39:18,482 --> 00:39:21,983 - His ambition provided the fuel of energy for him 721 00:39:22,110 --> 00:39:25,528 and his aim will next be for the United States Congress. 722 00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:30,325 He is elected to Congress as a Whig 723 00:39:30,452 --> 00:39:34,913 and the Whigs were bitterly critical of the Mexican War. 724 00:39:34,998 --> 00:39:36,706 (horses neighing) 725 00:39:36,792 --> 00:39:39,667 Mexican War broke out in 1846 726 00:39:39,795 --> 00:39:42,328 and was widely viewed as the pet project 727 00:39:42,422 --> 00:39:45,256 of democratic president James Knox Polk. 728 00:39:45,342 --> 00:39:48,167 War with Mexico could open new territory 729 00:39:48,261 --> 00:39:50,512 for the extension of slavery. 730 00:39:53,100 --> 00:39:54,599 - Going through with that speech today? 731 00:39:54,684 --> 00:39:55,892 - I am. 732 00:39:56,686 --> 00:39:57,844 - What speech? 733 00:39:57,938 --> 00:39:59,854 - Lincoln wants to put our president in his place 734 00:39:59,981 --> 00:40:01,231 over the Mexican War. 735 00:40:03,985 --> 00:40:07,520 (chains clattering) 736 00:40:07,614 --> 00:40:10,657 - I wouldn't do that, the president's popular. 737 00:40:12,994 --> 00:40:14,160 Don't poke the bear. 738 00:40:15,622 --> 00:40:17,747 - But what if the bear is wrong. 739 00:40:17,833 --> 00:40:19,207 President Polk provoked this war 740 00:40:19,334 --> 00:40:21,000 'cause he wants California and the whole west 741 00:40:21,086 --> 00:40:22,869 and he wants them as slave states. 742 00:40:22,963 --> 00:40:25,171 (horses neighing) 743 00:40:25,257 --> 00:40:27,590 Slave power's got to be reigned in. 744 00:40:27,676 --> 00:40:28,425 That's the end of it. 745 00:40:28,510 --> 00:40:29,551 - We agree. 746 00:40:30,637 --> 00:40:32,470 But if you make a speech against the president 747 00:40:32,556 --> 00:40:35,598 before the fighting's even over, you'll be crucified. 748 00:40:36,435 --> 00:40:37,559 And for what? 749 00:40:42,149 --> 00:40:44,524 - Lincoln makes a speech in Congress 750 00:40:44,609 --> 00:40:46,317 denouncing President Polk 751 00:40:46,403 --> 00:40:50,405 for a triggering the Mexican War on false pretenses. 752 00:40:50,532 --> 00:40:53,065 - The war was incredibly popular. 753 00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:55,160 The United States won a huge amount of land, 754 00:40:55,245 --> 00:40:58,070 including future states of California 755 00:40:58,165 --> 00:41:00,331 and New Mexico and Arizona. 756 00:41:00,417 --> 00:41:02,408 So the Democrats use that against Lincoln 757 00:41:02,502 --> 00:41:05,795 to basically try and paint him as not being patriotic. 758 00:41:05,881 --> 00:41:08,339 - [Allen] The speech backfired on Lincoln 759 00:41:08,425 --> 00:41:10,091 and he suffered for it. 760 00:41:11,219 --> 00:41:13,720 (soft music) 761 00:41:21,146 --> 00:41:22,645 - Can't have been so bad. 762 00:41:32,199 --> 00:41:33,740 - I won't talk about it. 763 00:41:46,254 --> 00:41:48,588 (Abe sighs) 764 00:41:49,925 --> 00:41:53,384 - It might not have been wise to have made that speech, 765 00:41:53,470 --> 00:41:54,636 but it needed to be said. 766 00:41:56,389 --> 00:41:58,389 Presidents can just go to war because they want to, 767 00:41:58,475 --> 00:41:59,641 it's outrageous. 768 00:42:01,311 --> 00:42:02,310 - Well 769 00:42:03,897 --> 00:42:07,106 - I'm afraid this might be my one and only term. 770 00:42:08,944 --> 00:42:10,777 - You'll make other speeches. 771 00:42:11,738 --> 00:42:14,113 (Abe sighs) 772 00:42:17,661 --> 00:42:18,535 I know you will. 773 00:42:19,955 --> 00:42:22,830 (soft music) 774 00:42:22,958 --> 00:42:25,658 - At the end of 1849, he's a lame duck, 775 00:42:25,752 --> 00:42:27,835 he comes back to Springfield, Illinois, 776 00:42:27,963 --> 00:42:31,464 very dispirited, he's out of politics. 777 00:42:31,550 --> 00:42:34,759 - He felt like a failure, he wasn't popular. 778 00:42:34,844 --> 00:42:36,669 He embarrassed himself. 779 00:42:36,763 --> 00:42:39,097 - [Harold] So he turns back to the law, 780 00:42:39,182 --> 00:42:42,725 traveling the big eighth judicial circuit in Illinois. 781 00:42:43,853 --> 00:42:46,679 - He was quite happy early in his marriage. 782 00:42:46,773 --> 00:42:50,066 They had a nice home on Jackson Street in Springfield. 783 00:42:50,151 --> 00:42:54,070 He had two children at that time, Robert and Edward. 784 00:42:54,155 --> 00:42:55,863 - And as Lincoln is practicing law 785 00:42:55,991 --> 00:42:57,740 and making a reputation for himself, 786 00:42:57,826 --> 00:43:01,953 the country is increasingly having to deal with slavery. 787 00:43:03,039 --> 00:43:05,957 - [Christy] The issue is dividing the nation. 788 00:43:06,042 --> 00:43:07,917 - The slave holding south 789 00:43:08,003 --> 00:43:10,587 wants to to not only maintain slavery, 790 00:43:10,672 --> 00:43:13,256 but also be able to expand it west 791 00:43:13,341 --> 00:43:15,300 into those territories that have been acquired 792 00:43:15,385 --> 00:43:17,135 through the war with Mexico. 793 00:43:17,220 --> 00:43:19,762 - And then the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 794 00:43:19,848 --> 00:43:22,214 says northern states have an obligation 795 00:43:22,309 --> 00:43:24,892 to return slaves that have fled 796 00:43:25,020 --> 00:43:26,728 from the south into the north. 797 00:43:26,855 --> 00:43:29,772 And the north is up in arms, they are absolutely livid. 798 00:43:29,858 --> 00:43:31,274 - People are being kidnapped, 799 00:43:31,359 --> 00:43:33,526 bounty hunters are going into the north 800 00:43:33,612 --> 00:43:35,111 and capturing free people, 801 00:43:35,196 --> 00:43:37,071 whether they've been free for generations or not, 802 00:43:37,198 --> 00:43:39,282 it just is if you got a random black person 803 00:43:39,367 --> 00:43:42,577 and I can get to 'em, I can capture them and take them away. 804 00:43:42,704 --> 00:43:44,287 Lincoln is aware of all this. 805 00:43:44,372 --> 00:43:45,571 - At the same time, 806 00:43:45,665 --> 00:43:48,407 the abolitionists they're agitating against slavery 807 00:43:48,501 --> 00:43:50,668 through the formation of societies, 808 00:43:50,754 --> 00:43:52,670 publication of newspapers, 809 00:43:52,756 --> 00:43:55,214 the lecturers that are going about the country, 810 00:43:55,300 --> 00:43:57,759 whipping folks up against slavery. 811 00:43:57,886 --> 00:43:59,752 - The most important abolitionists 812 00:43:59,846 --> 00:44:01,804 are formerly enslaved men and women. 813 00:44:01,890 --> 00:44:05,516 What better way to describe slavery 814 00:44:05,602 --> 00:44:07,760 than someone like a Frederick Douglass. 815 00:44:07,854 --> 00:44:09,354 - After escaping from slavery, 816 00:44:09,439 --> 00:44:12,148 Frederick Douglass wrote his first autobiography. 817 00:44:12,233 --> 00:44:14,934 It became a bestseller, made him a household name. 818 00:44:15,028 --> 00:44:17,103 It made him an instant celebrity, 819 00:44:17,197 --> 00:44:19,906 and he joined the anti-slavery lecture circuit. 820 00:44:22,369 --> 00:44:28,206 - What to the American slave is your 4th of July? 821 00:44:30,585 --> 00:44:34,295 I answer, a day that reveals to him 822 00:44:34,422 --> 00:44:37,173 more than all other days in the year, 823 00:44:37,258 --> 00:44:40,718 the gross injustice and cruelty 824 00:44:40,804 --> 00:44:44,055 to which he is the constant victim. 825 00:44:44,140 --> 00:44:47,558 To him, your celebration is a sham. 826 00:44:47,644 --> 00:44:53,940 Your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery. 827 00:44:54,776 --> 00:44:56,567 Your sermons and Thanksgivings 828 00:44:56,653 --> 00:44:59,696 with all their religious parade and solemnity 829 00:44:59,781 --> 00:45:04,150 are to him mere, bombast, fraud, deception, 830 00:45:04,244 --> 00:45:06,452 impiety and hypocrisy. 831 00:45:07,455 --> 00:45:09,497 A thin veil to cover up crimes 832 00:45:09,624 --> 00:45:12,750 which would disgrace a nation of savages. 833 00:45:12,836 --> 00:45:15,962 There's not a nation on this earth 834 00:45:16,047 --> 00:45:19,966 guilty of practices more shocking and bloody 835 00:45:20,051 --> 00:45:23,169 than are the people of these United States 836 00:45:23,263 --> 00:45:25,763 at this very hour. 837 00:45:25,849 --> 00:45:28,674 (dramatic music) 838 00:45:28,768 --> 00:45:31,853 (audience applauds) 839 00:45:40,113 --> 00:45:41,696 - If it's all right by you, 840 00:45:41,823 --> 00:45:43,114 I'll just remind you of a few of the facts of this case. 841 00:45:44,075 --> 00:45:45,700 Poor Mr. Fleming, 842 00:45:45,827 --> 00:45:48,536 he almost got burnt in a fire, 843 00:45:48,663 --> 00:45:51,414 and his legs, they were broken, getting away. 844 00:45:52,751 --> 00:45:56,127 Now, Mr. Fleming, he begged the doctor to fix him up 845 00:45:56,212 --> 00:45:58,871 and well, my client obliged. 846 00:45:58,965 --> 00:46:01,215 But now Fleming is complaining 847 00:46:01,342 --> 00:46:03,509 that one of his legs didn't straight 848 00:46:03,595 --> 00:46:05,344 and that it's the doctor's fault. 849 00:46:06,681 --> 00:46:10,475 And I do, I reckon that's his right, to complain, I mean. 850 00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:13,052 - Lincoln was an extraordinarily good lawyer. 851 00:46:13,146 --> 00:46:15,146 When he was in front of a jury, 852 00:46:15,231 --> 00:46:18,024 he sort of was just having a conversation with them. 853 00:46:18,109 --> 00:46:21,727 - Usually judge David Davis was the presiding judge. 854 00:46:21,821 --> 00:46:23,529 He became a good friend of Lincoln's. 855 00:46:23,615 --> 00:46:26,115 - Your honor, may I perform a demonstration? 856 00:46:30,330 --> 00:46:32,830 This is the bone of a young chicken. 857 00:46:38,755 --> 00:46:39,629 Pretty flexible. 858 00:46:41,424 --> 00:46:43,299 Probably heal pretty good if injured. 859 00:46:45,386 --> 00:46:48,471 Now this is the bone of one that's done some living. 860 00:46:52,852 --> 00:46:55,261 (audience murmurs) 861 00:46:55,355 --> 00:46:57,605 Your honor, may I ask the plaintiff to stand? 862 00:46:57,732 --> 00:46:58,689 - [Judge] Stand up. 863 00:47:02,070 --> 00:47:03,361 - Gentlemen of the jury, 864 00:47:05,365 --> 00:47:09,408 I think you'll all agree that Mr. Fleming here is, 865 00:47:10,578 --> 00:47:12,078 well, he's no spring chicken. 866 00:47:12,163 --> 00:47:15,331 (audience laughs) 867 00:47:15,416 --> 00:47:17,792 - I ain't none kinda chicken. 868 00:47:17,919 --> 00:47:19,952 - But you are complaining that you now have a limp 869 00:47:20,046 --> 00:47:21,954 and you want some money for it. 870 00:47:22,048 --> 00:47:23,130 Now, if it were me, 871 00:47:23,258 --> 00:47:26,959 I'd get down on my knees and thank my heavenly father. 872 00:47:27,053 --> 00:47:32,056 And also this doctor for legs to stand on at all. 873 00:47:32,642 --> 00:47:35,017 (crowd murmurs) 874 00:47:36,312 --> 00:47:38,187 Thank you, judge, nothing further. 875 00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:43,901 - Lincoln is so good at persuading a jury, 876 00:47:43,987 --> 00:47:46,028 he's almost imagining that he's really had 877 00:47:46,114 --> 00:47:48,990 his political game for his life. 878 00:47:49,117 --> 00:47:51,367 It's about as far as he's likely to get. 879 00:47:51,452 --> 00:47:53,152 - He was very well-respected. 880 00:47:53,246 --> 00:47:56,038 He established the most successful law practice 881 00:47:56,124 --> 00:47:57,290 in central Illinois. 882 00:47:57,375 --> 00:48:00,993 - Lincoln's able to make a good living, ride circuit, 883 00:48:01,087 --> 00:48:03,462 and tell tall tales and tell funny stories. 884 00:48:03,548 --> 00:48:06,999 He's got this self-deprecating humor and folksy charm 885 00:48:07,093 --> 00:48:09,168 combined with a high intellect. 886 00:48:09,262 --> 00:48:10,595 That's a pretty potent combination. 887 00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:12,054 - He's reading philosophy, 888 00:48:12,140 --> 00:48:13,723 he's reading history and literature. 889 00:48:13,808 --> 00:48:15,433 He's growing his mind. 890 00:48:15,518 --> 00:48:17,226 - And then Stephen A. Douglas, 891 00:48:17,312 --> 00:48:18,728 Lincoln's long time rival, 892 00:48:18,813 --> 00:48:20,846 United States, Senator from Illinois, 893 00:48:20,940 --> 00:48:23,983 introduced a law in 1854 894 00:48:24,068 --> 00:48:27,987 that he thought would end slavery agitation forever. 895 00:48:28,072 --> 00:48:30,656 And it was called the Kansas Nebraska Act. 896 00:48:30,742 --> 00:48:32,783 - The Kansas Nebraska Act 897 00:48:32,869 --> 00:48:36,028 says the new territories of Kansas Nebraska, 898 00:48:36,122 --> 00:48:37,196 when they come into the union 899 00:48:37,290 --> 00:48:40,458 can choose themselves by popular sovereignty 900 00:48:40,543 --> 00:48:41,667 whether they want to come in 901 00:48:41,753 --> 00:48:44,170 as a free state or a slave state. 902 00:48:44,255 --> 00:48:45,379 - With this act, 903 00:48:45,506 --> 00:48:47,924 the balance between free states and enslave states 904 00:48:48,009 --> 00:48:50,259 is going to be thrown into jeopardy. 905 00:48:50,345 --> 00:48:52,544 Since the Missouri Compromise of 1820, 906 00:48:52,639 --> 00:48:55,014 northerners thought slavery will never 907 00:48:55,099 --> 00:48:57,683 be north of the southern border of Missouri. 908 00:48:57,769 --> 00:49:01,646 Now, potentially there could be even more slave states 909 00:49:01,731 --> 00:49:03,856 and they will have even more power. 910 00:49:03,942 --> 00:49:06,150 - And that's just unacceptable, to Lincoln. 911 00:49:06,235 --> 00:49:08,778 Rather than reduce and ultimately eliminate 912 00:49:08,863 --> 00:49:10,863 the existence of slavery in this country over time, 913 00:49:10,949 --> 00:49:12,398 which is how Lincoln imagined it, 914 00:49:12,492 --> 00:49:15,034 this might allow slavery's power to grow. 915 00:49:16,162 --> 00:49:18,162 - [Harold] But he's out of politics. 916 00:49:18,247 --> 00:49:20,873 He's still on the road throughout his judicial circuit, 917 00:49:20,959 --> 00:49:23,909 making friends and telling jokes. 918 00:49:24,003 --> 00:49:26,078 - So we stayed with this old lady. 919 00:49:26,172 --> 00:49:27,129 Now, this fella', 920 00:49:27,215 --> 00:49:29,715 he loved anything to do with our revolution 921 00:49:29,801 --> 00:49:32,551 and he venerated any artifacts he found. 922 00:49:32,637 --> 00:49:35,179 So when he had heard that this old woman 923 00:49:35,264 --> 00:49:37,390 still had a dress that she'd worn during that time, 924 00:49:37,475 --> 00:49:40,351 oh, he begged her to bring it out. 925 00:49:40,436 --> 00:49:44,596 Well, the lady, she takes out this dusty dress from a trunk 926 00:49:44,691 --> 00:49:47,433 and this fella is so excited 927 00:49:47,527 --> 00:49:49,735 that he oh so tenderly kisses it. 928 00:49:51,030 --> 00:49:54,073 Well, he old woman watches this and she says, 929 00:49:54,158 --> 00:49:56,742 mister, if you want to kiss something old, 930 00:49:56,828 --> 00:49:58,536 why don't you kiss my ass? 931 00:49:58,621 --> 00:50:01,447 It's 16 years older than that dress. 932 00:50:01,541 --> 00:50:04,417 (friends laughing) 933 00:50:06,295 --> 00:50:09,880 - Evening edition, the Kansas Nebraska Act, 934 00:50:09,966 --> 00:50:10,840 they passed it. 935 00:50:13,177 --> 00:50:15,511 - There goes the compromise. - Good riddance. 936 00:50:15,596 --> 00:50:17,179 - No, Douglas is a fool! 937 00:50:18,099 --> 00:50:19,098 - Let the people decide. 938 00:50:19,183 --> 00:50:22,059 - You're talking rubbish! - This is a democracy! 939 00:50:22,145 --> 00:50:25,021 (friends arguing) 940 00:50:26,149 --> 00:50:28,858 - [Harold] Lincoln was outraged by this. 941 00:50:28,943 --> 00:50:30,818 - There comes a point for him 942 00:50:30,945 --> 00:50:35,906 when morality and the idea of the expansion of human dignity 943 00:50:37,493 --> 00:50:38,909 takes the fore. 944 00:50:42,874 --> 00:50:43,789 - Abe? 945 00:50:46,794 --> 00:50:51,047 - Judge, you say that A is white and B is black. 946 00:50:52,341 --> 00:50:55,593 So, it's color that dictates that hierarchy? 947 00:50:57,930 --> 00:51:00,473 - Abe, it's five in the morning. 948 00:51:00,558 --> 00:51:01,891 You've been up all night? 949 00:51:02,935 --> 00:51:03,893 - I've got to start at the beginning 950 00:51:03,978 --> 00:51:06,395 in order to see this through to the end. 951 00:51:08,316 --> 00:51:10,066 That's what this is all about, isn't it? 952 00:51:11,486 --> 00:51:14,111 A lighter man having the right to enslave the darker? 953 00:51:15,865 --> 00:51:19,950 By that rule, you oughta be slave to the first man you meet 954 00:51:20,036 --> 00:51:21,860 with a fairer skin than your own. 955 00:51:21,954 --> 00:51:24,080 - That's not all there is to it, and you know it. 956 00:51:24,165 --> 00:51:25,831 - So it's not just color that justifies 957 00:51:25,917 --> 00:51:27,699 one man owning another? 958 00:51:27,794 --> 00:51:30,920 - There are other ways a man might be superior to another. 959 00:51:31,005 --> 00:51:33,839 - You're saying that whites are intellectually superior? 960 00:51:33,925 --> 00:51:36,509 And so they have a right to enslave blacks? 961 00:51:36,594 --> 00:51:38,377 Follow that rule and you're bound to be slave 962 00:51:38,471 --> 00:51:40,971 to the first man you meet that's smarter than you. 963 00:51:42,141 --> 00:51:44,016 - Well, then I'm your slave, Abe. (chuckles) 964 00:51:44,102 --> 00:51:44,809 - No. 965 00:51:44,894 --> 00:51:45,935 - Unless you are fool enough 966 00:51:46,020 --> 00:51:48,979 to think you can figure it all out in one night. 967 00:51:50,108 --> 00:51:51,982 - But it has got to be figured out. 968 00:51:55,113 --> 00:51:56,028 Can't you see? 969 00:51:58,157 --> 00:51:59,323 This, this Kansas Act, 970 00:52:00,910 --> 00:52:03,619 just opened the door to slavery in every single state. 971 00:52:05,373 --> 00:52:07,790 Gonna be a big argument in this country, judge. 972 00:52:09,168 --> 00:52:10,626 I intend to be ready for it. 973 00:52:12,713 --> 00:52:14,839 (crowd shouting) 974 00:52:14,924 --> 00:52:17,716 (dramatic music) 975 00:52:32,441 --> 00:52:35,234 (crowd shouting) 976 00:52:39,615 --> 00:52:42,533 (glass shattering) 977 00:52:42,618 --> 00:52:43,576 (blows thudding) 978 00:52:46,414 --> 00:52:46,829 (blows thudding) 979 00:52:51,752 --> 00:52:56,797 (crowd shouting) (blows thudding) 980 00:52:59,594 --> 00:53:00,467 Get him! 981 00:53:05,516 --> 00:53:07,308 - Call it Bleeding Kansas. 982 00:53:07,435 --> 00:53:09,635 That Kansas Nebraska Act kicks open 983 00:53:09,729 --> 00:53:12,146 the door to slavery existing anywhere 984 00:53:12,273 --> 00:53:14,982 and that leads to serious bloodshed. 985 00:53:15,109 --> 00:53:18,152 - Most settlers want Kansas to be a free state, 986 00:53:18,279 --> 00:53:20,029 but border ruffians from Missouri, 987 00:53:20,114 --> 00:53:25,201 which was a slave state, invade Kansas and steal elections 988 00:53:25,953 --> 00:53:27,486 to try to make it a slave state. 989 00:53:27,580 --> 00:53:29,914 There's a full fledged war going on. 990 00:53:31,626 --> 00:53:33,375 - For Lincoln, the young lawyer, 991 00:53:33,461 --> 00:53:37,713 there's this series of events from 1850 through 1860 992 00:53:37,798 --> 00:53:40,049 that are going to sharply shape 993 00:53:40,134 --> 00:53:42,501 his thinking about what's happening to his country. 994 00:53:42,595 --> 00:53:44,503 - There's the fugitive slave law, 995 00:53:44,597 --> 00:53:46,513 there's the Kansas Nebraska Act, 996 00:53:46,641 --> 00:53:48,974 there's the Dred Scott decision. 997 00:53:49,060 --> 00:53:51,852 - Dred Scott is an enslaved man in Missouri 998 00:53:51,979 --> 00:53:55,356 who was taken to a free state, so he sues for his freedom 999 00:53:55,483 --> 00:53:58,517 on the basis of having been in a free state. 1000 00:53:58,611 --> 00:54:00,194 And this case goes all the way 1001 00:54:00,321 --> 00:54:02,521 to the United States Supreme Court. 1002 00:54:02,615 --> 00:54:05,023 - The Dred Scott decision essentially says that, 1003 00:54:05,117 --> 00:54:08,694 black Americans, if they're enslaved their property, period, 1004 00:54:08,788 --> 00:54:11,288 and therefore they don't have a right to suit. 1005 00:54:11,374 --> 00:54:13,865 - The Supreme Court ruled that black people 1006 00:54:13,960 --> 00:54:16,710 had never been and could not be 1007 00:54:16,837 --> 00:54:18,837 citizens of the United States. 1008 00:54:18,923 --> 00:54:20,372 So blacks have no rights, 1009 00:54:20,466 --> 00:54:23,542 which white men are bound to respect. 1010 00:54:23,636 --> 00:54:25,970 - Which leads us to John Brown. 1011 00:54:26,055 --> 00:54:29,381 John Brown is an abolitionist zealot. 1012 00:54:29,475 --> 00:54:33,602 He settled in Kansas and he believes through his faith 1013 00:54:33,688 --> 00:54:37,189 that it is his calling and his purpose in this life 1014 00:54:37,275 --> 00:54:42,894 to end the atrocity of slavery in the United States, 1015 00:54:42,989 --> 00:54:45,072 because it's an antithesis to God. 1016 00:54:45,199 --> 00:54:49,568 - John Brown was either a maniac or a saint. 1017 00:54:49,662 --> 00:54:53,914 He was a white man who cared enough about black freedom 1018 00:54:54,041 --> 00:54:58,002 to try to start a revolution. 1019 00:54:58,087 --> 00:55:01,246 And in Kansas, John Brown hacked to death 1020 00:55:01,340 --> 00:55:03,590 five pro slavery men. 1021 00:55:05,011 --> 00:55:07,261 - Lincoln saw that all these series of events 1022 00:55:07,388 --> 00:55:09,221 divided the country. 1023 00:55:09,307 --> 00:55:10,889 It divided every party. 1024 00:55:10,975 --> 00:55:13,976 The Whig Party divides between the anti-slavery Whigs 1025 00:55:14,061 --> 00:55:15,260 and the pro-slavery Whigs. 1026 00:55:15,354 --> 00:55:16,603 The Democratic Party divides 1027 00:55:16,731 --> 00:55:18,430 between the anti-slavery Democrats 1028 00:55:18,524 --> 00:55:20,065 and the pro-slavery Democrats. 1029 00:55:20,151 --> 00:55:21,817 The Whig Party eventually is gonna collapse 1030 00:55:21,902 --> 00:55:22,985 as a result of this. 1031 00:55:23,070 --> 00:55:25,696 And out of this comes the New Republican Party. 1032 00:55:27,074 --> 00:55:29,441 - This new party, this Republican Party, 1033 00:55:29,535 --> 00:55:32,453 begins in earnest in the early 1850s 1034 00:55:32,580 --> 00:55:34,946 and its platform isn't anti-slavery, 1035 00:55:35,041 --> 00:55:38,784 it's no extension of slavery into the western territories. 1036 00:55:38,878 --> 00:55:41,545 - But there are radical Republicans who say, 1037 00:55:41,630 --> 00:55:46,675 slavery is vile, evil, we need to get rid of slavery. 1038 00:55:47,261 --> 00:55:49,845 - In the late 1850s, the rhetoric within Congress 1039 00:55:49,930 --> 00:55:52,681 was becoming increasingly hot. 1040 00:55:52,767 --> 00:55:54,850 Charles Sumner of Massachusetts 1041 00:55:54,935 --> 00:55:58,312 was one of the radical wing of the Republican Party. 1042 00:55:58,439 --> 00:56:01,774 He had made a speech called "The Crime against Kansas" 1043 00:56:01,859 --> 00:56:03,317 on the floor of Congress, 1044 00:56:03,444 --> 00:56:05,861 where he used very salacious language 1045 00:56:05,946 --> 00:56:09,406 about a US Senator from South Carolina named Andrew Butler. 1046 00:56:10,618 --> 00:56:11,867 - Senator Sumner, 1047 00:56:13,120 --> 00:56:17,206 you have impugn the honor of my cousin, Senator Butler. 1048 00:56:18,292 --> 00:56:22,494 - All I've done is told the world the truth, 1049 00:56:22,588 --> 00:56:26,006 that your cousin backs the hideous Kansas Act 1050 00:56:27,468 --> 00:56:31,762 and he has a mistress who he obeys without question. 1051 00:56:34,975 --> 00:56:40,270 An ugly mistress, whose name is slavery. 1052 00:56:44,985 --> 00:56:47,736 (blows thudding) 1053 00:57:03,254 --> 00:57:05,087 - Sumner's carried out unconscious, 1054 00:57:05,172 --> 00:57:07,589 unable to return to the Senate for three years. 1055 00:57:08,634 --> 00:57:10,092 After the caning of Sumner, 1056 00:57:10,177 --> 00:57:12,719 in the north there is a visceral reaction 1057 00:57:12,847 --> 00:57:15,556 to an attack right in the Capitol. 1058 00:57:15,683 --> 00:57:16,882 Rallies are formed, 1059 00:57:16,976 --> 00:57:20,310 mass numbers of people begin to join the Republican Party. 1060 00:57:20,396 --> 00:57:21,812 Meanwhile, in the south, however, 1061 00:57:21,897 --> 00:57:23,897 Preston Brooks has become a hero. 1062 00:57:24,024 --> 00:57:25,816 People start carrying canes around 1063 00:57:25,901 --> 00:57:27,693 as if they're gonna attack somebody. 1064 00:57:27,778 --> 00:57:29,394 The split between the north and the south 1065 00:57:29,488 --> 00:57:31,363 goes deeper and deeper and deeper. 1066 00:57:31,449 --> 00:57:33,565 - Lincoln's so unsettled by what's happening 1067 00:57:33,659 --> 00:57:36,067 that he decides, I need to be a part of this. 1068 00:57:36,162 --> 00:57:39,079 This is an ambition he had since he was young 1069 00:57:39,206 --> 00:57:42,374 to be a part of something that was bigger than himself. 1070 00:57:42,460 --> 00:57:44,910 - He may have been somewhat content being a lawyer, 1071 00:57:45,004 --> 00:57:47,463 but he obviously still had the political bug. 1072 00:57:47,548 --> 00:57:48,747 He still had the itch. 1073 00:57:48,841 --> 00:57:51,300 - Lincoln helped form the Republican Party in Illinois. 1074 00:57:51,385 --> 00:57:54,252 And he becomes the leading candidate in 1858 1075 00:57:54,346 --> 00:57:55,929 for the next Senate run, 1076 00:57:56,056 --> 00:57:58,307 running against Stephen Douglas, 1077 00:57:58,392 --> 00:58:01,185 who was not only now already a Senator, 1078 00:58:01,270 --> 00:58:04,146 but he's the presumptive presidential candidate in 1860 1079 00:58:04,231 --> 00:58:06,190 for the Democratic Party. 1080 00:58:06,275 --> 00:58:07,983 - Lincoln gives an acceptance speech 1081 00:58:08,068 --> 00:58:10,936 and it's the most radical thing he's ever said. 1082 00:58:11,030 --> 00:58:13,655 And his friends, hearing him rehearse it, 1083 00:58:13,741 --> 00:58:16,158 had begged him not to deliver that speech. 1084 00:58:16,243 --> 00:58:18,577 They thought it would end his career. 1085 00:58:18,662 --> 00:58:21,538 - Lincoln's speech uses a biblical phrase 1086 00:58:21,624 --> 00:58:26,451 from the book of Mark, calling America a house divided. 1087 00:58:26,545 --> 00:58:29,713 - He declares, a house divided shall not stand. 1088 00:58:29,798 --> 00:58:32,549 We can't have a nation that's half slave and half free. 1089 00:58:32,635 --> 00:58:35,594 It does mark a turning point in his mind. 1090 00:58:35,679 --> 00:58:38,555 He recognizes that in his political life, 1091 00:58:38,641 --> 00:58:40,474 he's gonna have to object to slavery 1092 00:58:40,601 --> 00:58:43,560 in a way that is tougher and more controversial. 1093 00:58:44,897 --> 00:58:47,231 - Lincoln begins to campaign through the state 1094 00:58:47,316 --> 00:58:50,817 and invites Douglas to a series of joint debates. 1095 00:58:50,945 --> 00:58:52,027 Douglas writes back and says, 1096 00:58:52,112 --> 00:58:54,780 I'm under no obligation to meet jointly with you. 1097 00:58:54,865 --> 00:58:56,031 I'm the incumbent Senator, 1098 00:58:56,116 --> 00:59:00,151 I'm the most famous politician in America at this moment. 1099 00:59:00,246 --> 00:59:03,455 Why am I going to give you space on a platform with me? 1100 00:59:03,541 --> 00:59:04,831 But Douglas can't resist. 1101 00:59:05,793 --> 00:59:08,085 (audience cheers and applauds) 1102 00:59:08,170 --> 00:59:10,796 - How you doing, everyone? 1103 00:59:10,881 --> 00:59:13,215 Thank you so much for coming out. 1104 00:59:13,300 --> 00:59:14,332 I Appreciate you. 1105 00:59:14,426 --> 00:59:16,501 - [Doris] Douglas comes in as the champion. 1106 00:59:16,595 --> 00:59:19,304 He comes in to train with a special car decorated. 1107 00:59:19,390 --> 00:59:21,306 He comes with servants and his secretaries. 1108 00:59:21,392 --> 00:59:24,518 - Mayor, good to see you. 1109 00:59:24,645 --> 00:59:25,686 - [Doris] And Lincoln has to walk 1110 00:59:25,813 --> 00:59:27,354 from one debate to another. 1111 00:59:28,774 --> 00:59:31,191 The reputation of Lincoln and Douglas 1112 00:59:31,318 --> 00:59:32,693 were both on the line here. 1113 00:59:34,113 --> 00:59:35,687 - [Christy] They literally are setting up 1114 00:59:35,781 --> 00:59:38,657 the conflict in the nation. 1115 00:59:38,742 --> 00:59:41,368 (bright music) 1116 00:59:49,169 --> 00:59:51,870 - Now I've known Lincoln from when we were both young men, 1117 00:59:51,964 --> 00:59:55,257 and no one can compete with him in wrestling, 1118 00:59:55,342 --> 01:00:00,971 or a foot race or on whiskey in his grocery store. 1119 01:00:01,056 --> 01:00:03,214 (audience laughs) 1120 01:00:03,309 --> 01:00:06,184 We served on the state legislature together. 1121 01:00:06,270 --> 01:00:10,397 And then Mr. Lincoln submerged for a time, 1122 01:00:10,524 --> 01:00:15,226 until he reappeared in the hallowed halls of Congress, 1123 01:00:15,321 --> 01:00:17,779 where he distinguished himself 1124 01:00:17,865 --> 01:00:21,783 by his opposition to the war with Mexico. 1125 01:00:21,869 --> 01:00:26,913 Taking the side of the common enemy against his own country. 1126 01:00:27,708 --> 01:00:29,541 (audience boos) 1127 01:00:29,627 --> 01:00:31,585 And he, again, submerged. 1128 01:00:32,630 --> 01:00:36,131 He came up again in 1854, 1129 01:00:36,216 --> 01:00:39,259 this time in cahoots with Fred Douglass 1130 01:00:39,386 --> 01:00:41,920 and his abolitionist friends, 1131 01:00:42,014 --> 01:00:47,476 just in time to create this black Republican platform. 1132 01:00:47,561 --> 01:00:49,019 (audience boos) 1133 01:00:49,104 --> 01:00:52,097 - That's right, Douglas, hit him again. 1134 01:00:52,191 --> 01:00:53,357 - Lincoln you're two faced! 1135 01:00:53,442 --> 01:00:55,567 (audience laughs) 1136 01:00:55,653 --> 01:00:58,603 - If I had two faces you think I'd be wearing this one? 1137 01:00:58,697 --> 01:01:02,699 (audience laughs and applauds) 1138 01:01:04,036 --> 01:01:06,578 - [Doris] This old rivalry has come to roost. 1139 01:01:06,664 --> 01:01:07,779 - Very good, very good. 1140 01:01:07,873 --> 01:01:10,615 - Lincoln felt that his life had been a flat failure 1141 01:01:10,709 --> 01:01:12,000 compared to Douglas's. 1142 01:01:12,086 --> 01:01:14,285 Douglas had gotten further than he had, 1143 01:01:14,380 --> 01:01:17,589 and now they're running against each other for the Senate. 1144 01:01:17,675 --> 01:01:20,842 - Now, I am no giant like judge Douglas. 1145 01:01:20,928 --> 01:01:22,293 (audience laughs) 1146 01:01:22,388 --> 01:01:23,261 I'm a mere mortal. 1147 01:01:24,598 --> 01:01:27,641 No, his ambition, it far exceeds my own. 1148 01:01:29,061 --> 01:01:31,520 His party, they all expect him to be president one day. 1149 01:01:31,980 --> 01:01:33,188 (Crowd agreeing) 1150 01:01:33,273 --> 01:01:35,774 And then they will all reap the benefits of his greatness. 1151 01:01:35,859 --> 01:01:36,983 (Crowd agreeing) 1152 01:01:37,111 --> 01:01:41,146 But nobody has ever looked at my lean, lank face 1153 01:01:41,240 --> 01:01:43,365 and expected me to be president. 1154 01:01:43,450 --> 01:01:44,149 (audience laughs) 1155 01:01:44,243 --> 01:01:45,316 - People come to these debates 1156 01:01:45,411 --> 01:01:48,161 with all the fervent love and attention 1157 01:01:48,288 --> 01:01:51,540 that they would bring to a giant sporting event today. 1158 01:01:51,625 --> 01:01:52,541 But these were more important 1159 01:01:52,626 --> 01:01:55,168 than any sporting event could have been. 1160 01:01:55,295 --> 01:01:58,714 - I am here to talk about basic principles. 1161 01:01:58,799 --> 01:02:00,340 (Crowd agreeing) 1162 01:02:00,467 --> 01:02:02,843 Now, if the Negro is a man, 1163 01:02:03,929 --> 01:02:05,503 while then my ancient faith teaches me 1164 01:02:05,597 --> 01:02:07,055 that all men are created equal, 1165 01:02:07,141 --> 01:02:08,006 (Crowd agreeing) 1166 01:02:08,100 --> 01:02:11,226 and that there can be no moral right 1167 01:02:11,311 --> 01:02:14,688 in connection with one man making a slave of another. 1168 01:02:14,815 --> 01:02:18,692 (audience cheers and applauds) 1169 01:02:20,320 --> 01:02:23,113 - Now let's talk about principle. 1170 01:02:24,491 --> 01:02:29,035 I care more for the great principle of self government, 1171 01:02:29,830 --> 01:02:31,204 the right of the people to rule, 1172 01:02:31,331 --> 01:02:34,916 than I do for all the Negros in Christiandom. 1173 01:02:35,002 --> 01:02:36,251 (Audience applauding) 1174 01:02:36,336 --> 01:02:40,547 - When a white man governs himself, that is self-governed. 1175 01:02:40,674 --> 01:02:42,549 But when he governed himself 1176 01:02:42,676 --> 01:02:44,885 and he also governs another man, 1177 01:02:45,012 --> 01:02:48,430 that is more than self government, there is despotism. 1178 01:02:48,515 --> 01:02:50,515 (audience cheers and applauds) 1179 01:02:50,601 --> 01:02:56,313 - Mr. Lincoln and his ilk want Negro equality in all things. 1180 01:02:56,398 --> 01:02:57,388 (audience boos) 1181 01:02:57,483 --> 01:02:59,900 If they get their way, 1182 01:03:00,027 --> 01:03:04,529 Negroes and whites will be permitted to marry. 1183 01:03:04,615 --> 01:03:05,280 (audience boos) 1184 01:03:05,365 --> 01:03:08,825 Negroes will serve on juries. 1185 01:03:08,911 --> 01:03:10,235 (audience boos) 1186 01:03:10,329 --> 01:03:12,204 Negroes will vote. 1187 01:03:12,289 --> 01:03:13,997 (audience boos) 1188 01:03:14,082 --> 01:03:15,040 - During these debates, 1189 01:03:15,125 --> 01:03:18,919 Lincoln's not an abolitionist by any stretch, 1190 01:03:19,046 --> 01:03:22,380 but he's inadvertently making their arguments 1191 01:03:22,466 --> 01:03:26,251 as he's looking for logic 1192 01:03:26,345 --> 01:03:29,304 in the constitutionality of all this. 1193 01:03:29,389 --> 01:03:32,924 - And he goes way back to Euclid. 1194 01:03:33,018 --> 01:03:35,602 Euclid is very much about how you prove something 1195 01:03:35,729 --> 01:03:38,188 beyond any shadow of a doubt. 1196 01:03:38,273 --> 01:03:42,600 And he's working toward crushing the fallacious arguments 1197 01:03:42,694 --> 01:03:44,027 on behalf of slavery. 1198 01:03:45,197 --> 01:03:47,280 - But like most people of the day, 1199 01:03:47,407 --> 01:03:49,658 he absolutely fervently believes 1200 01:03:49,743 --> 01:03:51,493 that black people are inferior, 1201 01:03:51,578 --> 01:03:53,537 and whether they're enslaved or freed. 1202 01:03:54,915 --> 01:03:58,333 - Just because I believe the Negro should be free, 1203 01:03:58,418 --> 01:04:01,253 does not mean that I want to marry one. 1204 01:04:01,338 --> 01:04:03,380 (audience laughs) 1205 01:04:03,465 --> 01:04:07,509 As a nation, we began by declaring 1206 01:04:07,594 --> 01:04:09,719 that all men are created equal. 1207 01:04:11,515 --> 01:04:15,267 We now practically read it all men are created equal, 1208 01:04:15,352 --> 01:04:17,143 except Negroes. 1209 01:04:17,271 --> 01:04:20,730 Soon it will read, all men are created equal 1210 01:04:20,816 --> 01:04:24,359 except Negroes and foreigners and Catholics. 1211 01:04:24,444 --> 01:04:26,486 (Crowd agreeing) 1212 01:04:26,613 --> 01:04:29,322 Negroes, like many other men, 1213 01:04:30,409 --> 01:04:33,151 may not be equal in all things. 1214 01:04:33,245 --> 01:04:35,328 but if they are men, 1215 01:04:35,455 --> 01:04:38,164 they are entitled to their right 1216 01:04:38,292 --> 01:04:41,668 to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 1217 01:04:41,795 --> 01:04:45,755 (audience cheers and applauds) 1218 01:04:48,719 --> 01:04:52,012 The real issue, which will last long after 1219 01:04:52,139 --> 01:04:54,839 the tongues of judge Douglas and I are silent, 1220 01:04:54,933 --> 01:04:58,894 is the eternal struggle between these two principles, 1221 01:04:59,646 --> 01:05:03,014 between right and wrong. 1222 01:05:03,108 --> 01:05:07,110 (audience cheers and applauds) 1223 01:05:12,659 --> 01:05:14,576 - What Lincoln does so brilliantly 1224 01:05:14,661 --> 01:05:17,203 is he takes that core language 1225 01:05:17,331 --> 01:05:19,372 of the Declaration of Independence 1226 01:05:19,499 --> 01:05:23,293 and turns it into a nation's moral compass. 1227 01:05:24,504 --> 01:05:27,047 And he couples that with constitutionality. 1228 01:05:27,174 --> 01:05:29,374 And he couples that with scripture, 1229 01:05:29,468 --> 01:05:32,802 he has a really powerful argument. 1230 01:05:33,931 --> 01:05:36,097 - This is where Lincoln makes his name. 1231 01:05:36,183 --> 01:05:38,266 One debate after another. 1232 01:05:38,352 --> 01:05:41,519 Everything had prepared him for the repertoire of talents 1233 01:05:41,605 --> 01:05:43,688 that he was able to show in these debates. 1234 01:05:43,774 --> 01:05:46,358 He's telling stories, he's funny. 1235 01:05:46,443 --> 01:05:49,486 He can talk philosophically, he can talk politically. 1236 01:05:50,656 --> 01:05:52,280 - The Lincoln Douglas debates helped Lincoln, 1237 01:05:52,366 --> 01:05:56,284 it raised his profile, lifted him up a lot. 1238 01:05:56,370 --> 01:05:58,078 But he loses the election. 1239 01:05:59,831 --> 01:06:02,332 - One of the things about Lincoln that's amazing 1240 01:06:02,417 --> 01:06:06,753 is that he loses a lot, but the great ones in life 1241 01:06:07,881 --> 01:06:10,966 take a loss and they come back. 1242 01:06:12,219 --> 01:06:14,469 - Even though he loses this election, 1243 01:06:14,554 --> 01:06:19,015 once again the loss becomes a platform for him to grow. 1244 01:06:19,101 --> 01:06:22,477 Underlying it all is there's a passion that he has, 1245 01:06:22,562 --> 01:06:25,230 a passion for that cause of antislavery, 1246 01:06:25,315 --> 01:06:27,190 which is coming to a head. 1247 01:06:27,275 --> 01:06:30,110 (dramatic music) 1248 01:06:33,699 --> 01:06:38,743 - In 1859, John Brown, who left Kansas. 1249 01:06:39,413 --> 01:06:42,122 He and his small band of people, blacks and whites, 1250 01:06:42,249 --> 01:06:43,748 many of them his own children, 1251 01:06:43,834 --> 01:06:46,793 went into what was then Western Virginia 1252 01:06:46,920 --> 01:06:48,378 to a town called Harper's Ferry, 1253 01:06:48,463 --> 01:06:52,173 which was a federal armory, to attack the arsenal. 1254 01:06:53,093 --> 01:06:55,176 He's trying to organize an army of interracial folks 1255 01:06:55,262 --> 01:06:58,138 to go into the south, arm the slaves, 1256 01:06:58,265 --> 01:07:00,465 and destroy the slave system. 1257 01:07:00,559 --> 01:07:03,435 - Those who would not join him, like Frederick Douglass, 1258 01:07:03,520 --> 01:07:07,689 gave him moral support and gave him funds. 1259 01:07:07,774 --> 01:07:10,025 - [Richard] The attack was a disaster. 1260 01:07:10,110 --> 01:07:13,403 - [Edna] John Brown was captured and executed 1261 01:07:13,488 --> 01:07:15,739 and he sacrificed two of his sons. 1262 01:07:17,951 --> 01:07:21,161 - In the south there is an absolute fear 1263 01:07:21,288 --> 01:07:24,155 that there are more John Browns out there lurking. 1264 01:07:24,249 --> 01:07:27,000 The thought of a massive slave rebellion 1265 01:07:27,127 --> 01:07:29,044 unhinged white southerners. 1266 01:07:29,129 --> 01:07:32,547 And so we start to see more talks about secession. 1267 01:07:32,632 --> 01:07:36,301 Meanwhile, many people in the north celebrated Brown. 1268 01:07:36,386 --> 01:07:37,677 Church bells are tolling. 1269 01:07:37,804 --> 01:07:39,637 People thought that what he had done 1270 01:07:39,723 --> 01:07:41,056 was the right thing to do. 1271 01:07:41,141 --> 01:07:43,558 Using violence to end slavery 1272 01:07:43,643 --> 01:07:45,852 in a way that most Republican politicians, 1273 01:07:45,979 --> 01:07:46,978 including Lincoln, 1274 01:07:47,064 --> 01:07:50,231 were not willing to even consider at this point. 1275 01:07:50,317 --> 01:07:53,068 And the reaction to Brown is so important 1276 01:07:53,153 --> 01:07:56,029 in setting up the election of 1860. 1277 01:07:56,990 --> 01:07:59,023 - In 1860, the Republican Party 1278 01:07:59,117 --> 01:08:01,743 was only running a second presidential candidate. 1279 01:08:01,828 --> 01:08:04,287 Many Republicans assumed that the famous New Yorker, 1280 01:08:04,372 --> 01:08:08,199 William Henry Seward, would be the Republican nominee. 1281 01:08:08,293 --> 01:08:10,502 - Seward had carried the banner 1282 01:08:10,587 --> 01:08:12,587 of the anti-slavery movement for a decade, 1283 01:08:12,672 --> 01:08:14,297 he was a great orator, 1284 01:08:14,382 --> 01:08:17,258 and beloved in large sections of the north. 1285 01:08:17,344 --> 01:08:21,470 - But Dred Scott, Kansas Nebraska Act, John Brown, 1286 01:08:21,556 --> 01:08:24,182 all these things have been ripping the country apart. 1287 01:08:24,267 --> 01:08:25,225 Seward was not a candidate 1288 01:08:25,352 --> 01:08:27,894 who people saw as could bring that together. 1289 01:08:28,021 --> 01:08:29,938 - So Republican leaders in the east 1290 01:08:30,023 --> 01:08:33,691 began looking around for other possible alternatives. 1291 01:08:33,777 --> 01:08:36,611 - [Harold] The Young Men's Republican Union 1292 01:08:36,696 --> 01:08:41,866 decides to organize a series of lectures in New York. 1293 01:08:42,994 --> 01:08:44,619 - Lincoln accepted the invitation immediately. 1294 01:08:44,703 --> 01:08:46,955 He was relatively unknown in the east. 1295 01:08:47,040 --> 01:08:48,706 If he can make an impression there, 1296 01:08:48,791 --> 01:08:51,251 then he can leave an impression nationwide. 1297 01:08:51,378 --> 01:08:53,710 The day of the speech he had his photograph taken 1298 01:08:53,797 --> 01:08:55,421 by Matthew Brady. 1299 01:08:55,549 --> 01:08:56,422 That's an awareness 1300 01:08:56,550 --> 01:08:59,092 that he's making himself a national figure. 1301 01:09:00,594 --> 01:09:01,928 - I'd like to start by expressing 1302 01:09:02,055 --> 01:09:04,589 my sincere gratitude to the 1303 01:09:04,683 --> 01:09:06,640 Young Men's Central Republican Union 1304 01:09:06,726 --> 01:09:08,101 for all the work they've done to publicize- 1305 01:09:08,228 --> 01:09:09,935 - [Doris] By the time he got to Cooper Union, 1306 01:09:10,063 --> 01:09:12,981 even though he's gotten a new suit, it's badly wrinkled, 1307 01:09:13,066 --> 01:09:14,648 his hair was disheveled. 1308 01:09:14,734 --> 01:09:15,942 He does look awkward. 1309 01:09:17,737 --> 01:09:19,654 - That's Lincoln? 1310 01:09:19,738 --> 01:09:21,656 Looks like he slept in a barn. 1311 01:09:25,620 --> 01:09:27,996 - Mr. Lincoln, is there anything you need? 1312 01:09:28,081 --> 01:09:29,831 - No, Mr. McCormick. 1313 01:09:31,542 --> 01:09:34,085 I reckon if I needed anything, it's too late now. 1314 01:09:34,171 --> 01:09:36,504 - [Announcer] Eminent citizen of the west, 1315 01:09:36,590 --> 01:09:40,842 ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. 1316 01:09:40,926 --> 01:09:45,013 (audience cheers and applauds) 1317 01:09:57,443 --> 01:09:59,977 - Mister chairman and citizens of New York. 1318 01:10:00,071 --> 01:10:01,779 the facts I will deal with, 1319 01:10:03,116 --> 01:10:07,076 the facts I will deal with tonight are nothing new to you. 1320 01:10:08,079 --> 01:10:10,487 If there shall be any novelty, 1321 01:10:10,582 --> 01:10:12,457 it may be in the mode 1322 01:10:12,541 --> 01:10:15,493 of presenting the facts and observations. 1323 01:10:15,587 --> 01:10:17,670 - Sounds like an out of tune fiddle. 1324 01:10:17,797 --> 01:10:19,505 - Give him a chance. 1325 01:10:20,467 --> 01:10:21,466 - Lincoln comes out 1326 01:10:21,550 --> 01:10:24,969 with his Indiana hick accent filling the air. 1327 01:10:25,055 --> 01:10:27,004 A man taking notes writes, 1328 01:10:27,098 --> 01:10:30,141 this is New York, this will never do. 1329 01:10:30,227 --> 01:10:33,561 - And now if they would listen, as I suppose they will not, 1330 01:10:33,647 --> 01:10:36,847 I would address a few words to the southern people. 1331 01:10:36,942 --> 01:10:41,184 You have a specific and well understood illusion 1332 01:10:41,279 --> 01:10:43,529 to an assumed constitutional right 1333 01:10:44,741 --> 01:10:46,691 to take slaves into federal territories 1334 01:10:46,785 --> 01:10:48,493 and hold them there as property. 1335 01:10:49,496 --> 01:10:50,495 But no such right 1336 01:10:50,580 --> 01:10:52,871 is specifically written in the Constitution. 1337 01:10:54,000 --> 01:10:55,875 Your purpose then, plainly stated, 1338 01:10:56,002 --> 01:10:59,036 is that you will destroy the government 1339 01:10:59,130 --> 01:11:01,380 unless you be allowed to construe 1340 01:11:01,508 --> 01:11:03,633 and enforce the Constitution as pleased. 1341 01:11:04,844 --> 01:11:09,264 You will rule or ruin in all events. 1342 01:11:09,349 --> 01:11:12,016 - Something happens around 10 minutes in. 1343 01:11:13,353 --> 01:11:17,981 His voice relaxes, its high pitch tininess melts 1344 01:11:18,066 --> 01:11:20,942 into something more endurable, more bearable. 1345 01:11:21,027 --> 01:11:23,394 His eyes begin to flash. 1346 01:11:23,487 --> 01:11:26,230 - Wrong as we think slavery is, 1347 01:11:26,324 --> 01:11:29,534 we can yet afford to let it alone where it is. 1348 01:11:29,619 --> 01:11:32,704 But can we allow it to spread into the national territories 1349 01:11:32,789 --> 01:11:34,746 and overrun us here in the free states? 1350 01:11:36,543 --> 01:11:39,744 If our sense of duty forbids this, 1351 01:11:39,838 --> 01:11:45,425 then let us stand by our duty, fearlessly and effectively. 1352 01:11:46,803 --> 01:11:51,889 Let us have faith that right makes might. 1353 01:11:53,059 --> 01:11:56,728 And in that faith, let us to the end, 1354 01:11:56,813 --> 01:12:00,097 dare to do our duty as we understand it. 1355 01:12:00,191 --> 01:12:04,943 (audience cheers and applauds) 1356 01:12:05,071 --> 01:12:07,405 - Here here! 1357 01:12:07,490 --> 01:12:10,032 What do you think of Lincoln now? 1358 01:12:14,039 --> 01:12:15,455 - I appreciate that very much. 1359 01:12:15,582 --> 01:12:17,957 I appreciate that very much. 1360 01:12:20,920 --> 01:12:22,754 - [Harold] He mesmerized this crowd. 1361 01:12:24,090 --> 01:12:28,134 - After the Cooper Union speech, he was all over the media. 1362 01:12:28,261 --> 01:12:30,303 If it had been on the internet today, 1363 01:12:30,430 --> 01:12:32,263 it would have gone viral. 1364 01:12:32,349 --> 01:12:35,299 - The next morning, every newspaper in New York City 1365 01:12:35,393 --> 01:12:37,477 carried an account of this speech. 1366 01:12:37,603 --> 01:12:41,305 And it's reprinted in Detroit, in Washington, in Chicago, 1367 01:12:41,398 --> 01:12:44,650 even a German language version of this speech. 1368 01:12:44,778 --> 01:12:46,611 - Invitations poured into him 1369 01:12:46,696 --> 01:12:49,781 to go on further speeches all throughout New England. 1370 01:12:49,866 --> 01:12:52,650 - You have the 1860 election coming up. 1371 01:12:52,744 --> 01:12:54,818 There are some Republicans who see 1372 01:12:54,913 --> 01:12:57,321 this guy in Lincoln that is fresh, 1373 01:12:57,415 --> 01:13:00,157 he's folksy, he's moderate. 1374 01:13:00,251 --> 01:13:03,544 - He does seem to not be as radical as William Seward, 1375 01:13:03,630 --> 01:13:06,330 the absolute front runner or Salmon Chase, 1376 01:13:06,424 --> 01:13:07,998 the governor of Ohio. 1377 01:13:08,093 --> 01:13:10,166 He's not as conservative as Edward Bates, 1378 01:13:10,261 --> 01:13:12,553 a judge, former Congressman, from Missouri. 1379 01:13:12,639 --> 01:13:16,173 Those are the three main contenders for the nomination. 1380 01:13:16,267 --> 01:13:18,675 So step-by-step, he's accepting the fact that, 1381 01:13:18,770 --> 01:13:22,346 I'm really running for the president of the United States. 1382 01:13:22,440 --> 01:13:24,565 And then he had this extraordinary team 1383 01:13:24,651 --> 01:13:27,527 headed by judge Davis going to be his representative 1384 01:13:27,654 --> 01:13:29,695 at the Republican National Convention. 1385 01:13:29,823 --> 01:13:30,862 And they loved him. 1386 01:13:30,990 --> 01:13:32,865 They wanted to do everything they could for him. 1387 01:13:32,992 --> 01:13:37,245 - Now judge, you've got to make sure that everyone knows 1388 01:13:37,330 --> 01:13:38,529 which delegation they're supposed 1389 01:13:38,623 --> 01:13:39,705 to make friends with in Chicago. 1390 01:13:39,833 --> 01:13:42,366 - I've drawn up a list for our people to look after. 1391 01:13:42,460 --> 01:13:46,045 - Tell them not to press too hard or fuss too much. 1392 01:13:46,172 --> 01:13:48,539 - We have to make some fuss. 1393 01:13:48,633 --> 01:13:50,091 There'll be a lot of New York men there 1394 01:13:50,175 --> 01:13:52,041 pushing hard for Seward. 1395 01:13:52,137 --> 01:13:54,887 If he takes it on the first ballot we're licked. 1396 01:13:55,014 --> 01:13:57,139 - He won't. - He might. 1397 01:13:59,352 --> 01:14:02,103 I understand that I'm not anybody's first love, 1398 01:14:02,188 --> 01:14:03,813 but I could be people's second. 1399 01:14:08,318 --> 01:14:10,528 If I'm the second biggest frog in that puddle, 1400 01:14:10,612 --> 01:14:13,739 I got a fighting chance to jump over the biggest one. 1401 01:14:14,826 --> 01:14:15,992 - What we've got to do 1402 01:14:16,077 --> 01:14:19,996 is get the delegates from Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Ohio 1403 01:14:21,374 --> 01:14:22,573 to go Lincoln. 1404 01:14:22,666 --> 01:14:24,742 - Isn't Ohio just gonna go to Chase? 1405 01:14:24,835 --> 01:14:26,794 - Yeah, and Pennsylvania'll be solid Cameron. 1406 01:14:26,880 --> 01:14:28,379 - That's just the first ballot. 1407 01:14:28,465 --> 01:14:30,965 They're gonna have to switch to somebody. 1408 01:14:32,093 --> 01:14:35,261 But we're gonna have to promise them something, 1409 01:14:36,514 --> 01:14:37,638 to make it worth their while. 1410 01:14:37,724 --> 01:14:39,089 - No. 1411 01:14:39,184 --> 01:14:40,683 No, judge. 1412 01:14:42,395 --> 01:14:44,603 Don't make any pledges that will tie me up. 1413 01:14:47,650 --> 01:14:48,691 Okay? 1414 01:14:49,818 --> 01:14:52,737 I can't be there so you've got to do as I would do. 1415 01:15:04,584 --> 01:15:05,958 - [Allen] The Republican National Committee 1416 01:15:06,085 --> 01:15:09,545 meets in May, 1860 in Chicago. 1417 01:15:10,590 --> 01:15:11,923 - [Doris] It's a very exciting thing, 1418 01:15:12,008 --> 01:15:14,383 the Republican Party is feeling its oats. 1419 01:15:16,179 --> 01:15:18,846 - The presidential nominee for the Republican Party, 1420 01:15:18,932 --> 01:15:22,141 needs 233 votes to win. 1421 01:15:23,436 --> 01:15:24,977 - [Allen] So while Lincoln is in Springfield, 1422 01:15:25,103 --> 01:15:28,105 he has his friends on the ground in Chicago, 1423 01:15:28,191 --> 01:15:33,236 headed by Judge Davis, organizing as busily as beavers. 1424 01:15:33,780 --> 01:15:34,862 (gavel thuds) 1425 01:15:34,948 --> 01:15:35,947 - Order! 1426 01:15:37,116 --> 01:15:41,818 Fellow Republicans, please join your delegations. 1427 01:15:41,913 --> 01:15:43,538 - [Doris] His team knows that the importance is 1428 01:15:43,623 --> 01:15:45,373 to win the battleground states, 1429 01:15:45,458 --> 01:15:48,157 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana. 1430 01:15:48,253 --> 01:15:51,337 - We're about to begin the first ballot. 1431 01:15:53,633 --> 01:15:56,634 - I know you're gonna vote Cameron in the first ballot. 1432 01:15:56,719 --> 01:15:58,669 What about Lincoln in the second? 1433 01:15:58,763 --> 01:16:00,596 Can you swing Pennsylvania our way? 1434 01:16:01,599 --> 01:16:02,682 - That's a big ask. 1435 01:16:03,643 --> 01:16:04,850 - What's it gonna take? 1436 01:16:06,646 --> 01:16:07,603 - What've you got? 1437 01:16:12,151 --> 01:16:13,985 - [Greg] As the first round of voting goes, 1438 01:16:14,070 --> 01:16:17,196 Seward, as expected, gets the most votes. 1439 01:16:17,323 --> 01:16:18,522 - [Doris] The extraordinary thing is 1440 01:16:18,616 --> 01:16:20,532 that Lincoln comes in second. 1441 01:16:20,660 --> 01:16:22,743 - Seward might have some problems. 1442 01:16:22,829 --> 01:16:24,695 He's too radical. 1443 01:16:24,789 --> 01:16:26,530 The backdrop of all of this 1444 01:16:26,624 --> 01:16:29,041 is we've just dealt with an execution of John Brown 1445 01:16:29,168 --> 01:16:31,535 and the fever around John Brown. 1446 01:16:31,629 --> 01:16:33,504 You've got this relatively new party 1447 01:16:33,590 --> 01:16:37,374 talking about holding slavery where it is, 1448 01:16:37,468 --> 01:16:40,011 but you also know that people who have aligned themselves 1449 01:16:40,096 --> 01:16:43,047 with Republicans are saying, end it now. 1450 01:16:43,141 --> 01:16:46,392 - And so the Republican Party has to make a determination, 1451 01:16:46,519 --> 01:16:47,393 principle 1452 01:16:49,105 --> 01:16:50,021 electability. 1453 01:16:50,106 --> 01:16:53,398 - We're about to begin the second ballot. 1454 01:16:54,318 --> 01:16:56,443 - So, what did Pennsylvania say? 1455 01:16:56,529 --> 01:16:58,728 - They want treasury for Cameron. 1456 01:16:58,823 --> 01:17:00,823 - Abe said, make no pledges, remember? 1457 01:17:02,201 --> 01:17:02,907 - Abe's not here. 1458 01:17:04,662 --> 01:17:06,077 - So what did you tell them? 1459 01:17:12,378 --> 01:17:15,579 - [Doris] Lincoln is in Springfield the entire time. 1460 01:17:15,673 --> 01:17:18,049 - Mr. Lincoln, good luck for today. 1461 01:17:18,885 --> 01:17:21,085 - I appreciate that, Mr. Hay. 1462 01:17:21,179 --> 01:17:23,094 - Don't you have anything for us? 1463 01:17:25,016 --> 01:17:28,768 - All I have is this message from Judge Davis, 1464 01:17:29,896 --> 01:17:32,605 I'm very hopeful, don't be excited. 1465 01:17:33,900 --> 01:17:35,273 Any idea what that means? 1466 01:17:36,568 --> 01:17:40,029 - After the second ballot, Seward gains a few more votes, 1467 01:17:40,990 --> 01:17:42,439 Lincoln gains many more 1468 01:17:42,532 --> 01:17:45,442 as delegations now switch to Lincoln. 1469 01:17:45,536 --> 01:17:46,661 They call for a third ballot. 1470 01:17:46,746 --> 01:17:49,455 - That idea that I would like to be your second love 1471 01:17:49,582 --> 01:17:51,123 if I can't get your first love 1472 01:17:51,250 --> 01:17:53,668 means that people who might've gone for Chase or Bates 1473 01:17:53,753 --> 01:17:55,169 now are going for Lincoln. 1474 01:17:55,254 --> 01:17:57,213 - That concludes the third ballot. 1475 01:17:58,257 --> 01:18:01,759 And as yet, no candidate has the majority. 1476 01:18:02,679 --> 01:18:04,594 So we will now reconvene. 1477 01:18:04,681 --> 01:18:07,014 - So on the final round of voting, 1478 01:18:07,100 --> 01:18:11,135 Lincoln has 231 and a half votes. 1479 01:18:11,228 --> 01:18:14,313 All he needs is another one and a half votes. 1480 01:18:15,525 --> 01:18:18,275 (gavel thuds) 1481 01:18:18,361 --> 01:18:19,235 - Order. 1482 01:18:20,446 --> 01:18:21,320 Order! 1483 01:18:24,075 --> 01:18:28,994 The state of Ohio wishes to change its vote. 1484 01:18:30,289 --> 01:18:33,082 Ohio, what is your final vote? 1485 01:18:34,460 --> 01:18:37,920 Ohio, give me a vote now, what is your final vote? 1486 01:18:39,298 --> 01:18:42,049 (dramatic music) 1487 01:18:49,142 --> 01:18:51,559 The state of Ohio wishes to change its vote. 1488 01:18:52,645 --> 01:18:57,440 It wishes to switch four votes from Mr. Chase 1489 01:18:59,986 --> 01:19:04,947 to Mr. Lincoln. 1490 01:19:06,325 --> 01:19:11,287 (audience cheers and applauds) - We've won. 1491 01:19:14,500 --> 01:19:18,585 - Send a telegram to Springfield, straight away! 1492 01:19:22,008 --> 01:19:23,048 Yes! 1493 01:19:23,175 --> 01:19:24,875 (audience cheers and applauds) 1494 01:19:24,969 --> 01:19:27,636 Yes, yes, yes, Lincoln, Lincoln! 1495 01:19:30,308 --> 01:19:32,183 - The gentlemen walks into the theater, 1496 01:19:32,268 --> 01:19:34,769 and sets his stovetop hat down beside him. 1497 01:19:34,853 --> 01:19:36,771 Well, he gets so wrapped up in the drama 1498 01:19:36,856 --> 01:19:39,565 that he didn't realize that old stout woman 1499 01:19:39,692 --> 01:19:41,317 come and sit down right next to him. 1500 01:19:41,402 --> 01:19:42,276 Yes? 1501 01:19:46,199 --> 01:19:47,114 It's from Chicago. 1502 01:19:54,999 --> 01:19:57,958 (advisors clapping) 1503 01:19:58,044 --> 01:20:00,744 - Congratulations, sir. 1504 01:20:00,838 --> 01:20:03,964 - Mr. Hay, thank you. 1505 01:20:04,050 --> 01:20:05,800 Thank you, gentlemen. - Congratulations. 1506 01:20:05,885 --> 01:20:07,416 - Thank you, gentlemen. 1507 01:20:07,512 --> 01:20:10,179 Thank you, thank you, thank you. 1508 01:20:10,264 --> 01:20:10,930 Wow. 1509 01:20:12,016 --> 01:20:16,684 Well, thank you. gentlemen. 1510 01:20:18,231 --> 01:20:19,146 If you'll excuse me, 1511 01:20:20,566 --> 01:20:21,732 there's a little woman on Eighth Street 1512 01:20:21,818 --> 01:20:23,567 who will be glad to hear the news. 1513 01:20:23,653 --> 01:20:24,777 - Yes she will. 1514 01:20:24,904 --> 01:20:27,947 (advisors clapping) 1515 01:20:32,036 --> 01:20:34,327 - Lincoln's nomination shocked people. 1516 01:20:35,081 --> 01:20:37,164 They had expected Seward to win, 1517 01:20:37,250 --> 01:20:38,916 but this new guy had won. 1518 01:20:39,001 --> 01:20:42,002 And there's an excitement and they rally around him. 1519 01:20:42,088 --> 01:20:45,172 - When Lincoln gets the nomination in May of 1860 1520 01:20:45,258 --> 01:20:48,884 in the north, he's the surprise nominee. 1521 01:20:48,969 --> 01:20:52,346 He doesn't have that much experience running anything. 1522 01:20:52,431 --> 01:20:54,306 He's not that well known. 1523 01:20:54,433 --> 01:20:56,976 - Frederick Douglass and other African-Americans 1524 01:20:57,103 --> 01:20:59,478 were not too sure of Lincoln. 1525 01:20:59,605 --> 01:21:01,313 Just because he was a Republican 1526 01:21:01,440 --> 01:21:03,816 doesn't mean that this man is an abolitionists 1527 01:21:03,943 --> 01:21:06,402 or that he's going to do us any good. 1528 01:21:06,487 --> 01:21:09,530 - At the same time, he's hated in the south, 1529 01:21:09,615 --> 01:21:13,483 and it was pretty clearly a racist hatred. 1530 01:21:13,577 --> 01:21:16,452 There were accusations that he had African blood 1531 01:21:16,539 --> 01:21:18,371 or his wife did. 1532 01:21:18,457 --> 01:21:21,375 Southern newspapers call him terrible names, 1533 01:21:21,460 --> 01:21:23,994 he's a baboon, he's a gorilla. 1534 01:21:24,088 --> 01:21:26,714 He's illiterate, he's a tyrant. 1535 01:21:27,800 --> 01:21:29,833 - But going into the general election, 1536 01:21:29,927 --> 01:21:32,928 there's a great possibility that the Republicans will win, 1537 01:21:33,014 --> 01:21:35,431 because the Democratic Party has split apart. 1538 01:21:36,809 --> 01:21:40,010 - There are four candidates in the election of 1860. 1539 01:21:40,103 --> 01:21:42,521 Of course, Lincoln for the Republican Party. 1540 01:21:42,648 --> 01:21:44,857 Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has split itself 1541 01:21:44,984 --> 01:21:46,108 into two factions. 1542 01:21:46,193 --> 01:21:47,234 You have John Breckenridge, 1543 01:21:47,320 --> 01:21:50,187 who's representing the white slaveholding south. 1544 01:21:50,281 --> 01:21:53,907 You have Stephen Douglas representing white northerners. 1545 01:21:53,993 --> 01:21:57,202 And then you have the Union Party led by John Bell. 1546 01:21:57,330 --> 01:22:00,030 - This is one of the most exciting elections 1547 01:22:00,124 --> 01:22:02,699 in American history to that point. 1548 01:22:02,793 --> 01:22:04,668 - The future of the nation, 1549 01:22:04,754 --> 01:22:08,371 the future of the democracy really seemed at stake. 1550 01:22:08,466 --> 01:22:12,092 In Europe during this time, some experiments in democracy 1551 01:22:12,178 --> 01:22:14,929 in France and Germany had failed 1552 01:22:15,014 --> 01:22:18,724 and had gone back to being monarchies and dictatorships. 1553 01:22:18,851 --> 01:22:21,434 This great American experiment in democracy 1554 01:22:21,520 --> 01:22:23,771 was so new and so fragile. 1555 01:22:25,316 --> 01:22:27,733 - Meanwhile, Lincoln's at home in Springfield. 1556 01:22:27,860 --> 01:22:30,559 It was not considered proper for a candidate 1557 01:22:30,655 --> 01:22:33,614 to really campaign for himself in those days. 1558 01:22:33,699 --> 01:22:34,949 - But during the election, 1559 01:22:35,034 --> 01:22:37,701 Matthew Brady's photograph of Lincoln 1560 01:22:37,787 --> 01:22:41,571 was so widely reproduced, that picture was everywhere. 1561 01:22:41,666 --> 01:22:43,040 It was in illustrated newspapers, 1562 01:22:43,125 --> 01:22:45,409 engravings for display, 1563 01:22:45,503 --> 01:22:47,753 pins you could wear on your lapel. 1564 01:22:49,173 --> 01:22:51,298 - A few weeks before the election, 1565 01:22:51,384 --> 01:22:53,916 Lincoln's receiving letters from people and reading them. 1566 01:22:54,011 --> 01:22:57,137 And he receives a letter from an 11 year old girl. 1567 01:22:57,223 --> 01:22:59,764 She asked him to grow a beard. 1568 01:22:59,892 --> 01:23:02,101 She said that she thought he would look better 1569 01:23:02,228 --> 01:23:05,646 and Lincoln does grow a beard and it looks good on him. 1570 01:23:05,731 --> 01:23:07,606 He's listening to his constituency. 1571 01:23:09,068 --> 01:23:10,275 - The day of the general election, 1572 01:23:10,403 --> 01:23:12,193 he's restless all day long. 1573 01:23:12,279 --> 01:23:14,612 He's been so familiar with disappointment 1574 01:23:14,740 --> 01:23:17,866 that he just fears something bad will happen. 1575 01:23:17,952 --> 01:23:20,327 About nine o'clock he and Judge Davis and the friends 1576 01:23:20,413 --> 01:23:23,789 go to the Telegraph office to hear the returns coming in. 1577 01:23:23,916 --> 01:23:25,374 Finally at midnight, 1578 01:23:25,459 --> 01:23:26,208 the word comes in 1579 01:23:26,293 --> 01:23:28,168 that New York has gone Republican. 1580 01:23:28,254 --> 01:23:31,505 Then the church bells ring, people gather in the streets. 1581 01:23:31,590 --> 01:23:32,840 This new guy had won. 1582 01:23:36,679 --> 01:23:37,886 And then he runs home, as he says, 1583 01:23:37,972 --> 01:23:42,766 to tell Mary and famously says, Mary Mary, we are elected. 1584 01:23:42,852 --> 01:23:45,436 Mary always believed that he had a destiny. 1585 01:23:45,521 --> 01:23:46,395 She surely believed in him 1586 01:23:46,480 --> 01:23:48,138 at the lowest moments of his life. 1587 01:23:48,232 --> 01:23:50,398 And now his great moment has arrived. 1588 01:23:52,778 --> 01:23:55,612 - But Lincoln, our most beloved president, 1589 01:23:55,698 --> 01:23:59,316 won with the second worst popular vote. 1590 01:23:59,410 --> 01:24:04,154 he only got 39.8% of the vote, which is very small. 1591 01:24:04,248 --> 01:24:06,874 We now get worried if someone has less than 50%, 1592 01:24:06,959 --> 01:24:09,326 he had less than 40%. 1593 01:24:09,420 --> 01:24:10,994 In the electoral college he 1594 01:24:11,088 --> 01:24:13,338 got more than half, got 180, 1595 01:24:13,466 --> 01:24:14,998 but still it was not 1596 01:24:15,092 --> 01:24:16,383 a resounding victory. 1597 01:24:16,469 --> 01:24:19,719 - Southern states have been saying, if this man is elected, 1598 01:24:19,805 --> 01:24:22,172 we will have no choice but to secede. 1599 01:24:22,266 --> 01:24:23,974 And as soon as he is elected, 1600 01:24:24,059 --> 01:24:28,011 South Carolina decided to have a secession convention 1601 01:24:28,105 --> 01:24:32,232 and by December of 1860, they decide to leave the Union. 1602 01:24:33,443 --> 01:24:37,987 - In February of 1861, seven US states seceded. 1603 01:24:38,074 --> 01:24:40,023 The Confederate government formed 1604 01:24:40,117 --> 01:24:43,410 and puts Jefferson Davis in place as president. 1605 01:24:43,496 --> 01:24:46,029 - They're seceding, for one thing and one thing only, 1606 01:24:46,123 --> 01:24:49,291 and that is the preservation of slavery and its expansion. 1607 01:24:49,376 --> 01:24:52,585 Anybody who says its' states' rights, it's tariffs, 1608 01:24:52,671 --> 01:24:54,213 this is nonsense. 1609 01:24:54,340 --> 01:24:56,173 You have not read the articles of secession 1610 01:24:56,258 --> 01:24:58,208 that every single state laid out. 1611 01:24:58,302 --> 01:25:01,261 And in every single one of them they've made very clear 1612 01:25:01,347 --> 01:25:03,046 why they are seceding. 1613 01:25:03,139 --> 01:25:05,682 And it is to preserve the institution of slavery 1614 01:25:05,768 --> 01:25:09,394 to control that financial interest forever. 1615 01:25:10,523 --> 01:25:13,389 - Lincoln believed over optimistically, 1616 01:25:13,484 --> 01:25:14,398 that there was a way 1617 01:25:14,527 --> 01:25:16,443 to get these southern slave holding states 1618 01:25:16,529 --> 01:25:19,987 back in the Union once he actually got to Washington. 1619 01:25:20,907 --> 01:25:22,699 But before he left Illinois, 1620 01:25:22,785 --> 01:25:25,786 Lincoln decided to visit his stepmother one more time. 1621 01:25:25,871 --> 01:25:28,789 He had refused to visit his father on his death bed, 1622 01:25:28,874 --> 01:25:31,500 so his father died without Lincoln seeing him again. 1623 01:25:32,378 --> 01:25:33,877 - If it were up to me, 1624 01:25:33,963 --> 01:25:36,004 you'd have no part in being a president. 1625 01:25:37,424 --> 01:25:41,552 The way folks talk, I can't help but worry about you. 1626 01:25:41,637 --> 01:25:44,012 - Oh, stop your worrying, I'll be fine. 1627 01:25:51,230 --> 01:25:52,688 Gotta get him a proper stone. 1628 01:25:54,984 --> 01:25:56,608 - He'd be proud of you. 1629 01:26:01,490 --> 01:26:04,199 - You always see the best in folks, momma. 1630 01:26:10,249 --> 01:26:13,666 We'll see each other again, I promise. 1631 01:26:23,846 --> 01:26:26,847 - On February 11th, 1861, 1632 01:26:26,932 --> 01:26:31,184 Lincoln begins the train journey to Washington D.C. 1633 01:26:31,270 --> 01:26:33,469 It would have been nice to take the shortest route, 1634 01:26:33,564 --> 01:26:36,773 but he couldn't go through Kentucky, the state he was born, 1635 01:26:36,859 --> 01:26:39,318 or Virginia, because it was too dangerous. 1636 01:26:39,445 --> 01:26:40,360 He wrote a letter to a friend 1637 01:26:40,446 --> 01:26:42,571 that he was worried he might be lynched. 1638 01:26:42,656 --> 01:26:45,407 So he has to go in this very winding roundabout route 1639 01:26:45,492 --> 01:26:47,576 over 1900 miles. 1640 01:26:47,661 --> 01:26:49,536 Whenever Lincoln comes in anywhere, 1641 01:26:49,621 --> 01:26:51,746 everybody comes out to see him. 1642 01:26:51,832 --> 01:26:55,584 - There's hope, but there's also this fear. 1643 01:26:55,669 --> 01:26:56,501 People would have known 1644 01:26:56,629 --> 01:26:58,879 that the southern states have seceded. 1645 01:26:58,964 --> 01:27:00,339 These are difficult times 1646 01:27:00,466 --> 01:27:02,299 and there are credible assassination threats 1647 01:27:02,384 --> 01:27:04,000 against Lincoln. 1648 01:27:04,094 --> 01:27:05,669 - [Harold] There was intelligence of a 1649 01:27:05,763 --> 01:27:06,887 massive conspiracy 1650 01:27:06,972 --> 01:27:09,556 to try to assassinate him as he came through Baltimore. 1651 01:27:10,976 --> 01:27:14,844 The leader of the plot had a system of drawing lots, 1652 01:27:14,939 --> 01:27:18,065 pieces of paper with a red dot on them. 1653 01:27:18,150 --> 01:27:21,193 And those who got a red dot would try to kill Lincoln 1654 01:27:21,320 --> 01:27:25,405 with guns and knives and grenades. 1655 01:27:25,491 --> 01:27:29,025 But Allen Pinkerton, who was a railroad detective, 1656 01:27:29,119 --> 01:27:32,371 penetrated the conspiracy with operatives. 1657 01:27:39,505 --> 01:27:41,463 - Davis? - Mr. Pinkerton. 1658 01:27:43,008 --> 01:27:43,882 It's all true. 1659 01:27:46,344 --> 01:27:49,096 Anyone who picked one with a red dot is an assassin. 1660 01:27:50,099 --> 01:27:52,307 - How many have red dots? 1661 01:27:52,393 --> 01:27:53,100 - Eight. 1662 01:27:54,144 --> 01:27:56,478 - It's worse than I thought. 1663 01:28:00,609 --> 01:28:03,485 (dramatic music) 1664 01:28:09,493 --> 01:28:11,618 (train bell ringing) 1665 01:28:15,207 --> 01:28:16,957 - The door's locked from the inside? 1666 01:28:17,041 --> 01:28:17,916 - Yes, ma'am. 1667 01:28:19,795 --> 01:28:20,669 - Key, please. 1668 01:28:22,880 --> 01:28:26,082 My uncle is an invalid, he requires absolute privacy. 1669 01:28:26,175 --> 01:28:28,093 Do you understand? 1670 01:28:28,219 --> 01:28:31,263 (suspenseful music) 1671 01:28:46,530 --> 01:28:48,487 - We'll take a special overnight train. 1672 01:28:48,574 --> 01:28:49,773 I've cleared the tracks 1673 01:28:49,867 --> 01:28:52,451 and had the telegraph lanes cut from here to Baltimore. 1674 01:28:52,577 --> 01:28:55,779 These men intend to create a diversion with the police 1675 01:28:55,873 --> 01:28:57,998 and stab you to death. 1676 01:28:58,083 --> 01:28:59,458 - That's all? 1677 01:28:59,585 --> 01:29:01,168 Like Julius Caesar. 1678 01:29:01,253 --> 01:29:03,503 - You need to take this seriously, Abe. 1679 01:29:03,589 --> 01:29:04,963 You have fierce enemies. 1680 01:29:06,008 --> 01:29:08,842 - If I sneak into the Capitol with fear, 1681 01:29:08,927 --> 01:29:11,511 I'm showing good people there's reason to fear. 1682 01:29:11,597 --> 01:29:14,764 - Sir, the worst thing that could happen 1683 01:29:14,850 --> 01:29:17,017 is you don't make it to Washington at all. 1684 01:29:18,103 --> 01:29:20,228 You can't risk being recognized. 1685 01:29:27,154 --> 01:29:28,070 - Take care of it. 1686 01:29:30,616 --> 01:29:33,657 (suspenseful music) 1687 01:29:54,389 --> 01:29:57,682 (train whistle blowing) 1688 01:30:12,282 --> 01:30:14,699 - This is my associate, Mrs. Kate Warne. 1689 01:30:14,827 --> 01:30:17,536 - Mr. Lincoln, it's an honor. 1690 01:30:17,663 --> 01:30:21,957 - Mrs. Warne, I am far to plain to pass for your uncle. 1691 01:30:22,041 --> 01:30:23,532 - [Kate] Not at all, sir. 1692 01:30:23,627 --> 01:30:24,534 - I take comfort in the idea 1693 01:30:24,628 --> 01:30:26,878 that common folk are the best lookin'. 1694 01:30:27,005 --> 01:30:29,673 That's why the lord made us so many. 1695 01:30:29,758 --> 01:30:33,050 (train whistle blowing) 1696 01:30:36,849 --> 01:30:39,558 (Lincoln sighs) 1697 01:30:43,605 --> 01:30:44,688 Well 1698 01:30:45,816 --> 01:30:48,900 this is not how I planned to get to Washington. 1699 01:30:49,027 --> 01:30:51,486 (suspenseful music) 1700 01:30:51,572 --> 01:30:53,822 (train whistle blowing) 1701 01:30:53,907 --> 01:30:56,616 - Lincoln goes from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 1702 01:30:56,702 --> 01:31:01,404 to Philadelphia, to Baltimore, to Washington 1703 01:31:01,498 --> 01:31:05,407 at night in secret wearing a disguise. 1704 01:31:05,502 --> 01:31:09,254 He arrives in Washington, six A.M., unannounced, 1705 01:31:09,380 --> 01:31:11,548 and he was attacked in the press, 1706 01:31:11,633 --> 01:31:15,302 depicted in these crazy disguises, including kilts, 1707 01:31:15,387 --> 01:31:17,971 doing the McLincoln Highland Fling, 1708 01:31:18,056 --> 01:31:19,639 and just ridiculed. 1709 01:31:19,725 --> 01:31:21,591 Not a good thing for a president 1710 01:31:21,684 --> 01:31:24,478 who was coming to Washington to exhibit courage. 1711 01:31:24,563 --> 01:31:25,520 Frederick Douglass says, 1712 01:31:25,606 --> 01:31:28,815 at least now Mr. Lincoln knows what it's like 1713 01:31:28,901 --> 01:31:30,859 to travel on the Underground Railroad. 1714 01:31:32,029 --> 01:31:34,070 - When Lincoln ascends to the presidency 1715 01:31:34,156 --> 01:31:37,440 and he issues his first inaugural address, 1716 01:31:37,534 --> 01:31:39,993 African-Americans are waiting in anticipation 1717 01:31:40,077 --> 01:31:41,778 to see what he's going to say. 1718 01:31:41,871 --> 01:31:43,446 Because by this time 1719 01:31:43,540 --> 01:31:46,833 seven states have seceded from the Union 1720 01:31:46,919 --> 01:31:49,452 and African-Americans are thinking, 1721 01:31:49,546 --> 01:31:50,587 this is our opportunity. 1722 01:31:50,672 --> 01:31:53,965 You know, this is the time to end slavery. 1723 01:31:54,092 --> 01:31:56,593 You got this Republican who has won, 1724 01:31:56,678 --> 01:31:58,136 he's not an abolitionist, 1725 01:31:58,263 --> 01:31:59,846 but you've got enough Republicans 1726 01:31:59,932 --> 01:32:01,973 who are ready to move 1727 01:32:02,100 --> 01:32:05,644 on these people who are seen as traitors to the country. 1728 01:32:05,771 --> 01:32:08,137 - His first inaugural address 1729 01:32:08,232 --> 01:32:11,148 is a moment fraught with tension. 1730 01:32:11,276 --> 01:32:12,150 - [Harold] There were still 1731 01:32:12,277 --> 01:32:15,695 very serious fears of assassination. 1732 01:32:15,781 --> 01:32:19,324 - Fellow citizens of the United States, 1733 01:32:20,577 --> 01:32:25,371 in your hands my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, 1734 01:32:26,750 --> 01:32:31,995 and not in mine, is the momentous issue of Civil War. 1735 01:32:32,714 --> 01:32:35,549 - Lincoln wanted the speech to be strong 1736 01:32:35,634 --> 01:32:37,000 without being threatening, 1737 01:32:37,094 --> 01:32:39,835 to try to stem the tide of secession. 1738 01:32:39,930 --> 01:32:42,931 - The government will not assail you. 1739 01:32:44,434 --> 01:32:46,434 You can have no conflict 1740 01:32:46,520 --> 01:32:49,896 without yourselves being the aggressors. 1741 01:32:49,982 --> 01:32:53,900 - He says federal forts and armories would be protected. 1742 01:32:53,986 --> 01:32:56,686 And at the same time, he says, I'm not a threat. 1743 01:32:56,780 --> 01:33:01,700 And he promised to enforce the hated fugitive slave law. 1744 01:33:02,702 --> 01:33:06,204 - We are not enemies, but friends. 1745 01:33:07,583 --> 01:33:09,541 We must not be enemies. 1746 01:33:11,420 --> 01:33:14,462 Though passion may have strained, 1747 01:33:15,591 --> 01:33:19,050 it must not break our bonds of affection. 1748 01:33:20,178 --> 01:33:22,053 - Lincoln had shown this speech to William Seward 1749 01:33:22,180 --> 01:33:24,097 and Seward made corrections. 1750 01:33:24,182 --> 01:33:26,433 And then Seward looked at the ending of the draft 1751 01:33:26,518 --> 01:33:29,394 and it says, it's your choice, my friends in the south, 1752 01:33:29,521 --> 01:33:32,814 will it be peace or a sword? 1753 01:33:32,898 --> 01:33:34,983 And Seward says, you can end it like this. 1754 01:33:35,068 --> 01:33:38,111 So Seward writes out a really good idea. 1755 01:33:38,196 --> 01:33:39,904 Lincoln looks at the suggestion 1756 01:33:40,032 --> 01:33:43,825 and displaying as much brilliance as an editor 1757 01:33:43,910 --> 01:33:46,119 as he showed as a writer, 1758 01:33:46,204 --> 01:33:49,789 he recast Seward's proposal into poetry. 1759 01:33:51,001 --> 01:33:53,710 - The mystic chords of memory, 1760 01:33:53,795 --> 01:33:57,880 stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave 1761 01:33:57,966 --> 01:34:01,843 to every heart and hearthstone all over this broad land 1762 01:34:03,013 --> 01:34:05,430 will yet swell the chorus of the Union 1763 01:34:06,558 --> 01:34:10,352 when again touched, as surely they will be, 1764 01:34:11,563 --> 01:34:15,106 by the better angels of our nature. 1765 01:34:17,736 --> 01:34:21,862 (audience cheers and applauds) 1766 01:34:31,583 --> 01:34:34,959 - This beautifully crafted final paragraph 1767 01:34:35,087 --> 01:34:40,005 steps away from threats and just says, remember, 1768 01:34:40,092 --> 01:34:42,050 we are all part of the same country 1769 01:34:42,135 --> 01:34:46,680 with equally valid memories of the revolution 1770 01:34:46,764 --> 01:34:48,514 that not only gave us our independence, 1771 01:34:48,600 --> 01:34:50,975 but created a new kind of country. 1772 01:34:52,896 --> 01:34:55,063 - But Lincoln was totally disappointing 1773 01:34:55,148 --> 01:34:57,941 to Frederick Douglass and other black men and women. 1774 01:34:58,026 --> 01:35:00,860 Because in that first inaugural address, 1775 01:35:00,946 --> 01:35:05,815 Lincoln talked about the fact that he had no inclination, 1776 01:35:05,909 --> 01:35:09,536 no right, to actually do anything about slavery, 1777 01:35:09,621 --> 01:35:11,162 where it already existed. 1778 01:35:12,416 --> 01:35:14,207 - But he's also telling the south, 1779 01:35:14,291 --> 01:35:18,169 he will not permit an illegal rebellion 1780 01:35:18,296 --> 01:35:21,339 to happen without a response. 1781 01:35:21,466 --> 01:35:26,511 - Lincoln has an immediate military problem on his plate. 1782 01:35:27,139 --> 01:35:28,671 - When those states in the south secede, 1783 01:35:28,764 --> 01:35:31,674 they take over many of the federal arsenals and forts. 1784 01:35:31,768 --> 01:35:33,017 That leaves the United States 1785 01:35:33,145 --> 01:35:35,228 with just a few federal ports that it keeps, 1786 01:35:35,313 --> 01:35:38,398 including Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. 1787 01:35:38,483 --> 01:35:40,358 - The first day after his inauguration, 1788 01:35:40,485 --> 01:35:43,519 he receives a message from Major Anderson at Fort Sumter, 1789 01:35:43,612 --> 01:35:46,030 telling him that they are running out of supplies 1790 01:35:46,157 --> 01:35:48,532 and unless an expedition can bring them relief, 1791 01:35:48,660 --> 01:35:49,784 they will have to evacuate. 1792 01:35:51,455 --> 01:35:53,079 - Lincoln and the federal government maintained 1793 01:35:53,165 --> 01:35:57,584 that all federal property still belongs to the Union. 1794 01:35:57,669 --> 01:35:59,919 - So he meets with his cabinet. 1795 01:36:00,005 --> 01:36:01,171 The night Lincoln won the election 1796 01:36:01,255 --> 01:36:04,207 he had made a decision that will define his presidency 1797 01:36:04,300 --> 01:36:06,209 to put each of his chief three rivals, 1798 01:36:06,303 --> 01:36:07,710 Seward and Chase and Bates, 1799 01:36:07,804 --> 01:36:09,763 into the top positions of the cabinet. 1800 01:36:09,848 --> 01:36:12,098 William Seward as Secretary of State. 1801 01:36:12,184 --> 01:36:14,267 Salmon Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, 1802 01:36:14,352 --> 01:36:16,719 Edward Bates, Attorney General. 1803 01:36:16,813 --> 01:36:18,054 Each one of those three rivals thought 1804 01:36:18,148 --> 01:36:20,857 he should have been president instead of Abraham Lincoln. 1805 01:36:20,942 --> 01:36:23,526 And they think that Lincoln's rather unremarkable, 1806 01:36:23,612 --> 01:36:26,404 but Lincoln realized the country is in peril. 1807 01:36:26,531 --> 01:36:28,406 These are the most able men in the country. 1808 01:36:28,532 --> 01:36:30,700 They each represented a different point of view, 1809 01:36:30,786 --> 01:36:33,036 the moderate, conservative, and radical. 1810 01:36:33,121 --> 01:36:34,746 I need them by my side. 1811 01:36:36,041 --> 01:36:38,082 President Lyndon Johnson might've talked about that issue 1812 01:36:38,210 --> 01:36:39,250 in less noble terms. 1813 01:36:39,377 --> 01:36:41,585 He liked to say, it's better to have your enemies 1814 01:36:41,713 --> 01:36:43,246 inside the tent pissing out 1815 01:36:43,340 --> 01:36:45,757 than outside the tent pissing in. 1816 01:36:45,884 --> 01:36:47,592 - General Scott says we have no hope 1817 01:36:47,719 --> 01:36:50,637 but to surrender Fort Sumter. 1818 01:36:50,722 --> 01:36:51,346 - Yes. 1819 01:36:53,475 --> 01:36:55,308 And I think he's right. 1820 01:36:55,393 --> 01:36:57,393 - But Mr. Seward, only yesterday, 1821 01:36:57,478 --> 01:37:02,565 I gave my solemn vow to hold, occupy, and possess our forts. 1822 01:37:03,109 --> 01:37:05,068 I believe you helped me craft that passage. 1823 01:37:05,153 --> 01:37:07,362 - The situation has changed, sir. 1824 01:37:08,740 --> 01:37:12,075 Fort Sumter can't hold out, not without supplies. 1825 01:37:12,160 --> 01:37:13,159 And the South Carolinians 1826 01:37:13,245 --> 01:37:15,995 have made their intentions more than clear. 1827 01:37:17,040 --> 01:37:17,831 I advise withdrawal. 1828 01:37:19,584 --> 01:37:20,666 It'll make it seem like our idea, 1829 01:37:20,752 --> 01:37:23,286 not that this a secessionists have forced us out. 1830 01:37:23,380 --> 01:37:25,547 - It seems the most reasonable course. 1831 01:37:27,467 --> 01:37:28,341 - No. 1832 01:37:29,261 --> 01:37:31,678 I'd be encouraging their rebellion. 1833 01:37:31,763 --> 01:37:33,179 The country would crumble. 1834 01:37:33,264 --> 01:37:34,681 - It's already crumbling. 1835 01:37:34,766 --> 01:37:37,300 We need time to shore it back up. 1836 01:37:37,394 --> 01:37:38,434 Wait for cooler hands. 1837 01:37:38,520 --> 01:37:40,478 - We must send more ships. 1838 01:37:41,773 --> 01:37:45,358 A fleet carrying reinforcements and long guns. 1839 01:37:45,443 --> 01:37:48,528 I'll bet a bombardment will force them to back off. 1840 01:37:48,612 --> 01:37:51,865 - Since when were you a Navy man, Blair? 1841 01:37:51,950 --> 01:37:53,199 I say, we withdraw. 1842 01:37:53,285 --> 01:37:57,370 - Mr. President, look where compromise has gotten us. 1843 01:37:57,455 --> 01:38:00,874 We have to crush them now before they grow stronger. 1844 01:38:00,959 --> 01:38:04,043 - I will not be the first to fire on my country men. 1845 01:38:05,130 --> 01:38:06,754 I told them that my speech too. 1846 01:38:08,258 --> 01:38:10,008 - That leaves no alternative. 1847 01:38:15,639 --> 01:38:17,432 - How long can Sumter, hold out for? 1848 01:38:18,977 --> 01:38:21,227 - General Scott thinks 26 days. 1849 01:38:25,275 --> 01:38:28,192 - How many of you say give up the fort? 1850 01:38:33,992 --> 01:38:36,692 - You have to give up the fort, 1851 01:38:36,786 --> 01:38:38,536 or we'll bring this country to war. 1852 01:38:43,919 --> 01:38:46,794 (dramatic music) 1853 01:38:52,010 --> 01:38:55,544 - [Doris] Those weeks of anticipation before Fort Sumter, 1854 01:38:55,639 --> 01:38:57,263 where the hardest weeks for him. 1855 01:38:58,683 --> 01:39:01,142 He's still hoping that maybe there'd be some way 1856 01:39:01,227 --> 01:39:02,477 to prevent a war. 1857 01:39:19,704 --> 01:39:20,411 - Look. 1858 01:39:22,540 --> 01:39:23,414 All the papers want to know 1859 01:39:23,541 --> 01:39:25,500 what you're gonna do about that fort. 1860 01:39:26,460 --> 01:39:28,252 - Well, so do I. 1861 01:39:36,888 --> 01:39:37,971 - Huh. 1862 01:39:42,727 --> 01:39:46,103 You have done a fine job with this scrapbook, Willie. 1863 01:39:49,401 --> 01:39:52,110 - He's thinking, if I provision Fort Sumter, 1864 01:39:52,237 --> 01:39:53,778 it might bring about a war. 1865 01:39:54,698 --> 01:39:56,105 If I don't do that, 1866 01:39:56,199 --> 01:39:57,448 then maybe we're gonna look like 1867 01:39:57,575 --> 01:39:58,741 we're so emboldening the south 1868 01:39:58,827 --> 01:40:01,952 that it will make the secession even more permanent. 1869 01:40:02,080 --> 01:40:04,956 There's division in the cabinet as to what he should do. 1870 01:40:06,084 --> 01:40:08,876 - Seward is talking to South Carolina. 1871 01:40:08,962 --> 01:40:12,288 He's having discussions with the secessionist leaders. 1872 01:40:12,382 --> 01:40:14,757 Basically suggesting that this can be negotiated, 1873 01:40:14,843 --> 01:40:16,625 things can be worked out. 1874 01:40:16,719 --> 01:40:20,388 And he's doing so without Lincoln's knowledge or approval. 1875 01:40:22,600 --> 01:40:23,766 - If we send troops down south 1876 01:40:23,852 --> 01:40:28,478 we'll lose Virginia, Arkansas, all the border states. 1877 01:40:29,941 --> 01:40:31,148 Time is running out. 1878 01:40:32,277 --> 01:40:34,809 Abandoning the fort is inevitable. 1879 01:40:34,904 --> 01:40:38,573 We can't let the rebels humiliate us by overrunning it. 1880 01:40:38,657 --> 01:40:41,159 The sooner we leave on our own, the better. 1881 01:40:43,621 --> 01:40:45,996 Now we have a clear cut majority in agreement, 1882 01:40:47,541 --> 01:40:48,499 so it's decided. 1883 01:40:57,719 --> 01:41:02,096 - No, it's not decided, Secretary Seward. 1884 01:41:02,182 --> 01:41:04,514 It's not decided until I decide it. 1885 01:41:12,734 --> 01:41:14,734 (Clears throat) 1886 01:41:14,818 --> 01:41:18,571 - Mr. President. 1887 01:41:18,656 --> 01:41:22,691 - Now, I reckon that everything 1888 01:41:22,786 --> 01:41:24,410 Secretary Seward says is true. 1889 01:41:25,621 --> 01:41:27,914 But there are also other things that are true. 1890 01:41:29,375 --> 01:41:32,418 One of them bein' that I'm not willing to go back on my word 1891 01:41:33,546 --> 01:41:35,797 and I'm also not ready to give up. 1892 01:41:37,008 --> 01:41:37,924 The way I see it, 1893 01:41:39,010 --> 01:41:41,552 is that surrender would be ruinous to the Union 1894 01:41:42,680 --> 01:41:44,388 by discouraging the folks at home 1895 01:41:44,516 --> 01:41:46,641 and encouraging our adversaries. 1896 01:41:46,726 --> 01:41:48,392 And it might get this illegal confederacy 1897 01:41:48,520 --> 01:41:50,103 recognized by foreign powers. 1898 01:41:51,356 --> 01:41:53,523 I have talked to a Navy man 1899 01:41:53,608 --> 01:41:56,400 who's got a plan to send supplies by sea 1900 01:41:56,528 --> 01:41:57,735 backed by a warship. 1901 01:42:00,490 --> 01:42:01,989 And I have decided to do it. 1902 01:42:09,249 --> 01:42:11,999 - Lincoln's response was brief and firm. 1903 01:42:12,085 --> 01:42:14,544 That puts Seward pretty firmly in his place 1904 01:42:14,629 --> 01:42:17,413 and it is something of a tribute to Seward 1905 01:42:17,507 --> 01:42:20,633 that he understood that Lincoln was the boss 1906 01:42:20,718 --> 01:42:22,635 and that there was more to Abraham Lincoln 1907 01:42:22,719 --> 01:42:24,594 than he had originally thought. 1908 01:42:25,723 --> 01:42:26,806 - Lincoln doesn't want to create war. 1909 01:42:26,891 --> 01:42:29,767 So he tries to, again, thread the needle on this. 1910 01:42:29,894 --> 01:42:32,428 And he says to the governor of South Carolina, 1911 01:42:32,522 --> 01:42:34,772 look, I will just send food and water. 1912 01:42:34,898 --> 01:42:36,941 I won't send one more man, not one more grain of powder, 1913 01:42:37,068 --> 01:42:38,484 not one more bullet to Fort Sumter. 1914 01:42:38,570 --> 01:42:39,735 You couldn't be against someone 1915 01:42:39,821 --> 01:42:41,603 getting food or water, could you? 1916 01:42:41,698 --> 01:42:43,489 He puts the Confederacy in a vine. 1917 01:42:43,575 --> 01:42:46,275 If they allow the ship to come in, the stalemate continues. 1918 01:42:46,369 --> 01:42:48,244 If they fire, well then the Confederacy has fired 1919 01:42:48,329 --> 01:42:49,452 the first shot of the war. 1920 01:42:49,581 --> 01:42:52,615 - The Confederates decide to ask Major Anderson 1921 01:42:52,709 --> 01:42:53,791 to surrender the fort. 1922 01:42:54,752 --> 01:42:57,119 Anderson says, no. 1923 01:42:57,213 --> 01:42:58,337 - Fire! 1924 01:42:58,423 --> 01:43:01,299 (cannons booming) 1925 01:43:06,097 --> 01:43:09,389 - [Caroline] The Confederates fire for 36 hours 1926 01:43:09,475 --> 01:43:11,809 until finally the United States flag 1927 01:43:11,936 --> 01:43:13,811 is lowered within Fort Sumter. 1928 01:43:14,856 --> 01:43:17,690 (dramatic music) 1929 01:43:24,073 --> 01:43:27,074 - Is there any word on the Powhatan? 1930 01:43:28,745 --> 01:43:31,370 I need to know the minute Fort Sumter's resupplied. 1931 01:43:35,960 --> 01:43:37,001 - This is for you. 1932 01:43:39,923 --> 01:43:42,924 (suspenseful music) 1933 01:44:04,072 --> 01:44:05,404 - We're at war. 1934 01:44:40,191 --> 01:44:41,941 - [Soldier] Charge! 1935 01:44:42,026 --> 01:44:43,943 (soldiers shouting) 1936 01:44:44,028 --> 01:44:45,728 - I hope you boys all reenlist. 1937 01:44:45,822 --> 01:44:46,728 - [Soldiers] Yeah. 1938 01:44:46,823 --> 01:44:47,947 - 'Cause I need every single one of you. 1939 01:44:48,032 --> 01:44:49,398 - What can I do for you? 1940 01:44:49,492 --> 01:44:51,450 - It's about that army of yours. 1941 01:44:51,536 --> 01:44:54,120 Came by to find out when you were intending to use it again? 1942 01:44:54,205 --> 01:44:57,290 - Why don't you leave military matters to military men? 1943 01:44:57,375 --> 01:44:59,583 - This war has nothing to do with generals. 1944 01:44:59,710 --> 01:45:01,752 - The rebels fight on their own land. 1945 01:45:01,879 --> 01:45:03,129 - There's something else too. 1946 01:45:03,214 --> 01:45:05,214 - Make this a war for abolition 1947 01:45:05,300 --> 01:45:07,842 and we'll drive Kentucky to the rebels. 1948 01:45:07,927 --> 01:45:10,085 It'll lead to insurrection in the north, 1949 01:45:10,179 --> 01:45:12,471 massacre in the streets. 1950 01:45:12,557 --> 01:45:15,349 And the rebels will only fight harder. 1951 01:45:15,434 --> 01:45:17,143 Blood will be on your hands. 1952 01:45:17,228 --> 01:45:19,437 - Blood is already on my hands!