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00:04Abraham Lincoln
00:05é o most celebrated figure
00:07em American history
00:08His assassination
00:09almost 150 years ago
00:11transformed him
00:13from a mere politician
00:14into America's national saint
00:16It's the original martyrdom
00:19It's Lincoln dying
00:20for the nation's sins
00:22He dies
00:23in the moment of his triumph
00:25on Good Friday
00:27in a Christian country
00:28I mean, God
00:28Quem escreveu esse script?
00:30Para todos os americanos, ele é o presidente que salvou a União,
00:33e todo homem de Kentucky que cresceu de pobreza para ser presidente,
00:38vivendo o dream americano.
00:39Ele é o que os americanos pensam que o país deveria ser.
00:43E, consequentemente, nós nos tornamos infatuados com ele.
00:47Para os americanos, Lincoln sempre vai ser o grande emancipador,
00:51o homem que freed os soldados,
00:54colocando igual ao lado da liberdade,
00:56como uma das coisas que os americanos consideram self-evident.
01:01E para quase todos os americanos,
01:03principalmente os do norte,
01:05ele é o líder que guiou a nation através do trauma da civil war,
01:09talvez o central evento da história do país.
01:13Mas hoje,
01:14as america marcar a 150ª aniversário de Lincoln's presidência,
01:18uma batalha histórica está sendo fechada
01:20para a reputação da 16ª presidente americana.
01:25Tudo que todos os me disseram sobre Abraham Lincoln é uma mentira.
01:30Tudo que eu aprendi na escola, tudo que eu aprendi na igreja,
01:32tudo que eu aprendi na igreja, tudo que eu aprendi na televisão,
01:36tudo que eu aprendi na radio,
01:38tudo que eu aprendi sobre Abraham Lincoln é uma mentira.
01:41Esse lutador tem um outro Abraham Lincoln.
01:45Esse Lincoln é um político,
01:46e um político,
01:48que uma pessoa tem uma filosofia.
01:49E um político político,
01:49é um político político,
01:53e um político político,
01:54e um político,
01:54e um político no seu próprio homem,
01:56se você olhar um pouco de um pouco,
01:59um pouco,
02:00um dos seus litros,
02:02e um político político,
02:03e um político político,
02:03e um líder,
02:04aqui é um homem que a guerra,
02:07em sua visão,
02:08a sua própria pessoa,
02:09ele era responsável por
02:11650,000 mortos.
02:14Por favor.
02:14Os críticos dizem que ele puxou a nação
02:17into uma guerra necessária
02:20e que gerações de histórias
02:22conspirem para esconder o fato
02:24que o grande emancipador
02:26era realmente um racista
02:27que planejou a deporte os soldados
02:29de América.
02:31Por boa razão,
02:33os povos do Sul
02:35morreram...
02:36Esse re-assessamento de América's
02:37grande hero é conjuntando
02:39os gostos de América's trânsito histórico.
02:41Essa guerra sobre cultura e lembrança
02:44é ainda maior
02:45do que o herói do confederado.
02:48É sobre América...
02:49E, ao mesmo tempo,
02:51é feeding into as divisões
02:52que estão levando os americanos
02:54mais longe.
02:55E nós não vamos mais tomar isso!
02:58Essa é a história
03:00da luta do América do que descobrir
03:02o real Abraham Lincoln.
03:19Abraham Lincoln's last moments
03:21were spent here
03:22in the Petersons' House,
03:24a cheap boarding house
03:25opposite the Washington Theatre
03:27where he'd been struck down
03:28by an assassin's bullet.
03:34There were people with Lincoln
03:36who say we cannot allow him
03:38to die in a theatre.
03:43He's placed diagonally
03:45on a small bed.
03:46He's so tall
03:47he can't fit
03:48lengthwise on the bed.
03:51And there he spends
03:53the next nine hours
03:54his breathing
03:55ever more labored.
04:00He was oozing
04:01brain matter
04:02on his pillow
04:03and whenever
04:04his wife was brought in
04:06they would put a handkerchief
04:07over that part
04:09of the pillow
04:09so she wouldn't be too upset.
04:13Out of that house
04:14he emerges
04:16as his body
04:17is carried
04:17in the spring rain
04:19the next morning
04:20to the hearse
04:22that takes him
04:22back to the White House.
04:23He leaves
04:24not the person he was
04:26when he was carried inside.
04:27He's now
04:28a national treasure,
04:29a national saint,
04:31a secular saint
04:32and a religious saint
04:33in many ways.
04:34and that's why images
04:35almost overnight
04:37begin appearing
04:38showing not only
04:39the assassination
04:40not only his dying moments
04:42in the grandest
04:43possible
04:44exaggerated way
04:46but literally
04:46images showing him
04:48rising into heaven
04:49where he's often greeted
04:50by his great hero
04:52George Washington.
04:53Here is the father
04:54and the savior.
04:55It's almost like
04:55God and the son.
05:09from the moment
05:10of his death
05:11the real
05:12Abraham Lincoln
05:13has been obscured
05:14behind the almost
05:15religious cult
05:16that still surrounds him.
05:17The tragic nature
05:18of that death
05:19and its timing
05:20at the very end
05:21of America's civil war
05:22created a myth
05:23that has placed Lincoln
05:25outside of history
05:26and almost beyond
05:27rational debate.
05:29You have to remember
05:30he dies
05:31right at this
05:32perfect moment.
05:34He's assassinated
05:35a few days
05:36after the surrender
05:37of Lee's army
05:38after this horrifying
05:40bloodletting
05:41from which now
05:43you know
05:43the republic
05:44that is nearly destroyed
05:46can now survive.
05:47I mean
05:47you couldn't write
05:49a better script
05:50in some ways
05:51for the epic
05:52inside of us.
05:58Today
05:59that epic story
06:01of Lincoln's
06:01life and death
06:02stands at the heart
06:04of American culture.
06:05His image
06:06is everywhere.
06:08It's on
06:09the five dollar bill
06:11it's on the coins
06:12that you carry
06:13in your pocket
06:14there's billboards
06:15my 18 month old
06:17daughter has a little
06:18stuffed Abraham Lincoln
06:19and you know
06:20she could say
06:21dada and mama
06:22and not too much
06:23longer later
06:24she could say
06:25Abe Lincoln.
06:27The homes Lincoln
06:28lived in
06:28have all been
06:29lovingly restored.
06:32There are literally
06:33hundreds of statues
06:34of him
06:34peppered across
06:35the nation
06:36and his hometown
06:37of Springfield
06:38Illinois
06:38has become
06:39the center
06:40of a national
06:41Lincoln
06:41tourist industry.
06:50Lincoln is a church
06:52he's a religion
06:55Lincoln is a million
06:57dollar industry
06:58a hundred million
07:00dollar industry
07:01and you've got
07:02thousands of people
07:03all over this country
07:04who make their living
07:06pushing the Lincoln
07:07mess.
07:13There is a Lincoln
07:17industry in this country
07:18no question about it
07:18and there are
07:20large numbers of people
07:21who make their living
07:22impersonating
07:23or dressing up
07:23as Lincoln.
07:24She said
07:25well thank you
07:25Honest Abe
07:26for your response.
07:27I think
07:28second only to
07:29Elvis impersonators
07:30probably
07:31there aren't
07:32too many
07:32American presidents
07:33you can make a living
07:34dressing up as
07:35but they go to
07:35events
07:36they go to schools
07:36they open shopping
07:38malls
07:40Lincoln is the only
07:41American president
07:44memorialized at
07:45Disneyland
07:46so Lincoln is
07:48certainly part of
07:48our popular culture
07:49in a way that
07:50very few other
07:52presidents are.
07:56The aspect of
07:57the Lincoln myth
07:58that has always
07:59appealed most
08:00to generations
08:01of American
08:01biographers
08:02and filmmakers
08:03is the story
08:04of how the young
08:05Lincoln
08:05overcame
08:06the hardships
08:07of his upbringing.
08:12Well Lincoln
08:13grew up
08:13on the frontier
08:14he was born
08:15in Kentucky
08:15at a time
08:16when that was
08:17really a frontier
08:18state
08:18this was real
08:20backwoods territory
08:22there were wild
08:22animals in the woods
08:23there were very few
08:24neighbors except
08:25some members
08:25of his family
08:26the transportation
08:27was extremely
08:28primitive
08:29they basically
08:30were self-sufficient
08:33he is in a way
08:34from nowhere
08:35I mean there
08:36were 10 million
08:36other sons of
08:38dirt farmers
08:38who remained
08:39dirt farmers
08:40and this guy
08:41didn't
08:47this is this
08:48consummate
08:49American story
08:51he wanted books
08:52he wanted something
08:53bigger
08:53he wanted off
08:54of that farm
08:54now that's the story
08:56of so many millions
08:57of Americans
08:58from the 19th
08:59into the 20th century
09:00as we became
09:01industrialized
09:02urbanized
09:03and cosmopolitanized
09:16this is deep
09:17deep in our culture
09:18that we are a place
09:20where a person
09:21from a dirt farm
09:22with virtually
09:23no formal education
09:25can rise
09:26and attain
09:27the highest office
09:28in the land
09:42at the age of 19
09:43Lincoln left
09:44his father's farm
09:45and made his way
09:46to what was then
09:47the frontier state
09:48of Illinois
09:48a young man
09:50without money
09:51or connections
09:52the route Lincoln
09:53took out of poverty
09:54was to run for office
09:56as a member
09:57of the state legislature
09:58politics was a mode
10:00of social advancement
10:01politics in the 1830s
10:03and 40s
10:03was a way
10:04for people
10:05of modest backgrounds
10:06like Lincoln
10:07to rise in the social scale
10:08it was a way
10:09to make connections
10:10it was a way
10:11to influence
10:11the world around you
10:12of course
10:13but you know
10:14at a time
10:15when there weren't
10:16that many professions
10:17open to people
10:20politics was one
10:21that anybody
10:21could get ahead in
10:22if they had drive
10:23if they had
10:24the right personality
10:25the right ability
10:26to communicate
10:27their ideas
10:28politics
10:29transformed
10:30Lincoln's life
10:31by the early 1850s
10:33the young
10:33poorly educated
10:34frontiersman
10:35was long gone
10:36Lincoln had become
10:38a wealthy man
10:39he'd held office
10:40four times
10:41been a congressman
10:42in Washington DC
10:42and between terms
10:44of office
10:44he'd trained
10:45as a lawyer
10:52and as Lincoln's
10:53horizons had spread
10:56so had those of his nation
10:57as America's
10:58great drive westwards
11:00had begun
11:01most people
11:02had a sense
11:03of the American west
11:04that was essentially
11:05infinite
11:06they didn't really
11:06even know
11:07where it ended
11:07they knew there were
11:08deserts out there
11:09they knew there were
11:10great plains out there
11:11they knew there were
11:11mountains
11:12but it was the sheer
11:14vastness of that west
11:15that gave everybody
11:16a sense of
11:18limitlessness
11:19and future
11:20and hope
11:24the annexation
11:26of Texas
11:26and war with Mexico
11:28in the 1840s
11:29had opened up the west
11:31raising the possibility
11:33of the nation
11:34advancing all the way
11:35to the Pacific coast
11:37there's this continental
11:38mentality
11:39sometimes called
11:40manifest destiny
11:41this idea that
11:42American expansion
11:44is just
11:44ordained by God
11:46you know
11:46that we will
11:47dominate this entire
11:48continent
11:49and that is
11:49the divine will
11:50and that creates
11:52this kind of
11:52a bullion spirit
11:53of expansionism
11:58but westward expansion
12:00brought to the fore
12:01the issue
12:02that had divided
12:02the country
12:03ever since
12:04independence
12:05slavery
12:08by the middle
12:09of the 19th century
12:10a fault line
12:11ran across America
12:12dividing the slave
12:13owning south
12:14from the free states
12:16in the north
12:16where the practice
12:17had ended
12:21but year by year
12:22the increasing value
12:24of southern cotton
12:25and the thought
12:26of the even larger
12:27fortunes it could
12:28generate if slavery
12:29were to spread west
12:30slowly undermined
12:31the sense of union
12:32that bound the states
12:34together
12:36not only is slavery
12:37growing in the american
12:39south in the 1820s
12:4130s and 40s
12:42in leaps and bounds
12:43i mean the american
12:44slave population
12:45doubled in 25 years
12:47between 1820
12:48and and and the 18
12:50mid 1840s
12:51by the 1850s
12:53slavery became
12:54slaves became
12:56the single greatest
12:57economic asset
12:59in the entire
13:00american economy
13:01it was the engine
13:02of wealth
13:03for the american
13:04south and frankly
13:05for a good deal
13:05of the american north
13:06especially the banking
13:07system in new york
13:09and other cities
13:09at that point
13:11you had a nation
13:13growing in leaps
13:14and bounds
13:15have a sense
13:16of its infinite
13:17boundlessness
13:18but also a sense
13:19of great anxiety
13:21and great dread
13:22of what on earth
13:24are they going to do
13:25about this problem
13:27the figure who was
13:28to do most
13:29to tip america
13:30into crisis
13:30was the man
13:31who was also
13:32to become
13:32abraham lincoln's
13:33political nemesis
13:35stephen a douglas
13:36a democrat
13:37from lincoln's
13:38home state
13:39of illinois
13:39introduced in 1854
13:41a clause
13:43that would allow
13:43slavery to spread
13:45into the new
13:45western states
13:46of kansas
13:47and nebraska
13:48to oppose this
13:50a new political party
13:52was formed in the north
13:53the republicans
13:54and abraham lincoln
13:56abandoned his legal
13:57career to join them
13:58the republican party
14:00started under the premise
14:01that slavery
14:02should not be expanded
14:04they weren't
14:05abolitionists per se
14:06some of them were
14:07but many of them
14:08were not abolitionists
14:10they were anti-slavery men
14:11and what that meant
14:13was that they expected
14:15slavery to die
14:16a natural death
14:17but in order to do that
14:19in order for that
14:20to happen
14:21slavery had to be contained
14:22and so the idea was
14:24you don't let it expand
14:26into the western territories
14:31this new coalition
14:32is a coalition
14:33of northerners
14:35who are absolute believers
14:36in this idea
14:37of a free labor
14:38american dream
14:39of their right
14:41to go west
14:41and get themselves
14:4220 acres of land
14:43somewhere
14:44or 40 acres
14:45or whatever they could get
14:46and not have to compete
14:47with the slave labor system
14:48lincoln's political life
14:51lincoln's political career
14:53in the 1850s
14:54was built
14:55on this question
14:56of stopping
14:58the expansion
14:59of slavery
15:00into the west
15:01or what the republicans called
15:02the free soil persuasion
15:06the republican party
15:07in which abraham lincoln
15:09fast became a leading light
15:10regarded the expansion
15:12of slavery
15:12as a direct threat
15:14to their free soil ideology
15:16but although the enemy
15:17of slavery
15:18they were no friend
15:19of the slave
15:20you could be anti-slavery
15:22and anti-black
15:23you could be anti-slavery
15:25and not want black people around
15:28and much of the anti-slavery fervor
15:32was we don't want them around
15:35partly it was
15:37we don't want them around
15:39because they're alien people
15:41they're different
15:42they're inferior
15:43et cetera
15:43et cetera
15:43but there was also
15:46we don't want them around
15:48because they're not paid
15:50and they're very bad
15:52for wages
15:58difficult as it is to believe
16:01many many northerners
16:02separated out
16:03the question of slavery
16:05from the question of race
16:06in other words
16:07there are many reasons
16:08to oppose slavery
16:09which have nothing to do with race
16:13if slavery moves out
16:15into the western territories
16:16whites are not going to want
16:17to go there
16:18the slave owners
16:19will absorb all the good land
16:20they don't want to compete
16:22with slave labor
16:23they don't want blacks around
16:24there are all these reasons
16:25why whites in the north
16:26will say
16:27we
16:27I don't care about slavery
16:29in Mississippi
16:29but I don't want it
16:30expanding into
16:32Kansas
16:32where I or my son
16:34may move out there
16:35to get a farm
16:36to get a job
16:42Lincoln's own impoverished upbringing
16:44had demonstrated to him
16:45what happened
16:46when free white labor
16:48was set in competition
16:49against slavery
16:54Lincoln's father
16:55moves from Kentucky
16:56crosses the Ohio River
16:59into Indiana
17:00in part because Kentucky
17:02is a slave state
17:03and Indiana
17:03is a free state
17:05and slavery limits
17:07the potential
17:08of the white laborer
17:09to enjoy the fruits
17:10of his labor
17:11I mean how could
17:12a small laborer
17:14compete
17:14in an agricultural market
17:16with a slaveholder
17:18who has a gang of slaves
17:19doing labor
17:21for no wage whatsoever
17:24Lincoln understood
17:25the damage
17:27that slavery did
17:28from that perspective
17:29and says so
17:31talks about the fact
17:32that the territories
17:33should exist
17:34for these free white men
17:36who need a chance
17:38to rise as well
17:39No more
17:41No more
17:44No more
17:45From 1854 onwards
17:46Abraham Lincoln
17:47campaigned against
17:49the expansion of slavery
17:50into the western territories
17:51but the man
17:52who a decade later
17:53was to sweep away
17:54the whole slave system
17:56did not call
17:57for the abolition of slavery
17:58where it already existed
18:00in the south
18:04So why was it
18:05that when so many
18:07white Americans
18:07were mobilizing
18:08to abolish slavery
18:10the great emancipator
18:12appeared to stand
18:13on the sidelines
18:20The generation
18:22from 1830
18:24to 1860
18:25was perhaps
18:26one of the greatest
18:27generation of white people
18:29we've had
18:29in this country
18:31They were very much
18:32like the
18:33civil rights generation
18:35of 1960s
18:36and 1970s
18:40They marched
18:41They organized
18:43against slavery
18:44They organized
18:45in the churches
18:45They staged sit-ins
18:47They refused
18:49to capture
18:50fugitive slaves
18:52And they
18:54prepared
18:55the ground
18:56which made it possible
18:59for emancipation
19:01to triumph
19:02Lincoln did absolutely nothing
19:07Although never
19:08an abolitionist
19:09Lincoln
19:09a man who had been
19:11exposed to slavery
19:12since childhood
19:12was opposed
19:14to the southern slave system
19:16Yet the great emancipator
19:18of the 1860s
19:19spent the 1850s
19:21convinced that
19:22the political system
19:23made abolition
19:24impossible
19:26On the one hand
19:27he always says
19:28this is a moral question
19:30ultimately
19:30He's like an abolitionist
19:32in that he says
19:33I am morally opposed
19:34to slavery
19:35That's the bottom line here
19:36On the other hand
19:37as a lawyer
19:38as a politician
19:39he says
19:40there's not much
19:41we can do about slavery
19:42It's in the constitution
19:43it's up to the southern states
19:44to deal with it
19:45He understands
19:47there is not much
19:48you can do
19:48about slavery
19:49within the political system
19:56In America's federal system
19:57it was the individual states
19:59and not the national government
20:00in Washington
20:01that had the power
20:02to determine
20:02the future of slavery
20:04But in the party politics
20:05of the 1850s
20:07opposing slavery
20:08if only in principle
20:09was potentially enough
20:11to destroy
20:12Lincoln's political career
20:13In 1858
20:15Lincoln stood for Congress
20:17against his old opponent
20:18Stephen Douglas
20:19The campaign centered
20:21on a series
20:22of now famous debates
20:24In the city of Charleston
20:26Douglas suggested
20:27that Lincoln's opposition
20:29to slavery
20:29meant that he was also
20:30in favor
20:31of racial equality
20:35Lincoln responded
20:36with words
20:36that saved his career
20:38but that haunt
20:39his reputation
20:42He said
20:43and I'm quoting him
20:44that he did not believe
20:45that black people
20:46should have the right
20:48to vote
20:49He did not believe
20:50that blacks should have
20:51the right to sit on
20:52juries
20:53He didn't believe
20:54that black people
20:54should have the right
20:55to hold public office
20:58He believed
20:59that there's a physical
21:01difference
21:01between the white race
21:03and the black race
21:04that will forever
21:05make it impossible
21:07for them to live together
21:09on the plane of equality
21:13Lincoln is saying things
21:15about race
21:16and the inferiority
21:18of blacks
21:19that we don't want him
21:20to say
21:21Now, of course
21:22it's just crucial
21:24to contextualize
21:27those statements
21:28I mean
21:28he's being goaded
21:30into them
21:31by Stephen Douglas
21:32who's a shrewd
21:34savvy
21:35political veteran
21:36who knows
21:37that his
21:38strongest attack
21:40is to link
21:41Lincoln's
21:42anti-slavery
21:43to some notion
21:45of racial equality
21:46He's saying that
21:47Lincoln is in favor
21:48of racial equality
21:50and Lincoln
21:50obliges
21:51He does that
21:52He does it
21:52I think
21:52for political reasons
21:54and it doesn't look good
21:57to us today
21:58but that's the nature
21:59of mid-19th century
22:01politics
22:02He always made a distinction
22:05between
22:06the morality of slavery
22:08which he believed
22:09was fundamentally wrong
22:11and the question
22:12of racial equality
22:13Today that's hard
22:15sometimes for us
22:16to understand
22:16especially young people
22:17who are growing up
22:18in a society
22:19where the assumption
22:19of equality
22:20is absolute
22:20Of course we're equal
22:22Everybody's equal
22:22or we say we are
22:23But Lincoln made the distinction
22:26between the immorality
22:27of slavery
22:28unequivocal about that
22:29On the other hand
22:31he was no proponent
22:32of racial equality
22:33And we see that
22:35over and over
22:36quite publicly
22:37and quite forcefully
22:39that he does not believe
22:40in social equality
22:42Despite reassuring
22:44the electorate
22:45Lincoln was unable
22:46to defeat Douglas
22:47But the debates
22:48made him famous
22:49and it was this fame
22:51that enabled him
22:52to seize the Republican
22:53candidacy for president
22:54in 1860
22:56Lincoln won just 39%
22:58of the vote
22:59Almost all of his support
23:01coming from the north
23:02But within weeks
23:03of his arrival
23:03in Washington
23:04the southern states
23:06began one by one
23:07to secede
23:08from the union
23:09They then formed
23:11a new nation
23:12The Confederate States
23:14of America
23:15Led by the Mississippi
23:17Senator
23:17Jefferson Davis
23:22The accusation
23:23that has been raised
23:24against Abraham Lincoln
23:25is that on coming to office
23:26he pushed the American people
23:28into a disastrous
23:29and avoidable conflict
23:31There's a school of thought
23:32and it's still alive
23:34in a certain fringe
23:35of American scholarship
23:37that the real cause
23:38or immediate cause
23:39at least of the Civil War
23:40was Lincoln himself
23:42Now this argument
23:43is basically
23:44that Lincoln
23:45could have simply
23:46gently
23:47let the south go
23:49That he didn't need
23:51to force military action
23:55That he could have
23:56backed away
23:56and continued to compromise
23:58That southerners
23:59were willing to compromise
24:00on this issue
24:01or that issue
24:02There's no evidence
24:03that the Confederate leadership
24:05Jefferson Davis
24:05and his growing cabinet
24:07were truly willing
24:08to compromise
24:09on any part
24:10of the expansion
24:11of slavery issue
24:12or on anything else
24:16Lincoln did not cause
24:17the Civil War
24:18What Lincoln did
24:19was create a situation
24:21where war was possible
24:22In other words
24:23he was willing
24:23to risk war
24:26He put the onus
24:27on the Confederacy
24:28They fired the first shot
24:30They weren't willing
24:31to compromise either
24:40While blame for the war
24:41might lie
24:42with both Lincoln
24:43and Jefferson Davis
24:44Neither side
24:45in 1861
24:47foresaw the calamity
24:48they were about to unleash
24:54No one in the north
24:55or the south
24:56could have imagined
24:57the kind of war
24:57it would be
25:00The military leaders
25:02on both sides
25:02didn't quite understand
25:04the significance
25:05of the technological changes
25:08Changes particularly
25:10in the technology
25:10of the rifle
25:11which made it
25:12a much more accurate
25:13long distance weapon
25:16The war becomes
25:17a situation
25:18of long range
25:19sharpshooting
25:20No one would have
25:22imagined ironclad warfare
25:23and the terrific combat
25:25of the navies
25:28The impact
25:29of the industrial revolution
25:30we're talking about
25:31mass production
25:32of weaponry
25:33telegraph
25:34railroads
25:35bringing troops
25:36to the front
25:37Certainly no one
25:38understood
25:38what kind of
25:39masses of armies
25:40would be required
25:42No one would have
25:44comprehended
25:44black recruitment
25:47Nobody expected
25:48620,000 deaths
25:50thousands and thousands
25:51of injuries
25:51and utter destruction
25:53in many parts
25:54of the country
25:54So, you know
25:55you might ask
25:56if Lincoln
25:57and Jefferson Davis
25:58had seen 1865
26:00would they have
26:01compromised in 1861?
26:16The image of Lincoln
26:17that dominates
26:18the American consciousness
26:19today
26:20150 years
26:21after the Civil War
26:22is Lincoln
26:23as the saviour
26:24of the Union
26:27Lincoln's role
26:28as Commander-in-Chief
26:29is less well remembered
26:31yet hard as it is
26:33for some to accept
26:34Abraham Lincoln
26:35prosecuted the Civil War
26:37ferociously
26:41By 1862-63
26:43Lincoln's authorizing
26:44troops to live off the land
26:46to seize goods
26:47if needed
26:48for the maintenance
26:49of the army
26:51His tactics
26:52especially the destruction
26:53of southern cities
26:54are regarded by some
26:56as having been
26:57so aggressive
26:57that they constitute
26:59total war
27:01Lincoln did not invent
27:02total war
27:03He did invent
27:04maybe to some extent
27:05what they call
27:06the hard war
27:07This was the term
27:08they used in the Civil War
27:09hard war
27:09in which
27:10the Union
27:12would no longer
27:13limit its activities
27:15in order to
27:16appeal to the loyalty
27:18of southern civilians
27:22Lincoln never thought
27:23that you should spare
27:24the hard hand of war
27:25to people
27:25who had begun the war
27:27He said
27:29on several occasions
27:30that
27:30we will teach them
27:32the folly
27:33of starting a war
27:34and he meant that
27:41For most Americans
27:42the terrible cost
27:44of the Civil War
27:44was the price
27:45the nation paid
27:46in order to save
27:47the Union
27:49But there is
27:50another America
27:52Confederate Memorial Day
27:54For good reason
27:56the people of the South
27:59have mourned
28:00on occasion
28:02for over 150 years
28:04the loss of our countrymen
28:07Among some
28:09in the southern states
28:10of the former Confederacy
28:11the Civil War
28:12is remembered
28:13as a war of aggression
28:14and Abraham Lincoln
28:16as a war criminal
28:18I'm Chubb McMichael
28:20I'm the great-great-grandson
28:22of John Henry Land
28:24who as a 15-year-old
28:26farm boy
28:27in Georgia
28:28joined Company H
28:29of the 54th Georgia Infantry
28:31He fought in battles
28:33through Georgia
28:33Tennessee
28:35and North Carolina
28:37Over the years
28:38probably thought
28:38by this time
28:39this would be forgotten
28:42It will not be forgotten
28:44My name is Michael Givens
28:45I'm the Lieutenant Commander-in-Chief
28:47of the Sons of Confederate Veterans
28:48We are here today
28:49have proven
28:51that we take
28:52this sort of thing seriously
28:54We are not afraid
28:56or ashamed
28:57to stand up
28:59and be counted
29:00This war was Mr. Lincoln's war
29:02When South Carolina
29:03seceded from the Union
29:04on December 20, 1860
29:06He did not ever recognize that
29:09Okay?
29:10But yet
29:11he would send 75,000 troops there
29:13to kill people
29:14that he said
29:16were his own fellow citizens
29:18Starts to sound like Milošević
29:21Starts to sound like Stalin
29:25Here's a man
29:26who waged war
29:27on, in his view
29:28his own people
29:29was responsible for
29:31650,000 deaths
29:33Please
29:38One of my ancestors
29:39he was shot through the leg
29:41at Gettysburg
29:42and walked back to Virginia
29:45with a bullet wound
29:47in his leg
29:48and now
29:49to be told
29:50oh he was fighting for slavery
29:51and he was evil
29:52and a traitor
29:53who just wanted to overthrow
29:54the great Abraham Lincoln
29:56No
29:57he was up there
29:58so that
29:59his mother and father
30:00wouldn't be killed
30:02in Georgia
30:02and their property destroyed
30:04and his little brother
30:06have to go to war
30:07and his sisters be raped
30:09Two arms
30:11Two arms
30:12in Dixie
30:13And dance the flag of Dixie
30:16Hoorah
30:17Hoorah
30:18As far as
30:19how I see Lincoln
30:21he ordered
30:23a bunch of strangers
30:24from up north
30:26to come down here
30:27to my family's home
30:29kill my ancestors
30:30burn down their property
30:32and steal their goods
30:34Away
30:34Away
30:36Away
30:36Away
30:37Away
30:37Down south
30:38Dixie
30:38He believed
30:39a whole class
30:40of southern people
30:41needed to be eliminated
30:43We're talking genocide
30:45Dixie
30:48Woo!
30:49Woo!
30:52Woo!
30:59The ferocity
31:01with which the Lincoln
31:01administration conducted war
31:03was not restricted to the south
31:06Lincoln had gone to war
31:08to prevent slavery
31:09expanding into the west
31:10and defend the free soil ideology
31:13of his Republican Party
31:16But the soil
31:17and the land of the west
31:19could only be made free
31:20for white settlers
31:21if first cleared
31:23of its original owners
31:25the Native Americans
31:32By the late 1850s
31:34the Santee Sioux
31:35had been pushed
31:36into a reservation
31:37in the state of Minnesota
31:38They had sold their tribal lands
31:40to the U.S. government
31:41for 1.5 million dollars
31:43a bill that Lincoln's administration
31:46had not paid
31:47In the late summer of 1862
31:50at the height of the Civil War
31:52the rains failed
31:53and the Sioux's crops
31:55wilted in the fields
31:58The Sioux were literally starving
32:02They rise up against the reservation system
32:07They kill a number of white settlers
32:09It's a very, very violent encounter
32:12and the federal government responds
32:15by sending General John Pope
32:17to Minnesota
32:18to end the uprising
32:21General Pope is a general
32:23who in the Civil War
32:24in the East
32:25has turned the war
32:25into a hard war
32:26He's a very tough cookie
32:28He talks about
32:30going to Minnesota
32:31to exterminate
32:32the Sioux
32:34man, woman and children
32:35and when he gets there
32:36he puts the rebellion down
32:38brutally and quickly
32:39By the end of the rebellion
32:41thousands of the Sioux
32:43were imprisoned
32:43by the Union Army
32:46General Pope convened
32:47a series of military trials
32:49that condemned
32:49303 of the Sioux men
32:51to death
32:52He then turned to Lincoln
32:54for approval
32:57Now, Lincoln
32:58who doesn't like Indians
32:59very much anyway
33:01is prepared to give
33:03the Minnesotans
33:04a blood sacrifice
33:06of Sioux
33:07but because of
33:08outside foreign influence
33:10he doesn't want to
33:11be seen to hang
33:12303 Sioux all at once
33:14because they've only had trials
33:16lasting about 10 to 15 minutes
33:18and so he decides
33:20he'll hang 39
33:24Lincoln as executioner
33:27This is an image
33:29of America's secular saint
33:30that most Americans
33:31find deeply uncomfortable
33:33and Lincoln's role
33:34in the story
33:35of the Sioux uprising
33:36has often been brushed
33:37under the historical carpet
33:39or explained away
33:42Now, his defenders say
33:43what a nice man
33:44he didn't hang 303
33:45he only hanged 39
33:47despite the fact
33:48that they hadn't had
33:49any fair trials
33:53Not defending Lincoln
33:55I mean, what is he
33:56supposed to do?
33:57Is he supposed
33:58to eliminate
33:59all of the
34:00the executions?
34:02Is he supposed
34:03to allow
34:04the Siouxs
34:05that are deemed
34:06guilty
34:07of the uprising
34:08and he's supposed
34:09to send them free?
34:10I mean, he could do that
34:11we would like him
34:11to do that
34:12that would be
34:13political suicide
34:17The story, unfortunately
34:18doesn't end
34:19with the hanging
34:20of the 39 Indians
34:22Back in Minnesota
34:24about 60-odd Indians
34:26are left to rot
34:27and die in prison
34:31Over and above that
34:32Lincoln decides
34:33to deport
34:34all the Indians
34:35Sioux and Winnebegans
34:36who are completely
34:37innocent
34:38from Minnesota
34:39and as a result
34:40of that
34:41all the Sioux lands
34:42are opened up
34:42for settlement
34:43and speculation
34:44and members
34:45of Lincoln's cabinet
34:46and members
34:47of his regime
34:47of course
34:48are very happy
34:49to make themselves
34:50rich
34:50by speculating
34:52in Indian lands
34:57Meanwhile
34:57the Sioux and Winnebeg
34:59are sent
35:00to Dakota Territory
35:01but only arrive there
35:02when it's too late
35:04to plant corn
35:05so they can't
35:06feed themselves
35:07and of course
35:07they again
35:09are hit by
35:10starvation and disease
35:11so the whole thing
35:12is a human desire
35:13of disaster
35:14and the 39 hanged
35:16at the least of him
35:18and Lincoln's
35:19responsible
35:241862
35:25the year General Pope
35:27had decimated
35:27the Santee Sioux
35:28was also the year
35:30in which Abraham Lincoln's
35:31great struggle
35:32to drive the Confederacy
35:34back into the Union
35:35had ran
35:36to the sand
35:38well the first year
35:39or so of the war
35:40does not go very well
35:41for the North
35:42they lose most
35:43of the battles
35:44particularly
35:44in the Eastern Theater
35:46in Virginia
35:47but if you look
35:48at the Civil War
35:49a year or so
35:50after it begins
35:51if you looked
35:52at a map
35:53of the United States
35:54you would be amazed
35:55how little territory
35:56had been recaptured
35:58from the Confederacy
35:59a few little places
36:00on the outskirts
36:01but the Union Army
36:02had made no progress
36:03in most of the Confederacy
36:08unable to defeat
36:09the South
36:10Lincoln began
36:11to think
36:12the unthinkable
36:13and consider the act
36:14for which he is now
36:15most famous
36:17the emancipation
36:18of the slaves
36:19but as Lincoln
36:21slowly came to believe
36:22that slavery
36:23might be abolished
36:24he also came
36:25to envisage
36:26the deportation
36:27or colonization
36:29of the slaves
36:30out of America
36:31the essence
36:33of colonization
36:34is a belief
36:36that black people
36:37can't possibly
36:38be Americans
36:39and share
36:40in American society
36:41that is their pat tree
36:43their country
36:44must be
36:45some place
36:46some place else
36:47probably Africa
36:49but white Americans
36:50often would take
36:51any place
36:52just to get them
36:52out of here
36:56organizations
36:57promoting colonization
36:58had first emerged
36:59in the early
37:0019th century
37:01by the 1840s
37:03free black volunteers
37:04were being shipped
37:05to the African colony
37:06of Liberia
37:08and by the 1860s
37:10numerous plans
37:12had been drafted
37:12to deport the slaves
37:14to Haiti
37:14the other Caribbean islands
37:16or Central America
37:21for Abraham Lincoln
37:23colonization
37:23became the means
37:24by which he could
37:25square the circle
37:26of his opposition
37:27to slavery
37:27and his belief
37:29in white supremacy
37:30of all the presidents
37:32and statesmen
37:33he is the one
37:35who's obsessed by it
37:36in all his speeches
37:37practically about emancipation
37:39he talks about emancipation
37:42and deportation
37:43in the same sentence
37:44in the same breath
37:46now
37:48why is this
37:50Lincoln fears
37:51that with a population
37:52of 4 million blacks
37:53in the south
37:54and about a quarter
37:56of a million blacks
37:56in the north
37:57if you emancipate
37:59these people
38:00after years
38:01of subjugation
38:02the result
38:04will be
38:05race war
38:05you can't give them
38:07civil and political rights
38:08because they don't deserve it
38:09in Lincoln's opinion
38:10they're inferior
38:11they're mentally
38:12and physically inferior
38:14Lincoln could not conceive
38:16of the United States
38:17as a biracial society
38:19and his slavery
38:20should be ended
38:21but black people
38:22should be encouraged
38:24he said it should be voluntary
38:25but they should be encouraged
38:26to leave the country
38:29in August 1862
38:31Lincoln called a delegation
38:32of three black leaders
38:34to the White House
38:34for a now infamous meeting
38:36to discuss colonization
38:38Lincoln tells that delegation
38:41and has a recorder
38:43write it down
38:44and publicize it
38:45in the press
38:45that were it not
38:47for them
38:48this war
38:48wouldn't be happening
38:49he says that to them
38:50he says to them
38:52explicitly
38:52that the white
38:53and black races
38:54must be kept separate
38:55in America
38:56and he even asked
38:58those handpicked
38:59five black leaders
39:00who really weren't
39:01very important leaders
39:02if they would
39:03themselves volunteer
39:04to lead a colonization
39:05movement
39:06out of the country
39:07when I have students
39:09read that
39:09for the first time
39:10black or white
39:12they are a bit stunned
39:13because it's so explicit
39:15of course it's fraught
39:16with irony too
39:17because at that very moment
39:18of August 1862
39:20he's already drafted
39:21the Emancipation Proclamation
39:22he hasn't issued it yet
39:23he's already got it
39:24in a drawer
39:25so it's Lincoln
39:26kind of playing
39:27both sides of the street
39:28because he doesn't know
39:29how this is going to come out
39:33Was Lincoln serious
39:35about colonization
39:36or merely using it
39:37to appeal
39:38to white public opinion
39:39were his plans
39:40evidence of his political genius
39:42or his racism
39:44here again
39:45Lincoln's own words
39:46and speeches
39:47are used
39:48to condemn him
39:49the very presence
39:51he says of blacks
39:52makes white people suffer
39:53and that the two races
39:55have to go their separate ways
39:56he's totally explicit
39:58about this
39:59when he's talking
40:00to the blacks
40:00and he has also said
40:02the same many times
40:03before to whites
40:04it's not a rhetorical ploy
40:06it's not assault politically
40:07to his opponents
40:08to keep them calm
40:09he actually means it
40:14the two ideas
40:16of emancipation
40:17and colonization
40:19are absolutely
40:20indissolubly linked
40:21in Lincoln's mind
40:23if you like
40:25colonization
40:26deportation
40:27is the final solution
40:29to the negro problem
40:30as far as
40:31Abraham Lincoln
40:31is concerned
40:36Lincoln wanted
40:37to deport
40:38all black people
40:39that wasn't
40:40something that he said
40:41in two or three
40:41his friends
40:43in the back room
40:45he proposed
40:47and asked
40:48for the deportation
40:49of black Americans
40:50in the state
40:52of the union message
40:54in December
40:55of 1862
40:59and he wanted
40:59to create
41:00a white state
41:01here
41:02now
41:03if Abraham Lincoln
41:04had had his way
41:06there'd be no Obama
41:08in the United States
41:09there'd be no Oprah
41:10Winfrey
41:10there'd be no Tiger Woods
41:12if he'd had his way
41:16there'd be no black
41:17people here
41:18at all
41:20the possibility
41:21of abolition
41:21and along with it
41:23the prospect
41:24of colonizing
41:24the freed slaves
41:26was forced
41:27onto the agenda
41:28in 1862
41:29by the actions
41:30of the slaves
41:31themselves
41:32as the war
41:33had spread
41:34through the south
41:34they had begun
41:36to escape
41:36the fields
41:37and plantations
41:38changing both
41:39the course
41:39and the meaning
41:41of the conflict
41:42the war
41:43of course
41:44begins
41:44as a white man's war
41:46it's a war
41:47to defend
41:48the union
41:49Lincoln states
41:50it so
41:51slaves
41:52simply
41:52don't believe
41:53that to be true
41:54they see
41:56the enemy
41:57of their enemy
41:58entering the south
42:00and they believe
42:01the enemy
42:01of their enemy
42:02must be their friend
42:03they run away
42:05to union encampments
42:07they offer their service
42:08they offer information
42:09they offer to do
42:11the dirty work
42:11at war
42:12as these thousands
42:13of former slaves
42:14gathered around
42:15the invading
42:15union army
42:16in the south
42:17Lincoln was losing
42:18control of events
42:19he had gone to war
42:20to defend the union
42:21and stop the expansion
42:23of slavery
42:23but now the republican
42:25party in washington
42:26radicalized by the
42:27experience of war
42:28began to push him
42:29to transform the conflict
42:31into a struggle
42:32to end slavery
42:33everywhere
42:35Lincoln is under
42:36enormous pressure
42:37in 1862
42:38to take more
42:39dramatic action
42:40against slavery
42:41congress takes the lead
42:42they abolish slavery
42:44in washington dc
42:45they abolish slavery
42:46in the territories
42:46they forbid the army
42:48from returning
42:49fugitive slaves
42:50they pass laws
42:51to confiscate
42:52the property
42:53of confederates
42:54which includes
42:55their slaves
42:57then there's public
42:58opinion in the north
42:59abolitionists
43:00others are saying
43:00look the war
43:01is not going well
43:02we've got to take
43:02more dramatic action
43:04and of course
43:05the action of slaves
43:07puts the question
43:08of slavery
43:09on the national agenda
43:10in a direct way
43:15on the 1st of january
43:171863
43:18abraham lincoln
43:20signed the emancipation
43:22proclamation
43:23it began the process
43:25that would end slavery
43:26in america
43:27and crucially
43:28it did not call
43:30for the colonization
43:31of freed slaves
43:35the importance
43:37was that it said
43:38we are on
43:40the side
43:41of emancipation
43:42it said
43:43the union
43:44is an anti-slavery
43:47union
43:47before the emancipation
43:49proclamation
43:50the war was about union
43:52and lincoln said
43:54if i can restore the union
43:55without freeing a single
43:57slave
43:57i'll do it
43:57but he couldn't do it
43:59and the emancipation
44:02proclamation
44:03became the symbolic
44:05turning point
44:06of the war
44:09it committed the whole
44:11war effort now
44:12whether those
44:12generals and colonels
44:13wanted to or not
44:14to ending slavery
44:16as an aim
44:18of the war
44:20four million slaves
44:22the labor system
44:23of the south
44:24that
44:25that is a radical move
44:27because once you do that
44:29there's really no going back
44:31if you start rounding up
44:33thousands of slaves
44:34to free them
44:36and give them some kind
44:37of new status
44:38you surely cannot send them
44:40back to anything resembling
44:42slavery
44:47the modern reputation
44:49of abraham lincoln
44:50rests
44:50above all
44:51on his status
44:53as the great emancipator
44:57it's the story
44:58that the lincoln industry
44:59and the academic establishment
45:01stand behind
45:02and it's what all americans
45:03are taught at school
45:04abraham lincoln
45:06is one of the best presidents
45:08this country's ever had
45:09because of what he did
45:10for the slaves
45:11he thought it was wrong
45:12and no person should own
45:14another person
45:15very important to me
45:15because he just abolished
45:17the slavery
45:18and all the wrong
45:19doings of our country
45:21but does lincoln deserve
45:23his reputation
45:24as the great emancipator
45:25or was the emancipation
45:27proclamation
45:28as much an act of war
45:29as an act of mercy
45:31a desperate maneuver
45:32motivated in large part
45:34by the failure
45:36of lincoln
45:36to defeat
45:37the confederate armies
45:38it's a war measure
45:40it's a military measure
45:41that's how it's justified
45:42that's the only way
45:43it can be justified
45:44there is nothing
45:45in the constitution
45:46that enables the president
45:47to just decree
45:48the abolition of slavery
45:49what lincoln rests on
45:50is his role
45:51as commander-in-chief
45:52of the army
45:53you know compare it
45:55to the declaration
45:55of independence
45:56which begins
45:57with this wonderful preamble
45:58about the rights of mankind
45:59there's nothing like that
46:00this is a military order
46:02it contains no soaring rhetoric
46:05whatsoever
46:05which lincoln was capable of
46:06only at the suggestion
46:08of secretary of the treasury
46:10chase
46:10does it end
46:11with a statement
46:13this is an act of justice
46:15as well as of military necessity
46:17like the declaration
46:19of independence
46:19the emancipation proclamation
46:21has become one of america's
46:23sacred texts
46:24and it places lincoln
46:26at the center of the story
46:27but emancipation
46:29was a process
46:30that lincoln did not begin
46:31and was never able
46:33to control
46:34to be perfectly frank
46:36we give him too much credit
46:37for it
46:37he caught up
46:39with the process
46:40of emancipation
46:41as much as
46:43he made the personal decision
46:45to free the slaves
46:47emancipation comes about
46:48in 1862
46:50and especially in 1863
46:52in the midst of this war
46:53out of the process
46:55of its escalation
47:04the emancipation proclamation
47:06not only freed
47:07enslaved africans
47:08it also did something
47:10that the north
47:10and lincoln himself
47:11had resisted
47:12since the start of the war
47:13it allowed the recruitment
47:15of black men
47:17into the union army
47:19many northerners
47:20didn't believe blacks
47:21would fight
47:21they'd run away
47:22when confronted
47:23or they'd massacre
47:24white people
47:25with their arms
47:25nobody knew what would happen
47:27if you armed
47:27these slaves
47:28there were so many
47:29racist preconceptions
47:32the service of black soldiers
47:34the successes of black soldiers
47:36the dignity of black soldiers
47:37changes many northerners attitudes
47:40about race
47:42about the black man
47:42it certainly had
47:43a powerful effect
47:45on lincoln himself
47:46you want to know
47:47why lincoln's racial views
47:48changed during the civil war
47:49a lot of it has to do
47:50with the black soldiers
47:51lincoln comes to feel
47:53as many northerners do
47:54that by fighting
47:55and dying for the union
47:56they have staked
47:58a claim to citizenship
47:59in the post-war world
48:01the greatness of lincoln
48:03is his capacity for growth
48:04by the end of the civil war
48:05by the end of his life
48:06lincoln's views on race
48:08have changed significantly
48:09he has not become
48:10martin luther king jr
48:11but he has come to recognize
48:14that the united states
48:15is going to be
48:16a biracial society
48:24in april 1865
48:26the confederate armies
48:28finally surrendered
48:31the civil war
48:33had consumed
48:34620 000 lives
48:39the cities of the south
48:41lay in ruins
48:43and slavery
48:44had been swept away
48:48and lincoln
48:49like his nation
48:50was a man
48:52transformed
48:54in this very short
48:56period of time
48:57he's gone
48:58from believing
48:59that he has no right
49:00to do anything
49:01with slavery
49:02that slavery
49:03should die
49:03a gradual
49:04natural death
49:05that african americans
49:07really are not
49:08entitled to
49:09political rights
49:11but at the end of the war
49:12he talks about
49:14wanting to see
49:16certain segments
49:17of the african-american
49:18population
49:19get the right to vote
49:22so who was
49:23abraham lincoln
49:24in 1865
49:25was he the great
49:27emancipator
49:27on the verge of awarding
49:29black people
49:29some degree of equality
49:30or still
49:31an inveterate white supremacist
49:33was he the man
49:34who would save the union
49:35or a war criminal
49:37whose ruthless strategies
49:38had devastated his nation
49:40was he america's saint
49:42or a man
49:43whose views
49:44captured all
49:45that was wrong
49:45with america
49:46in the 19th century
49:48the problem here
49:49is that people
49:50always wanted to be
49:51all one or all the other
49:52we want our
49:53abraham lincoln's
49:54and our winston churchill's
49:55and our mahatma gandhi's
49:56you know
49:57to be
49:58to be
49:58to be perfect
49:59in their principles
50:07the case of abraham lincoln
50:08however
50:09always has to be understood
50:10within the story
50:12of a man who was a consummate
50:15pragmatic
50:17genius
50:18of a politician
50:24but how far he'd have
50:26ever gone
50:26with civil
50:28or social equality
50:29is
50:30is only speculation
50:31but how far he'd have
51:18A CIDADE NO BRASIL
51:34During the century between emancipation in the 1860s and the civil rights movement of the 1960s, African-Americans were pushed
51:43into segregated lives, defined by the so-called Jim Crow laws and lynching.
51:53But throughout that century in the darkness, African-Americans attempted to use the memory of Lincoln, white America's secular saint,
52:02to appeal for justice.
52:06African-Americans understood how important Lincoln's memory was to the nation, and they were hoping that they could tap into
52:14that memory.
52:16They're reminding white Americans that the promise has not been fulfilled, that they have to step up and honor the
52:25obligation that Lincoln had started, because these rights that African-Americans had been promised had not been granted.
52:34Five score years ago, a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
52:46Exactly a century after the Emancipation Proclamation, the Lincoln Memorial, America's temple to the cult of Lincoln, became the stage
52:55on which African-Americans came together to demand the nation finally fulfill the promise of freedom that Lincoln had made
53:01in 1863.
53:03But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.
53:12One hundred years later.
53:14The part of that speech that everyone always hears, the part of that speech that is always replayed, and it's
53:18even used in commercials in the United States, is only the dream part.
53:22I have a dream today. Little black children, little white children joining hands.
53:27In a sense, we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check.
53:31What we almost never replay is the first three or four pages of that speech.
53:37Wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
53:44They were signing a promissory note.
53:47King begins the speech by using the metaphor of what he called the promissory note.
53:54It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.
54:06Now that's Martin Luther King on the 100th anniversary of emancipation, standing in the Lincoln Memorial and saying to the
54:13world,
54:14that the United States wrote a bad check in 1863, it bounced.
54:20But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.
54:25We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds and the great faults of opportunity of this nation.
54:32So here in 1963, a chance, you might say, to reboot, to go back to 1863 and build on the
54:43promises of the Civil War
54:45and the promises of the Emancipation Proclamation and to try to do away with all the ugliness,
54:52all the white supremacy and re-establish democracy.
55:02Half a century after the Civil Rights struggle,
55:05Abraham Lincoln has become perhaps the only historical figure sacred to both black and white Americans.
55:12Although he remains shrouded in myth and exaggeration,
55:16and although uncomfortable questions have been asked about who he really was and what he really thought,
55:22Lincoln's story, his rise from poverty, his battle against slavery and his struggle with his own racism
55:28has made his memory a potent political force.
55:32It was here in Springfield where North, South, East and West come together
55:36that I was reminded of the essential decency of the American people.
55:41In his campaign for the presidency, Barack Obama,
55:45a candidate whose very presence in the race threatened to divide America,
55:48consciously linked himself to Lincoln.
55:52Where Lincoln once called on a house divided,
55:56I stand before you today to announce
55:59my candidacy for President of the United States of America.
56:06Obama very much played on Lincoln's image.
56:09He mimicked Lincoln's trip on the train from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
56:15He swore in his inauguration on the very OUP Bible that Lincoln had used a hundred-some-odd years earlier.
56:23Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear.
56:27He's cloaked himself, his candidacy, indeed his presidency, in the Lincoln myth.
56:33As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours,
56:38we are not enemies, but friends.
56:42Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
56:47The Lincoln that Obama adopted most was Lincoln the Healer.
56:52It's the Lincoln through whom we can all somehow come together.
56:57Our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared.
57:00Not Lincoln the ruthless war maker.
57:03Not Lincoln even the emancipator.
57:06It's Lincoln the Healer.
57:08That's the Lincoln that Obama most tried to use.
57:12That the true strength of our nation
57:14comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth,
57:17but from the enduring power of our ideals,
57:20democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.
57:28I think we all look at Lincoln from the perspective of what we see America as
57:35and what we think America should be.
57:41And those of us who see America as this perfect place,
57:45always right, did everything right from the very beginning,
57:49need a Lincoln who is larger than life,
57:52who is a Herculean figure who did Herculean things.
58:00But I think we as a nation need to understand
58:04that we can honor Lincoln and be truthful.
58:08He was a human being who made mistakes,
58:12who had prejudices, who had his own agenda.
58:16That does not diminish his greatness.
58:19I think it makes him even greater
58:21because it shows that with all his prejudices,
58:24with all the baggage that he brings to the presidency,
58:26and to emancipation,
58:29he still did the right thing in the end.
58:39And there's more American presidential material here on BBC4
58:42as we pay tribute to the late Ronald Reagan on Sunday at 9.
58:46Next tonight, though, Mark Lawson meets an artistic phenomenon,
58:50conservative monarchist duo Gilbert and George.
58:54cous epoch of the band york,
58:59and Dr. Brick,
58:59and Steve Heans
58:59Obrigado.