Abraham Lincoln

Summary

Short History Of… Abraham Lincoln

Podcast: Short History Of…
Host: Noiser
Episode Air Date: December 12, 2022

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Episode Overview

This episode examines the remarkable life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. The narrative seamlessly blends historical storytelling with expert insights to depict Lincoln’s journey from backwoods poverty to national leadership during America’s gravest crisis—the Civil War. It explores Lincoln’s political ascendancy, moral struggles, pivotal decisions on slavery and union, tragic assassination, and enduring status as a figure of hope, controversy, and unity.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Lincoln’s Background and Early Life

• Frontier Hardship

  • Lincoln is born in 1809, Kentucky, into poverty. His family moves frequently in search of better prospects, facing consistent hardships.
  • Lincoln’s mother dies when he is 9. His stepmother, Sarah, becomes an affectionate and vital influence, sharing his love of reading.
  • “It was a very kind of primitive existence, very rough. The frontier life was full of violence and fighting… his father did manage to at least lead a subsistence lifestyle.”
    — Historian/Expert ([07:19])

• Limited Formal Education, Passion for Learning

  • Attends less than a year of formal schooling; largely self-educated through voracious reading of classics like Shakespeare and Bunyan.
  • Works numerous odd jobs from rail splitting to storekeeping—learning self-reliance and the intricacies of everyday American life.

2. Early Political Involvement and Law Practice

• First Steps in Politics

  • Gains notice for wit and public speaking at 21; early forays into community issues and political debates.
  • Known for fairness and integrity—wins admirers after calling a draw in a wrestling match rather than claiming victory unearned.
    — “He knew how to play that persona to the hilt because he had been a rail splitter… even though he kind of educated himself out of it.”
    — Historian/Expert ([16:13])

• Challenges and Reputation

  • Starts a store; faces financial ruin after a business partner’s death, but repays all debts, earning the nickname “Honest Abe.”
  • Elected to Illinois state legislature on the strength of his reputation and relatability.

• Law Career

  • Encouraged by John Todd Stewart to study law; becomes a successful attorney admired for oratory and logic.
  • Deals with important legal cases; by mid-1840s earns a respectable income—“between four and $5,000 a year… back then, that was good money.”
    — Historian/Expert ([23:35])

3. Political Evolution and the Issue of Slavery

• Rising Tensions Over Slavery

  • Lincoln emerges on the national stage as America divides over slavery—south entrenched, north increasingly anti-slavery.
  • “The main issue of course, was slavery. And the south was becoming increasingly dependent… it came to view slavery as really a very good thing.”
    — Historian/Expert ([06:15])

• Early Position and Moderation

  • In Illinois politics, opposes efforts to protect local slavery from federal interference, but urges democratic caution.
  • Faces off against Stephen A. Douglas, a staunch white supremacist, whose opposing views shape important legislative battles.
    — “Stephen Douglass was an utter and very outspoken white supremacist. He made no bones about it… America is for white people and white people should rule forever.”
    — Historian/Expert ([20:54])

4. National Rise: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates and Presidential Campaign

• Debates with Douglas

  • Seven historic debates in 1858 focus the nation on the morality and future of slavery; Lincoln’s arguments elevate his profile.
  • “Lincoln would speak for an hour and a half and Douglass would give a half hour rejoinder… reported everywhere… become a phenomenon. And they lift Lincoln to the presidency.”
    — Historian/Expert ([33:27])

• Presidential Election of 1860

  • Wins the Republican nomination as a dark horse, positioned between radicals and moderates.
  • Elected without a popular majority, aided by a split in the Democratic Party.
  • “He enters the 1860 race as really a dark horse, and he's chosen because he's not so seemingly radical… nor is he milk watery, moderate… He's kind of a centrist and he's not that controversial or that well known.”
    — Historian/Expert ([34:14])

5. Lincoln in the White House: Civil War

• Secession and the Onset of War

  • Upon election, southern states secede. Lincoln faces an unprecedented national rupture.
  • “When he enters the White House, seven Southern states have left the Union and formed their own nation… this is a situation that no other president has ever confronted.”
    — Historian/Expert ([39:10])

• Leadership Style and Team of Rivals

  • Assembles a cabinet of strong personalities, including rivals, to pool the nation's best minds.
  • “Several people said, why did you choose this person… Chase thinks that he's infinitely superior to you…and Lincoln Says, oh, he thinks he's better than I am. Good. Can you find me a whole cabinet that way?”
    — Historian/Expert ([40:40])

• Defending the Union

  • Attacks on federal forts prompt Lincoln to call for troops and mark the start of the Civil War.
  • Faces early military setbacks, immense loss of life, and public criticism.

6. Moral Turning Point: Emancipation Proclamation

• Making Slavery the Union’s Cause
  • On January 1, 1863, Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved people in the Confederacy and reframing the war as a fight for freedom.
  • “I never in my life… felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper.”
    — Lincoln ([47:18])
  • The measure is controversial and limited, not freeing those in border states:
    — “The Emancipation Proclamation is very divisive… it seems too radical… that's why he softens it… he's hoping that the word will spread among the enslaved people of the south and a kind of sense of rebelliousness.”
    — Historian/Expert ([47:35])

7. War’s End and Lincoln’s Vision for Peace

• Gettysburg Address and National Memory

  • Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address in November 1863, defining America’s purpose:
    — “Fourscore and seven years ago… dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…” ([50:49])
  • Lincoln’s brief words, now iconic, reinforce ideals of equality and unity.
    — “His great speeches… are prose poems. They shape reality. They commit the nation to human equality.”
    — Historian/Expert ([54:25])

• Second Election and Looking Forward

  • Lincoln wins re-election in 1864, initially expecting defeat.
  • Demonstrates commitment to democracy by preparing a letter for peaceful transfer in case of loss.
    — “The best thing about this whole thing for me is the fact that we had a democratic election in the middle of a civil war.”
    — Historian/Expert ([56:09])
  • Advocates national healing, “to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

8. Assassination and Legacy

• Lincoln’s Death

  • Just days after the Civil War effectively ends, Lincoln is assassinated at Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer and white supremacist.
  • “Booth hated Lincoln... He loves slavery. He says, I'm just gonna kill this guy.”
    — Historian/Expert ([58:41])
  • Booth is hunted down and killed days later; Lincoln’s funeral unites Americans in grief.

• Historical Impact and Reflection

  • Lincoln remembered as leader who guided the nation through its greatest crisis.
    — “He certainly guided the nation very intelligently and very tactfully through its greatest crisis… Lincoln once said, I don't control events. Events have controlled me… yet… he shaped the nation.”
    — Historian/Expert ([62:10])
  • Recognized as progressive for his time, though not perfectly aligned with modern standards: — “Frederick Douglass called Lincoln the least racist white person I've ever met… You cannot impose today's values on the past.”
    — Historian/Expert ([61:03])

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Treading the Political Tightrope:
  “He had to walk a very fine line between moderates, conservatives on one hand and radicals on the other… Lincoln said, ‘I'm Blondin', I'm Blondin',’”
  — Historian/Expert ([29:21])

• On Emancipation Proclamation:
  “I never in my life… felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper.”
  — Abraham Lincoln ([47:18])

• On the Nature of Leadership:
  “Lincoln once said, I don't control events. Events have controlled me… when push came to shove, he shaped the nation.”
  — Historian/Expert ([62:10])

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Notable Timestamps

• 00:54 – Assassination at Ford's Theater: Opening dramatization
• 06:15 – Historian on the central moral issue of Lincoln’s time: slavery
• 16:13 – “Honest Abe” and his relationship with the people
• 20:54 – Stephen A. Douglas described as an outspoken white supremacist
• 29:21 – “I'm Blondin', I'm Blondin'”: Lincoln’s political balancing act
• 33:27 – Lincoln-Douglas Debates: Impact on national prominence
• 39:10 – Crisis at the start of Lincoln’s presidency: State secession
• 40:40 – Building a “team of rivals” in the Cabinet
• 47:18/47:35 – Emancipation Proclamation: Moral certitude and strategic limitations
• 50:49 – Gettysburg Address: The legacy of Lincoln’s words
• 56:09 – Re-election and the meaning of democracy during wartime
• 62:10 – Final assessment of Lincoln’s character and historical role

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Tone and Storytelling Style

The episode adopts a vivid, cinematic narrative—inviting listeners into both the intense drama and complexity of Lincoln’s life. The host’s voice is balanced, empathetic, and thoughtful, with expert commentary providing nuanced context. The episode honors Lincoln’s achievements while acknowledging his contradictions and the incremental nature of social progress.

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Conclusion

This episode paints Lincoln as a towering yet deeply human leader—shaped by hardship, self-education, and moral conviction—who steered the United States through existential crisis. His legacy, the episode argues, lies not just in political victory or abolition, but in his steadfast belief in the possibility of unity and progress under democratic ideals.

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For further exploration:

• Next episode: Short History of Pocahontas

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This summary omits ads and non-content segments for clarity and focus on episode substance.

Transcript

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[Narrator]

it is 14 April 1865 Good Friday, a foggy evening in Washington, D.C. at Ford's Theater, a party of two men and two women take up their seats in a flag draped box. They have come to watch a frothy comedy called Our American Cousin that's been getting rave reviews. The play has already started, but as one of the group takes his seat, a bearded man dressed in a long, silk lined woollen coat and a top hat, the action stops for a moment, but it's not a surly admonishment of his tardiness. Instead, the crowd erupts into applause for the latecomer. Just five days ago, General Lee, a Confederate leader in the American Civil War, surrendered at the Appomattox courthouse in Virginia, effectively bringing the curtain down on four years of conflict. And here, sitting among his people, is the man of the hour. Towering more than seven feet tall in his top hat, the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. He graciously acknowledges the ovation. Then he sits down next to the First Lady, Mary, and behind his guests, his old friend, the diplomat and military captain Henry Rathbone and Rathbone's fiance, Clara Harris. But when the show begins again, Lincoln struggles to tune in. His mind is whirling with the many problems his administration still faces. When you've got a country to rebuild, it's difficult to relax. Slipping her hand into his, Mary leans in to explain the plot he's missed. Soon enough, Lincoln starts to lose himself. He likes a good, bawdy laugh with the best of them. In fact, it's just what he needs. He hardly notices when the door behind him creaks open or when the figure in the shadows steps inside the box, the show is reaching a comedic peak. The theater howls with laughter as it does so. The intruder raises his arm. Glinting in his hand is a Derringer pistol. He lifts its barrel parallel with the back of Lincoln's head. From a distance of 6 inches. He squeezes the trigger and fires. Lincoln slumps forward in his chair, unconscious but still breathing, as Mary lets out an anguished scream. Rathbone leaps to his feet to confront the attacker, but the assailant slashes him with a dagger before jumping down onto the stage. There he addresses his captive audience. Sic semper tyrannis. He yells. Thus ever to tyrants. The phrase some say Brutus uttered as he assassinated Julius Caesar. The theater is in chaos. As the panicked audience makes for the exits, Lincoln's limp body is carried to a safe house across the street. The stream of doctors works desperately to save him, but the clock is already ticking. The President has just hours left to live. To begin with, Abraham Lincoln's life seemed like an American folktale, the story of a boy born into poverty in Kentucky, but whose drive and determination propelled him to the most powerful position in the nation. But the presidency he inherited was a troubled one. As he entered the White House, the youthful United States was on the verge of civil war over its opinions of slavery. So how did he guide the nation through a bruising conflict that cost hundreds of thousands of lives? How did his decisions impact the country in ways that echo even today? And why is it that one man can attract such public adoration and murderous wrath all at the same time? I'm John Hopkins, and this is a short history of Abraham Lincoln. It's approaching dawn on February 12, 1809, in a nondescript farm in the Kentucky countryside. A woman named Nancy is giving birth in a tiny clay lined wooden hut. Soon the cabin fills with the cries of a new baby, a younger brother to the two year old Sarah. The boy is called Abraham. He's named after his paternal grandfather, who many years ago had been killed by an indigenous American. It's a complex heritage for the baby, but then this is a complex society into which he is born. Just 30 years have passed since the United States declared independence from British rule, and this is a country still finding its way. There are fundamental questions to answer, not least about the relationship between the nation's white population and its people of color. David S. Reynolds is a distinguished professor at the City University of New York and author of 16 books, including Abe Abraham Lincoln in His Times.

[Historian/Expert]

The main issue of course, was slavery. And the south was becoming increasingly dependent on slavery due to the boom of cotton, cotton gin and all of that. And the South's moral support, ideological support of slavery increased along with its economy. So that it came to view slavery as really a very good thing. Good for black people, good for exposed them to western civilization. Good for white people because it provided inexpensive labor. It was supposedly validated by the Bible because a lot of Old Testament people had enslaved people as well. But in the north you have the growing anti slavery party.

[Narrator]

Based in Kentucky. Lincoln's early years are tough. He, his father works hard on the family farm, but his attempt to improve their lot with investments in land failed to pay off. The Lincolns live in the log cabin where Abraham was born with its dirt floor and a single window covered in greased paper instead of glass.

[Historian/Expert]

It was a very kind of primitive existence, very rough. The frontier life was full of violence and fighting. And his parents were, were fairly poor, although his father did manage to at least lead a subsistence lifestyle. That is to say, raised enough for the family to live on.

[Narrator]

Education plays scant role. Public schools are still a rarity and with his father needing him on the farm, Abraham's attendance is way down the list of priorities. The short time he does spend at school, perhaps a year in total, is in a single log room two miles from home. The children learn by reading aloud from Thomas Dilworth's new guide to the English tongue. For the rest of his life, Lincoln will read out loud. When he is nine and not long after the family have relocated to Indiana, his beloved mother dies from drinking contaminated milk. Lincoln's father, Tom, sets out to find a new wife and mother for his grieving children. While he is gone, Abraham and his sister are left to fend for themselves for several months when a neighbor looks in on them. After a short while, they find the cabin filthy and the children visibly losing weight. Tom finally returns after marrying a woman called Sarah, who comes with three children of her own. Fortunately, Abraham finds his new stepmother naturally affectionate and the pair bond over a shared love of reading. By his teens, Lincoln is tall and athletic, with a particular talent for running, climbing and wrestling. But with Sarah's support, he's also an enthusiastic self educator too. He reads avidly, immersing himself in the classics of the English language. Shakespeare, Byron, Bunyan and memorizing long passages from his father. He has picked up a strong work ethic. He labors unpaid on the farm and earns a meager income helping out on the farms of neighbors. His stature Ensures that he is a prodigious rail splitter, too, splitting logs into rails to make fences. On a good day, he can make 400, earning him up to a princely 25 cents. One day, he crafts himself a small boat. A couple of passing gentlemen ask him to ferry them and their luggage to a steamer out on the Ohio River. Lincoln agrees and earns a dollar for each passenger. It is the first time he's earned a dollar in less than a day, and it's enough to spark his entrepreneurial spirit. But when the local ferrymen realize what's happening, they take issue and drag him into court for operating without a license. The judge, though, determines that he's only dropping passengers into boats on the river rather than transporting them across it, and is therefore not violating any legislation. It is another pivotal moment for the young man as he sees up close the workings of the law in pursuit of justice. In 1830, the blended Lincoln family are on the move again, this time to Illinois, where a relative tells them the business opportunities are better. They take a piece of land on the banks of the Sangamon River, a few miles from the nearest town. Lincoln helps his father build a log cabin, a barn and a smokehouse. But he is constantly on the lookout for opportunities to improve his prospects.

[Historian/Expert]

He never got much education, but he was self taught. He was feeding his mind. And he had all kinds of odd jobs in Illinois. Working in a store, working as a postman, floating rails, doing this, doing that, but at the same time reading, reading, reading and feeding his mind. Reading poetry, reading law books.

[Narrator]

That Summer, now aged 21, Lincoln makes his first tentative steps into the political arena. In the town square in decanter, rivals for the local legislature are sparring. Dressed in tow, linen pants, a shirt and straw hat, he voices some of the issues facing the local community, particularly about the development of new jobs and revenue. He speaks with wit and aplomb and is rewarded with the crowd's applause. Though he has no interest in elected office at this stage, it's a confident first foray into the political sphere. A year later, he strikes out on his own, moving to New Salem, Illinois. Though the town is only a couple of years old, it's growing, and Lincoln has been offered the chance of partnering in a new grocery store. The owner hand picked Lincoln after spotting him bringing a ferryload of cargo into the town a few months earlier. But it's not just the store that he wants him to be involved with. Seeing his new recruit's talent, he signs him up for a wrestling match against the local Champion, a short, muscle bound character called Jack Armstrong.

[Historian/Expert]

Lincoln actually developed skills as a very excellent wrestler fighter. He could beat anybody. He was wiry, not muscular, but very, very wiry. And he could really beat almost anybody. Although he didn't want to engage in rough and tumble fighting, which was commonplace, he just wanted to do a clean fight.

[Narrator]

A crowd gathers in the town square, hungry to witness the battle. Wrestling is a popular means by which men can assert not only physical supremacy, but their place in the social pecking order. Moreover, there's money to be made from wages. Armstrong has years of experience, but Lincoln towers over him by 10 inches. They grasp and grapple for what seems like an eternity, neither able to get the upper hand. Finally, Armstrong releases his grip. Depending on how you interpret the rules, this should be Lincoln's victory. But Lincoln doesn't believe he has bested his opponent and instead agrees to call it a draw. For Lincoln, it is a win win. In showcasing not just physical power, but also bravery and fairness, he gains many admirers and vitally, acceptance in his new hometown. Just a year later, Lincoln stands for a seat in the Illinois state legislature.

[Historian/Expert]

He saw some things going on around him, having to do canals and railroads and that kind of thing. Local matters that he wanted to change. And he said, I'm just going to run for office. And in his first speech, he says, you know, I'm just humble. Abraham Lincoln. I'm not much of a person, but I feel certain ways about certain things.

[Narrator]

But in April that year, news spreads that members of the Sauk and Fox indigenous tribes have made incursions into Illinois from their settlements in Iowa. Locals fear this is a precursor to a land grab of their old territories, which had been controversially sold to the United States in 1804. The state governor, John Reynolds, calls for volunteers to repel what he calls an invasion. Lincoln signs up and is elected to captain his local battalion, further testament to his rising popularity. Although he doesn't see frontline action, he gets military experience. But it comes at a political cost. Being away on duty means he's unable to get out among the people ahead of the election. Back in New Salem in time for the poll, he wins over 90% of the vote in his home constituency. But across the county, he comes 8th of 13 candidates. Things sour further when the grocery store hits financial problems. But resilient as ever, he soon bounces back. In May 1833, he is awarded his first public office when he becomes postmaster of New Salem. The money's not great, though, so he looks for other sources of income. A surveyor friend needs an extra pair of hands. So Lincoln buys himself a compass chain and a few other tools and reads up on the basics. It's not long until his earnings as a surveyor outstrip what he takes home as postmaster. It's a fruitful time. In 1834, his second run for the Illinois legislature is successful. As one of his opponents notes, everyone knew him and he knew everyone

[Historian/Expert]

out of his first five elections, local elections, he won all of them except for the first one. Partly because of his honesty, but also he had a very good sense of humor. The reason I call my book Abe, even though he didn't like that name. He liked to be called Lincoln, but he knew that that's the way the people loved him. And they called him Abe. And they would shout, Abe, Abe, Abe. Just the common man. He knew how to play that Persona to the hilt because he had been a rail splitter with an axe when he was growing up. He had been among the rough and crude people, even though he kind of educated himself out of it.

[Narrator]

Yet he still faces plenty of challenges, not least a large debt he's saddled with when his business partner in the grocery store suddenly dies. With the law currently slack around debt, plenty of people simply skip off into the night. But Lincoln knows the value of his good name, though it takes him a while. He pays what is owed, burnishing his reputation as Honest Abe in the process. But while he takes his responsibilities as one of the few dozen representatives in the state legislature seriously, Lincoln isn't wealthy enough to be a full time politician, especially when he's paying off his debts. In 1835, an attorney friend by the name of John Todd Stewart encourages him to go into the law. It is something Lincoln has been thinking about himself, having spent years reading into legislation. Until now, he's been uncertain about the strength of his academic abilities. But Stuart gives him that extra thrust of self belief that he needs. Lincoln throws himself into preparation for his new career. He becomes a familiar sight, sitting on a box under a wide spreading old oak near the town where he delves into the secrets of common law. At the same time, he fights another election for the state legislature. But this time he's running in support of the newly formed Whig party who oppose the Democratic party of President Andrew Jackson. Though in the contemporary arena of US politics, the Democrats are associated with social liberalism, at the time they are considered the party of the establishment.

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[Historian/Expert]

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[Narrator]

Price is guaranteed at the Home Depot while supplies Last priced invalid May 14 through May 27 US only exclusions apply. See homedepot.com Pricematch for details. Lincoln secures another term, but it's now that one of his greatest rivals emerges too. Stephen A. Douglas is a 23 year old attorney, mop haired and barely five feet, but an utter political bruiser.

[Historian/Expert]

Stephen Douglass was an utter and very outspoken white supremacist. He made no bones about it. America is for white people and white people should rule forever.

[Narrator]

The discord between them escalates. Against the backdrop of an increasingly active abolitionist movement, the Illinois governor introduces a resolution to prevent federal government from banning slavery without local consent. In effect, it would mean the areas voting in support of slavery cannot be overruled by central government. Illinois is very much split on the question. A small but vocal anti slavery lobby, bolstered by migrants from New England and New York must face down a larger contingent of pro slavers from the South. Douglas naturally supports the resolution, but Lincoln is uncomfortable Conscious that rocking the boat might cost him his burgeoning political career, he opposes the bill, though he's one of just six out of 83 members to do so. Arguing that slavery is founded on injustice and bad policy, he maintains that federal government does have the legal right to outlaw it. But he also urges caution, insisting that any change in the law must be democratic. It puts him at odds with the more radical wings of the anti slavery movement, who see his opposition as little more than a gesture. Though he sticks his head above the parapet, Lincoln has chosen his words carefully so as not to cause too great a stir. This time, Douglass and his supporters win, but he and Lincoln will play out their differences on bigger stages to come. Now, having played a vital role moving the state capital to Springfield, he arrives there in April 1837, with his worldly possessions loaded into two saddlebags on a borrowed horse. Despite his growing political profile, he's still struggling financially. When he picks out just enough bedding for a single room at the local store, he has to ask for credit, promising to repay the owner before Christmas. Taking pity on him, the storekeeper offers him lodgings above the shop. Soon after that, Lincoln is invited to become a partner in a local law firm. He quickly makes a name for himself when he delivers a coruscating closing speech in a murder trial, winning his client an unexpected reprieve. Before long, the man who once wondered at making a dollar in a day is earning a small fortune.

[Historian/Expert]

Oh, between four and $5,000 a year, which back then doesn't sound like anything now. But back then, that was good money. The average worker might earn six or seven hundred dollars a year. A laborer, or something like that.

[Narrator]

In 1840, he wins his fourth term in the state legislature and then gets out on the campaign trail for the Whig presidential candidate, William Henry Harrison. One summer's afternoon, he hears that a Democratic rival, Jesse Thomas, is denigrating him in a speech at the Sangamon County Court. Lincoln rushes down to exercise his right to reply. On the stage, he launches into a brutal attack, mocking his rival, impersonating his mannerisms and voices. Egged on by the cheering crowd, the emboldened Lincoln doesn't let up until his Democrat victim runs from the stage, weeping. The incident gains notoriety as the skinning of Thomas. But when he's cooled down, Lincoln feels ashamed. A far cry from the time he surrendered his rightful claim to a wrestling victory in New Salem. This time, he choked his opponent into utter, humiliating submission. In due course, he tracks Thomas down and offers him an apology. But the episode has already proven his acumen as a national player and a compelling speaker. While Lincoln's professional life has been on an upward trajectory for some time, his personal life has been rather more chaotic. A few years previously, his first love died of a brain fever at just 22 years old. Another serious relationship fizzled into a sad anti climax. But on the Springfield social scene, he meets the woman he's destined to marry, Mary Todd. A decade younger than Lincoln, she comes from a rich Kentucky family and vowed as a child that she would one day marry a president. She is short, about 5 foot 2 and pretty, while he is tall and considered somewhat plain looking. But there is a spark.

[Historian/Expert]

Mary Todd Lincoln has gotten a bad rap over the years as being someone who's very carping, always scolding him, very nasty person, always complaining about her headaches, difficult to be around and making Lincoln have sort of a hellish experience. But I mean politically, she really wanted him to get out there and do it and he did it. So she lit the fire under him in a lot of ways. She could be very charming at parties. She could make a good hostess. She got dressed up, she had hundreds of dresses and kid gloves and all that. She knew French. She'd been very well educated. She had 10 years of education. Back then, a girl just didn't get 10 years of education.

[Narrator]

Her courtship with Lincoln is tempestuous and a previous romantic association with Lincoln's great rival, Stephen Douglas complicates things further. But one stormy evening in November 1842, Mary, wearing a dress of white muslin, stands before her sister's fireplace with a 33 year old Lincoln at her side. The couple only announced their intention to wed a few hours ago after months and years of prevaricating. Now, in front of the local vicar, Lincoln slips onto his bride's finger a ring he bought just that afternoon inscribed with the words Love is eternal. Afterwards, they celebrate simply with a handful of guests over beer, gingerbread and a hastily assembled cake from the local bakery. Their first son, known as Bob, arrives nine months later. Two more, Tad and Willie, will follow. With Mary at his side. The next decade or so sees Lincoln consolidate his position both professionally and politically. In 1843, he makes an unsuccessful first run for the national legislative body, the Federal House of Representatives. But three years later, he wins one of its 220 or so seats. In the mid-1850s, Lincoln. Lincoln throws his lot in with a new political group who are formed to oppose the Democrats, the Republican Party. To Lincoln, the Whigs are simply not equipped to deal with a national Crisis over slavery.

[Historian/Expert]

You had rise of anti slavery politics. But those early antislavery parties, the Liberty Party, Free Soil Party got nowhere because anti slavery wasn't popular enough. And it really wasn't until the Republican party came along. Back then the Republican party were the liberals, the Democrats were the conservatives. We've done a flip flop since then.

[Narrator]

The Republicans hit the ground running and their first presidential candidate, John C. Fremont, dominates the northern states in the election of 1856. But tensions between the north and south are growing. In 1857 the US Supreme Court sets a precedent in what becomes known as the Dred Scott case that African Americans are not and cannot ever be citizens of the United States. Although Lincoln strongly protests this ruling, he's keen to navigate between radical anti slavery factions and the pro slavery conservatism embraced by a large swathe of the country. For him, meaningful reform must be achieved via the ballot box.

[Historian/Expert]

So he had to walk a very fine line between moderates, conservatives on the one hand and between radicals on the other hand. And he compared himself to Blondin, who is the most famous tightrope walker of his day. Charles Blondin came over and he walked across Niagara Falls many times, forward, back, backwards. He did flips, cartwheels, he pushed a wheelbarrow, carried a man on his back. And Lincoln said, I'm blondin', I'm blondin'. He would have loved to be much more openly radical, but if he did, he wasn't gonna get elected.

[Narrator]

Now with Lincoln's sights set on election to the federal Senate, he comes up against his old adversary, Stephen Douglas. The pair engage in a series of debates that go down in US electoral history. With their opposing positions on slavery, they play out a battle for the soul of the United States. The biggest of the seven debates is held in October 1858 at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. The anti slavery town's population swells fourfold as a truly gigantic turnout of around 20,000 floods in to witness the scene, many Having traveled the 150 miles from Chicago at 2:30pm Lincoln sits in his carriage, the breath of the horses condensing in the cold air as they trot towards the college. Lincoln pulls his trademark frock coat tight around him as he stares out through the pouring rain. On the roadside. Campaign banners lie in tatters and signs have been ripped from the ground by the swirling wind. But as the carriage slows, Lincoln gets a glimpse of the crowds who've come to see him and is buoyed by a wave of energy. These debates are about setting the terms of the nation's political struggle. And every one of these spectators is fully engaged in that. When he arrives at the college, another carriage draws up his opposite number. Douglas climbs out and straightens his coat, but when he shakes hands, he has to pause to cough and his voice is hoarse after so long on the road. The organizer comes bustling up and explains to his esteemed speakers that the stage has had to be moved because of the weather. It now stands abutted to the main college building. The two men follow Lincoln's stride, long and leisurely. When he's forced to climb through a window to get onto the platform, Lincoln says with a twinkle, well, at last I have gone through college. As the moment approaches to step out in front of the audience, Lincoln looks out at a sea of hats, each one providing the barest shelter to an avidly attentive listener. Many have been standing here for three hours already. Some wield banners bearing slogans, fighting the wind to keep them upright. Others perch on carts to get a better view. It is an overwhelming scene, but Lincoln is not cowed. It is in such places he understands that the future may be won. His name is announced and he takes the stage to deafening applause. But he is calm in his acknowledgment. Now is the moment to stand tall and deliver his message. First, though, he listens to Douglas, who attacks with energy despite his poor health. He accuses Lincoln of changing his political position depending on the audience. His word, he suggests, cannot be trusted. But Lincoln is feeling punchy. He fights back against Douglass's assertion that the Declaration of Independence is somehow excludes African Americans and defends himself against claims of flip flopping. Lincoln's supporters lap it up the crowd cheering him on. They are convinced that he has seized the moral high ground.

[Historian/Expert]

You know, Lincoln would speak for an hour and a half and Douglass would give a half hour rejoinder. Then Douglass would speak maybe for an hour. And they're wonderful to read because you can sit there and really follow their arguments in a very serious way. It's not little memorized sound bites or something like that, but the debates are reported everywhere. They're reprinted, and they really become a phenomenon. And they lift Lincoln to the presidency to a great degree.

[Narrator]

Though Douglas wins the 1858 election, within two years, it is Lincoln who was fighting for the presidency, beating the early favorites to secure the Republican nomination.

[Historian/Expert]

He enters the 1860 race as really a dark horse, and he's chosen because he's not so seemingly radical as William Henry Seward or Salmon Chase or some of these other people. Nor is he milk watery, moderate, like an old Whig, like Edward Bates or something like that. He's kind of a centrist and he's not that controversial or that well known. He's known as a very logical thinker and kind of a homey guy. He sold his Abe in his church sleeves and with his axe and carrying a rail, a fence rail and all that. So he's very folksy.

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[Narrator]

On election day, 6th November 1860, the sun is shining when Lincoln goes to vote. A crowd follows behind, cheering him. But he doesn't vote for himself. He never has done and isn't about to start now. Instead, he makes his selections for the other offices of State, then goes home for supper with the family. Around 9pm Lincoln can bear the tension no more. He crosses the town square and climbs the stairs to the second floor office of the Illinois and Mississippi Telegraph Company. The manager had invited him the previous day, saying that they would be first with the news. Lincoln College collapses onto a chair, awaiting not only his fate, but the fate of the nation. For a while there is an eerie quiet, save for the rhythmic clicking of the telegraphic equipment and the restless hovering of its operators. Eventually, news of results from around the country begins to arrive. The operators quickly transcribe the messages onto small sheets of mustard colored paper. To start with, the superintendent announces each result, but as they begin to stream in, he gives up and simply passes the flurry of paper sheets to Lincoln, who lays each on his knee as he adjusts his spectacles to read them. The initial indications are that Lincoln is faring well, but it is too early to say for sure. More of his team join him and with each bit of good news the euphoria in the room grows. But Lincoln stays resolutely poker faced. Illinois is his. So too Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa, Philadelphia and Connecticut. Even the expected losses in the south are not as bad as they might be. But Lincoln cannot relax. He knows he needs New York and its large share of electoral votes. The stream of results slows. Then, a little after midnight, the machines clack into action again. Lincoln is on his feet as a clerk rushes over with a telegraph. New York is his. Abraham Lincoln will be the 16th president of the United States of America. The uproar in the office is nothing compared with that spontaneously erupting in the square outside. People normally bound by the rules of social protocol embrace each other, dance jigs and cast their hats to the sky.

[Historian/Expert]

Fortunately, during the election itself, the Democratic Party split up. It shattered into three parts. So he was running against three candidates and he won the most. He didn't win a plurality of the popular votes because if you put Democrats other candidates together, they won a million more votes than he. But he won the Electoral College.

[Narrator]

Lincoln, though, remains calm throughout. He knows that to an extent, he has inherited a poisoned chalice. A country already split apart. Before 1864 is out, South Carolina becomes the first state to secede for fear that a Lincoln presidency will constrain slavery. Even as the president elect journeys to Washington, he is subject to assassination threats. At the root of all the problems is the disagreement over slavery.

[Historian/Expert]

When he enters the White House, seven Southern states have left the Union and formed their own nation with its own Constitution, its own president, its own Congress, and very soon four other states join those seven states so that you have 11 states that say that they have formed a different country. And this is a situation that no other president has ever confronted. Lincoln, in his mind, never accepts the fact that the Confederacy is a separate nation. In his mind, there's always the American Union. However, he knows there are rebels against the Union, and he knows that he has to do something about it.

[Narrator]

When Lincoln makes his inaugural speech on 4 March 1861, he does so under the threat of civil war. Aiming for a conciliatory tone, he reminds the American people of their commonality. He promises no interference where slavery already exists, but warns against further attempts at secession or attacks on federal ports and forts in the South. Always keen to be a unifier, he appoints a cabinet of all the talents, bravely appointing old rivals who potentially threaten his authority.

[Historian/Expert]

It's been called team of rivals and so forth. Several of them think that they're superior to him. He has this kind of humble Persona. And in fact, several people said, why did you choose this person, Salmon Chase, who became secretary or treasurer? Chase thinks that he's infinitely superior to you and he's really intelligent, really experienced, and Lincoln Says, oh, he thinks he's better than I am. Good. Can you find me a whole cabinet that way? He wanted an entire cabin with people who thought they were better than the

[Narrator]

U.S. the first major crunch point comes after just a few weeks, a challenge to Lincoln's commitment to defend federal possessions. It is a little before 4:30am on 12 April 1861, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. The sea is choppy after a spate of rough storms. The shrill squawk of seagulls pierces the peace of dawn. From a command room on Fort Sumter, a thick set brick fort in the middle of the harbor. Its commander, Major Anderson, watches a group of men in a rowing boat struggling to navigate their way back to shore. These militiamen have just left after offering him an ultimatum. Though the fort is the property of the federal government, their message was that if Anderson agreed to evacuate, their Confederate forces surrounding, it will give his men safe passage. Anderson told them he needed three days. Even so, he knows an attack is imminent. And with fewer than 100 men against the 3,000 confederates ranged against them, he's utterly vulnerable. For now, there is a strange and accepting calm. But as the hand of the clock in Anderson's command room sweeps around to half past the hour that peace is crudely broken. From nearby James Island, a single Confederate mortar shell fizzes into the still starry sky and arcs over the fort before exploding with ear splitting ferocity. This is it will turn out the first shot of the American Civil War. For 33 hours, Fort Sumter is bombarded by more than 4,000 shells and shots. Its 5ft thick walls are soon ablaze. At midday on 13 April, Anderson knows the game is up. Tired beyond words and his shoulders slumping under the responsibility, he orders the white flag of surrender be raised. When a Union flotilla finally arrives to ferry him and his garrison back to the safety of the north, they find him clutching a tattered American flag in his hands. When the news hits Washington, there is a strange mixture of trepidation and something like relief that the tension had been broken. Several prominent voices within Lincoln's cabinet urge caution.

[Historian/Expert]

Most of them were saying, oh, let Fort Sumter go to the Confederacy and let's see what happens. They said, hey, I said in my first inaugural that if they attack a federal fort in the South, I'm going to defend that federal property. And at that point he calls up 75,000 troops. And he knows it's war. He knows it's going to be war. He gathers an army together by this summer, by July, he has 500,000 troops.

[Narrator]

It is soon apparent that it is going to be a long and hard struggle. The secessionist slave states are determined to strike out on their own, while Lincoln and the Union states refuse to lose any more of the south or the so called border states where loyalty is split. Ultimately, Lincoln's White House aims to reunify the United States. But he suffers a series of shocking defeats at the hands of the Confederates expertly marshaled by General Robert E. Lee. Then, in February of 1862, the President's political struggles are compounded by personal tragedy when his son Willie dies from ill health, aged just 11. But the war has no mercy for Lincoln's grief. Neither side is able to gain the upper hand even as they hemorrhage men in their tens of thousands. Some of Lincoln's critics say that the Union lacks a crusading imperative that it needs a cause to believe in. On New Year's Day 1863, he provides it. Today he will sign into law the Emancipation Proclamation, a presidential order that changes history. The 3.5 million enslaved people of the Confederate states, it says, are to be made free. As soon as an enslaved person can escape, either as a result of Union advances or by fleeing to Union territory, they are to be free forever. Moreover, they have the right to serve in the armed forces of the United States. Now Washington fills with New Year's revelers and those who want to say they were present at such a moment in history. At 2pm Lincoln sits at the desert desk in his office. He takes his favorite gold pen and dips the nib into a pot of ink. Fighting off a tremble in his hand, he signs his name slowly and carefully across the document. Looking up at the officials assembled to bear witness, he lets out a chuckle. That will do, he says. He knows that his order will prompt new bloodshed. But he is undaunted. I never in my life, Lincoln says, felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper.

[Historian/Expert]

The Emancipation Proclamation is very divisive, even among his own people, because it seems too radical, which is one reason why he softens it and says, okay, I'm not going to proclaim emancipation for all enslaved people, only for the people held in the Southern states. I'm not going to proclaim it for the people in the border states. In the border states, they're not free. Why, if he says they're free in the border states, the border states are going to join the south and that's the end of the war. So he has to isolate the south and say the slaves are free there. And he's hoping that the word will spread among the enslaved people of the south and a kind of sense of rebelliousness and independence will develop among the enslaved people and in the North. He uses African Americans in the army for the first time, and they prove to be decisive.

[Narrator]

The proclamation of alters the course of the war. Where the Union forces had been fighting to preserve the power of the federal government, now it is on a moral crusade to free the slaves. As well as giving the Union forces a moral urgency, it undermines support from abroad for the Confederate cause. More importantly, the Union army swells with formerly enslaved people whose bravery on the battlefield proves invaluable. And with Ulys S. Grant, a military general who can truly take the fight to the enemy, it finally starts to feel like things are going Lincoln's way.

[Historian/Expert]

Where is Pterodelpha?

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[Historian/Expert]

Marvel Television's Daredevil Born Again now streaming only on Disney.

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On 19-11-1863, he makes his way on horseback through the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he's due to speak at the dedication of a soldier's national cemetery. Only a few months ago, the town was the site of the Civil War's single most deadly battle, when as many as 28,000 troops lost their lives before the Unionists claimed victory. As he rides up Baltimore street to the site of the dedication, Lincoln glances at the buildings pockmarked with bullet holes. Further on, he passes fields barren and scorched from the battle, some still home to the remnants of field tents where the wounded were tended. He even spies a few recovering casualties scattered along his route, hobbling on crutches, their faces etched all these months later with the horrors they have seen. When he arrives near the cemetery, he dismounts. An organizer guides him around the crowd, some 15,000 strong, to where he will make his address. As they walk, the man points out a former cornfield now pitted with freshly dug graves. But despite the specter of death, flags flutter proudly in the breeze. A child wanders over selling cookies, another has souvenir bullets, and there are even cannonballs for sale. Despite the numbers, there is a somber atmosphere to the crowd. Lincoln himself is no stranger to grief. He wears a dark suit and frock coat. He his customary top hat adorned with a mourning band for his son Willie. It's almost two years since he lost his beloved child, but the sorrow is as intense as ever. But it is also a point of connection. His audience knows he understands their losses. He takes his place for the main address, courtesy of Edward Everett, a former Massachusetts governor and master of Harvard College, one of the great orators of his age. Everett speaks for two hours. From his seat, Lincoln can see some of those in the front row tearing up at his words. When Lincoln's turn comes, the whole audience falls silent. But he will take a different approach to Everett, aiming for precision over length. On the stage, Lincoln stands, adjusts his glasses, takes his speech from his left breast pocket. Beyond the crowd, he can see the rows upon rows of graves. To hushed attention, he begins. Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. In fact, his Gettysburg address is just 271 words, long finished before the photographers at the front of the stage even have time to take a few plates. But what he says will come to define the nation's view of itself. It gives voice to the hopes and fears of millions.

[Historian/Expert]

His great speeches, the first inaugural, the Gettysburg Address, the second inaugural address, are prose poems. They shape reality. They commit the nation to human equality. They sympathize with enslaved people, with suffering people on such a deep level.

[Narrator]

Even so, as Lincoln faces re election in 1864, the omens do not look good for him. The war grinds on, and while the Emancipation proclamation wins him many admirers, it also strengthens the passion of those who oppose him, like many of those in the border states. On top of that, the Union forces are struggling to make serious headway on the battlefield. The opposition Democratic party is divided between those who believe the war might be won with a new leader in the White House and those who want an immediate peace with the Confederacy. Lincoln himself does not fancy his chances at the polls.

[Historian/Expert]

But you know, Lincoln looked forward to November and said, I'm going to lose, probably. And everybody else around him knew he was going to lose it. So he writes a letter, a sealed letter to his cabinet to be opened after the election, saying, I've lost this election. I want to do whatever I can to provide a peaceful transition of power to my successor.

[Narrator]

But now the tide starts to turn. The armies of the northern states not only score a series of victories in the field, but start to strangle the Confederate forces of supplies. After years of stalemate, the Union finds itself with momentum.

[Historian/Expert]

Lincoln is lifted to power, lifted to the presidency again. But even after that, he says, the best thing about this whole thing for me is the fact that we had a democratic election in the middle of a civil war. I'm very happy to have won. But it's really a dramatic story, a total belief in the American democracy.

[Narrator]

His second inauguration speech is very different to his first. With the end of the war in sight, he lays the groundwork for the nation's reconstruction. He hopes, he says, to bind up the nation's wounds. In early April, General Lee's Confederate troops are forced into retreat by Grant's Union forces in Virginia. On Palm Sunday, Lee goes to a meeting at the courthouse in the small town of Appomattox. In full dress uniform and carrying a saber, he surrenders his forces to Grant. Though it marks the beginning of the end of the war, Lincoln resists triumphalism.

[Historian/Expert]

On April 9, 1865, which is the day that Lee is surrendering to Grant at El Appomattox courthouse, Lincoln's on a boat going back to Washington with a lot of other people and the war is over and everybody else is kind of jumping up and down And Lincoln preferred that day to read from Shakespeare and from Longfellow. And it seems to me that that's what Lincoln on that day was thinking about. He wasn't even thinking about, oh, we won the war, or what are we going to do in the Reconstruction, or anything like that. Almost 800,000 people had died under his watch in the Civil War. It was such a bloodbath. So many people have lost their lives. How am I going to think about life itself at this moment? It soothed him to be reading poems about death and dying in Shakespeare and Longfellow. And it says something about him, it seems to me, something really quite beautiful.

[Narrator]

Less than a week later, Lincoln's story takes its last great twist when the popular actor John Wilkes Booth slays the President in his box at Ford's Theater in Washington. Lincoln is the first US President to be assassinated and had lived long with the threat. He was aware of plots to kill him even as he made his way to the White House for the first time in 1860. But he never let fear stop him from being a leader with whom the public could interact freely.

[Historian/Expert]

Meanwhile, Booth had been planning this for a long time. Booth hated Lincoln. Booth was raised in a slaveholding background. He considered Lincoln vulgar. And when Lincoln was reelected, he said, that's it. He's going to be king for life. Back then, they didn't have term limits. He's going to be king for life. I hate this guy's politics. I hate him. Booth was an unabashed white supremacist, unabashed white supremacist. He loves slavery. He says, I'm just gonna kill this guy.

[Narrator]

After shooting Lincoln dead, Booth escapes on horseback. Already known for the intensity of his performances, he seems to relish playing the part of the assassin, starring in a drama of his own making. Twelve days later, he is cornered in a barn in Virginia, where he faces his final curtain. Refusing the opportunity to surrender, he calls to the Union soldiers that he would prefer to come out and fight. He is shot dead. Shortly afterwards, the nation is left reeling by the death of its leader. On 4 May, Lincoln is buried in Springfield. At his graveside, a bishop intones, hushed is thy voice, but its echoes of liberty are ringing through the world. World. And the sons of bondage listen with joy. Hero, martyr, friend, farewell.

[Historian/Expert]

The assassination exemplifies what Walt Whitman called the heroic, imminent death. He said, a nation is not unified most by its constitutions, but by its laws, but by the great people who died, particularly those who died tragically and in a way that's part of why Lincoln becomes so famous. He becomes famous because the nation does unify in its grief to a great degree.

[Narrator]

In the coming weeks, the Confederate forces sign their final surrenders and the Civil War officially draws to a close. In December, the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution is proclaimed. Abolishing slavery. But there are those who say that for all he achieved, Lincoln was not strong enough in either his condemnation of slavery or the racist principles that underpinned it.

[Historian/Expert]

Even Lincoln was flawed. But you have to recognize the struggle for equal rights as a kind of incremental, inch by inch struggle. Very painful. Sometimes going forward, sometimes going back, sometimes having contradictions. But Lincoln is someone who is always very principled and is always trying to push as far forward as he can, given the political process that we have in America. Frederick Douglass called Lincoln the least racist white person I've ever met. Same thing with Sojourner Truth, the feminist African American. When she met him, she said, the least racist, prejudiced white person that I've ever met. So again, you cannot impose today's values on the past.

[Narrator]

What Lincoln did achieve was the unification of a country that seemed destined to tear itself apart. In doing so, he took on some of the worst excesses of racial prejudice, economic greed, and social conservatism.

[Historian/Expert]

He certainly guided the nation very intelligently and very tactfully through its greatest crisis, its moment of greatest crisis. And he did it with firmness, the sense of principle. He did it with patience. Lincoln once said, I don't control events. Events have controlled me. And to a great degree, I think that all of us are shaped by things outside of us, by our culture, by the course of events in our own family, but also in our town, in the nation as a whole, and the current of political events. And he was humble enough to recognize that. And yet, when push came to shove, he shaped the nation. He shaped the nation.

[Narrator]

In the next episode of Short History of We'll bring you a short history of Pocahontas.

[Historian/Expert]

Pocahontas should be remembered for the extraordinary courage she showed, the efforts that she

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made behalf of her people.

[Historian/Expert]

Her father asked her to work as an intermediary, and she did the best she could.

[Narrator]

She did make peace for her people.

[Historian/Expert]

For a couple of years.

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She couldn't hold back the tide of history, but she did mute the violence to some extent. And she did help keep memory of

[Historian/Expert]

their culture alive for posterity.

[Narrator]

That's next time on Short History of. Some Follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money. Because behind every headline is a bottom line, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings. There's a money side to every story, and when you see the money side, you understand what others miss. Get the money side of the story.

[Historian/Expert]

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