History With Matt Walsh S01E03

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Transcript

00:00:06En el día de 2 de diciembre de 1864, el General General Patrick Claiborne fue preocupado.

00:00:11He warned sus compañeros southerners que el surrender de la Norte

00:00:14significa que la historia de este héroe lucho será escrito por el enemigo,

00:00:18que la gente se ha enseñado por los niños de la escuela norteamericana,

00:00:21que se ha enseñado por los niños de la escuela norteamericana,

00:00:22que se ha enseñado por la escuela norteamericana,

00:00:25que se ha imprescindido por todas las influencias de la historia y la educación

00:00:28a regardar a gallant dead as traitors,

00:00:31a maimed veterans as fit subjects for derision.

00:00:35Claiborne was only partly right.

00:00:37For most of the following century, non-southerners were pretty fair about the war

00:00:41and openly respected the South's leaders, including Lee.

00:00:44Four top Americans of the past.

00:00:47They are Franklin, Washington, Lincoln, and Lee.

00:00:51The South erected statues and monuments to its heroes.

00:00:55Several were erected inside the United States Capitol.

00:00:59Even abroad, people respected the dignity, bravery, and brilliance of Robert E. Lee.

00:01:04Winston Churchill described Lee as one of the noblest Americans who ever lived

00:01:08and one of the greatest captains known to the annals of war.

00:01:12It was almost exactly one century after the war, in the 1960s, when things took a turn.

00:01:17But even then, it wasn't immediate.

00:01:20In 1977, the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd performed in Oakland, California

00:01:24with the Confederate battle flag as their backdrop.

00:01:27In 1988, Hank Williams Jr. released a top-ten hit called If the South Would Have Won.

00:01:32But during the woke upheavals of the last decade, the story really changed.

00:01:37And the statues and flags started coming down.

00:01:41Even conservatives in the South had turned on Southern heritage.

00:01:45It's time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds.

00:01:51150 years after the end of the Civil War, the time has come.

00:01:54The retreat opened the floodgates for anti-American radicals who literally desecrated the grave

00:02:00of Robert E. Lee's horse, melted his statues, and slandered his reputation.

00:02:05The Confederacy, the American Civil War, it was an act of rebellion.

00:02:09It was an act of treason at the time.

00:02:11The current understanding of the Civil War, as it's taught in Hollywood and schools

00:02:15and everywhere else, is a cartoon caricature.

00:02:18I can't breathe.

00:02:21Robert E. Lee represents me.

00:02:23The last 10 years have been a master class in historical malpractice,

00:02:28so jaw-droppingly stupid that, honestly, most sane people would just change the channel

00:02:34and call it a day.

00:02:35But here we are, obligated to tell the truth, so here it goes.

00:02:40The Civil War is not nearly as black and white as the school marms wish it were.

00:02:46It was one of the most complicated events in American history.

00:02:49Its heroes, who existed on both sides, were complex, multidimensional people.

00:02:55Over the course of this video, we're going to prove it.

00:02:59This is the real history of the Civil War.

00:03:11Imagine serving as an infantryman in a battle where your enemy outnumbers your side two to one.

00:03:17And not only that, your enemy is better trained.

00:03:21They're well-rested.

00:03:22And to make matters worse, they've caught your regiment and your entire army in a picture.

00:03:28They have a massive number of soldiers behind you and in front of you, perfectly positioned.

00:03:34As an infantryman in this scenario, all you can do is follow orders,

00:03:39march where you're told to march, and shoot when you see the enemy.

00:03:43So, that's what you do.

00:03:45Then imagine that, after a week of the most intense fighting of your life,

00:03:49you realize that your side has somehow emerged victorious.

00:03:53In fact, you've won decisively.

00:03:55You don't remotely understand how it happened.

00:03:58You thought it was impossible.

00:03:59Well, that was the experience of a Confederate soldier named Dorostas Myers

00:04:04during the Battle of Chancellorsville, which lasted from April 30th to May 6th, 1863.

00:04:11On May 11th, Myers, who served as a sergeant with the 33rd Virginia Infantry Regiment,

00:04:16wrote a letter to his brother and sister.

00:04:18Quote,

00:04:19The Lord hath crowned our arms with another glorious victory.

00:04:23I think it was one of the hottest contests of the war.

00:04:26The enemy were strongly entrenched.

00:04:28We fought them on the left at Chancellorsville with 40,000 men against 110,000.

00:04:33I never was under such a fire of grapeshell canister and musketry in my life,

00:04:38though the Lord spared my life.

00:04:40Although the Confederacy lost more than 13,000 soldiers at Chancellorsville,

00:04:45as well as several key officers, including Stonewall Jackson,

00:04:48the battle is widely considered to be the greatest Confederate victory of the Civil War

00:04:52and one of the most impressive military victories of all time.

00:04:56The historic victory was the result of the leadership of Robert E. Lee,

00:05:00the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia.

00:05:02It's widely regarded as one of the most brilliant tactical victories in American military history,

00:05:08often called Lee's perfect battle.

00:05:10It's referenced in books like the West Point Atlas of American Wars,

00:05:14and it continues to be studied in military academies today

00:05:16for its demonstration of outmaneuvering larger forces through audacity and tactical ingenuity.

00:05:22In other words, Robert E. Lee was a genius.

00:05:27So, who was this man who, more than 150 years after his death,

00:05:32is still so frequently talked about?

00:05:35Robert E. Lee was born in 1807 into a prominent Virginia family

00:05:39as the son of revolutionary war hero Henry Light Horse Harry Lee.

00:05:43From a young age, it was obvious that he was a military genius.

00:05:46He graduated second in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point

00:05:51with zero demerits over four years

00:05:54and was commissioned into the elite U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

00:05:57For over two decades, he served as an exceptional military engineer

00:06:01overseeing critical infrastructure projects for the federal government.

00:06:05He served in the Mexican-American War,

00:06:07where he performed so well under fire that he was promoted to colonel.

00:06:11After the war, he ran West Point and later commanded cavalry units in Texas.

00:06:16A decade later, in 1863, he found himself fighting the very army

00:06:20that he spent three decades serving.

00:06:22Many of the officers he commanded and fought against

00:06:25were students at West Point when he ran it.

00:06:28He needed a victory at Chancellorsville because he needed European support

00:06:31to break the naval blockade.

00:06:33His enemies sought to destroy Lee's army and reunite the country.

00:06:39The odds were in favor of the Union.

00:06:41Lee's men were facing starvation in Fredericksburg, and he had just split his forces up,

00:06:46sending General James Longstreet and roughly 20,000 soldiers away to Suffolk

00:06:50to defend Richmond and secure more supplies.

00:06:53As the Union army converged on Chancellorsville, they had a substantial numerical advantage.

00:06:59Union forces began crossing the Rappahannock River in late April,

00:07:03laying pontoon bridges just south of Fredericksburg.

00:07:06At the same time, another Union column was marching east, crossing the Rappahann River.

00:07:11Roughly 70,000 Union soldiers ultimately converged at the Chancellorsville crossroads,

00:07:16moving towards Fredericksburg and the rear of the Confederate Army.

00:07:19Meanwhile, Hooker left a force in front of Lee at Fredericksburg under General John Sedgwick.

00:07:24It was clear that a massive battle was brewing.

00:07:27On the evening of April 29th, Jedediah Hotchkiss, a topographical engineer on Stonewall Jackson's staff,

00:07:33remarked,

00:07:34Tomorrow, tomorrow, death will hold high carnival.

00:07:37Faced with a vastly inferior strategic position, Lee had three options.

00:07:41Option one, he could attack Sedgwick's forces, roughly 40,000 men along with artillery,

00:07:47that were directly in front of him at the Rappahannock River.

00:07:50But if the fighting lasted too long, the Union could move from the west and destroy the rear of the

00:07:55Confederate Army.

00:07:56Option two, he could retreat and head south to consolidate his forces.

00:08:01This was the safest maneuver, at least in the short term.

00:08:05Option three, he could split his forces and send Jackson's corps to the west,

00:08:09while leaving some small divisions at the front line, holding Sedgwick at bay.

00:08:16At the time, there were 70,000 Union soldiers over four corps who had moved into the Virginia wilderness facing

00:08:23east.

00:08:25If Lee divided his army to attack those advancing Union forces in the woods,

00:08:29the main risk was that Sedgwick would advance and crush the small number of troops he left behind.

00:08:36Lee decided to take that risk.

00:08:38He ordered Jackson to lead the troops to the west, troops who in the dead of night were unsure of

00:08:43what exactly was going on.

00:08:45William Calder, a soldier in the 2nd North Carolina Infantry, recorded the movement this way,

00:08:51We had no idea where we were going. A soldier never knows where he's going, nor what he's going to

00:08:55do,

00:08:55until the moment for action comes.

00:08:58They have only to trust in their commanders.

00:09:00On we went, through mud and over stumps, stumbling about in the dark,

00:09:04to the great danger of our heads and our shins.

00:09:07All the while, Union generals were congratulating one another.

00:09:10Bands played upbeat songs as soldiers cheered.

00:09:13But by the morning of May 1st, the mood changed.

00:09:17Jackson's army, advancing to the west, ran into Union brigades from the 5th Corps and 12th Corps,

00:09:23catching Hooker off guard.

00:09:25Although the Union maintained a numerical advantage, Hooker ordered his soldiers to pull back.

00:09:30Union generals couldn't believe Hooker's orders.

00:09:33In fact, Major General Henry Slocum, who was in charge of the 12th Corps,

00:09:37called the orders crazy and threatened to shoot the messenger who delivered the news.

00:09:41But ultimately, the generals obeyed.

00:09:44Hooker was still convinced that he was in the superior strategic position,

00:09:47but Lee was not done yet.

00:09:49Jackson proposed yet another secret flanking maneuver,

00:09:52taking his entire Corps and leaving behind only 14,000 men.

00:09:57Around 5 a.m. on May 2nd, Lee authorized Jackson to take the entire 2nd Corps,

00:10:0115 infantry brigades consisting of 30,000 soldiers and more than 100 cannon,

00:10:07around the Union's right flank.

00:10:08In the fog of war, Jackson was able to snake around the Union forces undetected

00:10:14with the help of scouts and locals who mapped out a route in the wooded terrain.

00:10:18In his final dispatch to General Lee, Jackson wrote,

00:10:21The enemy has made a stand at Chancellor's, which is about two miles from Chancellorsville.

00:10:26I hope as soon as practicable to attack, I trust that an ever-kind Providence will bless us with great

00:10:32success.

00:10:32Respectfully, T.J. Jackson.

00:10:36At 5.30 p.m., horse artillery positioned near the turnpike fired off two signal shots,

00:10:41which were followed by bugle calls.

00:10:43Jackson's Corps emerged suddenly from the woods.

00:10:4612,000 soldiers from the Union's 11th Corps were taken completely by surprise.

00:10:51Many of their trenches were facing the south, not the west,

00:10:53where the Confederate surprise attack was coming from.

00:10:56Very quickly, the Union forces were pushed back about three miles.

00:11:00But they weren't completely defeated.

00:11:01It was dark, and they were in the woods, which complicated Jackson's efforts to crush them.

00:11:06Jackson decided to push forward anyway and headed north to cut off the Union retreat.

00:11:11In fact, Jackson himself, along with some other officers,

00:11:14rode out ahead of the Confederate line to get a better sense for what the Union army was doing.

00:11:20Jackson was wounded by friendly fire and died eight days later.

00:11:25Jackson's profound final words were documented by the historian Shelby Foote.

00:11:30He called the doctor and says,

00:11:33Dr. McGuire, my wife tells me I'm going to die today. Is that true?

00:11:36And the doctor said, yes, it is.

00:11:39He said, good, very good.

00:11:45I always wanted to die on a Sunday.

00:11:48Lee appointed Jeb Stewart to replace Jackson, ordering him to press the attack,

00:11:53and as Lee put it, quote,

00:11:55It is necessary that the glorious victory thus far achieved be prosecuted with the utmost vigor,

00:12:00and the enemy given no time to rally.

00:12:03As soon, therefore, as it is possible,

00:12:05they must be pressed so that we may unite the two wings of the army.

00:12:09Endeavor, therefore, to dispossess them of Chancellorsville,

00:12:11which will permit the union of the whole army.

00:12:14I shall myself proceed to join you as soon as I can, make arrangements on this side,

00:12:18but let nothing delay the completion of the plan of driving the enemy from his rear and from his positions.

00:12:24I shall give orders that every effort be made on this side at daybreak to aid in the junction.

00:12:29On May 3rd, Stewart led brutal frontal assaults on critical positions,

00:12:33including the high ground of Hazel Grove, with the goal of reuniting the Confederate army.

00:12:38The attack was immediately effective.

00:12:40In order to prevent another Confederate flanking maneuver,

00:12:43Hooker made the fateful decision to abandon the high ground on Hazel Grove,

00:12:48ordering Sickles to fall back with the rest of the Union forces.

00:12:51It was a pivotal blunter, and yet another cautious decision,

00:12:55while Lee was pursuing a much more aggressive strategy.

00:12:58It's important to emphasize how important Hazel Grove was as an artillery platform.

00:13:03As Chris Bukowski writes in That Furious Struggle,

00:13:06quote,

00:13:07In the 70-square-mile sea of trees that made up the wilderness,

00:13:10there were few open plots of ground,

00:13:12making the wilderness a terrible place to deploy artillery.

00:13:15Open ground, like Hazel Grove, was invaluable.

00:13:18Being on higher ground increases a gun's range,

00:13:21while also making the gun harder to hit with counter-battery fire.

00:13:25The Confederates immediately rushed dozens of guns onto Hazel Grove

00:13:30and unloaded on the Union lines, forcing them to pull back.

00:13:33The cover fire allowed the Confederate army to reunite, as Lee had ordered.

00:13:37It also had a direct impact on the leadership of the Union army.

00:13:41Hooker was injured when a Confederate cannonball struck the porch

00:13:45where he was standing at his command center,

00:13:46splintering a piece of wood that fell and hit him.

00:13:49Hooker was never removed from command,

00:13:51nor did his subordinates attempt to replace him.

00:13:52But he was clearly dazed at the worst possible moment,

00:13:56right when his forces were divided, and the fighting was fiercest.

00:13:59But at the same time, Sedgwick broke through the Confederate battle lines at Fredericksburg,

00:14:04specifically Mary's Heights,

00:14:05posing a direct and unopposed threat to the rear of Lee's lines.

00:14:09When Lee heard the news, he was stoic.

00:14:11In response to a chaplain who was panicking after bringing word of the advancing Union army,

00:14:17Lee said simply,

00:14:17Lee, thank you very much.

00:14:19But both you and your horse are overheated.

00:14:22Take him to that shady tree yonder and rest a little.

00:14:26Lee ultimately decided to split his army for a third time.

00:14:29He sent the Second Corps under Brigadier General Raleigh Colston to strike Hooker,

00:14:34and he ordered McLaw's division to march east to fight Sedgwick.

00:14:38Fighting had broken down in three key areas,

00:14:41Salem Church, Fredericksburg, and the Chancellorsville Crossroads.

00:14:45Eventually, Lee rode out to Salem Church to lead the counterattack on Sedgwick directly.

00:14:50He successfully prevented the Union pincer movement once again by dividing his forces.

00:14:56Outmaneuvered, stunned, and physically injured,

00:14:59Hooker ordered a full retreat on the night of May 4th.

00:15:01Lee, by repeatedly dividing his forces when conventional wisdom called for retreating each time,

00:15:07had managed to defeat a much larger army

00:15:09at a time when both the Union and the Confederacy were eager for a major victory.

00:15:14Lee's tactics are still studied today in military academies.

00:15:17He recognized his opponent's strategic weakness and his opponent's fear,

00:15:21and he exploited them both.

00:15:23When the war broke out, no one thought it would last long.

00:15:26One person who knew it wouldn't be short was Robert E. Lee.

00:15:29In early 1861, while still in the U.S. Army at Fort Mason, Texas,

00:15:34he correctly predicted that if it came to armed conflict,

00:15:36quote,

00:15:37the war will last at least four years.

00:15:40He was right.

00:15:41Lee's foresight in recognizing the Civil War's potential for protracted devastation,

00:15:45unlike the naive optimism of many on both sides,

00:15:48underscored his wisdom and his realism.

00:15:50His perfect battle at Chancellorsville showcased Lee's military prowess.

00:15:55The South didn't have the North's industrial capacity,

00:15:58railroads, wealth, or population,

00:16:00but it had some of the greatest military leadership in human history.

00:16:05In other words, Lee and the South,

00:16:07well, they were no losers.

00:16:13When the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter in April 1861,

00:16:17an immediate question arose.

00:16:18What should the conflict be called?

00:16:21Now, the answer wasn't obvious.

00:16:22On April 15th, President Lincoln issued Proclamation 80,

00:16:25which referred to the attack on Sumter and various state secessions as,

00:16:30quote, combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.

00:16:35In a July 4th message to Congress,

00:16:37Lincoln referred to the war as, quote,

00:16:39a case of rebellion.

00:16:40He continued to use the term rebellion throughout the war,

00:16:43including in the Emancipation Proclamation,

00:16:45where he mentioned the rebellion against the United States.

00:16:48The words were political in nature.

00:16:50The Constitution conferred Lincoln emergency powers if he called it a rebellion.

00:16:55It also denied legitimacy to the South,

00:16:57implying that they were still part of the country.

00:17:00In 1880, when the War Department released the official records of the war,

00:17:04they titled it The War of the Rebellion,

00:17:07a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies.

00:17:11During the war, the South had its own preferred terms,

00:17:13like the War for Southern Independence and the War between the States.

00:17:17After the First Battle of Manassas,

00:17:19Confederate General Stonewall Jackson told his troops,

00:17:22I hope by your future deeds and bearing,

00:17:24you'll be handed down to posterity

00:17:26as the First Brigade in this, our Second War of Independence.

00:17:30Farewell.

00:17:31Harris von Bork, Chief of Staff to Confederate General Jeb Stewart,

00:17:35titled his book,

00:17:37Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence.

00:17:39Now, whether it was a rebellion or a war for independence

00:17:42depends on who you ask,

00:17:43but it certainly was not a civil war.

00:17:47Civil wars are between two sides that want to control the country.

00:17:51The Russian Civil War was between whites and reds

00:17:54over who would control the Russian Empire.

00:17:56The Chinese Civil War was between communists and nationalists

00:17:59over who would control China.

00:18:01The English Civil War is between parliamentary forces

00:18:04and the king over who would have supreme power over England.

00:18:07There's no evidence whatsoever the South had any interest

00:18:10in occupying or controlling Boston or New York

00:18:13or the entire country.

00:18:15They wanted to leave the Union for various reasons,

00:18:18which they believed they had the legal right to do.

00:18:22The matter at hand was whether the United States

00:18:24was a collection of sovereign states

00:18:27or a centralized union of subordinate states.

00:18:30That wasn't really a question in the early years of the Republic.

00:18:34According to Catherine Drinker Bowen's book,

00:18:36Miracle at Philadelphia,

00:18:37when the Constitutional Convention's Committee of Style and Arrangement

00:18:40originally drafted the preamble,

00:18:42it had no reference to we the people of the United States.

00:18:45In fact, what the articles drafted by the convention

00:18:48had said was,

00:18:56But they scrapped that idea because it was unlikely

00:18:59that they would get all 13 states to ratify the new Constitution.

00:19:03So, the real history of how the term

00:19:05we the people was born

00:19:07is that it was a technicality.

00:19:09Back then, you wouldn't have said

00:19:11the United States is a place.

00:19:13You would have said

00:19:14these United States are a place.

00:19:17And that is a very important distinction.

00:19:20In that context, it's not surprising that by 1794,

00:19:23just six years after the Constitution's ratification,

00:19:26two U.S. senators,

00:19:27Rufus King of New York and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut,

00:19:30approached Senator John Taylor of Virginia

00:19:33and informed him

00:19:34they wanted to break up the Union.

00:19:36Already.

00:19:37They recognized a huge divide

00:19:39between the northern and southern states,

00:19:40and it wasn't just cultural differences

00:19:42between the agrarian South

00:19:44and the urbanized North.

00:19:46They noticed major political

00:19:47and economic differences, too.

00:19:50In 1883,

00:19:51more than two decades after the outbreak of the war,

00:19:54Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts

00:19:55acknowledged that

00:19:56everybody involved in the ratification of the Constitution

00:19:58would have assumed states could leave,

00:20:01writing, quote,

00:20:02When the Constitution was adopted

00:20:04by the votes of states at Philadelphia

00:20:06and accepted by the votes of states

00:20:08at popular conventions,

00:20:09it is safe to say that there was

00:20:10not a man in the country

00:20:12from Washington and Hamilton on the one side

00:20:14to George Clinton and George Mason on the other,

00:20:16who regarded the new system

00:20:17as anything but an experiment

00:20:19entered upon by the states

00:20:21and from which each and every state

00:20:23had the right peaceably to withdraw,

00:20:26a right which was very likely to be exercised.

00:20:28Their historical record proves this point.

00:20:31Between the founding of the country in 1861,

00:20:34northern states threatened to secede

00:20:36at least five times.

00:20:37In 1803,

00:20:38a group of Massachusetts-based federalists

00:20:40known as the Essex Junto

00:20:42threatened to secede

00:20:43because they feared

00:20:44the Louisiana Purchase

00:20:45would dilute their political power.

00:20:47Aaron Burr,

00:20:48who was Thomas Jefferson's vice president,

00:20:49was their leader.

00:20:51In 1807,

00:20:52they threatened to leave again

00:20:53after Jefferson put an embargo

00:20:55on Great Britain in France.

00:20:57During the War of 1812,

00:20:58New England once again threatened to secede

00:21:00because of the British blockade

00:21:02of their ports.

00:21:03Some states considered independently

00:21:05making peace with the British.

00:21:07Massachusetts and Connecticut

00:21:08refused to place their militias

00:21:10under federal command.

00:21:11They claimed the federal government

00:21:12didn't have the power to do it.

00:21:14In the 1840s,

00:21:16northern politicians published

00:21:17a solemn appeal

00:21:18to the peoples of free states,

00:21:20arguing that the annexation of Texas

00:21:22would be, quote,

00:21:23so injurious to the interests

00:21:24and abhorrent to the feelings

00:21:26of the people of the free states

00:21:27as, in our opinion,

00:21:29not only inevitably to result

00:21:30in a dissolution of the Union,

00:21:32but fully to justify it.

00:21:34Former President John Quincy Adams

00:21:36of Massachusetts

00:21:36signed that document.

00:21:38After the 1850 passage

00:21:40of the Fugitive Slave Act,

00:21:41New England threatened

00:21:42to nullify the law

00:21:43and some leaders called

00:21:45for secession again.

00:21:47Before the Civil War,

00:21:48the North issued credible threats

00:21:50to secede

00:21:50at least five separate times.

00:21:52As the great Civil War historian

00:21:54Shelby Foote put it,

00:21:55quote,

00:21:55if the states had known

00:21:57that they couldn't get out,

00:21:58they never would have gotten in.

00:22:05Robert E. Lee witnessed

00:22:06the 1860 election results

00:22:08from a U.S. Army post

00:22:09in San Antonio, Texas.

00:22:12As the fervor over secession

00:22:14began to boil over,

00:22:15Lee wrote his father-in-law,

00:22:16quote,

00:22:17if the Union is dissolved,

00:22:19which God in his mercy forbid,

00:22:20I shall return to you.

00:22:22According to historian

00:22:23Alan Gwelzo,

00:22:25as the states of the Deep South

00:22:26left the Union,

00:22:27Lee complained that

00:22:28the behavior

00:22:29of the cotton states

00:22:30was wholly beyond

00:22:31any justification

00:22:32and he was worried

00:22:33that their selfish

00:22:34and dictatorial bearing

00:22:36would make life

00:22:37for Virginia miserable

00:22:38should she determine

00:22:39to coalesce with them.

00:22:41In a letter

00:22:42to one of his cousins,

00:22:43he wrote,

00:22:43secession is revolution.

00:22:45He wrote that,

00:22:46quote,

00:22:46our people will destroy

00:22:47a government inaugurated

00:22:48by the blood and wisdom

00:22:49of our patriot fathers

00:22:51that has given us

00:22:51peace and prosperity at home,

00:22:53power and security abroad,

00:22:55and under which

00:22:55we have acquired

00:22:56a colossal strength unequaled

00:22:58in the history of mankind.

00:23:00According to Gwelzo,

00:23:01Lee wished to live

00:23:03under no other government

00:23:04and to have no other flag

00:23:05than the star-spangled banner.

00:23:07But if that government

00:23:07was now going to disappear,

00:23:09then the only alternative

00:23:10was to

00:23:10go back in sorrow

00:23:12to my people

00:23:12and share the misery

00:23:14of my native land.

00:23:15Like so many Americans

00:23:17from this period,

00:23:18Lee was a patriotic American

00:23:19and a war hero,

00:23:21but he saw himself,

00:23:22first and foremost,

00:23:23as a Virginia.

00:23:25On February 6, 1861,

00:23:27David Twiggs,

00:23:28the commander

00:23:28of the U.S. Army's

00:23:29Department of Texas,

00:23:30surrendered his entire command

00:23:32to the Confederates

00:23:33and ordered all federal troops

00:23:34to abandon their posts.

00:23:36Lee refused to leave Fort Mason

00:23:38and pledged to defend

00:23:39his post at all hazards.

00:23:41This is because

00:23:42the legality of secession

00:23:43mattered to him

00:23:44and because his native Virginia

00:23:46hadn't seceded yet.

00:23:48As he left Texas,

00:23:49Lee declared he was

00:23:50returning to Virginia

00:23:51to resign

00:23:52and go to planting corn.

00:23:54And though he would

00:23:55never bear arms

00:23:55against the U.S.,

00:23:56he might carry a musket

00:23:58in defense of

00:23:58my native state, Virginia.

00:24:01Lee's attitude tells us

00:24:03a lot about why

00:24:03not one single

00:24:05Confederate leader

00:24:05was ever convicted

00:24:06of treason,

00:24:07because it was commonly

00:24:08understood at the time

00:24:09that it was not treason.

00:24:11The legal case

00:24:12for secession

00:24:13goes back to

00:24:13before the Constitution,

00:24:15when 13 U.S. colonies

00:24:16decided to secede

00:24:17from the British crown.

00:24:19After winning

00:24:20their war for independence,

00:24:21those colonies

00:24:22then formed

00:24:22the Articles of Confederation,

00:24:24which required

00:24:24that any changes

00:24:25to the Union

00:24:26be adopted

00:24:27by the Congress

00:24:28in all the states.

00:24:29But that never happened,

00:24:30and most states

00:24:31just seceded.

00:24:33The background-led

00:24:34historian

00:24:35Charles Francis Adams, Jr.,

00:24:37who served as a colonel

00:24:38in the Union Army,

00:24:40say, quote,

00:24:41if Robert E. Lee

00:24:41was a traitor,

00:24:42so also indisputably

00:24:44were George Washington,

00:24:45Oliver Cromwell,

00:24:46John Hamden,

00:24:46and William of Orange.

00:24:48Adams goes on,

00:24:49George Washington

00:24:50furnishes a precedent

00:24:51at every point.

00:24:52A Virginian like Lee,

00:24:53he was also

00:24:54a British subject.

00:24:55He had fought

00:24:55under the British flag

00:24:56as Lee had fought

00:24:58under that

00:24:58of the United States.

00:24:59When, in 1776,

00:25:01Virginia seceded

00:25:02from the British Empire,

00:25:02he went with his state,

00:25:04just as Lee went with it

00:25:0585 years later.

00:25:07Subsequently,

00:25:07Washington commanded armies

00:25:09in the field

00:25:09designated by those

00:25:11opposed to them

00:25:11as rebels,

00:25:12and whose descendants

00:25:13now glorified them

00:25:14as the rebels of 76,

00:25:17which as Lee later commanded

00:25:18and at last surrendered,

00:25:19much larger armies

00:25:21also designated rebels

00:25:22by those they confronted.

00:25:24Except in their outcome,

00:25:26the cases were,

00:25:27therefore,

00:25:27precisely alike,

00:25:28and logic is logic.

00:25:30So the only difference

00:25:31is that Washington

00:25:32won his war

00:25:33and Lee lost his.

00:25:36The courts basically agreed

00:25:37with that analysis.

00:25:39After the Civil War,

00:25:40many northern newspapers,

00:25:41including the Boston

00:25:42Daily Advertiser

00:25:43and the New York Times,

00:25:44published materials

00:25:45encouraging the government

00:25:46to put Jefferson Davis,

00:25:47the president of the Confederacy,

00:25:49on trial for treason.

00:25:51And for their part,

00:25:52the Philadelphia Inquirer

00:25:53wrote that a trial

00:25:54would, quote,

00:25:54render traitors infamous

00:25:56and have it judicially settled

00:25:57that secession is illegal.

00:25:59We would have learned

00:26:00a lot about the country

00:26:01if they would have done it.

00:26:03According to University of Virginia

00:26:05law professor Cynthia Nicoletti,

00:26:07no one knew for sure

00:26:08whether secession was legal

00:26:09and that any treason prosecution

00:26:12would rise and fall

00:26:13on that question.

00:26:14Indeed, she quotes

00:26:16George Washington Woodward,

00:26:17chief justice

00:26:18of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court,

00:26:19who wrote in a letter

00:26:20to a lawyer representing

00:26:21a Confederate senator,

00:26:22quote,

00:26:22the doctrine of state rights

00:26:24will have a severe test

00:26:25and may find a strange vindication

00:26:27in that trial.

00:26:28Secession has yet to be defined.

00:26:30Hitherto,

00:26:31it has been a toy

00:26:32of politicians

00:26:32and they have dodged

00:26:34everything like a definition.

00:26:35But is secession treason?

00:26:37That's a grand question.

00:26:38If it is not,

00:26:39war in support of it

00:26:40cannot be.

00:26:41If the right to withdraw existed,

00:26:44it must have included

00:26:45the right of defense.

00:26:46So that levying war

00:26:47to defend a Confederacy

00:26:48founded in secession

00:26:49could not be levying war

00:26:51against the government

00:26:52of the U.S.

00:26:53But this is on the assumption

00:26:54that secession

00:26:54is something less than treason,

00:26:56which I neither aver nor deny.

00:26:59Many Northern politicians

00:27:00were certain

00:27:01the government would lose.

00:27:02Massachusetts Senator

00:27:04Charles Sumner,

00:27:05who was most famous

00:27:06for getting caned

00:27:07on the Senate floor,

00:27:08said,

00:27:08the try Jefferson Davis

00:27:09would be the nay plus ultra

00:27:10of folly.

00:27:11The Supreme Court's

00:27:12Chief Justice said,

00:27:14if you bring these

00:27:14Confederate leaders to trial,

00:27:16it will condemn the North,

00:27:17for by the Constitution,

00:27:18secession is not rebellion.

00:27:21Nicoletti writes

00:27:21that even Lincoln himself

00:27:23was concerned

00:27:23about the possibility

00:27:24that a trial

00:27:25might backfire.

00:27:26Quote,

00:27:26before his untimely death,

00:27:28President Lincoln

00:27:28had remarked

00:27:29that Davis' flight

00:27:30from Richmond in April

00:27:31was a good thing

00:27:32because it forestalled

00:27:33the political

00:27:33and legal difficulties

00:27:35that might attend

00:27:36a high-profile

00:27:37treason prosecution.

00:27:38I'm bound to oppose

00:27:39the escape of Jeff Davis,

00:27:41Lincoln had reportedly

00:27:41told General William T. Sherman.

00:27:44But if you could manage

00:27:45to have him slip out

00:27:46unbeknownst,

00:27:47like,

00:27:47I guess it wouldn't

00:27:48hurt me much.

00:27:50At a cabinet meeting

00:27:51at the White House

00:27:52on July 18th,

00:27:53there was no consensus

00:27:53at the White House

00:27:54as to how to proceed.

00:27:56President Andrew Johnson,

00:27:57who assumed office

00:27:58after Lincoln's assassination,

00:28:00pressed for a clear answer,

00:28:01but he didn't get one.

00:28:02The Secretary of War,

00:28:04Edwin M. Stanton,

00:28:05stated that there was,

00:28:06quote,

00:28:07a great diversity

00:28:07of opinion in the matter

00:28:08as to whether Davis

00:28:09should be tried

00:28:10first for the crime

00:28:11of high treason.

00:28:12Ultimately,

00:28:13Andrew Johnson

00:28:13opted to proceed,

00:28:14tentatively,

00:28:15with a treason prosecution.

00:28:17For his part,

00:28:17Davis was eager for trial

00:28:19because he believed

00:28:19secession was legal

00:28:20and he wanted vindication

00:28:22in court.

00:28:23Davis, in fact,

00:28:23hoped that he would be

00:28:24arrested in 1861

00:28:25after his home state

00:28:27of Mississippi seceded

00:28:28so that he could demonstrate

00:28:29the legality of secession.

00:28:31But no one arrested him

00:28:32and he instead was chosen

00:28:33to be president

00:28:34of the new Confederate

00:28:35States of America.

00:28:36That's why Davis,

00:28:37unlike Robert E. Lee,

00:28:38never requested

00:28:39a presidential pardon.

00:28:40He genuinely thought

00:28:41that he'd be vindicated

00:28:42in court.

00:28:43Jefferson Davis

00:28:44was charged with treason

00:28:45and held for two years

00:28:46at Fort Monroe

00:28:47in Virginia

00:28:48but never got his day in court.

00:28:49Over time,

00:28:50popular support

00:28:51for prosecution waned

00:28:52and the Johnson administration

00:28:53was far from certain

00:28:54that a Virginia jury

00:28:55would convict Davis

00:28:56or even that the Supreme Court

00:28:58would definitively rule

00:28:59that secession was illegal.

00:29:00Davis took the surrender

00:29:01as an unequivocal win.

00:29:03Quote,

00:29:04a sovereign state

00:29:04cannot commit treason,

00:29:06he wrote.

00:29:06The government

00:29:07early discovered

00:29:08that if this issue

00:29:09came before the Supreme Court,

00:29:10it would lose its case

00:29:11and I should be acquitted

00:29:13so none of the indictments

00:29:14were ever tried.

00:29:16Shortly after Davis' case

00:29:17was dropped

00:29:18in April of 1869,

00:29:19the Supreme Court ruled

00:29:20in a separate,

00:29:21unrelated case,

00:29:22Texas v. White,

00:29:23that secession

00:29:24is indeed unconstitutional.

00:29:26As the court put it,

00:29:27the Constitution

00:29:27in all its provisions

00:29:28looks to an indestructible union

00:29:30composed of

00:29:31indestructible states.

00:29:33But it was a throwaway line

00:29:35in a case about bonds.

00:29:36There wasn't any

00:29:37significant discussion

00:29:38of secession

00:29:39during oral arguments

00:29:40or briefing.

00:29:40And the ruling

00:29:41attracted virtually

00:29:43no media attention

00:29:43because by that point

00:29:44it seemed like a dead issue.

00:29:46In short,

00:29:47the Supreme Court

00:29:47snuck in a ruling

00:29:49about the unconstitutionality

00:29:50of secession

00:29:51years after the lengthy

00:29:52public debate

00:29:53over Davis' trial

00:29:54made clear that in fact

00:29:55there was no consensus

00:29:56on that point

00:29:57in the country.

00:29:58And there still isn't,

00:29:59by the way.

00:30:00The America of the 17th

00:30:01and 18th centuries

00:30:02was very different

00:30:03from the United States

00:30:03we know today.

00:30:04At the time,

00:30:05even many Northerners

00:30:06would have conceded

00:30:07that at the minimum

00:30:08the constitutionality

00:30:10of secession

00:30:10was a close call

00:30:11and that it would be

00:30:13a gross oversimplification

00:30:15if not an outright falsehood

00:30:16to call these men traitors.

00:30:22One of the great myths

00:30:24of the Civil War

00:30:24is that the South

00:30:26was somehow

00:30:27uniquely evil.

00:30:29Indeed,

00:30:30at the time,

00:30:31abolitionists aggressively

00:30:32pushed propaganda

00:30:33with exactly that message.

00:30:34As Thomas Fleming writes

00:30:36a disease in the public mind,

00:30:38a new understanding

00:30:38of why we fought

00:30:39the Civil War.

00:30:40Quote,

00:30:40the abolitionists convinced

00:30:41themselves based on

00:30:42their evangelical experiences

00:30:44that smearing the South's

00:30:46reputation

00:30:46in every possible way

00:30:47would create the anxiety

00:30:49that would lead

00:30:49to a mass conversion

00:30:50of the North

00:30:51to their crusade.

00:30:52The South was portrayed

00:30:54as a province ruled

00:30:55by Satan

00:30:55that would consume

00:30:57the North's soul

00:30:57if her citizens

00:30:58did not vow

00:30:59to expunge

00:31:00the sin of slavery.

00:31:02Meanwhile,

00:31:03in the South,

00:31:03there was an intense fear

00:31:04of slave insurrections

00:31:05and race wars

00:31:06following the brutal uprising

00:31:08and revolution

00:31:08in present-day Haiti.

00:31:10Therefore,

00:31:11the Civil War,

00:31:11Fleming argues,

00:31:12is best understood

00:31:13as a product

00:31:14of a psychological disease

00:31:15that afflicted

00:31:16both the North

00:31:16and the South

00:31:17in different ways,

00:31:17which made rational

00:31:18dialogue impossible.

00:31:20Sound familiar?

00:31:22That mutual disease,

00:31:24he argues,

00:31:24is why only the U.S.,

00:31:26unlike Great Britain

00:31:26and Brazil,

00:31:27fought a brutal war

00:31:28over slavery.

00:31:30And yet,

00:31:30long after the war,

00:31:31some of these

00:31:32over-the-top descriptions

00:31:33of the South

00:31:33as simply evil

00:31:34survive today.

00:31:36The cartoon version

00:31:37of history

00:31:38holds that Abraham Lincoln

00:31:39invaded the South

00:31:40because it had slaves.

00:31:42But just how peculiar

00:31:43was the South's

00:31:45peculiar institution

00:31:46as it was called?

00:31:47Well,

00:31:48not very,

00:31:48as it turns out.

00:31:49The North had slaves, too.

00:31:51According to the book,

00:31:52It Wasn't About Slavery

00:31:53by Samuel Mitchum, Jr.,

00:31:56in 1703,

00:31:57more than 42%

00:31:58of New York City households

00:31:59owned slaves,

00:32:00a ratio only surpassed

00:32:01by Charleston, South Carolina.

00:32:03In Connecticut,

00:32:04Mitchum says,

00:32:05one-half of all ministered

00:32:06lawyers and public officials

00:32:07owned slaves.

00:32:08By 1783,

00:32:09one-quarter of Connecticut

00:32:10families owned slaves,

00:32:11and one out of every

00:32:1314 people in Rhode Island

00:32:14was a slave.

00:32:15Many prominent Northerners,

00:32:17including founding fathers,

00:32:18owned slaves.

00:32:19This includes

00:32:19the first signer

00:32:20of the Declaration of Independence

00:32:21and future Massachusetts

00:32:23Governor John Hancock,

00:32:24who had two or three

00:32:25household slaves.

00:32:27Other notable slaveholders

00:32:28from Massachusetts

00:32:29include Cotton Mather,

00:32:30who learned about

00:32:31inoculation

00:32:32from one of his slaves.

00:32:34Slavery in the North

00:32:35was awful.

00:32:35Massachusetts and Connecticut

00:32:37set curfews for black people.

00:32:39According to the book

00:32:40Black Bondage in the North,

00:32:41in the 1700s,

00:32:43Connecticut required blacks

00:32:44to be off the streets

00:32:45by nine at night

00:32:46and to remain within the towns

00:32:48to which they belonged.

00:32:49Slaves who broke curfew

00:32:51in Connecticut,

00:32:51Massachusetts,

00:32:52and Rhode Island

00:32:53were flogged.

00:32:54In New Hampshire,

00:32:55the penalty was ten lashes.

00:32:57In New York,

00:32:57it was a misdemeanor

00:32:58for slaves to gather

00:32:59in groups larger than four.

00:33:01And in Long Island,

00:33:02they could not travel

00:33:02more than a mile from home

00:33:04without a pass.

00:33:05Similar laws existed

00:33:06in Pennsylvania

00:33:06and in New Jersey.

00:33:08By the time Abraham Lincoln

00:33:09was elected,

00:33:10slavery had been banned

00:33:11in most but not all

00:33:13Union states.

00:33:14It's important to point out

00:33:15that while radical abolitionists

00:33:16in the 1850s

00:33:17were calling for the South

00:33:18to immediately free

00:33:19all of their slaves,

00:33:20the Northern states

00:33:21didn't end slavery that way.

00:33:23For the most part,

00:33:24the manumission of slaves

00:33:26in the North

00:33:26was a gradual process.

00:33:29The laws emancipated people

00:33:30born in the future

00:33:31and were designed

00:33:32so Northern slaveholders

00:33:33didn't lose money.

00:33:34In many cases,

00:33:36Northern slaveholders

00:33:36just sold their slaves

00:33:38to the South.

00:33:39One overlooked fact

00:33:41is that early attempts

00:33:42to curb the slave trade

00:33:43had Southern support.

00:33:44In his 1806 State of the Union,

00:33:46President Thomas Jefferson,

00:33:48a Virginian

00:33:48and a slave owner,

00:33:49called on Congress

00:33:50to withdraw the citizens

00:33:51of the United States

00:33:52from all further participation

00:33:53in those violations

00:33:54of human rights

00:33:55which have been so long

00:33:56continued on the unoffending

00:33:58inhabitants of Africa.

00:33:59The next year,

00:34:00the United States Congress

00:34:01voted to abolish

00:34:02the slave trade.

00:34:03The bill passed the House

00:34:04with 96% of representatives

00:34:05yes,

00:34:06including massive support

00:34:07from Southern members

00:34:09of Congress.

00:34:10There are two reasons

00:34:11why Southern members

00:34:12of Congress voted this way.

00:34:13First,

00:34:13at the time,

00:34:14many people in the South

00:34:15wanted to end slavery.

00:34:16By 1827,

00:34:17more than 100 anti-slavery groups

00:34:19existed in the South,

00:34:20mostly under the banner

00:34:21of colonization societies

00:34:23which advocated

00:34:24for sending freed slaves

00:34:25back to Africa.

00:34:27Second,

00:34:27and more importantly,

00:34:28profits from the slave trade

00:34:29weren't going to the South.

00:34:31The slave trade

00:34:32was a northern business

00:34:33and Jefferson's bill

00:34:35was ineffective

00:34:35at stopping it.

00:34:36According to the book

00:34:37Black Cargoes

00:34:38by Daniel Mannix,

00:34:39an English captain

00:34:40reported that

00:34:41the port of Lemieux

00:34:42in the slave market

00:34:44of Zanzibar

00:34:44was packed with

00:34:45quote,

00:34:46enterprising Americans

00:34:47whose star-spangled banner

00:34:49may be seen streaming

00:34:50in the wind

00:34:50where other nations

00:34:52would not deign

00:34:52to traffic.

00:34:54By 1858,

00:34:55as Abraham Lincoln

00:34:56was running for Senate

00:34:57in Illinois,

00:34:57there were 24 American ships

00:34:59in the Zanzibar Harbor

00:35:00as against three British.

00:35:03There are two reasons

00:35:04the British Navy,

00:35:05which at the time

00:35:06was trying to end

00:35:07the slave trade,

00:35:08couldn't stop American slavers.

00:35:09First,

00:35:10American ships

00:35:10were extremely fast

00:35:11and maneuverable.

00:35:13And second,

00:35:13President John Quincy Adams

00:35:14of Massachusetts

00:35:15forbade the British

00:35:16from boarding

00:35:17any American flagged ships.

00:35:19The result was huge profits

00:35:20for Massachusetts-based

00:35:22slave traders.

00:35:23Mannix writes that

00:35:24quote,

00:35:24so many of the ships

00:35:25hailed from Salem, Massachusetts

00:35:27that the Zanzibarians

00:35:28thought all white men

00:35:30came from this one

00:35:31New England town.

00:35:32English officers

00:35:33discovered to their indignation

00:35:35that Great Britain

00:35:36was considered

00:35:37to be a suburb of Salem.

00:35:38The Americans

00:35:39traded for slaves

00:35:40in ivory

00:35:40with a cheap caligo

00:35:42turned out

00:35:42in vast quantities

00:35:43by the New England

00:35:44cotton mills.

00:35:45And even today,

00:35:46cotton is called

00:35:47Americani

00:35:48in Zanzibar.

00:35:49Moving slaves

00:35:50from Africa

00:35:51to the Caribbean

00:35:51and Brazil

00:35:52was big money

00:35:53for northerners.

00:35:54This part of the slave trade

00:35:56was its own version

00:35:57of the famous

00:35:57triangle trade.

00:35:59Cheap southern cotton

00:36:00was shipped north

00:36:01to textile mills

00:36:02which northerners

00:36:03turned into

00:36:04manufactured textile goods.

00:36:06Northern slave traders

00:36:06traded those textiles

00:36:08for slaves in Zanzibar

00:36:09who were then

00:36:10trafficked to the Caribbean

00:36:11for huge profits.

00:36:13The north was profiting

00:36:13from slavery

00:36:14on all three corners

00:36:15of the triangle.

00:36:17This continued

00:36:17for decades.

00:36:19W.E.B. Dubois

00:36:20wrote that

00:36:20by the 1850s

00:36:21the fitting out

00:36:23of slavers

00:36:23became a flourishing

00:36:24business in the United States

00:36:26and centered

00:36:26at New York City.

00:36:28In 1862,

00:36:29literally during

00:36:30the Civil War,

00:36:31the New York

00:36:32Journal of Commerce

00:36:32reported that

00:36:33New York was

00:36:34the principal port

00:36:35of the world

00:36:36for this infamous commerce.

00:36:37Although the cities

00:36:38of Portland, Maine

00:36:39and Boston

00:36:40are second to her

00:36:41in that distinction.

00:36:43As New England

00:36:44was making money

00:36:44off the global slave trade,

00:36:46other northern states

00:36:47were passing

00:36:47racist legislation.

00:36:49In Lincoln's

00:36:49home state of Illinois,

00:36:51black people

00:36:51couldn't attend

00:36:52public schools,

00:36:53couldn't testify

00:36:53against white people

00:36:54in court,

00:36:55or bear arms.

00:36:56If three or more

00:36:57of them gathered

00:36:57to dance,

00:36:58they were fined

00:36:59and lashed.

00:37:00The purpose

00:37:01of these laws,

00:37:01which were known

00:37:02as the Illinois

00:37:02Black Codes,

00:37:03was to discourage

00:37:04black people

00:37:05from moving

00:37:05to the state.

00:37:06In 1853,

00:37:08Illinois made

00:37:08things more explicit

00:37:09with a black

00:37:10exclusion law

00:37:11that, quote,

00:37:12prohibited blacks

00:37:12from coming into

00:37:13the state

00:37:14with the intention

00:37:14of living there.

00:37:15Punishment proved

00:37:16especially harsh

00:37:17in that violators

00:37:18were subject

00:37:19to penalties

00:37:19that amounted

00:37:20to forced labor,

00:37:21essentially slavery.

00:37:22Illinois law

00:37:23was so extreme

00:37:24that it was a crime

00:37:25for blacks to settle

00:37:26in that state

00:37:26without a certificate

00:37:27of freedom

00:37:28which cost $1,000,

00:37:30the equivalent

00:37:30of about $40,000 today.

00:37:32The Black Codes

00:37:32were so harsh

00:37:33that even some

00:37:34southern newspapers

00:37:35objected.

00:37:36The New Orleans Bee

00:37:37called the Illinois

00:37:38Black Codes

00:37:38an act of special

00:37:40and savage ruthlessness.

00:37:41One of the key figures

00:37:43in passing the Black Codes

00:37:44was a state representative

00:37:45named John A. Logan.

00:37:46Logan was an enthusiastic

00:37:47enforcer

00:37:48of the Fugitive Slave Act

00:37:49and an open racist.

00:37:51Abraham Lincoln

00:37:52later made him

00:37:52a Union General.

00:37:53After the war,

00:37:55Logan reinvented himself

00:37:56as a radical

00:37:57Republican senator,

00:37:58but it's hard

00:37:59to imagine

00:37:59that John A. Logan

00:38:00held contemporary

00:38:01woke views

00:38:02on black people.

00:38:03Many northern

00:38:04or free states

00:38:06enacted black laws

00:38:07or exclusionary codes

00:38:08similar to Illinois.

00:38:09Indiana and Oregon

00:38:10banned black settlement

00:38:12in their state constitutions.

00:38:13According to Eugene

00:38:15Berwanger's book

00:38:16The Frontier Against Slavery,

00:38:18quote,

00:38:19the exact extent

00:38:19of racial prejudice

00:38:20as a factor

00:38:21encouraging limitation

00:38:22of slavery

00:38:23is indeterminable.

00:38:24The average man

00:38:25in all ages

00:38:26does not record

00:38:27his thoughts

00:38:27for posterity

00:38:28and is even less

00:38:29likely to do so

00:38:30on such thorny problems

00:38:32as race relations.

00:38:33Yet,

00:38:33if 79.5%

00:38:35of the people

00:38:35in Illinois,

00:38:36Indiana,

00:38:37Oregon,

00:38:37and Kansas

00:38:37voted to exclude

00:38:39the free Negroes

00:38:40simply because

00:38:40of their prejudice,

00:38:42surely this antipathy

00:38:43influenced their decision

00:38:44to support

00:38:44the non-extension

00:38:46of slavery.

00:38:47As Abraham Lincoln's

00:38:48Secretary of State

00:38:49William Seward

00:38:50put it,

00:38:50quote,

00:38:51the motive of those

00:38:52who protested

00:38:52against the extension

00:38:53of slavery

00:38:54had always been

00:38:55concern for the

00:38:55welfare of the white man

00:38:57and not an unnatural

00:38:58sympathy for the Negro.

00:38:59In other words,

00:39:00many northern

00:39:01and western voters

00:39:02opposed the expansion

00:39:03of slavery

00:39:04into their states

00:39:04and territories

00:39:05not primarily

00:39:06out of moral opposition

00:39:08to slavery itself

00:39:09but because they

00:39:10didn't want

00:39:10black neighbors.

00:39:12Generally speaking,

00:39:13in the first half

00:39:14of the 1800s,

00:39:15many southerners

00:39:15supported emancipation

00:39:16and the relocation

00:39:17of slaves.

00:39:18In many cases,

00:39:19it's because they

00:39:20thought the black

00:39:20populations of their

00:39:21states were getting

00:39:22too big.

00:39:23After Nat Turner's

00:39:24violent slave revolt

00:39:25in Virginia in 1831,

00:39:27thousands of Virginians

00:39:28petitioned their government

00:39:29to end slavery.

00:39:31Charles County Quakers

00:39:32issued a petition

00:39:33calling for a new law

00:39:34declaring that all

00:39:35persons born in the

00:39:36state after some period

00:39:37to be fixed by law

00:39:39shall be free.

00:39:40Virginia's governor

00:39:41at the time

00:39:42wrote in his diary

00:39:43that before I leave

00:39:44this government

00:39:45I will have contrived

00:39:46to have a law

00:39:47pass gradually

00:39:48abolishing slavery

00:39:49in this state.

00:39:50The Richmond Enquirer

00:39:51at the time

00:39:52called slavery

00:39:52the greatest evil

00:39:54which can scourge

00:39:55our land.

00:39:56The Virginia House

00:39:57of Delegates

00:39:57failed to end slavery

00:39:59then but it wasn't

00:40:00by an overwhelming vote.

00:40:01Many people didn't

00:40:02realize that the

00:40:03windowed end slavery

00:40:04through the legal process

00:40:05likely peaked

00:40:06right at the beginning

00:40:07of the country

00:40:08and into the early 1800s.

00:40:10In 1794

00:40:11the incentives

00:40:12radically changed

00:40:13after Eli Whitney

00:40:14invented the cotton gin.

00:40:15That invention

00:40:16more than anything else

00:40:17dramatically increased

00:40:18the demand for slave labor

00:40:19in the south

00:40:20because it made

00:40:21cotton cultivation

00:40:21vastly more profitable.

00:40:23As the Civil War

00:40:25approached

00:40:25the hundreds of

00:40:26anti-slavery groups

00:40:28that had formed

00:40:28in the mid-1820s

00:40:30had mostly gone away

00:40:31and so had any possibility

00:40:32that southern legislatures

00:40:33would end slavery

00:40:35on their own.

00:40:36The debate

00:40:36after Nat Turner's rebellion

00:40:38was the last

00:40:39major attempt

00:40:40to do so.

00:40:41And so slavery

00:40:42persisted for decades

00:40:43though many Virginians

00:40:45knew it was wrong.

00:40:46One of them

00:40:46was Robert E. Lee himself.

00:40:48According to historian

00:40:49Alan Guelzo

00:40:50Lee quote

00:40:51regarded slavery

00:40:52as a moral

00:40:52and political evil

00:40:53which however

00:40:54he was content

00:40:55to leave in the hands

00:40:56of God to resolve.

00:40:57Lee's slaves

00:40:58were inherited

00:40:59one slave family

00:41:00from his mother

00:41:01and 197 others

00:41:03from his father-in-law

00:41:04G.W.P. Custis

00:41:07in 1862

00:41:07during the war

00:41:08Lee quote

00:41:08completed the emancipation

00:41:10of the Custis slaves

00:41:11which he was obligated

00:41:12to do by his father-in-law's will

00:41:14and then freed his own

00:41:15which he was not.

00:41:22The war was not

00:41:23exclusively about slavery.

00:41:25That is just a fact.

00:41:26It could not have been.

00:41:28Right up through

00:41:29the shelling

00:41:29of Fort Sumter

00:41:30the North was profiting

00:41:31massively from the slave trade.

00:41:32Four Union states

00:41:34had legal slavery

00:41:35but if the war

00:41:36was not about slavery

00:41:37then what was it about?

00:41:39Well the answer

00:41:40depends on who you ask.

00:41:41Though interestingly

00:41:42Presidents Lincoln

00:41:42and Davis

00:41:43seemed to agree.

00:41:44Confederate President

00:41:44Jefferson Davis

00:41:45said quote

00:41:45we are not fighting

00:41:46for slavery

00:41:47we are fighting

00:41:47for independence

00:41:48and that

00:41:49or extermination

00:41:50we will have.

00:41:51Lincoln himself

00:41:52told newspaper editor

00:41:52Horace Greeley

00:41:53quote

00:41:53my paramount object

00:41:54in this struggle

00:41:55is to save the Union

00:41:56and is not to either

00:41:57save or destroy slavery

00:41:59If I could save the Union

00:42:00without freeing any slave

00:42:02I would do it

00:42:02and if I could save it

00:42:04by freeing all the slaves

00:42:05I would do it

00:42:05and if I could save it

00:42:07by freeing some

00:42:07and leaving others alone

00:42:08I would also do that.

00:42:11In other words

00:42:11according to both presidents

00:42:13the war was fundamentally

00:42:14about the question

00:42:15of keeping or ending

00:42:16the Union.

00:42:17The key argument

00:42:18against the idea

00:42:18that Civil War

00:42:19was solely about slavery

00:42:20is that

00:42:21at the time of secession

00:42:22in late 1860

00:42:23and early 1861

00:42:24neither the incoming

00:42:25Republican administration

00:42:26nor mainstream

00:42:27northern opinion

00:42:28advocated

00:42:29for the immediate

00:42:30abolition of slavery

00:42:31where it already existed

00:42:32in southern states.

00:42:33The Republican Party

00:42:34platform of 1860

00:42:36opposed the extension

00:42:37of slavery

00:42:37to the territories

00:42:38but didn't call

00:42:39for abolition of slavery

00:42:40in the South.

00:42:41But even if it had

00:42:42and stood a reasonable

00:42:43chance of happening

00:42:44which it didn't

00:42:45at least in the short run

00:42:46most southerners

00:42:47would not have been

00:42:48affected anyway.

00:42:49Only about one third

00:42:50of southerners

00:42:50were from households

00:42:51that had slaves.

00:42:52The idea that

00:42:53360,000 white men

00:42:55were going to line up

00:42:56and die for the sake

00:42:58of rescuing black people

00:43:00in the South

00:43:00is just absurd

00:43:02and ahistorical.

00:43:03In the words

00:43:04of the great Civil War

00:43:05historian Shelby Foote

00:43:06quote,

00:43:06no soldier on either side

00:43:08gave a damn

00:43:09about the slaves.

00:43:10The soldiers' diaries

00:43:11support this.

00:43:13Heros von Bork

00:43:14chief of staff

00:43:15to Confederate General

00:43:16Jim Stewart

00:43:17wrote a 558 page history

00:43:19of his experiences

00:43:20in the war.

00:43:21His memoirs contained

00:43:22no references

00:43:23to slavery at all

00:43:24and only one

00:43:24to a slave

00:43:25in which he passed

00:43:26a large plantation

00:43:27which I was told

00:43:28belonged to a free Negro

00:43:29one of the richest men

00:43:30of the county

00:43:31who was himself

00:43:32the owner

00:43:33of numerous slaves.

00:43:34The historian

00:43:35James McPherson

00:43:36went through

00:43:37the diaries

00:43:37of more than

00:43:38a thousand soldiers

00:43:39from both sides

00:43:40for his book

00:43:41For Cause and Comrades.

00:43:43He found the quote

00:43:44for Union

00:43:45and Confederate volunteers

00:43:46alike

00:43:46abstract symbols

00:43:47or concepts

00:43:48such as

00:43:49country, flag,

00:43:50constitution, liberty

00:43:51and legacy

00:43:52of the revolution

00:43:53figured prominently

00:43:54in their explanations

00:43:55of why they enlisted.

00:43:57For Confederate soldiers

00:43:58a more concrete,

00:43:59visceral,

00:44:00and perhaps

00:44:00more powerful motive

00:44:01also came into play.

00:44:03Defense of home

00:44:04and hearth

00:44:05against an invading enemy.

00:44:07They signed up

00:44:08to fight out of duty.

00:44:09A concept that was

00:44:11a lot stronger

00:44:12150 years ago

00:44:13than it is today.

00:44:15Many Union soldiers

00:44:16echoed Lincoln's calls

00:44:17for preserving the Union.

00:44:19McPherson found

00:44:20a Union soldier

00:44:21from Philadelphia

00:44:21who wrote that

00:44:23this contest

00:44:24is not the North

00:44:24against the South

00:44:25it is government

00:44:26against anarchy

00:44:27law against disorder.

00:44:29Another from Michigan

00:44:30joined against

00:44:31the wishes of his family

00:44:32because he wanted

00:44:32to join

00:44:33quote all true patriots

00:44:35to sustain her government.

00:44:36Another from Michigan

00:44:37wrote that

00:44:37if the Union is split up

00:44:39the government

00:44:39is destroyed

00:44:40and we will be

00:44:41a ruined nation.

00:44:43Do not borrow

00:44:44any trouble about me

00:44:45if I die

00:44:46in the battlefield

00:44:46I do so with pleasure.

00:44:48And he did die

00:44:49in battle the next year.

00:44:51McPherson found

00:44:52immigrants lamenting

00:44:53that secession

00:44:54would make the country

00:44:54quote

00:44:55as bad as the deeply

00:44:56divided German states

00:44:57and native-born Americans

00:44:59who said quote

00:44:59our fathers made this country

00:45:01we their children

00:45:02are to save it.

00:45:04McPherson notes that

00:45:05relatively few

00:45:06Union volunteers

00:45:07mentioned the slavery issue

00:45:08when they enlisted.

00:45:10The same is true

00:45:11for Southern soldiers.

00:45:12McPherson estimates

00:45:13that just 20%

00:45:14of Confederate soldiers

00:45:15even considered slavery

00:45:16a cause worth fighting

00:45:17for in the first place.

00:45:18Most were focused

00:45:19on repelling an invasion.

00:45:20Quote

00:45:21Defense of the homeland

00:45:22was one of the strongest

00:45:24of combat motivations

00:45:25even among soldiers

00:45:26from slave-holding families

00:45:28only one-third

00:45:28explicitly voiced

00:45:29pro-slavery convictions.

00:45:31McPherson writes that

00:45:32many Virginians

00:45:33shared Robert E. Lee's view

00:45:34that they wouldn't fight

00:45:36unless it be

00:45:37in defense of Virginia.

00:45:38Another Virginian wrote

00:45:39I would give all I've got

00:45:41just to be in the front rank

00:45:42of the first brigade

00:45:43that marches against

00:45:44the invading foe

00:45:45who now pollute

00:45:46the sacred soil

00:45:47of my native state

00:45:48with their unholy tread.

00:45:50When Abraham Lincoln

00:45:51issued the

00:45:51Emancipation Proclamation

00:45:52he did it as a wartime measure

00:45:55to suppress the rebellion.

00:45:57It's just as notable

00:45:58for what it did not do

00:45:59as what it did do.

00:46:01It did not free the slaves.

00:46:02No, slavery continued

00:46:04in areas under federal control

00:46:05which included Delaware,

00:46:07Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri

00:46:08and parts of Virginia,

00:46:10Louisiana, Tennessee.

00:46:11In practice it only freed

00:46:12about 100,000 people

00:46:13out of a pool of millions.

00:46:15Lincoln did it because

00:46:16he wanted to prevent

00:46:17European powers

00:46:17from forming an alliance

00:46:19with the Confederacy

00:46:19which seemed likely at the time

00:46:21and would have dramatically

00:46:22changed the South's fortunes.

00:46:24So the Proclamation

00:46:25was a brilliant

00:46:27political maneuver

00:46:27that undercut

00:46:28the Confederacy's

00:46:29diplomatic efforts

00:46:30to court Europe

00:46:31because it made intervention

00:46:32politically untenable

00:46:33for European leaders

00:46:34who almost all

00:46:35opposed slavery.

00:46:36Now, wait a second here.

00:46:38We are not saying

00:46:39the war had nothing

00:46:41to do with slavery

00:46:42because that would

00:46:43also be ridiculous.

00:46:44It's just as much

00:46:45a cartoon caricature

00:46:46as what your idiot teachers

00:46:47taught you in school.

00:46:49No, slavery

00:46:49was a factor

00:46:51that led to war

00:46:52and it was a major factor.

00:46:54South Carolina's

00:46:55Declaration of Causes

00:46:56for Secession

00:46:57references slavery

00:46:58six times.

00:46:59After seceding,

00:47:00South Carolina

00:47:01immediately made an appeal

00:47:02to other slave-holding states

00:47:04to secede

00:47:04and in its appeal

00:47:05referenced slavery

00:47:06no less than 32 times.

00:47:08The South Carolina

00:47:09legislatures

00:47:10literally wrote

00:47:11quote,

00:47:11slave-holding states

00:47:12cannot be safe

00:47:13in subjection

00:47:14to non-slave-holding states.

00:47:16When General Claiborne

00:47:17suggested freeing the slaves

00:47:18to fight for the Confederacy,

00:47:20his fellow officers

00:47:20were shocked and appalled.

00:47:22Slavery was a factor

00:47:24in the war

00:47:24and probably a significant one

00:47:26but it was not

00:47:28the only factor.

00:47:28The South left

00:47:29for three other reasons too.

00:47:32First, there was

00:47:32the balance

00:47:33of political power.

00:47:35In the Republic's

00:47:36first 72 years,

00:47:37slave-holding Southerners

00:47:38occupied the White House

00:47:39approximately two-thirds

00:47:40of the time

00:47:41or 49 years

00:47:42out of 72.

00:47:43Some of the biggest figures

00:47:45in American politics

00:47:45were from the South

00:47:46including Andrew Jackson,

00:47:48James K. Polk

00:47:48and John C. Calhoun.

00:47:50To the extent

00:47:51that there were

00:47:51Northern presidents,

00:47:52many were sympathetic

00:47:53to the South

00:47:54like Pennsylvania's

00:47:54James Buchanan.

00:47:56But demographics

00:47:57is destiny

00:47:57as the Northern states

00:47:59surged in population

00:48:00driven by higher birth rates

00:48:01and massive waves

00:48:02of European immigration,

00:48:04the South's long-standing

00:48:05political dominance

00:48:06collapsed.

00:48:07The South's share

00:48:08of the House of Representatives

00:48:09dropped from roughly

00:48:1048% at the founding

00:48:12to 38% by 1860.

00:48:14For decades,

00:48:15Congress maintained

00:48:16balance in the Senate

00:48:16by adding slave

00:48:18and free states

00:48:18at the same time

00:48:19but after the country's

00:48:21massive territorial expansion

00:48:22as a result

00:48:23of the Mexican-American War,

00:48:24that balance was doomed.

00:48:26There was no need

00:48:27for slave labor

00:48:27in places like Arizona

00:48:28and New Mexico

00:48:29and so the South's

00:48:30relative power

00:48:31declined quickly.

00:48:32California was admitted

00:48:34as a free state in 1850.

00:48:35Free Oregon

00:48:36entered in 1859.

00:48:38Abraham Lincoln's election

00:48:40in 1860

00:48:40coupled with the rapid rise

00:48:42of the Republican Party

00:48:43which was a purely

00:48:45sectional Northern organization

00:48:46at the time

00:48:47signaled the end

00:48:48of Southern dominance

00:48:49in national politics.

00:48:51Second,

00:48:52the South

00:48:52had a financial motive.

00:48:54At the outbreak

00:48:54of the war,

00:48:55the American South

00:48:56produced roughly

00:48:57three quarters

00:48:58of the world's cotton.

00:48:59From 1830 to 1860,

00:49:01cotton was by far

00:49:02the country's top export.

00:49:03It comprised

00:49:04literally half

00:49:04or more

00:49:05of all U.S. exports.

00:49:0790% of exports

00:49:08to Great Britain

00:49:09came only from the South

00:49:10and by the 1830s,

00:49:12more than 80%

00:49:13of the cotton

00:49:14grown in the South

00:49:15was being exported.

00:49:16At the time,

00:49:17the biggest source

00:49:18of revenue

00:49:18for the U.S. government

00:49:19was the tariff.

00:49:20This was great policy

00:49:21for Northern states

00:49:23since their tariffs

00:49:24protected their manufacturers

00:49:25from foreign competition

00:49:26but it was terrible

00:49:27for the export-dependent South

00:49:28because retaliatory tariffs

00:49:30restricted their access

00:49:31to the foreign markets

00:49:32and because their economy

00:49:34was built

00:49:34around agricultural exports,

00:49:36they had higher demand

00:49:37for foreign

00:49:38manufactured goods.

00:49:39So how much of a factor

00:49:40was money

00:49:41in the decision

00:49:42to secede?

00:49:43On Christmas Day,

00:49:441860,

00:49:45the South Carolina

00:49:46legislature

00:49:46issued an address

00:49:48to the other

00:49:48slave-holding states

00:49:49calling on them

00:49:50to leave the Union.

00:49:51One of their major

00:49:52grievances was,

00:49:53The taxes laid

00:49:54by the Congress

00:49:55of the United States

00:49:56have been laid

00:49:57with a view

00:49:57of subserving

00:49:58the interests

00:49:58of the North.

00:50:00The people of the South

00:50:01have been taxed

00:50:02by duties on imports

00:50:04not for revenue

00:50:05but for an object

00:50:06inconsistent with revenue

00:50:08to promote

00:50:09by prohibitions

00:50:10Northern interests

00:50:11in the productions

00:50:12of their mines

00:50:13and manufacturers.

00:50:14The role that economics

00:50:16played in secession

00:50:17was obvious to outsiders.

00:50:19Karl Marx complained

00:50:20at the time

00:50:21that London's

00:50:22biggest newspapers

00:50:22including The Times,

00:50:24The Economist,

00:50:25The Examiner,

00:50:25The Saturday Review

00:50:26were arguing that

00:50:28quote,

00:50:28the war between

00:50:29the North and South

00:50:30is a tariff war.

00:50:31The war is further

00:50:32not for any principle,

00:50:33does not touch

00:50:34the question of slavery

00:50:35and in fact

00:50:36turns on Northern

00:50:37lust for sovereignty.

00:50:39A third reason

00:50:40was the massive

00:50:41cultural divide

00:50:42between the regions.

00:50:43The South was rural

00:50:45and agricultural.

00:50:46The North was urban,

00:50:47industrial

00:50:48and had huge numbers

00:50:49of European immigrants.

00:50:51Increasingly,

00:50:51they hated each other,

00:50:53something that became

00:50:53obvious on one

00:50:54cool Virginia morning

00:50:56in October 1859.

00:50:59Robert E. Lee

00:50:59was harvesting

00:51:00the rye crop

00:51:01in his fields

00:51:01in Arlington

00:51:02when a mounted soldier

00:51:03showed up

00:51:04and handed him

00:51:05a letter

00:51:05from the Secretary of War.

00:51:06The night before,

00:51:07around 1.30 in the morning,

00:51:09the Federal Armory

00:51:09and Arsenal

00:51:10at Harper's Ferry, Virginia

00:51:11had been taken

00:51:12by a group of armed men.

00:51:14A train passing through it

00:51:16sent telegrams

00:51:17on to Washington

00:51:17warning of 150

00:51:19armed abolitionists

00:51:20who have come

00:51:21to free the slaves

00:51:22and intend to do it

00:51:22at all hazards

00:51:23and to arm poor whites

00:51:25who are similarly aggrieved

00:51:26with the slave system.

00:51:28They were led

00:51:28by a radical abolitionist

00:51:30and insurrectionist

00:51:31named John Brown

00:51:32who wanted to provoke

00:51:33a massive slave uprising

00:51:34across the South.

00:51:35It was Lee's job

00:51:36to take back Harper's Ferry

00:51:38with a company

00:51:38of 90 Marines,

00:51:40two howitzers

00:51:41and a few local

00:51:42citizen militias

00:51:43from Maryland and Virginia.

00:51:45He had such little time

00:51:46to prepare

00:51:46that he wore

00:51:47civilian clothing

00:51:48and a top hat

00:51:48and he commandeered

00:51:50a Baltimore and Ohio

00:51:51engine car

00:51:51to get there

00:51:52riding with just

00:51:53one other officer,

00:51:54the conductor

00:51:55and the train's fireman.

00:51:57When Lee arrived,

00:51:58Brown's revolution

00:51:59had failed to materialize.

00:52:00The raiders were trapped

00:52:01in an engine house.

00:52:02The Marines waited

00:52:03until morning

00:52:04and then stormed the building.

00:52:06John Brown

00:52:06and four of his men

00:52:07were taken alive

00:52:08and later tried

00:52:09and executed.

00:52:11The South responded

00:52:12to the noose

00:52:12with total heart.

00:52:14The Richmond Enquirer

00:52:15wrote,

00:52:16The Southern people

00:52:17have heretofore

00:52:17disregarded the ravings

00:52:19of Northern fanatics

00:52:20because they believe

00:52:20such madness

00:52:21to be merely

00:52:22a pecuniary speculation.

00:52:24But the attack

00:52:24at Harper's Ferry

00:52:25shows that

00:52:26the Northern people

00:52:27mean more than words.

00:52:29Virginia's legislature

00:52:30awarded Lee a sword

00:52:32for his gallant conduct

00:52:33at Harper's Ferry.

00:52:35The North was euphoric.

00:52:37Ralph Waldo Emerson

00:52:38wrote that

00:52:39John Brown

00:52:40was an idealist

00:52:40who put his ideas

00:52:42into action

00:52:43Henry David Thoreau

00:52:44compared Brown's execution

00:52:45to the crucifixion

00:52:46of Christ.

00:52:47The abolitionist

00:52:48Wendell Phillips

00:52:49also of Massachusetts

00:52:51called Harper's Ferry

00:52:52the Lexington of today

00:52:53comparing it

00:52:54to the opening shots

00:52:55of the Revolutionary War

00:52:56and said Brown

00:52:57was the brave,

00:52:58frank,

00:52:59and sublime

00:52:59truster

00:53:00in God's right

00:53:01and absolute justice.

00:53:03Northerners raised money

00:53:04to pay for Brown's

00:53:05legal defense.

00:53:06Many of Brown's

00:53:07conspirators

00:53:08were protected

00:53:08by Republican governors

00:53:09in Northern states.

00:53:11The Northern response

00:53:12shook the South

00:53:13to its core.

00:53:13South Carolina's

00:53:14Declaration of Causes

00:53:15for Secession

00:53:16specifically mentioned

00:53:17Northern states

00:53:18providing safe harbor

00:53:19for John Brown's

00:53:20accomplices.

00:53:21Other states

00:53:22complained of

00:53:22Northern aggression

00:53:23and hostility.

00:53:24The attack on Harper's Ferry

00:53:26proved to them

00:53:27that the cultural bond

00:53:29it once shared

00:53:29with the North

00:53:30no longer existed.

00:53:37For as long

00:53:38as political scientists

00:53:39and historians

00:53:40have been polled

00:53:41on the best presidents

00:53:42Abraham Lincoln

00:53:43has topped the charts

00:53:44in every category.

00:53:45Modern presidents

00:53:46can't help but

00:53:47compare themselves

00:53:48to him.

00:53:48But the life

00:53:49of a tall,

00:53:50gangly,

00:53:51self-made

00:53:52Springfield lawyer

00:53:53tells us

00:53:54that a different future

00:53:55is possible.

00:53:57That is why

00:53:58I'm in this race.

00:53:59Not just to hold

00:54:00an office

00:54:00but to gather

00:54:01with you

00:54:02to transform a nation.

00:54:04In school

00:54:04kids are taught

00:54:05that Abraham Lincoln

00:54:06was the great emancipator

00:54:07a champion of equality

00:54:09a defender of democracy.

00:54:11To his contemporaries

00:54:12he was

00:54:12the ape baboon

00:54:14of the prairie

00:54:15a coarse vulgar joker

00:54:17a simple Susan

00:54:18and the craftiest

00:54:20and most dishonest politician

00:54:21that ever disgraced

00:54:22the White House.

00:54:24Now in reality

00:54:25he was none of these things.

00:54:27Although he may have been

00:54:28a coarse and vulgar joker

00:54:29it's hard to know

00:54:30for sure.

00:54:31The greatest event

00:54:32in Lincoln's life

00:54:33what turned him

00:54:34from man to myth

00:54:35was his assassination.

00:54:36In the words

00:54:37of historian

00:54:38Michael Burlingame

00:54:38quote

00:54:39canonization began

00:54:41almost immediately.

00:54:42Within days

00:54:42of his death

00:54:43his life

00:54:43was being compared

00:54:44to Jesus Christ.

00:54:46He was shot

00:54:46on Good Friday

00:54:47and by Easter Sunday

00:54:48a prominent American pastor

00:54:49said

00:54:49heaven rejoices

00:54:51this Easter morning

00:54:52in the resurrection

00:54:52of our lost leader.

00:54:54Referring not to Jesus

00:54:55but to Abraham Lincoln.

00:54:57At the 1909

00:54:58Lincoln centennial

00:54:59Illinois school children

00:55:00recited verses

00:55:01calling him

00:55:02a peasant prince

00:55:03a masterpiece of God.

00:55:05His oversized statue

00:55:07keeps watch over

00:55:07the National Mall

00:55:08in Washington D.C.

00:55:09today.

00:55:10But in 1863

00:55:11no one in America

00:55:13would have recognized

00:55:14the Lincoln

00:55:15we know today.

00:55:16Back then

00:55:16it wasn't even clear

00:55:17if he was going

00:55:17to win re-election.

00:55:18He was

00:55:19in the words

00:55:20of Michael Burlingame

00:55:21the most activist

00:55:22president in history

00:55:23who transformed

00:55:24the presidency

00:55:24and the country

00:55:25when he

00:55:26expanded the army

00:55:27and navy

00:55:28spent $2 million

00:55:29without congressional

00:55:30appropriation

00:55:30blockaded southern ports

00:55:32closed post offices

00:55:33to treasonable correspondences

00:55:35suspended the writ

00:55:36of habeas corpus

00:55:37in several locations

00:55:38ordered the arrest

00:55:39and military detention

00:55:40of suspected traitors

00:55:42and issued

00:55:43the Emancipation Proclamation

00:55:44on New Year's Day

00:55:441863

00:55:45to do all these things

00:55:47Lincoln broke

00:55:48an assortment of laws

00:55:49and ignored

00:55:49one constitutional provision

00:55:50after another.

00:55:52He was hated

00:55:52by southerners

00:55:53but also loathed

00:55:54by many northerners.

00:55:55The abolitionist

00:55:56Wendell Phillips

00:55:57called Lincoln

00:55:58a huckster to politics

00:55:59a first-rate

00:56:00second-rate man.

00:56:02So Lincoln was

00:56:03in a word

00:56:04at the time

00:56:05controversial.

00:56:07He was also a human

00:56:08and a flawed one

00:56:09like us all.

00:56:10He held contemporary

00:56:11views on race.

00:56:13He believed blacks

00:56:14were inferior to whites.

00:56:15In one of the

00:56:16Lincoln-Douglas debates

00:56:17he said quote

00:56:18I will say then

00:56:19that I am not

00:56:20nor ever have I been

00:56:22in favor of bringing

00:56:23about in any way

00:56:24the social and political

00:56:25equality of the white

00:56:26and black races.

00:56:28That I am not

00:56:29nor have I ever been

00:56:30in favor of making voters

00:56:31or jurors of Negroes

00:56:33nor of qualifying them

00:56:34to hold office

00:56:35nor to intermarry

00:56:36with white people.

00:56:37And I will say

00:56:37in addition to this

00:56:38that there is a physical

00:56:40difference between

00:56:40the white and black races

00:56:41which I believe

00:56:42will forever forbid

00:56:43the two races

00:56:44living together

00:56:44on terms of social

00:56:46and political equality.

00:56:47And in as much

00:56:48as they cannot live

00:56:49while they do remain together

00:56:50there must be

00:56:51the position

00:56:52of superior

00:56:52and inferior

00:56:53and I am as much

00:56:54as any other man

00:56:56in favor of having

00:56:57the superior position

00:56:58assigned to the white race.

00:57:00I say upon this occasion

00:57:01I do not perceive

00:57:02that because the white man

00:57:03is to have the superior position

00:57:04the Negro should be

00:57:06denied everything.

00:57:07I do not understand

00:57:08that because I do not

00:57:09want a Negro woman

00:57:10for a slave

00:57:11I must necessarily

00:57:12want her for a wife.

00:57:14The crowd laughed

00:57:15at that answer.

00:57:16It's really hard to know

00:57:18what Abraham Lincoln

00:57:18really thought

00:57:19because he was

00:57:20an incredible politician.

00:57:21Every word he said

00:57:22every action he took

00:57:23he did so knowing

00:57:25who his audience was

00:57:26and what their response

00:57:27would be.

00:57:28This is very important

00:57:29and often overlooked.

00:57:30Historians in 100 years

00:57:32might look back

00:57:33at Barack Obama

00:57:34in 2008

00:57:34and based on his words

00:57:36think he did oppose

00:57:38gay marriage

00:57:38because he said he did.

00:57:40But of course

00:57:41he was pandering

00:57:42to an audience.

00:57:43He was a politician.

00:57:45Lincoln and Obama

00:57:46might have more in common

00:57:47than just being tall

00:57:48gangly self-made

00:57:49lawyers from Illinois.

00:57:50But we do know

00:57:51that in the end

00:57:52Lincoln did not

00:57:53free the slaves.

00:57:54When Lincoln issued

00:57:55the Emancipation Proclamation

00:57:56he still believed that

00:57:58quote

00:57:58the only long-term

00:57:59solution to slavery

00:58:00was voluntary colonization.

00:58:02On March 6th

00:58:031862

00:58:04President Abraham Lincoln

00:58:06sent a special message

00:58:07to Congress

00:58:08urging the adoption

00:58:09of a joint resolution

00:58:10that would offer

00:58:11federal financial support

00:58:12to any state

00:58:13voluntarily adopting

00:58:14the gradual abolishment

00:58:15of slavery

00:58:16with pecuniary aid

00:58:17provided to compensate

00:58:18owners for the inconvenience

00:58:20public and private

00:58:21caused by the change.

00:58:23In total

00:58:24Abraham Lincoln

00:58:25believed that slavery

00:58:26was a moral

00:58:27and political evil.

00:58:29He believed it

00:58:29should end gradually

00:58:30rather than immediately

00:58:31and he supported

00:58:33the idea of colonization

00:58:34or sending

00:58:35freed black people

00:58:36to Africa

00:58:37or elsewhere

00:58:37as part of the solution.

00:58:39In other words

00:58:40Abraham Lincoln

00:58:41had the exact same

00:58:42views on slavery

00:58:43as Robert E. Lee.

00:58:45After the war

00:58:46Robert E. Lee

00:58:47received a presidential pardon

00:58:48and returned to Virginia

00:58:49where he took up

00:58:50the presidency

00:58:50of what is now

00:58:51Washington and Lee University

00:58:53a role many historians

00:58:54regard as the happiest

00:58:55period of his life

00:58:56far removed

00:58:57from the burdens

00:58:58of command.

00:58:59At the moment

00:58:59of surrender

00:59:00at Appomattox

00:59:01Lee could have urged

00:59:02his devoted soldiers

00:59:03to scatter

00:59:04into the Appalachians

00:59:05waging a guerrilla war

00:59:06that might have

00:59:07dragged on for decades

00:59:08sapping northern resources

00:59:10and claiming

00:59:10countless more lives.

00:59:12Instead

00:59:12true to his character

00:59:13he chose the path

00:59:14of honor

00:59:15and remarkably

00:59:15reconciliation

00:59:17with the Union.

00:59:18He urged his men

00:59:19to lay down arms

00:59:20return home

00:59:21and rebuild

00:59:22as loyal citizens.

00:59:24Today

00:59:25efforts to erase Lee

00:59:26from history

00:59:26often stem from

00:59:27sheer historical illiteracy

00:59:29but a deeper motive

00:59:31but a deeper motive lurks.

00:59:32Resentment towards

00:59:33a man who embodies

00:59:34virtues increasingly rare

00:59:36in modern America.

00:59:38They hate him

00:59:39not for his flaws

00:59:40but because he represents

00:59:42unattainable ideals.

00:59:44Tactical genius

00:59:45a man of unyielding duty

00:59:47honor and dignity

00:59:48a southerner

00:59:50whose leadership

00:59:51at Chancellorsville

00:59:52still echoes

00:59:53in military academies

00:59:54worldwide.

00:59:54They know they'll never

00:59:56measure up.

00:59:57No statues will rise

00:59:59for fleeting figures

01:00:01like Mark Milley

01:00:02or anyone else

01:00:03but Lee's legacy

01:00:04endures

01:00:05outlasting the vandals

01:00:07who would topple

01:00:08his monuments

01:00:08or even disturb

01:00:09his faithful horse

01:00:10traveler's grave.

01:00:12In the end

01:00:13Robert E. Lee

01:00:13is a reflection

01:00:15of the Civil War itself

01:00:16far more nuanced

01:00:17and multifaceted

01:00:18than the simplistic

01:00:19tales spun

01:00:20in high school classrooms

01:00:22or viral videos.

01:00:23A full reckoning

01:00:24with the real history

01:00:25such as Shelby Foote's

01:00:27epic 1.2 million word

01:00:29trilogy

01:00:29spanning 3,000 pages

01:00:31demands depths

01:00:32that no textbook

01:00:33or hour-long

01:00:34internet video

01:00:34can capture.

01:00:35The mainstream narrative

01:00:36is a cartoon.

01:00:38The war was never

01:00:39a straightforward crusade

01:00:40against southern evil.

01:00:41Secession was not

01:00:42categorically treason.

01:00:44Abraham Lincoln

01:00:45was not

01:00:45a messianic figure.

01:00:47The story

01:00:48most Americans

01:00:49have heard

01:00:49as a fairy tale.

01:00:51But one thing is true.

01:00:52Wars have consequences.

01:00:54And victors

01:00:55shape the story.

01:00:57That is the

01:00:58enduring lesson

01:00:59of the Civil War.

History With Matt Walsh S01E03

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