3:55:03 > 3:55:10.
3:55:26 > 3:55:29Three of his four children failed to make it to adulthood.
3:55:29 > 3:55:32He suffered from intense bouts of depression.
3:55:32 > 3:55:36He was unhappily married. In 1833 he went bankrupt.
3:55:36 > 3:55:40Abraham Lincoln did not live a charmed life,
3:55:40 > 3:55:42but that, perhaps, is the point.
3:55:44 > 3:55:47# Does anybody here
3:55:49 > 3:55:52# See my old friend Abraham?
3:55:54 > 3:55:56# Oh, can you tell me
3:55:57 > 3:56:01# Where he's gone? #
3:56:04 > 3:56:07There's no question that Abraham Lincoln was the greatest
3:56:07 > 3:56:10President of the United States. There is no question.
3:56:10 > 3:56:13I think that there's not a leader in the world
3:56:13 > 3:56:15that can't learn from Lincoln.
3:56:15 > 3:56:18Abe Lincoln is not great in spite of his humanity,
3:56:18 > 3:56:21he's great because of his humanity.
3:56:21 > 3:56:27He saw his own life story as a model
3:56:27 > 3:56:30of what America should be for all.
3:56:30 > 3:56:34What was at stake was the end of the experiment in democracy,
3:56:34 > 3:56:36that's what was at stake, right?
3:56:36 > 3:56:39I think he had almost a mystical belief in the Union
3:56:39 > 3:56:41and what it might be.
3:56:41 > 3:56:45George Washington is considered the father of our country,
3:56:45 > 3:56:49and I think many people rightly believe that Lincoln was
3:56:49 > 3:56:51the one that saved the country.
3:56:54 > 3:56:57Since his assassination, Abraham Lincoln has been a constant
3:56:57 > 3:57:00presence in the psyche of the American people.
3:57:00 > 3:57:04Almost every President invokes him and none have done it more
3:57:04 > 3:57:07than the current inhabitant of the White House.
3:57:07 > 3:57:11Barack Obama is only President because of Abraham Lincoln's
3:57:11 > 3:57:16achievements and Obama likes to see similarities between them as well.
3:57:16 > 3:57:19Both of them, of course, have come to power through the rough
3:57:19 > 3:57:21and tumble of Chicago politics.
3:57:21 > 3:57:25And Obama as well has done what Lincoln did and bring in
3:57:25 > 3:57:30at least one of his chief political rivals into his Cabinet.
3:57:30 > 3:57:32Lincoln has been immortalised on screen
3:57:32 > 3:57:34since the beginning of motion pictures.
3:57:34 > 3:57:382013 sees Steven Spielberg take up the baton
3:57:38 > 3:57:42with his take on Lincoln's greatest achievement, the passage of
3:57:42 > 3:57:46the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery from the United States.
3:57:46 > 3:57:49Slavery is the only insult to natural law.
3:57:49 > 3:57:54Even worthless, unworthy you ought to be treated equally before the law.
3:57:57 > 3:58:02Lincoln is one of the world's most revered historical figures. Why?
3:58:06 > 3:58:10He is the embodiment of the American Dream.
3:58:10 > 3:58:12Other Presidents had been born into privilege,
3:58:12 > 3:58:17but Lincoln's own life was the ultimate rags to riches story.
3:58:17 > 3:58:21He represents the self-made man in America, that you can grow up
3:58:21 > 3:58:28in a cabin in Kentucky and go to the White House in Washington DC.
3:58:28 > 3:58:31This appeals to the American character.
3:58:31 > 3:58:33And it's all about the land of opportunity.
3:58:33 > 3:58:38Lincoln took the reins during the biggest crisis
3:58:38 > 3:58:40America had ever faced.
3:58:40 > 3:58:44He was the definitive war President, leading a deeply fractured
3:58:44 > 3:58:48country through the bloodiest conflict in her history.
3:58:48 > 3:58:52The nation in 1860 is profoundly divided.
3:58:52 > 3:58:55Economically, socially and politically.
3:58:55 > 3:58:59Seven states of the South secede from the Union, declaring
3:58:59 > 3:59:03that this is no longer a union that serves the interest of
3:59:03 > 3:59:07these seven southern states, and they set up their own Confederacy.
3:59:07 > 3:59:09War was inevitable,
3:59:09 > 3:59:15but by its end, Lincoln had achieved the impossible -
3:59:15 > 3:59:19he had banished slavery from the shores of America.
3:59:19 > 3:59:24He was able to use African-American emancipation as
3:59:24 > 3:59:29the moral cause for the Civil War. He gave the Civil War purpose.
3:59:29 > 3:59:31And it was for human rights.
3:59:31 > 3:59:38We had this terrible fight over slavery that divided our country.
3:59:38 > 3:59:45He made the courageous decisions to go to war to solve it,
3:59:45 > 3:59:47was successful, and he abolished slavery.
3:59:47 > 3:59:51The times were extraordinary times, and extraordinary measures
3:59:51 > 3:59:54had to be taken by the Commander in Chief,
3:59:54 > 3:59:57in order to preserve the Union and abolish slavery.
3:59:57 > 4:00:02Lincoln's legend has been cemented by the stirring speeches
4:00:02 > 4:00:05he used to rally the nation to the flag
4:00:05 > 4:00:08Well, for all that you can learn about him through,
4:00:08 > 4:00:10I mean, there are some really wonderful books,
4:00:10 > 4:00:15I think you can learn so much more from his own words.
4:00:15 > 4:00:20He understood the inherent power of language if used in the right way.
4:00:20 > 4:00:24Lincoln was such a beautiful orator, he was a beautiful speaker.
4:00:24 > 4:00:29Beautiful use of words. The Gettysburg Address is exquisite.
4:00:29 > 4:00:31At the time he said,
4:00:31 > 4:00:35"People will not long remember what is said here today"
4:00:35 > 4:00:41but in 272 words, that is the most quoted speech in history.
4:00:43 > 4:00:46That we here highly resolve that
4:00:46 > 4:00:48these dead shall not have died in vain,
4:00:48 > 4:00:52that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom,
4:00:52 > 4:00:56and that government of the people by the people, for the people,
4:00:56 > 4:00:59shall not perish from the earth.
4:01:01 > 4:01:05The Union was paramount to Abraham Lincoln
4:01:05 > 4:01:09and by the end of the war he had reunited his country.
4:01:10 > 4:01:14All of his oratory was about keeping that notion
4:01:14 > 4:01:15of the Union together
4:01:15 > 4:01:18and one people indivisible under God.
4:01:18 > 4:01:20And that was what he was about.
4:01:20 > 4:01:23Lincoln said, "The Union is the last best hope of Earth."
4:01:23 > 4:01:26He didn't say, "The Union is the last best hope of Americans."
4:01:26 > 4:01:28He said, "It's the last best hope of Earth."
4:01:28 > 4:01:32It is the future, this is the best future for humankind.
4:01:34 > 4:01:38But Lincoln would not get to enjoy his triumph.
4:01:38 > 4:01:42His assassination, five days after the end of the war,
4:01:42 > 4:01:45created a kind of modern day saint.
4:01:45 > 4:01:51It begins at once. He's turned immediately into a Christ figure.
4:01:56 > 4:01:59This is not just the death of a President,
4:01:59 > 4:02:03this is the martyrdom of a person who has
4:02:03 > 4:02:07brought about the transformation of the American nation.
4:02:07 > 4:02:12I think one minute after he died, I think his foreign secretary said,
4:02:12 > 4:02:16"He belongs to the ages." And it's true. He does.
4:02:22 > 4:02:26Today the 16th President's face can be found everywhere
4:02:26 > 4:02:27you look in the USA.
4:02:43 > 4:02:48Even the youngest children learn about Lincoln at school.
4:02:48 > 4:02:51Abraham Lincoln stopped slavery
4:02:51 > 4:02:56and also he used to be the President of America.
4:02:56 > 4:02:59He's on the penny.
4:02:59 > 4:03:02He has a tall hat that's black.
4:03:02 > 4:03:09Abraham Lincoln is the 16th President and he wears top hats.
4:03:09 > 4:03:12He was assassinated, he was a Republican too.
4:03:12 > 4:03:18He died April 15th. He got married to Mary Todd.
4:03:18 > 4:03:22He was 28. Yeah, that's basically all I know.
4:03:22 > 4:03:29ALL: One nation under God, indivisible,
4:03:29 > 4:03:33with liberty and justice for all.
4:03:34 > 4:03:37Lincoln is a constant source of fascination
4:03:37 > 4:03:39to film-makers and audiences.
4:03:39 > 4:03:43He has been portrayed by everyone from Walter Houston
4:03:43 > 4:03:46in DW Griffith's 1930 biopic,
4:03:48 > 4:03:52to the seminal performance by Henry Fonda in Young Mr Lincoln.
4:03:55 > 4:03:58Fonda claimed that playing Lincoln was like playing Jesus.
4:04:05 > 4:04:07Gentlemen, and fellow citizens.
4:04:10 > 4:04:12I presume you all know who I am.
4:04:14 > 4:04:16I'm plain Abraham Lincoln.
4:04:16 > 4:04:20The most recent incarnation of the Great Emancipator is
4:04:20 > 4:04:23Daniel Day-Lewis, who takes on the role
4:04:23 > 4:04:26in Steven Spielberg's historical drama Lincoln.
4:04:26 > 4:04:31I am the President of the United States, clothed in immense power.
4:04:33 > 4:04:36You will procure me these votes.
4:04:38 > 4:04:41For many years, I got a kind of attitude.
4:04:41 > 4:04:43- You know...- How dare you?
4:04:43 > 4:04:45- ..Almost like, who do you think you are?- Right.
4:04:45 > 4:04:47Who do you think you are to tell the story,
4:04:47 > 4:04:49to dare to tell the story of the greatest,
4:04:49 > 4:04:52arguably the greatest President in history, Abraham Lincoln?
4:04:52 > 4:04:54And I had other people reminding me that
4:04:54 > 4:04:57nobody had made a movie about Lincoln in 72 years,
4:04:57 > 4:04:58and there must be a good reason.
4:04:58 > 4:05:02Wiser, wiser spirits out there in the world must know something
4:05:02 > 4:05:03that you don't know.
4:05:03 > 4:05:08That's why there's been this huge, desert of...this absence of,
4:05:08 > 4:05:11leave him on the mountain, leave him in the monuments,
4:05:11 > 4:05:14leave him on the money, you know, that kind of thing.
4:05:14 > 4:05:18And that really did the opposite, it had the opposite effect on me.
4:05:18 > 4:05:20It just fired me up. I went, oh, that's good.
4:05:20 > 4:05:24Nobody's done anything like this in so many years, that's good.
4:05:24 > 4:05:26Maybe it...maybe his time has come, maybe it's time for us
4:05:26 > 4:05:28to bring him back, in a way.
4:05:28 > 4:05:31I didn't want to find myself, working on this thing
4:05:31 > 4:05:35and not able to serve Steven in what he was trying to do.
4:05:35 > 4:05:41Or serve the story. I could feel that sort of involuntary tug
4:05:41 > 4:05:47that you get from time to time, where you're being,
4:05:47 > 4:05:51almost in spite of yourself, drawn into the orbit of another life,
4:05:51 > 4:05:53and another world.
4:05:53 > 4:05:57And I...and the first thing I normally do as a knee jerk reaction
4:05:57 > 4:06:02is to resist that sensation. Please not...not again.
4:06:02 > 4:06:07But I really understood the enormity of the task.
4:06:08 > 4:06:11So many books have been written and they're broadly positive.
4:06:11 > 4:06:14So many films have been done and they're broadly positive.
4:06:14 > 4:06:17And that's kind of how reputation works.
4:06:17 > 4:06:21And what you forget, or what the world forgets,
4:06:21 > 4:06:24is all that went into that.
4:06:33 > 4:06:37Abraham Lincoln's formative years are the key to unlocking
4:06:37 > 4:06:40the mystery of the man behind the monument.
4:06:41 > 4:06:43He wrote a short autobiography
4:06:43 > 4:06:48for Presidential election purposes in 1860,
4:06:48 > 4:06:52where he said that there was little to write about his early life
4:06:52 > 4:06:55because it was really a life of poverty.
4:06:59 > 4:07:05Lincoln is born in a log cabin on February 12th 1809,
4:07:05 > 4:07:07the son of a poor Kentucky frontiersman.
4:07:11 > 4:07:14Life is hard from the outset.
4:07:14 > 4:07:16Before he reaches his tenth birthday,
4:07:16 > 4:07:19both his brother Thomas and his mother die.
4:07:19 > 4:07:22The young Abraham works the land with his father
4:07:22 > 4:07:26but his desire to escape the farm is a constant motivator.
4:07:28 > 4:07:30He's an avid reader when he can get books.
4:07:30 > 4:07:32But books are hard to come by, and if there are stories
4:07:32 > 4:07:36about his childhood that stick in the public consciousness, it is
4:07:36 > 4:07:41the story of the man who walks many miles to get hold of books to read.
4:07:41 > 4:07:45He apparently walked several miles to get hold of Kirkham's Grammar,
4:07:45 > 4:07:48to learn about the structure of sentences.
4:07:51 > 4:07:55This passion for self-improvement continues throughout his youth.
4:07:55 > 4:07:58Lincoln even teaches himself law
4:07:58 > 4:08:00as a way to advance his growing ambition.
4:08:02 > 4:08:04By the time he reaches his 20s,
4:08:04 > 4:08:08he is already taking an active interest in local politics.
4:08:10 > 4:08:14When Lincoln first ran for office in 1832,
4:08:14 > 4:08:1823 years old, he has no qualifications.
4:08:18 > 4:08:21He has virtually no education,
4:08:21 > 4:08:25he said, by his own calculation, his formal education,
4:08:25 > 4:08:28bits and pieces throughout his life, amounted to no more than a year.
4:08:28 > 4:08:33So he's self-taught, self-educated, but he runs for office in
4:08:33 > 4:08:37his local community in New Salem in central Illinois.
4:08:37 > 4:08:41And he saw politics as a way of being recognised,
4:08:41 > 4:08:45of establishing himself and of forging a career for himself.
4:08:50 > 4:08:53But that career is not a foregone conclusion.
4:08:53 > 4:08:57Many of his attempts to climb the political ladder end in defeat
4:08:57 > 4:09:01and an early business venture sees him file for bankruptcy.
4:09:04 > 4:09:06In 1835 his first great love,
4:09:06 > 4:09:10a local Kentucky girl called Ann Rutledge, dies suddenly.
4:09:12 > 4:09:16Ann's death leads to a crippling nervous breakdown which highlights
4:09:16 > 4:09:22a melancholic disposition that haunts Lincoln throughout his life.
4:09:22 > 4:09:25There probably is something in the American people that likes to think
4:09:25 > 4:09:30of their great leaders as being great, out there, always positive,
4:09:30 > 4:09:33always upbeat, always trying to give everything a lift.
4:09:33 > 4:09:37Whereas, clearly there was this other side to Lincoln and to his wife
4:09:37 > 4:09:42that I think today we probably would define as depression.
4:09:42 > 4:09:45He sometimes did find the whole kind of human intercourse thing
4:09:45 > 4:09:47very, very difficult.
4:09:52 > 4:09:58Some of the greatest figures in history - Churchill, Lincoln, Darwin,
4:09:58 > 4:10:02Marie Curie, Florence Nightingale - all had what
4:10:02 > 4:10:05I think today, if you were studying them,
4:10:05 > 4:10:09you'd define as mental health problems.
4:10:09 > 4:10:13Black Dog, Churchill, that was his phrase for his depressions.
4:10:17 > 4:10:23Abraham Lincoln develops ways to cope with his recurring depression.
4:10:23 > 4:10:25Throughout his life he keeps busy,
4:10:25 > 4:10:28immersing himself in his work as a form of distraction.
4:10:32 > 4:10:35There are statues, there are lithographs,
4:10:35 > 4:10:41and one assumes that they all capture something about him.
4:10:41 > 4:10:45And they do tend, insofar as if there's one thing that they capture,
4:10:45 > 4:10:54it does tend to be that rather sad, melancholy, not hurt but just pained,
4:10:54 > 4:10:57there's a pained look about him in a lot of the pictures
4:10:57 > 4:10:59and a lot of the statues.
4:10:59 > 4:11:04And one assumes that to have been real, because otherwise,
4:11:04 > 4:11:08given he was such a huge figure and he has been so studied,
4:11:08 > 4:11:11why would that have come down through history?
4:11:19 > 4:11:22Lincoln enters the White House almost 30 years
4:11:22 > 4:11:25after his first foray into politics.
4:11:25 > 4:11:29During these years, he hones skills that will serve him well
4:11:29 > 4:11:31when the Union falls apart.
4:11:31 > 4:11:35Above all, and before all,
4:11:35 > 4:11:39the Union must be preserved.
4:11:39 > 4:11:43Lincoln was known for his great gift of oratory from
4:11:43 > 4:11:49when he was a lawyer, but also running for office in politics.
4:11:49 > 4:11:53He spent the time reading the great books
4:11:53 > 4:11:57and also instilling that in his personality.
4:11:58 > 4:12:00He read the Bible.
4:12:00 > 4:12:04Lincoln was a Bible reader and Americans love oratory.
4:12:04 > 4:12:09They are a Christian, evangelical nation
4:12:09 > 4:12:14so a preacher is very important to an American.
4:12:14 > 4:12:17The ability to do that. And Lincoln was able to do it.
4:12:20 > 4:12:24Let us have faith that right makes might.
4:12:24 > 4:12:30And in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty,
4:12:30 > 4:12:32as we understand it.
4:12:35 > 4:12:40In 1860, Lincoln's sights are set on the presidency.
4:12:40 > 4:12:42But in order to win the Republican nomination,
4:12:42 > 4:12:45he will have to take on and defeat the
4:12:45 > 4:12:49three leading political heavyweights of the day, William Seward,
4:12:49 > 4:12:52Salmon P Chase and Edward Bates.
4:12:56 > 4:12:58When the Republicans were looking for a candidate to oppose
4:12:58 > 4:13:02the Democrats in the 1860 election, there were several people who were
4:13:02 > 4:13:05far more prominent, been in the Party earlier,
4:13:05 > 4:13:07had held higher office than Lincoln.
4:13:09 > 4:13:13Of course, one of the fascinating aspects of Lincoln's rise
4:13:13 > 4:13:17to the presidency is, it was not an easy journey.
4:13:17 > 4:13:20He always understood that anybody that he met,
4:13:20 > 4:13:23anybody that he wrote to, he was building a network,
4:13:23 > 4:13:25he was building a team.
4:13:25 > 4:13:30And he, I think, was somebody who understood that
4:13:30 > 4:13:34not just to become President, but to sustain yourself as President,
4:13:34 > 4:13:40you have to have this phenomenal array of different relationships
4:13:40 > 4:13:43operating at different levels, and he had an instinct for that.
4:13:44 > 4:13:48Lincoln's political savvy takes his rivals by surprise.
4:13:48 > 4:13:50He plays the long game,
4:13:50 > 4:13:53coming from behind to defeat the favourite, Seward.
4:13:53 > 4:13:56He wins the nomination and the presidency.
4:13:56 > 4:14:00The prairie lawyer from Kentucky, by way of snowy Chicago,
4:14:00 > 4:14:02has made it to the White House
4:14:02 > 4:14:06at the most dramatic moment in American history.
4:14:17 > 4:14:22Lincoln is extremely skilled in the arts of political management.
4:14:22 > 4:14:25It's often said, rightly, that Lincoln had no executive experience
4:14:25 > 4:14:27before he reached the White House.
4:14:27 > 4:14:30The only thing he'd done was to run a law practice,
4:14:30 > 4:14:32and that not terribly efficiently.
4:14:32 > 4:14:37But he had run a Party, he had known about how you operate a Party
4:14:37 > 4:14:42and throughout his presidency, he is a supreme politico.
4:14:46 > 4:14:51Lincoln is quick to realise the potential of his former rivals.
4:14:51 > 4:14:55He brings all three into his inner most circle of government,
4:14:55 > 4:14:58making Seward his Secretary of State,
4:14:58 > 4:15:05Chase his Secretary of the Treasury and Bates his Attorney General.
4:15:05 > 4:15:09He managed to get a lot of these opponents within his own party
4:15:09 > 4:15:13to work with him in the cabinet and several of them,
4:15:13 > 4:15:16when they entered the cabinet, Bates, Seward in particular,
4:15:16 > 4:15:19thought they would just control this guy.
4:15:19 > 4:15:22This guy from Illinois, who's a frontiersman.
4:15:22 > 4:15:25They'll control him and they will run the country the way they want
4:15:25 > 4:15:26and use him as a figurehead.
4:15:26 > 4:15:31We agreed that our President must be firmly guided by us.
4:15:32 > 4:15:38We must make every effort to control his inexperience and judgement.
4:15:38 > 4:15:40And he soon dispelled that notion.
4:15:40 > 4:15:44And he and Seward, Seward was the most brilliant man in his cabinet,
4:15:44 > 4:15:47he and Seward ended up having the most amazing relationship.
4:15:47 > 4:15:49They worked very well together.
4:15:49 > 4:15:51- Mr President. - Good morning, Mr President.
4:15:51 > 4:15:52Thank you.
4:15:54 > 4:15:58He used all of his former rivals to inform his decisions and to
4:15:58 > 4:16:01help either support his decisions or play the devil's advocate
4:16:01 > 4:16:05and allow him to think more deeply about what he might be doing next.
4:16:05 > 4:16:08Who wouldn't, you know, bear a little grudge in those situations?
4:16:08 > 4:16:12Or wish at least to kind of keep someone at bay that
4:16:12 > 4:16:16had been a thorn in their side.
4:16:16 > 4:16:19But he was able to see beyond that and recognise the value
4:16:19 > 4:16:21of those individuals.
4:16:22 > 4:16:25You just have to look at what they achieved together
4:16:25 > 4:16:28to see that it was a fantastic decision.
4:16:28 > 4:16:33I think that he did it partly for his own political reasons,
4:16:33 > 4:16:37but also out of an understanding of the need to get
4:16:37 > 4:16:40all the best people and all the best talents.
4:16:40 > 4:16:43And I think, having been in direct competition with them,
4:16:43 > 4:16:45he saw what strengths they had.
4:16:45 > 4:16:48And he saw how they complemented his strengths
4:16:48 > 4:16:54and maybe helped him address some of his perceived weaknesses.
4:16:55 > 4:16:59War is drawing closer every day.
4:16:59 > 4:17:03Lincoln needs that team around him if he is to keep his nation intact.
4:17:05 > 4:17:10In 1861, the Union is made up of slave labour states in the
4:17:10 > 4:17:15agricultural South and free states in the more industrialised North.
4:17:15 > 4:17:18Tension begins to mount with the possibility of opening
4:17:18 > 4:17:21the western frontier to expansion.
4:17:21 > 4:17:25The North wants to keep the new territories slave free.
4:17:26 > 4:17:29the South wants to be able to expand west,
4:17:29 > 4:17:32bringing the institution of slavery with it.
4:17:32 > 4:17:37This fundamental question of whether the West should be slave free
4:17:37 > 4:17:39would ultimately lead to war.
4:17:39 > 4:17:43The Republican Party oppose the spread of slavery.
4:17:43 > 4:17:48As soon as Lincoln is elected, seven states secede from the Union
4:17:48 > 4:17:52and the South fires the first shots of the Civil War.
4:17:53 > 4:17:55CROWD CHEER
4:18:01 > 4:18:04We know why the Confederates wanted to fight.
4:18:04 > 4:18:07They were fighting for a way of life that was based on
4:18:07 > 4:18:11an institution of slavery, which they understood to be under direct attack.
4:18:11 > 4:18:13It's quite clear that they are fighting for that way of life.
4:18:13 > 4:18:16But what about the North, why are northerners fighting?
4:18:16 > 4:18:19The war after all is not initially a war to end slavery.
4:18:24 > 4:18:29Northerners rally to the flag in April of 1861, in massive numbers,
4:18:29 > 4:18:32in order to defend the Union.
4:18:32 > 4:18:35So what is this Union that they're prepared to fight for?
4:18:36 > 4:18:42The United States has a form of government
4:18:42 > 4:18:45which is unique in human history.
4:18:51 > 4:18:55American democracy is a source of great pride for the young Republic.
4:18:58 > 4:19:00It has endured since the Revolution
4:19:00 > 4:19:03and is seen as the guiding light for the rest of the world.
4:19:09 > 4:19:12If the Confederacy is allowed to destroy the Union,
4:19:12 > 4:19:16mankind will have taken a huge step backwards.
4:19:19 > 4:19:22America was the beacon of hope. Democracy was the great experiment.
4:19:22 > 4:19:25That's why we called...that's why all the historians called it
4:19:25 > 4:19:27the greatest experiment, democracy,
4:19:27 > 4:19:30because every nation in the world was watching this.
4:19:30 > 4:19:33And he...I mean, it's interesting because Lincoln was really,
4:19:33 > 4:19:36you know, part of what he was fighting for was
4:19:36 > 4:19:39the protection of the constitution.
4:19:39 > 4:19:42It was the constitution that caused the Civil War, to some extent.
4:19:42 > 4:19:47In as far as the founding fathers, in coming together to present
4:19:47 > 4:19:50a united front in opposition to the British,
4:19:50 > 4:19:53had to put aside the question of slavery
4:19:53 > 4:19:55because many of them were slavers.
4:19:55 > 4:20:01You know, the founding fathers, you know, formed a more perfect union.
4:20:01 > 4:20:03They really did.
4:20:03 > 4:20:07But the political football, the issue of slavery,
4:20:07 > 4:20:09to kick that football down the road
4:20:09 > 4:20:13for other generations to confront and resolve,
4:20:13 > 4:20:16was the fatal flaw in our constitution,
4:20:16 > 4:20:22which caused 750,000 lives to be lost between 1860 and 1865.
4:20:22 > 4:20:26More than every other American war combined, still to this day.
4:20:26 > 4:20:29Today we tend to think of the Civil War as being fought
4:20:29 > 4:20:31in order to end slavery. It wasn't.
4:20:31 > 4:20:34In fact, emancipation wasn't really on the cards
4:20:34 > 4:20:37when the first shot was fired on April 12th.
4:20:37 > 4:20:40And what of Lincoln's own views about race?
4:20:40 > 4:20:44He has been accused by some of himself being a white supremacist.
4:20:44 > 4:20:48Lincoln was a conservative, he was not an abolitionist.
4:20:48 > 4:20:51In fact, again and again in public,
4:20:51 > 4:20:54he makes it clear he does not believe in racial equality.
4:20:54 > 4:20:58At one stage, he even supports those who want to create colonies
4:20:58 > 4:21:01outside the United States for African Americans.
4:21:01 > 4:21:03The danger, of course,
4:21:03 > 4:21:06is in seeing Lincoln's views from our own modern perspective.
4:21:19 > 4:21:24Lincoln was born in 1809 in a slave state in Kentucky.
4:21:24 > 4:21:27His family was a dirty poor family,
4:21:27 > 4:21:30his father's a bit shiftless, in fact.
4:21:30 > 4:21:34And they moved across the river, across the Ohio,
4:21:34 > 4:21:38into what was the North, into Indiana, which was a free state.
4:21:38 > 4:21:41And one of the reasons, not the only reason, one of the reasons,
4:21:41 > 4:21:44was because his father, who was a poor farmer,
4:21:44 > 4:21:48didn't like having to compete with plantation owners with slave labour.
4:21:52 > 4:21:55Living along the Ohio River, Lincoln would have, on a regular basis,
4:21:55 > 4:21:58seen slaves being brought across the river to work there.
4:21:58 > 4:22:01Sometimes they were living in free states and being brought across.
4:22:01 > 4:22:03He'd see them being transported up and down.
4:22:03 > 4:22:06As a small child, while still in Kentucky, he would have seen them
4:22:06 > 4:22:08being marched along the roads, chained together,
4:22:08 > 4:22:11as a slave seller was carrying them from one property to another.
4:22:11 > 4:22:14So he would be utterly familiar with slavery.
4:22:19 > 4:22:25I don't think Lincoln was moved as much by the cruelties of slavery
4:22:25 > 4:22:28as many of the so called abolitionists.
4:22:29 > 4:22:33Lincoln was not an abolitionist in the sense that he did not
4:22:33 > 4:22:37expect slavery to die out immediately.
4:22:37 > 4:22:41He did not believe that you could make an immediate assault on slavery,
4:22:41 > 4:22:43as the constitution protected the interests
4:22:43 > 4:22:45of the Southern slave owners.
4:22:47 > 4:22:50But he did believe that slavery was wrong,
4:22:50 > 4:22:53and that it is a profoundly unjust institution.
4:22:55 > 4:23:00Why should some people benefit from the labour of others?
4:23:00 > 4:23:03Why should Southern slave owners be able to sit in the shade,
4:23:03 > 4:23:07as he put it, with gloves on their hands, watching,
4:23:07 > 4:23:11what he called the slave Sambo, working to earn the bread
4:23:11 > 4:23:15that he is then denied, and which feeds the slave owner?
4:23:16 > 4:23:20But Lincoln's conviction that slavery is wrong does not
4:23:20 > 4:23:24automatically lead to a belief that African Americans are equal.
4:23:27 > 4:23:32In 1858 he says, "I am not, nor ever have been, in favour of
4:23:32 > 4:23:37"bringing about in any way the social and political equality
4:23:37 > 4:23:39"of the white and black races."
4:23:40 > 4:23:42In order to keep the border states from fleeing south,
4:23:42 > 4:23:45and ending the Union, there would have been no Civil War
4:23:45 > 4:23:47because there would have been two countries at that point,
4:23:47 > 4:23:49Lincoln had to say what needed to be said
4:23:49 > 4:23:51to keep those border states from fleeing.
4:23:51 > 4:23:54It was very easy, even for certain...you know,
4:23:54 > 4:23:57historians today to label Lincoln a racist.
4:23:57 > 4:24:03He was a political artist, and he had an immense sense of the people,
4:24:03 > 4:24:07and sense of, you know, timing. What was the right time?
4:24:07 > 4:24:10And he also would never have been elected President
4:24:10 > 4:24:12had he run on the abolitionist ticket.
4:24:16 > 4:24:21There are very, very few white Americans in Lincoln's time
4:24:21 > 4:24:26who see the African-American and the white as social equals.
4:24:28 > 4:24:30He's being attacked by racists who say -
4:24:30 > 4:24:32You want to end slavery,
4:24:32 > 4:24:35that is going to mean full equality for the blacks.
4:24:35 > 4:24:38And Lincoln knows that anyone who stands up and says that
4:24:38 > 4:24:42what he wants in the United States is for social and political
4:24:42 > 4:24:45equality for blacks has no political future.
4:24:45 > 4:24:47It's not a tenable political position.
4:24:52 > 4:24:55One way of avoiding the problem of equality
4:24:55 > 4:24:57is the idea of colonisation.
4:24:57 > 4:24:59This is very controversial, a lot of people cite
4:24:59 > 4:25:02this as evidence of his racism, that he went along with this
4:25:02 > 4:25:04idea of getting blacks out of our country.
4:25:04 > 4:25:07But one has again to see it in the context that
4:25:07 > 4:25:10there was a lot of racism.
4:25:10 > 4:25:14Most countries in the world did not have mixed races in them
4:25:14 > 4:25:17at that time, ours happened to.
4:25:18 > 4:25:20He didn't want African Americans to
4:25:20 > 4:25:23live on the soil of the United States because he thought
4:25:23 > 4:25:27it would cause more trouble if they, you know, if we stayed.
4:25:27 > 4:25:31So he wasn't, you know, completely a person,
4:25:31 > 4:25:36when I was growing up, you know, we just saw him as an abolitionist.
4:25:36 > 4:25:38He's much more complex than that.
4:25:40 > 4:25:43Later on, a lot of people who'd earlier been colonisationists
4:25:43 > 4:25:46turned against it. They thought, we shouldn't be doing this.
4:25:46 > 4:25:50We should be not treating these Africans, who are no longer Africans,
4:25:50 > 4:25:52many of them had lived here for generations, we should not
4:25:52 > 4:25:55be treating them as people who have to be sent out of here.
4:25:55 > 4:25:57We should treat them as fellow human beings and fellow citizens.
4:25:57 > 4:25:59Treat them equally.
4:26:06 > 4:26:09Freedom was just around the corner for some Southern slaves
4:26:09 > 4:26:14but when the Emancipation Proclamation is published in 1863
4:26:14 > 4:26:17it is not a move to end slavery.
4:26:17 > 4:26:20It is a war measure and, some might say,
4:26:20 > 4:26:24a cynical use of Lincoln's Presidential powers.
4:26:25 > 4:26:29I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States
4:26:29 > 4:26:32by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief
4:26:32 > 4:26:35of the Army and Navy of the United States,
4:26:35 > 4:26:38in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority
4:26:38 > 4:26:40and government of the United States,
4:26:40 > 4:26:43and as a fit and necessary war measure....
4:26:43 > 4:26:48He believed that he could act against slavery by Presidential edict,
4:26:48 > 4:26:51as an act of war, as a military measure,
4:26:51 > 4:26:55in order to preserve the Union.
4:26:55 > 4:26:59He had consistently said, from the outset of the war,
4:26:59 > 4:27:06that he would do what was necessary to secure the Union,
4:27:06 > 4:27:09and ensure the defeat of the Confederacy.
4:27:11 > 4:27:16I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said
4:27:16 > 4:27:19designated States, and parts of States, are,
4:27:19 > 4:27:21and henceforward shall be free.
4:27:21 > 4:27:24And that the Executive government of the United States,
4:27:24 > 4:27:26including the military and naval authorities...
4:27:26 > 4:27:28He came to the view, as did many others,
4:27:28 > 4:27:32that the South had to be attacked where it hurt.
4:27:32 > 4:27:37It needed...the Union forces would need to make an assault on
4:27:37 > 4:27:41the South's infrastructure, its economic and social infrastructure.
4:27:46 > 4:27:50The fact is, as some critics said, it freed no-one.
4:27:50 > 4:27:53He was only declaring free those slaves who were in areas
4:27:53 > 4:27:56he didn't control, where nobody was listening to him.
4:27:56 > 4:27:59He wasn't going to free them in any area that wasn't in rebellion
4:27:59 > 4:28:02and indeed, in some areas like New Orleans and some of the coast
4:28:02 > 4:28:05of North Caroline, which they already conquered,
4:28:05 > 4:28:06where they'd conquered,
4:28:06 > 4:28:08he wasn't going to free the slaves there either.
4:28:08 > 4:28:11It was only in areas where they were in rebellion.
4:28:11 > 4:28:15And the thinking here was that, in theory, those states could preserve
4:28:15 > 4:28:19their slavery by coming back into the Union
4:28:19 > 4:28:21before this went into effect.
4:28:21 > 4:28:23I don't think he believed they would do that.
4:28:23 > 4:28:25But it was worth a try.
4:28:32 > 4:28:35But Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation does bring
4:28:35 > 4:28:37change for the Southern slaves
4:28:38 > 4:28:44He knew that if you freed the workers from an agrarian society,
4:28:44 > 4:28:47you have dismantled their society, and that's what he did.
4:28:47 > 4:28:53He had the soldiers go in, and every soldier was obliged,
4:28:53 > 4:28:55after the Emancipation Proclamation,
4:28:55 > 4:28:58to liberate the African Americans on the plantation.
4:28:58 > 4:29:00That was their job, it wasn't to kill anybody,
4:29:00 > 4:29:02it was to get those people out of there.
4:29:02 > 4:29:05So he broke the economy, he knew he was going to break it.
4:29:05 > 4:29:08He knew he was going to reduce the South to rubble,
4:29:08 > 4:29:09and that's what he did.
4:29:09 > 4:29:12And Southerners still remember that.
4:29:12 > 4:29:17So he was the first total war politician.
4:29:17 > 4:29:21First total war President. Nobody was spared, nobody.
4:29:26 > 4:29:30Lincoln's all-out assault on the South frees countless slaves.
4:29:35 > 4:29:39And nearly 200,000 of these freed men are recruited
4:29:39 > 4:29:41to Union Army ranks.
4:29:42 > 4:29:46He instantly becomes the Great Emancipator
4:29:46 > 4:29:50but does he now believe in racial equality?
4:29:53 > 4:29:56By the end of the war, Lincoln has moved significantly
4:29:56 > 4:30:00from the position that he held in the 1850s.
4:30:00 > 4:30:04And in his language, in his political language, public language,
4:30:04 > 4:30:10during the Civil War, it doesn't take much perspicuity to see that
4:30:10 > 4:30:14this is the language of someone who genuinely esteems
4:30:14 > 4:30:18what the black race is doing for the United States.
4:30:18 > 4:30:22And what leading black figures are able to bring
4:30:22 > 4:30:24to securing the future of the Union.
4:30:29 > 4:30:32He had more and more experience throughout his life
4:30:32 > 4:30:36of meeting blacks and especially during the war
4:30:36 > 4:30:41when blacks were serving in the army and fought so brilliantly.
4:30:41 > 4:30:45Lincoln was very moved by this and he let people know about that
4:30:46 > 4:30:48He has heroic moments.
4:30:48 > 4:30:54For instance, when he has an African American troop of soldiers
4:30:54 > 4:30:56lead him into Florida.
4:30:56 > 4:30:59He comes into Florida as President of the United States
4:30:59 > 4:31:03and at his head is this huge troop of African American soldiers.
4:31:03 > 4:31:07He was very adamant about having African American soldiers
4:31:07 > 4:31:09in his retinue.
4:31:09 > 4:31:13Those kind of things are things that make him a hero, I think,
4:31:13 > 4:31:17for many Americans because he breached the impossible,
4:31:17 > 4:31:20what was considered impossible at the time.
4:31:20 > 4:31:22The first black person to enter the White House,
4:31:22 > 4:31:25not to come and cook and clean, but as a guest,
4:31:25 > 4:31:27was invited by Lincoln.
4:31:27 > 4:31:30The most prominent black at the time was Frederick Douglass
4:31:30 > 4:31:33and he was a frequent guest at the White House.
4:31:33 > 4:31:36He himself testified how Lincoln always treated him
4:31:36 > 4:31:37with great respect, as an equal.
4:31:40 > 4:31:42Lincoln is a man of the people,
4:31:42 > 4:31:45but as Commander in Chief, he stands alone.
4:31:47 > 4:31:49When you're dealing with contentious issues,
4:31:49 > 4:31:53you're going to find yourself, finally having to make
4:31:53 > 4:31:57those decisions on your own and that's the responsibility you take.
4:31:57 > 4:32:00And then that's why we see Presidents ageing in front of us.
4:32:00 > 4:32:04- And Lincoln...- Aged quickly. - ..When you see those extraordinary
4:32:04 > 4:32:07photographs documented from the early part of his life as a lawyer
4:32:07 > 4:32:11in Illinois, right through to the last photographs taken
4:32:11 > 4:32:14and you see that man has utterly spent himself.
4:32:14 > 4:32:16Lincoln was in constant grieving.
4:32:16 > 4:32:19Not only for his own family and the death of Willie
4:32:19 > 4:32:23and the death of his first son, you know, before he was President.
4:32:23 > 4:32:26But he was grieving for every bayonet, for every bullet,
4:32:26 > 4:32:30for every piece of canon fire that killed, you know,
4:32:30 > 4:32:31boys on both sides.
4:32:31 > 4:32:34Not just in the North. And he grieved the entire war.
4:32:34 > 4:32:37He was in constant great grief, he was in constant mourning.
4:32:39 > 4:32:41# When Johnny comes marching home again
4:32:41 > 4:32:43# Hurrah! Hurrah!
4:32:43 > 4:32:45# We'll give him a hearty welcome then
4:32:45 > 4:32:47# Hurrah! Hurrah!
4:32:47 > 4:32:50# The men will cheer and the boys will shout
4:32:50 > 4:32:52# The ladies, they will all turn out
4:32:52 > 4:32:56# And we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home... #
4:32:59 > 4:33:03After three long years of war Lincoln is re-elected.
4:33:03 > 4:33:08He is now anxious to abolish slavery before the war is over.
4:33:08 > 4:33:12Lincoln is concerned that the Emancipation Proclamation
4:33:12 > 4:33:15will not have force in time of peace, which is why
4:33:15 > 4:33:19he wants an amendment to the constitution which will ensure
4:33:19 > 4:33:24that slavery shall never hereafter have any purchase on American soil.
4:33:30 > 4:33:33The Thirteenth Amendment to the constitution is
4:33:33 > 4:33:37the legislation that will eradicate slavery from the country.
4:33:37 > 4:33:41It is not a popular bill and requires Lincoln to use all
4:33:41 > 4:33:43his powers of persuasion
4:33:43 > 4:33:46to get it through the House of Representatives.
4:33:49 > 4:33:51After his victory in the November election,
4:33:51 > 4:33:55he begins to put pressure on those, Democrats who previously,
4:33:55 > 4:33:58before the election several months ago, had worked
4:33:58 > 4:34:01successfully to block an amendment, going through Congress.
4:34:07 > 4:34:12Lincoln knew about the way in which you operate to put
4:34:12 > 4:34:14the right kind of pressure in the right kind of places
4:34:14 > 4:34:17to secure the vote.
4:34:17 > 4:34:18These votes must be procured.
4:34:18 > 4:34:21Congressmen come cheap - a few thousand bucks would buy all you need.
4:34:21 > 4:34:25- We can't buy the votes.- Let me see what you can do.- Endowed by...
4:34:25 > 4:34:30The idea that a President can just sit back and hope that Congress does
4:34:30 > 4:34:35what the President wants them to do isn't true today or in yesteryear.
4:34:35 > 4:34:39And so the fact that Lincoln rolled up his sleeves to fight for
4:34:39 > 4:34:46every single vote was absolutely critical in keeping the Union together.
4:34:46 > 4:34:50Even somebody like Abraham Lincoln who has this kind of...
4:34:51 > 4:34:56..pedestal image now, and yet did have to get down and dirty
4:34:56 > 4:35:03and did have to cajole and maybe make different people
4:35:03 > 4:35:06think different things about the same thing that he was trying
4:35:06 > 4:35:08to do, because that sometimes is the business of politics.
4:35:12 > 4:35:15Lincoln is not afraid to get his hands dirty
4:35:15 > 4:35:21when it comes to politics. But is it true that he prolongs the war
4:35:21 > 4:35:24to get the Thirteenth Amendment passed?
4:35:26 > 4:35:30I believe the chronology would not support that interpretation.
4:35:30 > 4:35:36I think there is not a serious peace effort being made
4:35:36 > 4:35:40that he was rejecting.
4:35:40 > 4:35:44I don't think he expected the South to make a serious effort at giving up,
4:35:44 > 4:35:48to surrender without preserving slavery and he wasn't going
4:35:48 > 4:35:53to have it on those terms. He would want that war to end as soon as possible
4:35:53 > 4:35:58and yet he can't end it if slavery is going to remain in tact.
4:35:59 > 4:36:04Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment on February 1st 1865.
4:36:04 > 4:36:06The war ends two months later
4:36:06 > 4:36:09when the leader of the Confederate Army surrenders.
4:36:09 > 4:36:12And on April 11th, Lincoln is making
4:36:12 > 4:36:15a speech about reconstruction in which he alludes to
4:36:15 > 4:36:18the idea of giving the vote to black soldiers.
4:36:21 > 4:36:25This speech is the final straw for John Wilkes Booth,
4:36:25 > 4:36:28a Southern supporter in the audience.
4:36:29 > 4:36:33Booth shoots the president in Ford's Theatre on April 14th.
4:36:33 > 4:36:36GUNSHOT
4:36:38 > 4:36:42Lincoln dies the next day.
4:36:45 > 4:36:49His Secretary of War, Edwin M Stanton, utters the prophetic words,
4:36:49 > 4:36:52"Now he belongs to the ages."
4:36:55 > 4:36:58He was famous from the moment he was murdered.
4:36:58 > 4:36:59Absolutely from the moment.
4:36:59 > 4:37:03And he's grown and grown and grown in stature.
4:37:08 > 4:37:12At the moment of his greatest triumph, he's shot down.
4:37:13 > 4:37:16He's martyred. And he's shot on Good Friday.
4:37:18 > 4:37:20He's turned immediately into a Christ figure.
4:37:22 > 4:37:28This is not just the death of a President, this is,
4:37:28 > 4:37:34a meaningful calamity, the martyrdom of a person who has
4:37:34 > 4:37:39redeemed the nation and it's very difficult, as one newspaper man
4:37:39 > 4:37:42said at the time, after Lincoln's assassination,
4:37:42 > 4:37:48"It will become impossible to speak the truth of Abraham Lincoln hereafter."
4:37:48 > 4:37:53# It's been a long
4:37:53 > 4:37:58# A long time coming but I know
4:37:58 > 4:38:00# A change gonna come... #
4:38:00 > 4:38:05The story of Lincoln is a story that meets so many different needs.
4:38:05 > 4:38:08He is sanctified by, the African-American population,
4:38:08 > 4:38:10right through into the 1930s,
4:38:10 > 4:38:15those generations who see Lincoln as Father Abraham,
4:38:15 > 4:38:18as the Moses figure who has lead his people to freedom.
4:38:22 > 4:38:24# A song will lift
4:38:24 > 4:38:26# As the mainsail shifts
4:38:26 > 4:38:30# And the boat drifts onto the shoreline
4:38:30 > 4:38:35# And the sun will respect every face on the deck
4:38:35 > 4:38:37# The hour that the ship comes in... #
4:38:39 > 4:38:43By the 1960s, not everyone sees Abraham Lincoln as a national hero.
4:38:43 > 4:38:46But 100 years later.
4:38:46 > 4:38:51The Negro still is not free.
4:38:51 > 4:38:54He's demonised by a generation of blacks,
4:38:54 > 4:39:00who see the story of a man who wanted to remove, as they see it,
4:39:00 > 4:39:04remove blacks from North America, who was not an abolitionist.
4:39:06 > 4:39:09I was brought up and my father was brought up before me,
4:39:09 > 4:39:14my mother, to see Lincoln as the liberator of the enslaved.
4:39:14 > 4:39:17If you're born in the '70s and '80s after that, you saw him as,
4:39:17 > 4:39:20well, that was just a deal that he had to do to get what he wanted,
4:39:20 > 4:39:22and be much more cynical.
4:39:22 > 4:39:25Well, reconstruction isn't finished.
4:39:25 > 4:39:29But, there were two huge pillars of reconstruction, the first was,
4:39:29 > 4:39:32Abraham Lincoln and his work, in his life and times,
4:39:32 > 4:39:34and the second was Martin Luther King.
4:39:34 > 4:39:38And, and along with Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy
4:39:38 > 4:39:41and John F Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.
4:39:41 > 4:39:45We're still reconstructing. It's not over. There's a lot of work to be done.
4:39:45 > 4:39:47I don't think his legacy is squandered.
4:39:47 > 4:39:52I think it's becoming more complex.
4:39:52 > 4:39:53It's becoming more...
4:39:56 > 4:39:58..nuanced.
4:39:58 > 4:40:04If you look at American society now, nobody would say anything about
4:40:04 > 4:40:10the fact that we've had two African-American Foreign Secretaries.
4:40:10 > 4:40:13That we have an African-American as Attorney General.
4:40:15 > 4:40:18The equivalent of the Chief Justice.
4:40:18 > 4:40:20Nobody would say anything that we have
4:40:20 > 4:40:23African-Americans as mayors, as governors.
4:40:23 > 4:40:26This is all accepted now.
4:40:26 > 4:40:29So in a sense his legacy hasn't been squandered.
4:40:29 > 4:40:32It was picked up by Martin Luther King and others,
4:40:32 > 4:40:35and taken to its logical conclusion.
4:40:35 > 4:40:38I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear...
4:40:38 > 4:40:40That conclusion came in 2009
4:40:40 > 4:40:43when Barack Obama entered the White House.
4:40:43 > 4:40:46Of the many presidents who came before, Lincoln stands out.
4:40:46 > 4:40:50He is Obama's hero. The parallels are obvious.
4:40:50 > 4:40:55But can the 44th President really emulate Lincoln's political success?
4:40:55 > 4:40:57- So help you God?- So help me God.
4:40:57 > 4:40:58Congratulations, Mr President.
4:40:58 > 4:40:59CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
4:40:59 > 4:41:03When you see Barack Obama, just the fact that he is not white,
4:41:03 > 4:41:08that he's mixed race, that would not, and could not have happened
4:41:08 > 4:41:11without the progress that Abraham Lincoln made as a political leader,
4:41:11 > 4:41:15in the face of some extraordinary and well-organised opposition.
4:41:15 > 4:41:20That link alone, does give, if you like, gives Barack Obama
4:41:20 > 4:41:26the right, the authority, the permission to, to invoke Lincoln.
4:41:26 > 4:41:28I think he matters to President Obama -
4:41:28 > 4:41:30it's the emotional connection.
4:41:30 > 4:41:33He freed, he freed African-Americans, and, you know,
4:41:33 > 4:41:36people can sort of go on, yeah, yeah, but what he really..,
4:41:36 > 4:41:38No, no. He did it.
4:41:39 > 4:41:46I think that appeals and would to the first African-America President.
4:41:46 > 4:41:49# And the home
4:41:49 > 4:41:54# Of the brave... #
4:41:54 > 4:42:00I think what Obama saw in Lincoln is a President who operated,
4:42:00 > 4:42:05on the basis of calmness, coolness, rationality,
4:42:05 > 4:42:08intellectual analysis of the problems.
4:42:09 > 4:42:11What we've seen in the Obama presidency,
4:42:11 > 4:42:16the way in which he ponders issues, reflects on them,
4:42:16 > 4:42:19seeks to bring about some, degree of consensus.
4:42:20 > 4:42:25I think he sees in Lincoln exactly those qualities.
4:42:25 > 4:42:30I totally understand why President Obama would want to invoke
4:42:30 > 4:42:35Lincoln's memory, would want to learn from the skills that he had,
4:42:35 > 4:42:38and would want to take some of the lessons of that,
4:42:38 > 4:42:42not just for his own politics but also for the country.
4:42:42 > 4:42:46But it is way way too early to say
4:42:46 > 4:42:52whether Barack Obama has any of those qualities that will endure.
4:42:55 > 4:42:57It's not a bad thing that anyone,
4:42:57 > 4:43:02holding that office, makes a close study of his life,
4:43:02 > 4:43:09and his work but it would be a terrible thing for a human being
4:43:09 > 4:43:15- to even try to assess themselves in comparison to him.- Exactly.
4:43:25 > 4:43:29I think Lincoln's message to Obama down the ages would be this.
4:43:29 > 4:43:34"Well done, but make your speeches shorter and get out more, go to the diner."
4:43:34 > 4:43:36When Lincoln passed the Thirteenth Amendment
4:43:36 > 4:43:40he had to bribe people, when Lincoln passed the Thirteenth Amendment
4:43:40 > 4:43:43he had to cajole people, he had to go out late at night
4:43:43 > 4:43:47and talk to people of whom he didn't necessarily approve.
4:43:47 > 4:43:49Barack Obama doesn't do that.
4:43:49 > 4:43:53Famously, or infamously, he doesn't even make his own phone calls.
4:43:53 > 4:43:55Lincoln, as well, had vaulting ambition.
4:43:55 > 4:43:59Would he have settled for Guantanamo Bay still being open?
4:43:59 > 4:44:02Would he have come so late to gun control?
4:44:02 > 4:44:04Barack Obama is an ambitious man
4:44:04 > 4:44:07but does he have the gut ambition that Lincoln had.
4:44:07 > 4:44:11Some of his own keenest supporters fear that he doesn't.
4:44:14 > 4:44:18Lincoln said, essentially, the federal government is supreme,
4:44:18 > 4:44:23it is not the state, and if we have to go to war to do that then
4:44:23 > 4:44:25that's what we're going to do.
4:44:25 > 4:44:29President Obama went to war in order to effect what
4:44:29 > 4:44:33he believed was the greater good, which was to enable people to
4:44:33 > 4:44:38have some sort of modicum of healthcare in the country.
4:44:38 > 4:44:39I would say that at the present time,
4:44:39 > 4:44:43the main peril is the fact that, just like Lincoln, he is constantly
4:44:43 > 4:44:47being attacked from both extremes and finding a great difficulty
4:44:47 > 4:44:51to get enough support for some compromise position.
4:44:53 > 4:44:59I think Obama can learn a lot from studying Lincoln's patience
4:44:59 > 4:45:06and his method of leading by trying to slowly bring public opinion with you
4:45:06 > 4:45:10and, in a sense, use the people over the heads of your fellow politicians.
4:45:13 > 4:45:16Obama, may be better advised to explore Lincoln the party politician,
4:45:16 > 4:45:20rather than Lincoln the man who appears to be
4:45:20 > 4:45:24operating through a broad coalition,
4:45:24 > 4:45:28but who nonetheless uses the party to achieve his ends.
4:45:29 > 4:45:31You think I'm ignorant of what you're up to
4:45:31 > 4:45:35because you haven't discussed this scheme with me as you ought to have done.
4:45:35 > 4:45:38When have I ever been so easily bamboozled?
4:45:38 > 4:45:41I believe you when you insist that amending the constitution
4:45:41 > 4:45:43and abolishing slavery will end this war.
4:45:43 > 4:45:45Since you are sending my son into the war,
4:45:45 > 4:45:47woe unto you if you fail to pass the amendment.
4:45:51 > 4:45:55Seward doesn't want me leaving big, muddy footprints all over town.
4:45:59 > 4:46:01No-one has ever lived who knows better than you
4:46:01 > 4:46:06the proper placement of footfalls on treacherous paths.
4:46:06 > 4:46:10Seward can't do it. You must because if you fail
4:46:10 > 4:46:12to acquire the necessary votes,
4:46:12 > 4:46:15woe unto you, sir, you will answer to me.
4:46:16 > 4:46:19I didn't want to make a movie that lied about the fact that it
4:46:19 > 4:46:21wasn't squeaky clean because the times were extraordinary times,
4:46:21 > 4:46:25and what was at issue, what was at stake, was the end
4:46:25 > 4:46:27of the experiment in democracy.
4:46:27 > 4:46:30That's what was at stake.
4:46:30 > 4:46:35Steven Spielberg's film focuses on the first month of 1865
4:46:35 > 4:46:39and the intense political manoeuvring that is required to get
4:46:39 > 4:46:42the Thirteenth Amendment passed before the end of the Civil War.
4:46:43 > 4:46:46We'll win the war, sir. It's inevitable, isn't it?
4:46:48 > 4:46:50It ain't won yet.
4:46:50 > 4:46:53You'll begin your second term a semi-divine statue.
4:46:53 > 4:46:56Imagine the possibilities peace will bring.
4:46:56 > 4:46:59Why tarnish your invaluable lustre with a battle in the House?
4:46:59 > 4:47:01It's a rat's nest in there.
4:47:01 > 4:47:03It's the same gang of talentless hicks and hacks
4:47:03 > 4:47:05who rejected the amendment ten months ago.
4:47:05 > 4:47:07We'll lose.
4:47:09 > 4:47:11I like our chances now.
4:47:11 > 4:47:16There was a 50-page section of the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment
4:47:16 > 4:47:19and it was flashing, lights for me, off and on.
4:47:19 > 4:47:24And that was the most compelling, part of the entire script,
4:47:24 > 4:47:26up to that point.
4:47:26 > 4:47:30You could have imagined, beforehand that
4:47:30 > 4:47:34the only way you could discover, that man was by...
4:47:34 > 4:47:39was through telling a story that would include so many of the,
4:47:39 > 4:47:43the formative years and the years in office.
4:47:43 > 4:47:48Whereas in fact I think, it became clear that,
4:47:48 > 4:47:51that as you narrow the focus, as in this case, the Thirteenth Amendment,
4:47:51 > 4:47:56and you allow yourself to see him at work on something
4:47:56 > 4:48:00that was not just important but, but crucial, in that moment,
4:48:00 > 4:48:05that that somehow, allows you to see him in a far more profound way.
4:48:05 > 4:48:08Think of all the boys who'll die, if you don't make peace.
4:48:08 > 4:48:12I can't end this war until we cure ourselves of slavery.
4:48:12 > 4:48:16This amendment is that cure!
4:48:16 > 4:48:20The whole purpose of this approach to telling
4:48:20 > 4:48:24a story about Abraham Lincoln, is let the audience feel that they're,
4:48:24 > 4:48:31in those rooms with Lincoln, his family and all of the Cabinet.
4:48:31 > 4:48:36The details in the sets were... You sort of lined up with
4:48:36 > 4:48:41the nuanced approach that Daniel and I took to telling this story.
4:48:41 > 4:48:44You could pick up any piece of paper and it would be, a letter,
4:48:44 > 4:48:49facsimile letter, either to one of the generals or from, a member
4:48:49 > 4:48:53of the Cabinet at that time, it could be an inventory of things
4:48:53 > 4:48:57that had been ordered from, from a manufacturer during the war.
4:48:57 > 4:48:59Each single piece of paper,
4:48:59 > 4:49:03was something that belonged to that place from that time.
4:49:03 > 4:49:06It was like a museum. It was like going to work in a museum
4:49:06 > 4:49:09every day, you know, it just... We had created a time machine...
4:49:09 > 4:49:12- Better than a museum. - Better than a museum, you're right.
4:49:12 > 4:49:14We had created a time machine that
4:49:14 > 4:49:18took us all back in time, and not just the actors but the entire crew.
4:49:18 > 4:49:20Euclid's first common notion is this...
4:49:21 > 4:49:23"Things which are equal to the same thing,
4:49:23 > 4:49:25"are equal to each other."
4:49:27 > 4:49:30That's a rule of mathematical reasoning.
4:49:30 > 4:49:32It's true because it works.
4:49:32 > 4:49:34Has done and always will do.
4:49:35 > 4:49:40Bringing the man himself to life was a much more personal process.
4:49:40 > 4:49:44At a certain moment, if I'm lucky and it tends to happen this way,
4:49:44 > 4:49:48is that I begin to hear a voice, in my inner ear which,
4:49:48 > 4:49:53I live with for a while and if I'm still pleased
4:49:53 > 4:49:57with it, after I've lived with it for a bit, then I try and reproduce it
4:49:57 > 4:50:02and then, God help anyone that tries to... But then I'm more or less
4:50:02 > 4:50:06stuck with it because it feels something that's already
4:50:06 > 4:50:12very familiar to me and I sent a couple of recordings to Steven
4:50:12 > 4:50:17during that time. I use a prehistoric micro recorder.
4:50:17 > 4:50:19I'd be so excited that I'd be afraid
4:50:19 > 4:50:23to press play cos I wanted to love what I was about to listen to.
4:50:23 > 4:50:28I'd finally get the courage to press play and on the second tape
4:50:28 > 4:50:31that Daniel sent me - he sent me two - I heard Abraham Lincoln
4:50:31 > 4:50:35talking to me, and I felt it was a very privileged moment, I felt
4:50:35 > 4:50:39how lucky, I don't think anybody's heard his voice since his death.
4:50:39 > 4:50:42Film-makers put the meat on the bones of history,
4:50:42 > 4:50:45breathing life into figures that have become
4:50:45 > 4:50:49almost two dimensional to a modern audience.
4:50:49 > 4:50:52It's a devastatingly important responsibility.
4:50:52 > 4:50:54It's a blessing and a curse.
4:50:54 > 4:50:56You can take liberties through any interpretation you take,
4:50:56 > 4:51:00you take liberties with the facts.
4:51:01 > 4:51:05But that's part of... That's part of what you have to do.
4:51:05 > 4:51:08There's no choice but to do that.
4:51:10 > 4:51:14Therefore, with that comes the responsibility of...
4:51:15 > 4:51:19..at least understanding where it is that you are bending things a bit
4:51:19 > 4:51:22and knowing beforehand
4:51:22 > 4:51:24deciding beforehand whether or not
4:51:24 > 4:51:28that that's...
4:51:29 > 4:51:31..will bear inspection.
4:51:31 > 4:51:32Right.
4:51:32 > 4:51:34You drafted half the men in Boston.
4:51:34 > 4:51:37What do you think their families think about me?
4:51:37 > 4:51:39The only reason they don't throw things and spit on me
4:51:39 > 4:51:41is because you're so popular.
4:51:41 > 4:51:44I can't concentrate on British mercantile law.
4:51:44 > 4:51:46I don't care about British mercantile law.
4:51:49 > 4:51:50I might not even want to be a lawyer.
4:51:52 > 4:51:55It's a sturdy profession.
4:51:55 > 4:51:56And a useful one.
4:51:56 > 4:52:00And I want to be useful but NOW, not afterwards.
4:52:00 > 4:52:03I ain't wearing them things, Mr Slade, they never fit right.
4:52:03 > 4:52:05The missus will have you wear them...
4:52:05 > 4:52:07You're delaying. That's your favourite tactic.
4:52:07 > 4:52:10You won't tell me no but the war will be over in a month.
4:52:14 > 4:52:18Everyone has their own Lincoln, whether it's the great emancipator,
4:52:18 > 4:52:22the prairie lawyer, or the political artist.
4:52:22 > 4:52:24Despite all the books, all the films,
4:52:24 > 4:52:29no-one can know the real man behind the monument on Mount Rushmore.
4:52:31 > 4:52:34Assessing Lincoln is a work forever in progress.
4:52:36 > 4:52:40Lincoln was president during the greatest calamity that
4:52:40 > 4:52:42the United States has ever faced.
4:52:42 > 4:52:49Lincoln brought together, in his Cabinet, disparate agents,
4:52:49 > 4:52:53people, in order to effect the bringing together of the Union,
4:52:53 > 4:52:56because it had been broken apart.
4:52:56 > 4:53:00So to evoke Lincoln is to talk about the United States,
4:53:00 > 4:53:02it's to talk about being an American.
4:53:02 > 4:53:06Another great quality was a sense of his own humility,
4:53:06 > 4:53:08a belief that even when he became, as it were,
4:53:08 > 4:53:12the leader, that he didn't assume that he knew everything,
4:53:12 > 4:53:15that he had all the skills that he needed, and he understood
4:53:15 > 4:53:21that anything, but particularly politics, is a team game.
4:53:21 > 4:53:23He was a real person with flaws
4:53:23 > 4:53:30and was a bit ungainly and tall, six foot four, and he was a real person.
4:53:30 > 4:53:33And the fact that a real person can accomplish
4:53:33 > 4:53:38and solve the problems of a nation is very inspiring.
4:53:39 > 4:53:45# Glory, glory, hallelujah!
4:53:45 > 4:53:51# Glory, glory, hallelujah!
4:53:52 > 4:53:58# Glory, glory, hallelujah!
4:53:58 > 4:54:02# His truth is marching
4:54:02 > 4:54:05# On... #