0:00:02 > 0:00:08I have crossed the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America
0:00:08 > 0:00:10with a new travelling companion.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17Published in 1879, my Appletons' General Guide
0:00:17 > 0:00:20will steer me to everything that's novel,
0:00:20 > 0:00:22beautiful,
0:00:22 > 0:00:23memorable
0:00:23 > 0:00:26or curious in the United States.
0:00:26 > 0:00:27- ALL:- Amen!
0:00:29 > 0:00:33As I cross the continent, I'll discover America's Gilded Age,
0:00:33 > 0:00:37when powerful tycoons launched a railway boom
0:00:37 > 0:00:41that tied the nation together and carved out its future
0:00:41 > 0:00:43as a superpower.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16My journey continues south to Washington, DC -
0:01:16 > 0:01:22the centre of political power in the world's most powerful country.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Founded on a compromise, built on a greenfield site,
0:01:26 > 0:01:28torched by the British.
0:01:28 > 0:01:33It rose from the ashes to become a capital of fine public architecture,
0:01:33 > 0:01:35monuments and memorials
0:01:35 > 0:01:38and the city where the president who divided America,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40but saved the Union,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42met a theatrical death.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57I began this journey in Philadelphia -
0:01:57 > 0:01:59the cradle of American independence -
0:01:59 > 0:02:03continued to the American Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg
0:02:03 > 0:02:06and turned south to Baltimore in Maryland.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Ahead of me, lie both the capital of the nation and the capital
0:02:11 > 0:02:14of the state of Virginia, Richmond.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17I'll finish in one of the oldest settlements in North America -
0:02:17 > 0:02:19Jamestown.
0:02:24 > 0:02:25'On this leg of my journey,
0:02:25 > 0:02:30'I'll explore Washington, DC, where I'll pick up some spending money...'
0:02:31 > 0:02:34This bundle is 80,000.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38I've never held anything like that much money in my life!
0:02:38 > 0:02:41'..visit the newsroom that toppled a president...'
0:02:41 > 0:02:44It went from this break-in all the way to the White House.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48'..before discovering how the man credited with saving the nation
0:02:48 > 0:02:50'tragically met his end.'
0:02:50 > 0:02:53Booth was able to walk right behind the president
0:02:53 > 0:02:56and fired a shot that hit him right behind the left ear.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10I'm approaching Washington, following a recommended
0:03:10 > 0:03:14Appletons' route along what was the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20According to Appletons', "Washington's site is admirable.
0:03:20 > 0:03:26"Consisting of an undulating plain diversified by irregular elevations,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29"which furnish advantageous positions
0:03:29 > 0:03:31"for the various public buildings.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36"The plan of the city is unique and on a scale which shows that it
0:03:36 > 0:03:40"was expected that a vast metropolis would grow up there."
0:03:40 > 0:03:45The Founding Fathers foresaw the greatness of the United States
0:03:45 > 0:03:49and planned a capital that would rival any European one
0:03:49 > 0:03:52in terms of scale, grandeur and prestige.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01'You have arrived at Washington Union Station.
0:04:01 > 0:04:02'Please watch your step.'
0:04:08 > 0:04:10At the beginning of the 20th century,
0:04:10 > 0:04:14a new master plan was developed for Washington, DC, to make the city
0:04:14 > 0:04:20even more beautiful and as part of that, a new Union Station.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Bringing together in one place, the Pennsylvania
0:04:23 > 0:04:26and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30in a building of suitable magnificence.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32Or, you might even say, "over-the-topness".
0:04:36 > 0:04:39Despite the early 20th century face-lift,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43at only 100 years old, Washington was a relatively young city.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45Following independence from the British,
0:04:45 > 0:04:49the newly formed nation of the United States
0:04:49 > 0:04:52couldn't agree on which metropolis should be the seat of government.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56So, a purpose-built capital was founded in 1790.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Conspiracy theorists say that the layout of Washington
0:05:03 > 0:05:06contains hidden masonic symbols.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10I can't see any, but many of the Founding Fathers were freemasons,
0:05:10 > 0:05:11including George Washington.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16To find out how this city came into being,
0:05:16 > 0:05:20I'm heading to Freedom Plaza to meet Jane Freundel Levey
0:05:20 > 0:05:23of The Historical Society Of Washington.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26- Hello, Jane.- Hello, it's so nice to see you.
0:05:26 > 0:05:27Very good to see you.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30And I see we've got a map of Washington laid out before us.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33- We do indeed.- Shall we stroll down Pennsylvania Avenue
0:05:33 > 0:05:35- towards the White House? - Let's do that.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37In the beginning, why was Washington, DC,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40chosen as the place for the capital?
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Washington was chosen as a political compromise.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46We had a young nation, it had no money
0:05:46 > 0:05:49and we had a revolutionary war to pay off.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52The South were not so willing to pay off the debts of the North,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54where most of the battles took place,
0:05:54 > 0:05:56unless they got something in return.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00And what they got in return was the opportunity for the capital
0:06:00 > 0:06:02to be in, what was considered then, the South.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07That founding compromise was achieved by the man after whom
0:06:07 > 0:06:09the city is named -
0:06:09 > 0:06:11the first president of the United States.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16George Washington saw that the nation's capital needed to be
0:06:16 > 0:06:19on a river that would connect to what was going to be the nation.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21In other words, a river that connected to the West
0:06:21 > 0:06:23and that's what the Potomac River did.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26It connected to the Ohio River which took us out to the West
0:06:26 > 0:06:30and that's how he saw the new empire growing.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35In 1791, a diamond of land, ten miles squared,
0:06:35 > 0:06:39was carved out of the states of Virginia and Maryland to become
0:06:39 > 0:06:42the federal capital and the seat of the national government.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45We've ended our journey down Pennsylvania Avenue,
0:06:45 > 0:06:47we've arrived in the White House.
0:06:47 > 0:06:48Would you join me in the Blue Room?
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Yes, my favourite, the Blue Room! Thank you.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Appletons' informs me,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59"The public buildings are the chief attraction of Washington.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02"The White House, as the president's official residence,
0:07:02 > 0:07:04"represents the executive branch of
0:07:04 > 0:07:07"the United States Federal Government.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11"The legislative branch of Congress is based at the Capitol
0:07:11 > 0:07:14"and the judiciary is housed in the Supreme Court Of Justice."
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Around the time of my Appletons' Guide, another grand building
0:07:20 > 0:07:23was being constructed - the Library Of Congress.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25And I can't resist taking a look.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32It was established as a resource for members of Congress.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35Over the years, it has become the national library
0:07:35 > 0:07:38and any book published under US copyright
0:07:38 > 0:07:40has to be deposited here.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43It's now the largest library in the world.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47Washington is home to the federal government
0:07:47 > 0:07:50and to lobbying groups and embassies.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54It hosts the headquarters of many international organisations
0:07:54 > 0:07:57and here, too, are the institutions that manage the economy
0:07:57 > 0:07:58and issue the money.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04It's always struck me as odd that all American banknotes
0:08:04 > 0:08:06are the same size, whatever denomination.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09But they do help you to learn American history.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12On the 20, we've got Andrew Jackson.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16On the 10, we've got Alexander Hamilton.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18Good old Abraham Lincoln on the five
0:08:18 > 0:08:20and George Washington on the single dollar bill.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Established around the time of my guidebook,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37the Bureau Of Engraving And Printing is noted in my Appletons'
0:08:37 > 0:08:40as being "of much interest to visitors."
0:08:40 > 0:08:43I imagine that few 19th century tourists would have had access
0:08:43 > 0:08:48to the printing presses that produce the famous greenback.
0:08:48 > 0:08:49Show me the money!
0:08:54 > 0:08:58The dollar must be the currency that most circulates on earth.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Some of these 20 bills will, undoubtedly,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03find their way around the globe.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06The dollar, economically speaking,
0:09:06 > 0:09:07makes the world go round.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Paper money was first issued by the federal government
0:09:13 > 0:09:16at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23These government IOUs floated the Union side through the conflict.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31As these packages come out, they have to be checked at either end
0:09:31 > 0:09:35to make sure the seal is good and that the numbers match.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38This bundle is 80,000.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41I've never held anything like that much money in my life!
0:09:45 > 0:09:46To deter counterfeiting,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49some hi-tech features are incorporated into each note.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53For example, microprinting, a security thread or a watermark.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00But at the heart of the process are skill and attention to detail.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Will Fleishell has been a picture engraver here for 28 years.
0:10:04 > 0:10:05Will, excuse me.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08- Ah!- I'm Michael. - Michael, pleasure, Will.
0:10:08 > 0:10:09What are you working on there?
0:10:09 > 0:10:13This is a portrait of Frederick Douglass who was the great
0:10:13 > 0:10:15Civil War era abolitionist.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17Are these also examples of your work?
0:10:17 > 0:10:19Yes, there's Benjamin Franklin,
0:10:19 > 0:10:21Mark Twain.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24There's a portrait of Lincoln that's on the current five dollar bill.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27How do you feel about the fact that every time you pick up
0:10:27 > 0:10:29a five dollar bill your work is there?
0:10:29 > 0:10:30It is impressive.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33It's nice to think about, in those quiet moments,
0:10:33 > 0:10:38that your work is in a lot of wallets around the world.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42So, that's quite an accomplishment for an artist.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45What is it that you're doing and what is this material?
0:10:45 > 0:10:49This is soft steel and I can cut into it with
0:10:49 > 0:10:51what we call gravers or burins.
0:10:51 > 0:10:57The design of this tool has not changed significantly in 500 years.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00This is the sort of exquisite, painstaking work
0:11:00 > 0:11:02that I can't understand.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04I just don't have anything like the patience.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Every portrait that I work on,
0:11:06 > 0:11:10I try to sort of put myself into the shoes of the subject
0:11:10 > 0:11:13to try to empathise, in a sense, with the person.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16What were you wanting to convey with this mouth and these eyes?
0:11:16 > 0:11:20To convey a sort of faraway look of the future, he could see ahead.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22I think you certainly achieved it. It's wonderful.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24Thank you, thank you very much.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34A city at the heart of money and power must guard against
0:11:34 > 0:11:36excess and corruption.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40Keeping those in authority in check is the American press,
0:11:40 > 0:11:44which was already raucously free in the late 19th century.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48Appletons' tells me that,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52"At the offices of leading American newspapers on Newspaper Row,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55"files of newspapers are accessible to the visitor."
0:11:55 > 0:11:58But as you'd expect in the land of the free and the home of the brave,
0:11:58 > 0:12:00there is a free press here.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04And some American presidents have discovered that, in Washington,
0:12:04 > 0:12:06the press is both free and very brave.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Just as the press has moved away from Fleet Street in London,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25so it has from Washington's Newspaper Row.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28Five blocks north of its 19th century location,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32I visit the offices of the multi Pulitzer prize-winning
0:12:32 > 0:12:33Washington Post.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38Founded in 1877, a couple of years before my guidebook,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41this newspaper was highly critical of the then president,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Rutherford B Hayes.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49Nearly 90 years later, another president, Richard Nixon,
0:12:49 > 0:12:53would find himself at the centre of a Washington Post story
0:12:53 > 0:12:56that would prove his undoing.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58I'm meeting columnist John Kelly.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03What does it mean to you to be a journalist on the Post
0:13:03 > 0:13:05in today's Washington, DC?
0:13:05 > 0:13:09I've worked here 26 years and I still get a little thrill
0:13:09 > 0:13:11when I come up that elevator.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14Phil Graham, when he was publisher, said that,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17"A newspaper is the first rough draft of history."
0:13:17 > 0:13:19The work we do is pulling together information from
0:13:19 > 0:13:24all sorts of places, it's holding powerful people accountable.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29And in 1972, that's exactly what Washington Post reporters
0:13:29 > 0:13:34Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein did when they began to investigate
0:13:34 > 0:13:37a break-in at the Watergate office complex,
0:13:37 > 0:13:39designed to tap the phones of
0:13:39 > 0:13:42the Democratic Party's National Committee.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Following the money that financed the crime,
0:13:45 > 0:13:47the reporters uncovered a trail which led them
0:13:47 > 0:13:51to the re-election campaign of President Nixon.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know
0:13:56 > 0:13:58whether or not their president's a crook.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Well, I'm not a crook.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04For over two years, Woodward and Bernstein persisted with the story,
0:14:04 > 0:14:07which eventually forced the Senate to establish a committee
0:14:07 > 0:14:09to investigate the scandal.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14It went from this break-in all the way to the White House
0:14:14 > 0:14:19and to Richard Nixon's attempts to basically smear his opponents,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22to break the law, to subvert the Constitution
0:14:22 > 0:14:25and ended up with his resignation.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Ever since, all manner of scandals have been dubbed with the suffix -
0:14:29 > 0:14:31gate.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33I mean, it really was an extraordinary journalistic coup,
0:14:33 > 0:14:34wasn't it?
0:14:34 > 0:14:39It just shows you that you never know where any story is going to go.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41This was a story about a break-in.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45No-one knew where it led and I think what inspires us is knowing
0:14:45 > 0:14:48that every day when we come to work...
0:14:48 > 0:14:51what's the phone going to bring?
0:14:51 > 0:14:53What's a little shoe leather going to bring?
0:14:53 > 0:14:54What's an e-mail going to bring?
0:14:54 > 0:14:57What are we going to find that's going to be our big story?
0:14:57 > 0:15:00As a formerly powerful person, you've got me trembling.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02That's as it should be.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Time to take refuge at a hotel for the evening.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16And my Appletons' recommends that one of the best is Willard's.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20It had already been a favourite haunt of politicos for 20 years
0:15:20 > 0:15:21by the time of my guidebook.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32Amongst its many famous guests were President Abraham Lincoln,
0:15:32 > 0:15:34author Mark Twain
0:15:34 > 0:15:36and Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58This morning, I'm continuing my tour of the nation's capital.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Whilst the location for the young republic's capital
0:16:07 > 0:16:09was a matter of compromise,
0:16:09 > 0:16:13the choice of its first president in 1789 was not.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18George Washington was the only candidate for the job.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Written in 1879, Appletons' says that,
0:16:26 > 0:16:30"The Washington Monument, in its present unfinished state,
0:16:30 > 0:16:35"is rather a blemish than an ornament to the city.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39"After 230,000 had been expended in building it
0:16:39 > 0:16:45"to a height of 174 feet, funds gave out and the work was suspended."
0:16:45 > 0:16:47Well, luckily, that budget crisis was resolved
0:16:47 > 0:16:51and it was completed to a height of 555 feet.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55And ever since then, all the other buildings in Washington
0:16:55 > 0:17:00are severely restricted in height as a sort of symbolic deference
0:17:00 > 0:17:04to the first president and, for many Americans, the favourite.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17Directly opposite this memorial to the founding president is
0:17:17 > 0:17:19a structure to honour the president who kept
0:17:19 > 0:17:24the United States as one nation - Abraham Lincoln.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26Erected less than 40 years apart,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30the monuments to the most revered presidents of the United States
0:17:30 > 0:17:32stand just over a mile from each other.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Appletons' says that, "A statue of Abraham Lincoln
0:17:43 > 0:17:46"stands in Lincoln Park, erected by contributions
0:17:46 > 0:17:48"of coloured people."
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Appletons' uses the language of the day.
0:17:50 > 0:17:57But that is not the monument behind me which was finished only in 1922.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00By which time it was realised that the president who had
0:18:00 > 0:18:03fought for the Union, who saved the Union,
0:18:03 > 0:18:04who died for the Union,
0:18:04 > 0:18:07merited a national memorial.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14It's been a popular spot with both domestic and foreign tourists
0:18:14 > 0:18:15since the 1920s.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20I want to know what they think of Abraham Lincoln.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22- Good afternoon.- Good afternoon.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25How would you rate Abraham Lincoln amongst
0:18:25 > 0:18:27presidents of the United States?
0:18:27 > 0:18:28One or two.
0:18:28 > 0:18:29Who is his competitor then?
0:18:29 > 0:18:31- Washington. - Uh-huh, uh-huh.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33- Hi.- Hi, Michael.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35Oh, it's very nice to see you. Hello.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38We hadn't picked you out as Brits.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41How do you rate Abraham Lincoln amongst American presidents?
0:18:41 > 0:18:46By the size of that, he's got to have been pretty great, hasn't he?
0:18:46 > 0:18:48Hello, may I join you a second?
0:18:48 > 0:18:49- Yeah, sure, no problem.- Of course.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51How do you rate Abraham Lincoln?
0:18:53 > 0:18:55As far as the presidents of the United States go,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57I think he's probably number one.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00You know, he was president during a time of crisis,
0:19:00 > 0:19:03he's made such an impact on American history.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06And I don't think anyone can dispute his greatness.
0:19:09 > 0:19:14Inside, the statue of the man sits nearly 20 feet high.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18Even in life, this political giant stood six feet, four inches tall.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25I want to understand how Lincoln came to be so honoured.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28Terry Alford is an author and historian.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34What kind of a man was Abraham Lincoln?
0:19:34 > 0:19:38Abraham Lincoln was a real original child of America, I would say.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41His family had been here for about two centuries
0:19:41 > 0:19:43by the time he came along.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47Born on the frontier, limited education, rural, rustic roots.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49An American original.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51He did follow a legal career, didn't he?
0:19:51 > 0:19:53Yes, that's how Lincoln made his name and his fame
0:19:53 > 0:19:55and, in fact, what fortune he had.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57He was a lawyer and he was really, really good.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03Lincoln was admitted to the Bar in 1836.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06And it was during his legal career that he earned the nickname
0:20:06 > 0:20:08"Honest Abe".
0:20:08 > 0:20:12As a young litigator, he needed cases and he found them
0:20:12 > 0:20:14in the burgeoning railroad industry.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18It was one of the great things that developed
0:20:18 > 0:20:19during his lifetime, right?
0:20:19 > 0:20:21I mean, it just revolutionised travel.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24He was profoundly interested in all things like this.
0:20:25 > 0:20:30Lincoln was committed to bringing about a transcontinental railroad
0:20:30 > 0:20:33and he made it part of his manifesto for the presidential election
0:20:33 > 0:20:34of 1860.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40In return, railway tycoons enthusiastically supported
0:20:40 > 0:20:43his candidacy and with their financial help,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45Lincoln won the presidency.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49He enjoyed near total support from the northern states,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53but the opposite was true of the slave states of the South.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56What did he feel about slavery?
0:20:56 > 0:20:58He had always felt, I think, at a gut level
0:20:58 > 0:21:00there was something wrong with it.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02He's not an abolitionist per se.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04He wasn't one of those people,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07"That's the only issue, there is no other issue."
0:21:07 > 0:21:11Lincoln did not intend to end slavery in the South,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14but his pledge to ban expansion of the practice
0:21:14 > 0:21:18into the new western territories was seen by the South as a threat.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23As the president-elect made his way by train to his inauguration
0:21:23 > 0:21:27in Washington, the southern states began to break away from the Union.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31They formed the Confederate States of America
0:21:31 > 0:21:33and proclaimed their own government.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Lincoln felt that the America he had grown up in was
0:21:36 > 0:21:39the best country in the world in terms of democratic values,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42accessibility and openness, opportunities.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46And he just couldn't believe that the losers of an election -
0:21:46 > 0:21:48the South, of course, had lost to him -
0:21:48 > 0:21:51that they were going to be able to break that up, right?
0:21:51 > 0:21:55That an orderly society depends upon the majority ruling.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58And that what the South was doing was absolutely incendiary.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00It was essentially a giant riot.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05A giant riot that requires an enormous military response,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08which leads to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11Lincoln felt a real sense of responsibility, you know,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14for what happened on these battlefields
0:22:14 > 0:22:18and he was awfully attentive throughout his whole presidency
0:22:18 > 0:22:20to the suffering the war caused.
0:22:20 > 0:22:21And I think it wore on him.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25You can look at these photographs of him, right, from 61 to 65.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28He looks like he's aged 20 or 30 years.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34As the American Civil War dragged on into its third year,
0:22:34 > 0:22:37Lincoln made a bold attempt to destabilise the Confederacy.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41He issued a presidential proclamation to free all slaves
0:22:41 > 0:22:46in the rebellious southern states from 1st January 1863.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Slaves in areas captured by the Union troops could now join
0:22:52 > 0:22:57the army, boosting the ranks by 186,000.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59Those who remained with their masters worked to weaken
0:22:59 > 0:23:02the Southern economy.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08When General Robert E Lee surrendered his Confederate Army
0:23:08 > 0:23:13on April 9th 1865, Lincoln's proclamation would lead to
0:23:13 > 0:23:15the emancipation of all slaves.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22I think Lincoln felt enormous relief that the slaughter was over.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26Just a great sense of relief, like a weight had been lifted off him.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28The war was over.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32The Union was saved and slavery was officially ended.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36However, racial equality across the nation remained a dream,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39even a century later.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42On the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation,
0:23:42 > 0:23:47a vast crowd at the Lincoln Memorial heard an extraordinary speech
0:23:47 > 0:23:49from Dr Martin Luther King.
0:23:49 > 0:23:56I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59live out the true meaning of its creed -
0:23:59 > 0:24:03"We hold these truths to be self-evident,
0:24:03 > 0:24:05"that all men are created equal."
0:24:07 > 0:24:10But for Lincoln, the peace brought by the end of the Civil War
0:24:10 > 0:24:12would be short-lived.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Just days later, the president went to see a performance
0:24:15 > 0:24:18of the English farce Our American Cousin
0:24:18 > 0:24:20at Ford's Theatre.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24Here, in this auditorium, Lincoln's tragic end was played out.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28Terry, I've never been here before.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30I'm very moved to be in the theatre
0:24:30 > 0:24:32where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Was he a keen theatregoer?
0:24:34 > 0:24:36He was. Lincoln loved the theatre.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38Gave him a way to get out of the White House,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41a place to go to decompress from politics.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43He came to this theatre a good dozen times.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46In fact, once, he saw John Wilkes Booth,
0:24:46 > 0:24:48who would become his murderer, at this very theatre.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52- Playing onstage. - Playing onstage in November '63,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55so some 15, 16 months before Booth shot him.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57What was the motive of John Wilkes Booth?
0:24:57 > 0:25:01John Wilkes Booth was a fanatical Southern supporter.
0:25:01 > 0:25:06He believed that the war was a giant attack upon the Southern states
0:25:06 > 0:25:09and, unfortunately, he did not go into the Confederate Army.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11I say unfortunately because that would have given him
0:25:11 > 0:25:13an outlet for his passions.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16By staying out, by acting, Booth realised, you know,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19"I play a hero onstage, but I'm not one.
0:25:19 > 0:25:20"I'm really a coward."
0:25:20 > 0:25:23And I think it ate into him and made him dangerous.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27So, on the night of the event, I assume the president and Mrs Lincoln
0:25:27 > 0:25:30would be sitting in the box opposite us.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32Tell us what happened.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34The play started at 8.15 that night.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36About ten o'clock, Booth came into the theatre
0:25:36 > 0:25:40while the play was underway and he walked around the seats behind us
0:25:40 > 0:25:43to the door leading to the State Box and because he was well-known,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46there was no suspicion attached to his presence.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49In fact, Booth was known and liked by the Ford family
0:25:49 > 0:25:50who owned this place.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53And so he had access to all parts of the theatre
0:25:53 > 0:25:56and could simply walk right up to the Lincolns.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59Mr and Mrs Lincoln were watching the play, of course.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01Nobody was looking over their shoulder, why should they?
0:26:01 > 0:26:04Booth was able to walk right behind the president
0:26:04 > 0:26:07and from just a few inches, fired a shot that hit him
0:26:07 > 0:26:08right behind the left ear.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16Did the president die here in the theatre?
0:26:16 > 0:26:18No, the president was gravely wounded.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Everyone realised that he was at imminent risk of death.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24But they didn't want him to die in a theatre.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27They didn't know if he could survive a trip back to the White House,
0:26:27 > 0:26:28as close as that is.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31So, they took him across the street to a boardinghouse
0:26:31 > 0:26:34and he died there at 7.22 the next morning.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42As his body was transported by funeral train
0:26:42 > 0:26:46from Washington to his home in Springfield, Illinois,
0:26:46 > 0:26:51Americans lined the route to pay their respects to the great leader.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55It was a tragic loss to the country.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58And I've often thought that there are things you could learn.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01You know, you can learn facts and strategies and tactics,
0:27:01 > 0:27:03but you can't learn humanity, right?
0:27:03 > 0:27:05You can't learn humility.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08And the country was very fortunate to have Lincoln when it did.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10A beautiful thought.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24European countries such as Russia, Ireland and Spain
0:27:24 > 0:27:29know how long and bitter is the legacy of civil war.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Abraham Lincoln, for all his humanity,
0:27:32 > 0:27:37led the North in a crushing victory over the Confederacy.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42And many in the defeated South must have hated him, as did his assassin.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45But I hope that a majority of Americans today,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48contemplating his engraved image,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51would reflect that he saved the Union
0:27:51 > 0:27:54and liberated the United States from slavery.
0:27:58 > 0:28:04Next time, I'll discover the tragic reality of America's slave trade...
0:28:04 > 0:28:07While you're selling produce and other goods, you're selling humans.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09..get to grips with American archaeology...
0:28:11 > 0:28:13- I'm so sorry.- It's OK!
0:28:16 > 0:28:18..and get into the swing of Washington.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22THEY PLAY JAZZ MUSIC